Living The Agape Way

The design and building of our home

Katie Brinkley
Jul 25, 2017 · 16 min read

I’m a lover not a writer so bare with me. I love people not processes. By day I am an Occupational Therapist who loves nothing more than loving and caring for the people of my community. However, this OT writes likes she talks and my daily writing is done to the audience of Medicare. This process of building a new home is one of those journeys worth writing about so please look past my writing ability. Check out my bio to learn more about our family, the heartbeat of why I do what I do!

Heres a little background. We closed on our 16 acres in August 2014 and we just cant say enough of how amazing our God is and His Agape love for us in the blessing of this property. He loves you too! Never did we imagine a dream like this would come true. Ephesians 3:18, I pray that you will be able to understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep His love is

We began brainstorming and budgeting for a home for our family of 6 (2 in the species of canine). We really got serious about a floorpan in the summer of 2015. After a very long process that included scraping an entire houseplan and starting over, we had our dream farmhouse on paper and ready to submit permits. So far, this process was difficult, arduous, but fun at times. My husband of 16 years, Jimmy, is our general contractor due to his experience with house flipping. He is gifted with an amazing ability to manage projects, budgets, and making my dreams come true. He has literally poured hundreds of hours into meeting with contractors, creating budgets, and putting up with some of my crazy requests and design ideas. During this planning time we spent many hours talking to and visiting with friends who graciously shared their home building journey. This information was priceless and not found on Pinterest. This was part of my motivation for documenting this process. For those of you going through this, I totally understand the crazy roller coaster you are on. Hang in there and don't be afraid to reach out and learn from others.

So the nearly two years that seemed to drag on and on has really picked up speed. We are now full steam ahead. The foundation has been completed. Great job to the hard working men of NorthStar Foundations


Jimmy received a phone call from our county 911 office that informed us that our farm lane needed to have a name. How exciting right? We get to name our street! Well what seemed very exciting was yet another task that was laborsome and arduous. Who would have thought coming up with a street name would have been such a daunting task. After consulting with our neighbors and submitting nearly 50 names, we were finally approved for “Agape Drive”. While we dreamed of names that described our breathtaking setting or that captured the joy of watching deer and turkey graze, literally ever name was taken in the 7000 street names of our county! We settled on Agape ~ that means the highest form of love, Gods love for man that is unconditional. John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Friday, July 21 I visited Jimmy to take him lunch. That’s what I love to do…keep his belly full…he works better that way plus his dear momma always told me a way to a mans heart is through his belly. The garage floor was poured today and looks great! Thanks to Kirbys Concrete~ www.kirbyscustomconcrete.com

Since it’s nearly 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity Jimmy needed to keep the concrete wet. He was pretty excited to use yet another new “toy” and thats his 350gallon water tank to spray the concrete with water. Since tomorrow is Saturday, I figured I wouldn’t return until monday. There has been some talk of the framer coming out tomorrow to prep for framing to begin on Monday. Who knows I may drive out, after all, it’ll be lunchtime sometime.

Saturday, July 22. Jimmy is up early and out the door to see what he can get into at the farm. Amelia and I arrive..when? Lunchtime of course. We packed lunch for everyone. HOLY COW….the “talk” of the framer coming to do a little housekeeping turned into some amazing progress. He rolls up with 8 trucks of some hard working men. In no time flat they have attached the seal plate AND completed the first floor. If the seal plates didn’t need an inspection they would have kept working. If only everyone in my life could work as fast as these guys. Maybe we need framers in congress?

July 24 We have walls!! So exciting to finally see our dream becoming a reality. I’m so in love already.



July 28, 2017

Pound pound pound, saw saw saw, build a house for Jesus, spread His love around”

Watching the framers create this work of art made me think of this childs song my nephew use to sing. I am reminded daily of how much we miss his daddy, our true Bob the Builder, Todd Doub. No doubt Todd would be so proud of Jimmy and I know the skills Jimmy learned from him have been invaluable.

It’s hard to believe the pictures above are from Monday and the pictures below are only 3 and 4 short days later. On Thursday we had 19 framers on site…it was amazing! The skill and talent of these guys is mind blowing. Im so thankful I was on site for the raising of the back wall and to see a few trusses set.

To say we’ve been satisfied with our framer is an understatement. Check him out…

www.qualityproductionconstinc.com

Amazed! The last picture is one day of progress. Making final decisions on the exterior. Jimmy and I been around and around and back n forth. From rustic to colonial to modern farmhouse. I think we will end up with a lil of each. Black windows have arrived and we chose our stone that will go on the front face and chimney. Choosing trim and siding has me losing sleep. Stay tuned…

July 28, 2017

The rains came down and the floods came up

Even though the framing crew worked tirelessly, the rain clouds moved in before the roof was complete.

