Hi, my name is Sandi. My husband Phil and I have been married 23 years. We have a grown son, Matt, who just graduated from college, is a fine young man and makes us very proud.
We have three dogs, Blaney, Molly and Grace who bring great joy to our lives. They were all abandoned here as puppies and we are so thankful they adopted us.
I was a nurse and Phil, a teacher. In 1999, when in our 40's, we threw caution to the wind, quit our jobs, sold our home and moved to West Virginia from Ohio. We have never looked back. Phil currently owns a lawn care business, does some substitute teaching in the winter and a little farming on the side. We bought this abandoned farm house from his cousin. Previously, with his two brothers, he had purchased his late grandfather's 300 acre farm, just down the road from this house. That is where we lived while doing this restoration.
Our friends and family just shook their heads in disbelief when they saw this place. Built in 1909 it had been abandoned for 40 years and was home to most every creature God ever created. It had been used to store grain and it also sheltered a sick calf or two in it's time. It had a rusty tin roof, no paint on the clapboards and only a couple windows had survived the years of deterioration, but it "spoke peace" to us the moment we laid eyes on it. It sits mountaintop with beautiful views and no neighbors in sight.
My father-in- law, when seeing it said "I would put a match to it. It's nothing but a skeleton. You will never be able to do anything with it". That comment only sparked our determination to turn this house into the diamond we saw in our "minds eye". We did all the restoration ourselves, used most all antique reclaimed lumber and tried to only repair what was already here. Phil will proudly admit he is a pack rat and over the years collected everything we needed, old doors, hardware, locks, flooring, windows and much more. When it came time to add the 1800's hand hewn log cabin he had all the structural pieces, rafters, joists, tin roofing, as well as flooring, and finishing lumber for the interior. All we had to purchase were the logs. He had everything else! I have really learned to appreciate his vision of a future use for these old materials. I also learned not to say sarcastically "what are you going to do with that?" when he brings something home. Those words don't go down easy when I later have to eat them!
This is the "hardest fun" I have ever had. We have grown so close through this process. We live a very simple life. We had to make sacrifices to make this dream come true. I guess you could say we had to decide to "live lean" to make it happen and would not change a thing. We have truly been blessed by God and thank Him for the opportunity of being able to live our dream and be stewards of this place for a time. He has provided all our needs and so much more. Many times we have looked at each other and one or the other will say "it doesn't get any better than this".
Shortly before my father-in-law died, when leaving after a visit to our finished home, he hugged me and said, "Sandi, this is a fine home". I cherish those words...
Welcome to Daybreak Place where.....
~ " I'm drinking from my saucer 'cause my cup has overflowed." ~ Jimmy Dean