No good story ever started with...

 No good story ever started with...

it was easy

everything fell together

there were no problems

the roof didn't leak

(hypothetically, of course ;) 

The hubs aka Barks reminds me of this.  A lot.  "It's not the destination, it's about the journey."  

So here it is.  Our most recent and perhaps biggest adventure yet.   

The Cabin at Baker Point

She's a beaut, right?   

In my eyes?  Absolutely.  In my heart? Most definitely.  And in my dreams?  Heaven.  

My great grandma, Lela Baker purchased this entire hill in southwest Missouri back in the 50s prior to Table Rock lake being built. She and my great-grandpa Charley (who our daughter is named after) sold off lots to pay for a small house trailer on the land, then built a one-room cabin that was added on and onto for decades.   In 2005, my widowed Papa, Lela's son (Hollis) wished to move to the cabin and live out his remaining years in his favorite place. It was a big project but together with my parents they decided to tear down the original structure and slowly build a place that could be enjoyed by Papa for the remainder of his life, a forever home/ retirement retreat for my parents and a place that could be enjoyed for generations to come.   

It was a beautiful dream off to an incredible start.   Everything was falling into place.  But then the story changed.   My Papa got sick.  Construction was halted. A cancer diagnosis caused a chain reaction of health issues that robbed us of those remaining years we thought we had.  Financial ruin struck.  As my Papa was dying it was discovered employees of my father who were trusted and treated like family had been fraudulently reporting hours for 10 years or more and numbers to the tune of nearly a million dollars stolen.   This was not a fraud to his patients,  to the government or to insurance, but DIRECTLY from dad's life's work and sacrifice building his optometric practice.  The former employee husband was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay back nearly $600,000 + interest in exchange for a plea deal relieving the wife of responsibility.  We thought the nightmare was over.   

We were wrong.   

Years of pouring more and more money into the practice trying to keep things afloat while not knowing of the simultaneous deception instead turned into more years of doing the same waiting for restitution.  My dad's health deteriorated under the weight of the stress and culminated in summer of 2017 with a near loss of his life and emergency surgery.  We had no choice but to close the practice.  

The ripple continued, turning into battle after battle, legal fees and more loss, while the former employees hid behind the shield of a plea deal and a trickle of hundred dollar payments here and there.   

But we have fought on in faith and hope the storm would end.  And while the battles continue to come and that restitution still unsatisfied, we've found light in the dark and are excited to start anew.  The cabin is officially Dan and I's now.  Our dream is to complete the vision of my parents and create a sanctuary for them and a future forever home for ourselves and generations.  And it is just getting started. 

I keep reminding myself daily "no good story ever started with..." as we dive in, roll up our sleeves and take on this project to complete, restore and renovate this property that has been sitting unfinished for our son's 11 year lifetime into the beautiful dream we know it will be.   What once was a place where there was always time for chatting and a cup of coffee on the porch, where game night laughter echoed off the lake and sunkissed kiddos chased fireflies in the yard will be once again.  

It won't be easy.

It won't all fall together.  

There will be problems.  

The roof leaked.  

But man, it's going to be a great story.    

And I'm excited to share it.