Porches, Windows, and tray ceilings…OH MY!

This week has made us weary, and a little sick with summer colds! From 6am on site meetings, to late nights of wall revisions and exterior application decisions. The Lord has provided the strength we need and some great prayer warriors along the way, keep em coming!

BLACK WINDOWS, eekkk, makes me giddy! We can not express our appreciation enough to Bob at The Home Depot of Hagerstown for literally the hundreds of hours he and Jimmy spent on windows and doors. Today he made an onsight visit -dang I missed the photo op-Thank you Bob, these windows are amazing!
My sweet girl who is loving working on interior design with me! She truly has great ideas…this is walk in shower bench, notice the detail of the slope of the seat.
Tah-Dah! Its MY PANTRY and War Room! Yes the family room looks like the inside of a barn. This skilled carpenter is applying the bracing for our wood beams that will attach to the ceiling.
THE VIEWS THE VIEWS THE VIEWS! Jimmy has coined the back porch as his man cave…he promises to share with me as I dream of hosting our friends and family as well as enjoying morning coffee from the porch. Just this week I watched deer dance and turkey trot in the back yard.
Its the little things — Tray ceiling in the dining room and “chunky” returns on the corners.

THEIR BAACCCCKKKK!!! and Their GEORGEOUS!

Jimmy spent all winter timbering trees from the farm…we have dreamt of floors, beams and posts, trim, tables, serving trays etc… We can’t thank our sweet neighbors enough for their generosity of allowing us access to the dead trees on the farm. So many of our friends and family lendt a hand in this process and we couldnt have done it without you. I pulled a few pics from the process…isnt it amazing!?! Ya know what else is AMAZING…my husband. Phil 1:3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God

After weeks in a kiln they are ready for roughing up and stain! Its our weekend project…stay tuned! This is the first delivery of many!

Saturday, Aug 4

BABY COME AND LIGHT MY FIRE!! Anyone who knows my husband knows he is a fire bug! Loves campfires, fireplaces, and has a new love for his fire torch. I highly recommend this method, this was much easier than we thought. After I did a quick sand with the palm sander, he roughed up a few edges and then hit the wood with a his torch. It was amazing how the grain of the wood popped as the fire hit the wood. We sealed them with a oil based deck stain with a tint of color. Who knew that polyurethane was only for inside. The deck stain will give them a matte look. I love that we were able to repurpose some dead trees into these amazing posts and beams that will become our back porch on Monday.

Thats the torch!!!!
So thankful for parents who cheer us on and are not afraid to get a little dirty with us along the way.
Construction stairs went in which has been fun to show our family the second floor aka KIDZone. We love having visitors.

August 10

It’s HUGE!!! Wow!! We couldn’t be happier with the back porch…the boys are calling it their tree stand. I just love the tall ceilings and can’t wait t see it with the outdoor stone fireplace. BUT…who’s gonna stain that ginormous ceiling?!?! And make sure the concrete and windows (coming today) don’t get stained along the way…

Everything is happening so fast….its so exciting and a little overwhelming as the rest of our crazy life forges ahead. Today I will pick out all the plumbing placement and fixtures….AFTER work. This weekend the rough electrical and plumbing begin. Oh yea!! AND I have a house we gotta list soon…it may be a crazy life but it’s our life! Choose JOY not worry my friends! 1Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God for He cares for you.

August 28, 2017

Whew! I have not had a spare second to update…so here we go. Spent hours with our electricians mapping out ALL the lights, the switches, what goes where, etc…Electrical is moving along quickly. Plumbing has also started. We are excited about our GeoThermal system, all of these mechanicals are just about complete. Other things continue to progress very well as you see below.

Ordered fans for the back porch and some lighting that im super pumped about. The fireplace and windows have been installed and look amazing! I have a feeling we are going to spend alot of life in this space!
The two sided fireplace is HUGE…it took 8 men to lift it into place. Kirbys did another great job with the basement stairs for the walk up basement.
Yet another project to check off the list is our septic system! 100 feet of line and a hole for the box and yet again…no Rock! Whoo Hoo!
Staining the ceiling was exhausting! See Jimmy below…he looks like he just stepped out of a coal mine.
This weekend we started to stain the ceiling of the back porch…what a job! Jimmy used his paint sprayer and its looking good. The kids spent hours eating of course and trying to entertain themselves a left over building supplies. Love these smiles :)

(Part of sharing our story is the good the bad and the ugly. I’m not sharing this story to harm anyone business but for us to have documented the hurdles we overcome and trusting for better days ahead)

Water, water….no where!!! We hired a well driller that did not believe in well witching so we took his 40 year professional opinion and began digging for water. Through this whole building process we have felt so blessed to not hit any rock…but little did we know, now we NEED to hit rock to line the well. After almost 7 days of digging we still have not hit water. Nearly 400 feet …NO ROCK, NO WATER…nothing but slugged and I mean a TON of wet thick mud. Unfortunately we did not see eye to eye with our well driling company. Its quite unbelieveable the condition they left our property and the damage done to our road and surrounding fields. We graciously cut our losses and moved on. A new company has been hired. I am not into witchery but if there is some type of wand that can find water….we ARE using it this time….stay tuned, say a prayer we hit water AND ROCK!

Good Saturday Morning~ September 22, 2017

Its a rare quiet Saturday morning, kiddos are away with friends and Jimmy is fixing us breakfast — AHHH! So whats happening at 227 Agape Drive? Well, still no well, BUT we have secured a new company who will begin very soon. We didnt find a witch but we found a sweet gracious 87yo man that “smells” for water. Smelling sounds much better than witching right?!?! He is certain he found 2 streams underground and now a BIG X marks the spot where he says they intersect and we will have plenty of water….fingers crossed or in this guys case, cherry tree sticks crossed.

We have passed the rough electrical inspection. Thank you Dustin and Jimmy, our hardworking electricians, congratulations on passing the first time! Jimmy is not my husband, rather the electrician assistant. YEP we also have Jimmy the plumber…hahaha, lots of Jimmys on this job! We can not thank these 3 guys enough for the long long hours they have put in and the amazing quality work they have done. The fireplace is ready for stone, exterior doors have been installed and I LOVE THEM!! The exterior finishes have begun but came to a QUICK HAULT when we discovered the work was very subpar...God is so good and sent us a rescue. A new crew will begin later this week who we tried to secure for months but they were TOO BUSY, well our God is great and they “just happend” to be available THIS WEEK…whoo hoo!

Enjoying a quick break on the front porch. Jimmy and Dustin working on wiring the kitchen appliances. Walk out basement steps!
Phil Cogar has been another asset to this project, digging our GeoThermal Lines today. Love the Hardie Board and Board and Batten so very much. Its amazing to see these things come to life.

We are weary at the end of most every day, working long hours running between all the many hats we are wearing. BUT we are overjoyed by the progress and the light we see at the end of the tunnel. There are so many stories I could share about the relationships and friendships made in our home already. We are thankful for the opportunities the Lord has provided for us to shine His light to this often dark, grumpy, unhappy culture of contractors. So wherever you find yourself today, press on my friends, shine your light before men…life is too short to hide it under a bushel ~K

Jeld Wen Doors installed, after a 4 week delay they finally arrived and I love em….all but they are all suppose to be black, so a few exchanges will be made.
Water AND Electric all in the same week!! After the fiasco you read above we are super excited to have TONS and TONS of water, approx 100gal/min!! WOW!! AND 400ft of nothing but pure limestone….Gods rock is free! Jimmy and I had to keep the generator pumping out the muddy for days and day…which meant about every 9 hours coming to fill up fuel since we didnt have power at that point. Exhausting days for sure but worth it when we finally saw clear water. This story is the power of prayer for sure.

October 16, 2017

COLOR MY WORLD!!! PAINTING BEGAN!!! I can not believe we are at this stage and got here SO QUICKLY….it has been such an exhausting 6 month but so very worth it. God has been so good in paving the way for us with overall amazing hard working men. The general Sherwin Williams color palette is weathered stone interior Jeld Wen doors, ceiling color Eider White, Main Walls are Alpaca, and Interior Trim Functional Grey. Several color accent walls throughtout are yet to be determined. I have said all along, we are not building a model home but a functional comfortable home and so I had to laugh at the wall color.

IT’s NOVEMBER Ya’ll!

Its all coming together and so beautifully! We have POWER and lights and heat and internet…..Beams installed, interior doors arrived, tile has begun, exterior is getting so close and how could i forget THE STONE! Shopping Prime like crazy, lights, smokes, switches, fans…the UPS guy is here multiple times a day.

Our current home is under contract — God blessed us with a great offer even before listing on the MLS. Never underestimate our great God! Closing will be here before we know it, shooting for early January.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade