It always amazes me how nothing would fluster her. Water flooding into the house she saw as a bonding experience for them while they bailed water. If only we had her calm spirit. Missing your sweet face Andrea RIP
wow!!! all I can say is wow.... you said everything I wish people would hear! I wish all women would just stop and love what they have and live where they are. there is too much bigger, better, more in our America. what a breath of fresh air you are.
Hi, I'm encouraged by your videos! We also have 8 kids, home school, and live in a 950 sq. ft house. It is a constant challenge to stay organized! But I am constantly reminded that this is what God provided. I am so very thankful it is affordable even through some very challenging financial times. You are a much needed example of contentment!
Your house is amazing and you are a very pretty lady with such a positive attitude! I'm so glad I stumbled across your videos and I'm looking forward to many more.
It is very interesting to see everyone's opinion of what a small house is vs. a large house. We used to live in a 975 sq ft house as a family of 6. we moved into this house which is 1600 sq ft. It feels huge to us....it is the largest house me and my husband have ever lived.
If our house was being listed for sale, it would be listed as an 800 sq. ft. house.We use our our basement as living space so I consider it 1,600 sq. ft., but it is all relative! Our bathroom seems small compared to many homes, but one time I had someone over who said, "Your bathroom is huge!" She had a truly tiny bathroom at her house.
When my mom was little she lived in a flat of 55sq. meter (around 600sq. feet) with her brother, parents and grandparents so 6 people in the house. Right now we live in the same flat 3 adults and the house feels so tiny. I guess all depends on the way you see it XD
Hello old Friend... I’m here brainstorming how to arrange our home here with my family. I thought “duh” I should rewatch your wise videos to get ideas! I’m needing inspiration! You’re still helping others even from heaven! God bless your family left behind.
Just found your page this morning and I've taken a tour of your entire house. You are so motivational!! I have a small house around 1040 sq feet and a basement that is partially finished. We are only a family of 6 but I have always thought the house is too small. But after seeing yours I feel like I could make way better use of my space! Can't wait to learn all about your family! New sub!
* So you met and married in 7 months!! wow!! you beat us! we met and married in 11!!! lol * I think it's brilliant that you added links to the floor plan that is so creative. * I will be going and checking them all out. You only have 3 rooms to go to finish the whole house. :) ** And wow you only have 1 bathroom that's amazing!!
Glad to know I'm not the only quick mover! I met my husband in Feb. 2005, moved 8hrs from my home and family to live with him in June 2005, got pregnant like two weeks after I was here, married in Nov. 2005 and had our first child, a daughter in Feb 2006! All that in a year! Then I found out not long after having our daughter Ally I was pregnant again! I was due Jan 2007 but she was premature and came Nov. 2006! So within like a year and a half we met, moved in together, got preg, got married, had a baby, got preg again and had another! Crazy! I was very young but wouldn't trade any of it! You ladies seem too be very blessed too! Hope you and your families have an amazing holiday!!
You are such a positive person. It is so refreshing to see! I am curious about your home church. About how many people attend? Do you follow any denominational lines? Love your videos!!
At the moment, we have 6 other people that come weekly and a few more that come once in awhile. (It changes from time to time as we meet new people or someone moves away.) Tom and I were both raised Southern Baptist, but we don't really consider ourselves any particular denomination anymore. Honestly, some of our ideas are shared with all denominations, but we have others that don't really fit with any denomination.
love you and your family I'm a new follower and have been thinking of the Tiny homes that I see on HGTV. how wonderful to see your beautiful and blessed home and family~ My hubby Max and I have 7 children 2 adults, 3 teens, and 2 younger so I want to make room for everyone and even for when bigger kids decide to come visit because they live out of town and so I've been praying about owning a home that is safe, secure, good land, and great area for our family So pray with us because we are renting right now and our landlord just raised our rent to a thousand from 850 month
You are a wonder women, your Husband and children are so very LUCKY to have such a great positive Woman in their lives!! New to your channel new Subcriber.
Andrea I just wanted to thank you for your encouraging videos! I'm a mom of 6 (with #7 on the way) and we are in the middle of selling our home and moving to the country...where we will be REALLY downsizing in order to be able to make the move. I've been documenting the progress in our UA-cam channel as well. In many ways I still feel like I'm "learning how" to be a large family mom and I'm just so thankful for your wisdom.
I absolutely agree with having a house that you can afford. I know people that have rooms in their house that they don't use! Their payments are crazy expensive! If either of them get hurt or sick theory would lose EVERYTHING!! They both have new cars with payments, payments for furniture, washer, dryer, etc. They constantly argue about money. CRAZY!
We are hoping to have each one of the kids build a "tiny house" in the backyard during their high school years to learn building skills and give them a place of their own until they are ready to move on someday.
That's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it. Some houses use composting toilets. I don't know if I'd like that, but we've been researching different ideas.
You have a beautiful home. I especially love all the space you have outside. I have a small courtyard. I want a garden and will have to settle for a container garden...that should be interesting...lol Again lovely space ...thanx for sharing!
Your house and garden is fab, it's a proper home and I bet all the children love it there. Did you say that your mum lived in the same street? How nice if true. Don't move all the work and love in that house makes it a loving home.
I don't remember what I said about my mom, maybe that she and I were driving by and saw the For Sale sign in the window when Tom and I were first engaged. My mom passed away in 2010; I sure wish she lived down the street!
Just sub, thanks for sharing your story. I only have two children who are young adults we have had so much space I often wondered how people with so many in a family could function. My mother was from a large family of 21 and she shared so many stories with me. Keep doing what make you happy and it works for your family...
You old videos keep popping up on my UA-cam lol. I was laughing because in this one you say that you guys are planing on building bike shed and no you have!!! Lol. I completely agree on with you regarding living with in or below our ability does that make sense. Just because u can buy a 200,000 dollar house doesn't mean you should.
I love all of your videos! I'm a first time Mom and a lot of the things you do with your family I started doing organization wise with mine :) I worry though with you posting this video that the wrong people may watch this and use your floor plan you provided to steal from you or break in. I may be worrying too much but I just want your family to be safe.
You have a gorgeous backyard! I love the way y'all live - I'm only 21 but my fiancee and I both know we want to live as minimal as possible in the future so we can save and be debt free and be able to have experiences with our families and children, because that's something our parents were notoriously bad at. We only plan on having one or two kiddos - I'm so impressed with how you guys do it with such a big family! Love your channel. :)
I can definitely tell from your videos and from other folks with the same lifestyle! I can't wait! :) Thanks so much for responding - I'm marathoning your Large Family/Small House videos as we speak haha.
Another fascinating video! The floor plan is great. I love seeing how things fit together too! Your garden is super for the kids to play and the dog is adorable. Does he feature in any other videos? I am dog mad! X
I don't recall if Knuckles is in any videos. I suppose if he is it would probably be in something on our Day in the Life playlist. He's a really good dog. We've had him for 11 years and he's so kind and gentle with the kids and, as you can imagine, they've put him through a lot! He gets to go to the grocery store with us in Thursday nights if the weather is cool enough (since he has to stay in the car.) He knows when it's Thursday and he's the first one out the door when it's time to load up. He just thinks he's one of the kids!
Jeez you are so missed i didn’t think it was possible to miss someone so much even though I never met you I really loved watching yore new videos I still watch but your so missed I love watching older videos still hard to believe your gone I think it’s because it happened so fast Tom is doing a great job I’m on my own also but my husband left me after 30years together I also am finding it hard some days miss you Andrea.
Hello, I've subscribed. Loving your videos! Love your house! So cute and functional! I don't know what it looked like before, but from hearing about it y'all have done an amazing job saving it!
It is a blessing to have so much room to run and play! We have so many plans for things we want to build out there, plants we want to grow and adding on to the house, but one project at a time!
So glad I found your channel! I have a family of 13 and we are looking to downsize to a much smaller home. I've been watching your videos for some ideas :)
Judy, you are awesome! Triplets! Living in a smaller house presents challenges, but in the end it relieves so many pressures and builds in so much family togetherness and bonding. The only thing I wish was different about our house would be to have a bigger main room/family room. We spend so much time here and we always have so many people over it can get difficult to move around sometimes. But even then it's such a happy place no one ever seems to mind that their personal boundaries get a little violated. :)
Andrea Mills Thank you! That's exactly the reason I want a smaller house, for more family togetherness and bonding! I was so glad I found another mom of many in a small home to take inspiration from!
I think your house is wicked cute! Love the yard! 😊 I am sentimental about my house too. My husband & I bought our first house together after 10 yrs of marriage - now 1.5 yrs ago. I want to be here forever. My house is smaller then yours (just under 1100 sq ft). But we have just 4 of us. 1 bathroom. Thanks for sharing your little piece of earth. I love small houses (ranches are my favorite - what we have).
We hope to add on some day. We're also big fans of the "tiny house" movement. We'd like to help each on of the kids build one on a trailer (so it's movable) while they're in high school to give them carpentry skills, space and options to help them stay out of debt.
Andrea Mills That's really cool. I do like tiny houses, at the same time I have experienced the discomfort of trying to share a room with a sibling - maybe it's easier if that's all you've ever known. I don't necessarily agree with all of your choices but your house does look great and your family seems happy with it ^ - ^
Yes we did. When we bought our house there was one tree and some dead weeds in the yard. I wanted a pond so I started digging a hole. Tom couldn't stand seeing me out there so he took over and built it with a little help from me. I'll put it on our list of video ideas to detail how we built it and how it works.
Awesome! I cannot wait to buy our own home so we can do neat things like that for our kids. As it is we currently rent in the middle of a city in California but will be moving to Colorado where we can hopefully get a nice little home on the edge of town so we can have a small hobby farm and live less off of the city and more from our own hands :D
When my mother was in graduate school working on her MS in child development she interviewed mothers with five or more children. One family had ELEVEN kids. The mom told my mom (she only had my sister and me), "with a large family you simply have to be organized." Your house has only ONE bathroom? How does that work?
You're such a inspiration. I'm not married yet. But i was planning for my future house . I searched it and you came up. Your whole video actually gave a great idea and inspiration to make things better in the future. Thanks :)
You have such a nice house!! And your videos are great also, I just found out about you and already have subscribed ☺ By the way, do you have any plans for when your oldest get a bit older? (I don't know if this sounds super crazy, but I think it would be cool to sort of build a separate small "guest house" in a part of the open space in your yard, then you can move some of the older boys in there to give them more privacy! sorry if that sounds crazy, I'm not really sure how all that renovation stuff works 😹😭)
We hope to help each of the kids build a "tiny house" on a trailer during high school to teach them carpentry skills and give them their own space and debt-free options. We'll see how it goes.
That's always been our plan when we can do it without needing to borrow a lot of money. As for me, I'd love to add a really big living room. We always have so many visitors and there's always a party going on it seems, plus we spend most of our time together in the living room, that it would be wonderful to have more room to move around and more seating.
I can not agree more about having a small house that's not a huge burden to pay for. I know a couple with 1 child. They never planning on having more children ( I know, I can't understand that either!! LOL), but they have a 4 bedroom 4and1/2 bath, dining room, family room, full finished basement. They pay 2200.00 a month!!!!!! If one of them got sick or hurt theory would lose everything. They also have 2 vehicle payments. I mean its their lives, but I can't live like that. We paid cash for our truck, we raised kids in 2 bedrooms, our house was about the same size as yours. I need to know that if something happens, we can still pay the bills.
1600 sq.feet is considered a average house here, so it's kind of funny that it's considered a small house over there. :) We figure we don't need all that space, so we are currently looking for a 1300 sq.feet house (we only have 2 children.)
It's considered small for 10 people, I guess. It would actually be sold as an 800 sq. ft. house, but we've turned our basement into living space- half of which is devoted to our home business office. I suppose it's a matter of perspective!
It's not offensive... Yes, they're all our birth children. I've had 8 pregnancies resulting in 8 healthy babies (no twins, much to my dismay!) Five of our babies were born in the hospital, 2 were born at home with a midwife and one was born at home with just Tom and I (our best, fastest birth and also our biggest baby!)
Andrea Mills That is amazing! I love big families. I only have one child and I definitely want more children but my husband and I feel afraid since he has been having a lot of health issues. We are beginning to understand that if we have faith in God all will go well but the fear is still there sometimes. I love how close to God your family is, I hope someday my family will feel that close to our lord. Thank you so much for replying!
You're exactly describing the problem we all face- fear. We all tend to think on some level that we are powerful and in control so that we WANT to control our lives and we listen to everyone else that's an expert telling us HOW to control our lives. It's an illusion, though, because ultimately we have no control over anything but our own hearts. And when our hearts are full of faith and love, we accept God's will and cooperate with it. Then we are able to handle anything that comes our way. Anyone living by faith is somewhere along the spectrum of being ruled by faith or fear. Taking small steps of faith are what it takes to move us along day by day and then we're able to take the big steps.
Andrea Mills You are definitely correct! We gave been living in fear this whole year but we tend to start next year full of faith. I know our lord wouldn't put us through a storm we can't handle. I'm glad I came across your channel! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. I know you are very busy. God bless you and your amazing family. ♡
If you exclude our business office, we have 108 square feet per person in our family. (Our house was considered 800 sq ft before finishing our basement.)
you have a lot of land. why not expand the house? you will still have a lot of land to do what you need to do. you have enough land for another house. your kids won't be little forever and they will need more room as they grow older
It always amazes me how nothing would fluster her. Water flooding into the house she saw as a bonding experience for them while they bailed water. If only we had her calm spirit. Missing your sweet face Andrea RIP
Rewatching all videos. Watching all ads all the way through, clicking on all that I can. Hope this helps widowed Homeschool Dad of Nine.
Rest in peace, Sweet Andrea❤
Thank you for sharing your life and leaving a legacy.
WHAT?? How did she die? OMG!
Yes she passed away in August 2019 @ age 41 of aggressive cancer
wow!!! all I can say is wow.... you said everything I wish people would hear! I wish
all women would just stop and love what they have and live where they are. there is too much bigger, better, more in our America. what a breath of fresh air you are.
You have the gifts of being an Encourager and of Positive Thinking...and that is powerful.
Hi, I'm encouraged by your videos! We also have 8 kids, home school, and live in a 950 sq. ft house. It is a constant challenge to stay organized! But I am constantly reminded that this is what God provided. I am so very thankful it is affordable even through some very challenging financial times. You are a much needed example of contentment!
Your house is amazing and you are a very pretty lady with such a positive attitude! I'm so glad I stumbled across your videos and I'm looking forward to many more.
Pamela Hayes
Huge, beautiful yard!! I love that you have grown with the house, rather than grown out of the house. You're so creative!
J R their yard is very very very beautiful!!
J R t
Second time watching this & am so encouraged by the philosophy of " being happy with what you have versus what you want"
It is very interesting to see everyone's opinion of what a small house is vs. a large house. We used to live in a 975 sq ft house as a family of 6. we moved into this house which is 1600 sq ft. It feels huge to us....it is the largest house me and my husband have ever lived.
If our house was being listed for sale, it would be listed as an 800 sq. ft. house.We use our our basement as living space so I consider it 1,600 sq. ft., but it is all relative! Our bathroom seems small compared to many homes, but one time I had someone over who said, "Your bathroom is huge!" She had a truly tiny bathroom at her house.
M'Z
When my mom was little she lived in a flat of 55sq. meter (around 600sq. feet) with her brother, parents and grandparents so 6 people in the house. Right now we live in the same flat 3 adults and the house feels so tiny. I guess all depends on the way you see it XD
Hello old Friend... I’m here brainstorming how to arrange our home here with my family. I thought “duh” I should rewatch your wise videos to get ideas! I’m needing inspiration! You’re still helping others even from heaven! God bless your family left behind.
Thank you for sharing! We are a family of soon to be 8 in 996 square feet and are making it work. I'm so glad to have found your channel!
We are 6 people in a 1200 Sq ft house. We homeschool and have a home office here too. We don't have a mortgage and that makes our life so much easier.
I feel like you can turn everything into a positive :)
I want to be as organised as you when I grow up!!! Wow what an inspiration for optimising space and functionality! Thank you and God bless.
Just found your page this morning and I've taken a tour of your entire house. You are so motivational!! I have a small house around 1040 sq feet and a basement that is partially finished. We are only a family of 6 but I have always thought the house is too small. But after seeing yours I feel like I could make way better use of my space! Can't wait to learn all about your family! New sub!
* So you met and married in 7 months!! wow!! you beat us! we met and married in 11!!! lol
* I think it's brilliant that you added links to the floor plan that is so creative.
* I will be going and checking them all out. You only have 3 rooms to go to finish the whole house. :)
** And wow you only have 1 bathroom that's amazing!!
Glad to know I'm not the only quick mover! I met my husband in Feb. 2005, moved 8hrs from my home and family to live with him in June 2005, got pregnant like two weeks after I was here, married in Nov. 2005 and had our first child, a daughter in Feb 2006! All that in a year! Then I found out not long after having our daughter Ally I was pregnant again! I was due Jan 2007 but she was premature and came Nov. 2006! So within like a year and a half we met, moved in together, got preg, got married, had a baby, got preg again and had another! Crazy! I was very young but wouldn't trade any of it! You ladies seem too be very blessed too! Hope you and your families have an amazing holiday!!
Wow! That yard is enormous!
You are such a positive person. It is so refreshing to see! I am curious about your home church. About how many people attend? Do you follow any denominational lines? Love your videos!!
At the moment, we have 6 other people that come weekly and a few more that come once in awhile. (It changes from time to time as we meet new people or someone moves away.) Tom and I were both raised Southern Baptist, but we don't really consider ourselves any particular denomination anymore. Honestly, some of our ideas are shared with all denominations, but we have others that don't really fit with any denomination.
I would slope the curb to make it handicap accessible into the business, then rain could drain off. Beautiful home.
love you and your family I'm a new follower and have been thinking of the Tiny homes that I see on HGTV. how wonderful to see your beautiful and blessed home and family~ My hubby Max and I have 7 children 2 adults, 3 teens, and 2 younger so I want to make room for everyone and even for when bigger kids decide to come visit because they live out of town and so I've been praying about owning a home that is safe, secure, good land, and great area for our family So pray with us because we are renting right now and our landlord just raised our rent to a thousand from 850 month
We are a family of 8 (and counting) and we a blessed with a beautiful 800 square foot house. Small houses are easier to clean.
You have really pretty eyes. Also a very organized personality.
You are a wonder women, your Husband and children are so very LUCKY to have such a great positive Woman in their lives!! New to your channel new Subcriber.
Andrea I just wanted to thank you for your encouraging videos! I'm a mom of 6 (with #7 on the way) and we are in the middle of selling our home and moving to the country...where we will be REALLY downsizing in order to be able to make the move. I've been documenting the progress in our UA-cam channel as well.
In many ways I still feel like I'm "learning how" to be a large family mom and I'm just so thankful for your wisdom.
I feel the same way. I'm just figuring things out as I go!
Your house is lovely! I can see why you wouldn't want to move like some people suggest. I love how big your yard is. I hope to have a yard one day.
Just as you were saying "IT'S ACTUALLY FUN' & "IT'S BONDING TIME" I was thinking....HOW FUN ! I really enjoy your videos Andrea!
I've enjoyed watching your videos. We are a family of 9 in 1300 sq. ft. :-)
Compared to my house (family of 8) your home is big! Correction huge property. You are blessed ❤
Yay perfect! I've been hunting for this video to get me a better visual!
So thankful I found your channel. Ive been watching all of your videos! Keep up the great work.
Very interesting layout. Lots of land!
Very pretty little house! :) Thank you for sharing.
Brilliantly laid out!!
Brilliant use of space and beautiful yard!
what a wonderful yard. so much potential.
I absolutely agree with having a house that you can afford. I know people that have rooms in their house that they don't use! Their payments are crazy expensive! If either of them get hurt or sick theory would lose EVERYTHING!! They both have new cars with payments, payments for furniture, washer, dryer, etc. They constantly argue about money. CRAZY!
I agree she knew how to enjoy life! Her joy was palpable.
I just found you and I saw this and I was like OOOOO. That is such a nice landscape, and a beautiful house!
You have a nice big section. I think you could build a few studio rooms outside to provide more accommodation.
We are hoping to have each one of the kids build a "tiny house" in the backyard during their high school years to learn building skills and give them a place of their own until they are ready to move on someday.
That's cool, but what are you going to do about freshwater and wastewater in your tiny houses. Those are the biggest problems.
That's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it. Some houses use composting toilets. I don't know if I'd like that, but we've been researching different ideas.
I probably would just make a central kitchen/ bathroom, and have the rest of the places just be rooms.
You have a beautiful home. I especially love all the space you have outside. I have a small courtyard. I want a garden and will have to settle for a container garden...that should be interesting...lol Again lovely space ...thanx for sharing!
Wow. You're on a huge plot of land!
Your house and garden is fab, it's a proper home and I bet all the children love it there. Did you say that your mum lived in the same street? How nice if true. Don't move all the work and love in that house makes it a loving home.
I don't remember what I said about my mom, maybe that she and I were driving by and saw the For Sale sign in the window when Tom and I were first engaged. My mom passed away in 2010; I sure wish she lived down the street!
So sorry , my mum passed away four years ago. Anyway love your vidios and your family.
Your home is so warm and inviting. I love your creek, what is the water source?
Incredible yard and garden. Nice work!!
Just sub, thanks for sharing your story. I only have two children who are young adults we have had so much space I often wondered how people with so many in a family could function. My mother was from a large family of 21 and she shared so many stories with me. Keep doing what make you happy and it works for your family...
You have such a good attitude.m
Your house is amazing! I just hope that it's not cold out when you guys have bucket the water out of that slope.
You old videos keep popping up on my UA-cam lol. I was laughing because in this one you say that you guys are planing on building bike shed and no you have!!! Lol. I completely agree on with you regarding living with in or below our ability does that make sense. Just because u can buy a 200,000 dollar house doesn't mean you should.
I love all of your videos! I'm a first time Mom and a lot of the things you do with your family I started doing organization wise with mine :) I worry though with you posting this video that the wrong people may watch this and use your floor plan you provided to steal from you or break in. I may be worrying too much but I just want your family to be safe.
We decided early on that God is in control and we're not going to worry about it.
You have a gorgeous backyard! I love the way y'all live - I'm only 21 but my fiancee and I both know we want to live as minimal as possible in the future so we can save and be debt free and be able to have experiences with our families and children, because that's something our parents were notoriously bad at. We only plan on having one or two kiddos - I'm so impressed with how you guys do it with such a big family! Love your channel. :)
You will never be sorry choosing to live a small, contented life. There is so much happiness in it!
I can definitely tell from your videos and from other folks with the same lifestyle! I can't wait! :) Thanks so much for responding - I'm marathoning your Large Family/Small House videos as we speak haha.
I am enjoying all the videos from the beginning.
🌻 ((hugs)) for the family.
Your house is just so cute & cozy! Love it so much, thanks for sharing :)
Another fascinating video! The floor plan is great. I love seeing how things fit together too! Your garden is super for the kids to play and the dog is adorable. Does he feature in any other videos? I am dog mad! X
I don't recall if Knuckles is in any videos. I suppose if he is it would probably be in something on our Day in the Life playlist. He's a really good dog. We've had him for 11 years and he's so kind and gentle with the kids and, as you can imagine, they've put him through a lot! He gets to go to the grocery store with us in Thursday nights if the weather is cool enough (since he has to stay in the car.) He knows when it's Thursday and he's the first one out the door when it's time to load up. He just thinks he's one of the kids!
Jeez you are so missed i didn’t think it was possible to miss someone so much even though I never met you I really loved watching yore new videos I still watch but your so missed I love watching older videos still hard to believe your gone I think it’s because it happened so fast Tom is doing a great job I’m on my own also but my husband left me after 30years together I also am finding it hard some days miss you Andrea.
love how much land you have.
Do you have a video on how you get your 3 girls in a room together? I would love to see one if you don't!
This video shows their room. ua-cam.com/video/q_1F1R2VZ2U/v-deo.html
Andrea Mills n
I know this is an old comment and I haven't seen her other video yet but loft beds work wonderfully.
Also with loft beds, you can use a sheet on each side to make it enclosed and like their own room.
New to your channel. Just subbed. Love your house. 😘
Hello, I've subscribed. Loving your videos! Love your house! So cute and functional! I don't know what it looked like before, but from hearing about it y'all have done an amazing job saving it!
i wish i had a yard as big as yours! also your house doesnt seem very small to me, its very cute as well
It is a blessing to have so much room to run and play! We have so many plans for things we want to build out there, plants we want to grow and adding on to the house, but one project at a time!
Andrea Mills :)
You all are so wise
So glad I found your channel! I have a family of 13 and we are looking to downsize to a much smaller home. I've been watching your videos for some ideas :)
Judy, you are awesome! Triplets! Living in a smaller house presents challenges, but in the end it relieves so many pressures and builds in so much family togetherness and bonding. The only thing I wish was different about our house would be to have a bigger main room/family room. We spend so much time here and we always have so many people over it can get difficult to move around sometimes. But even then it's such a happy place no one ever seems to mind that their personal boundaries get a little violated. :)
Andrea Mills Thank you! That's exactly the reason I want a smaller house, for more family togetherness and bonding! I was so glad I found another mom of many in a small home to take inspiration from!
Do you do videos too? I'd love to see how a family of 13 copes!
Sheila S No sorry :) I am a little nervous about putting my kids on the internet because I unfortunately see a lot of creeps around.
judy hill One of my aunt and uncle have 13 kids😐
This was fun to see.
What a beautiful home. Ideal
❤️miss you
I think your house is wicked cute! Love the yard! 😊 I am sentimental about my house too. My husband & I bought our first house together after 10 yrs of marriage - now 1.5 yrs ago. I want to be here forever. My house is smaller then yours (just under 1100 sq ft). But we have just 4 of us. 1 bathroom. Thanks for sharing your little piece of earth. I love small houses (ranches are my favorite - what we have).
P.S. My basement is unfinished. Just a laundry area. So, my sq footage does not include that.
If your kids get older and want to have more space do you think you could build something in all of that garden space?
We hope to add on some day. We're also big fans of the "tiny house" movement. We'd like to help each on of the kids build one on a trailer (so it's movable) while they're in high school to give them carpentry skills, space and options to help them stay out of debt.
Andrea Mills That's really cool. I do like tiny houses, at the same time I have experienced the discomfort of trying to share a room with a sibling - maybe it's easier if that's all you've ever known. I don't necessarily agree with all of your choices but your house does look great and your family seems happy with it ^ - ^
I LOOOVE the small stream! Once we buy a home I want to make one as well. Did you make it yourself and if so I would love to see how you did!
Yes we did. When we bought our house there was one tree and some dead weeds in the yard. I wanted a pond so I started digging a hole. Tom couldn't stand seeing me out there so he took over and built it with a little help from me. I'll put it on our list of video ideas to detail how we built it and how it works.
Awesome! I cannot wait to buy our own home so we can do neat things like that for our kids. As it is we currently rent in the middle of a city in California but will be moving to Colorado where we can hopefully get a nice little home on the edge of town so we can have a small hobby farm and live less off of the city and more from our own hands :D
That sounds wonderful! We'll be state neighbors then!
Are you going to do a girls room tour?
first time I heard you had a garden!
When my mother was in graduate school working on her MS in child development she interviewed mothers with five or more children. One family had ELEVEN kids. The mom told my mom (she only had my sister and me), "with a large family you simply have to be organized." Your house has only ONE bathroom? How does that work?
You're such a inspiration. I'm not married yet. But i was planning for my future house . I searched it and you came up. Your whole video actually gave a great idea and inspiration to make things better in the future. Thanks :)
I absolutely love your videos!
You have such a nice house!! And your videos are great also, I just found out about you and already have subscribed ☺ By the way, do you have any plans for when your oldest get a bit older? (I don't know if this sounds super crazy, but I think it would be cool to sort of build a separate small "guest house" in a part of the open space in your yard, then you can move some of the older boys in there to give them more privacy! sorry if that sounds crazy, I'm not really sure how all that renovation stuff works 😹😭)
We hope to help each of the kids build a "tiny house" on a trailer during high school to teach them carpentry skills and give them their own space and debt-free options. We'll see how it goes.
+Andrea Mills Sounds awesome, lucky kids! ☺
i love your house is so relaxing :D
have you ever thought to expand the house ?
That's always been our plan when we can do it without needing to borrow a lot of money. As for me, I'd love to add a really big living room. We always have so many visitors and there's always a party going on it seems, plus we spend most of our time together in the living room, that it would be wonderful to have more room to move around and more seating.
This is so cute!
the yard big man uno can add on
U have a really lovely garden :)
Hi, I am a new subscriber. I loved your philosophy on life and living.
It's nice to meet you!
Cute house!
I can not agree more about having a small house that's not a huge burden to pay for. I know a couple with 1 child. They never planning on having more children ( I know, I can't understand that either!! LOL), but they have a 4 bedroom 4and1/2 bath, dining room, family room, full finished basement. They pay 2200.00 a month!!!!!! If one of them got sick or hurt theory would lose everything. They also have 2 vehicle payments. I mean its their lives, but I can't live like that. We paid cash for our truck, we raised kids in 2 bedrooms, our house was about the same size as yours. I need to know that if something happens, we can still pay the bills.
I agree I don't know why people do this!!!
1600 sq.feet is considered a average house here, so it's kind of funny that it's considered a small house over there. :) We figure we don't need all that space, so we are currently looking for a 1300 sq.feet house (we only have 2 children.)
It's considered small for 10 people, I guess. It would actually be sold as an 800 sq. ft. house, but we've turned our basement into living space- half of which is devoted to our home business office. I suppose it's a matter of perspective!
Cute house.
i have to have that done to my house i am on social security so wondering how much it cost
Our basement repair was around $30,000, I think.
beautiful
I'm sorry to ask and I hope you don't find this offensive but are all of your children your birth children? I'm just curious, I love your house!
It's not offensive... Yes, they're all our birth children. I've had 8 pregnancies resulting in 8 healthy babies (no twins, much to my dismay!) Five of our babies were born in the hospital, 2 were born at home with a midwife and one was born at home with just Tom and I (our best, fastest birth and also our biggest baby!)
Andrea Mills
That is amazing! I love big families. I only have one child and I definitely want more children but my husband and I feel afraid since he has been having a lot of health issues. We are beginning to understand that if we have faith in God all will go well but the fear is still there sometimes. I love how close to God your family is, I hope someday my family will feel that close to our lord.
Thank you so much for replying!
You're exactly describing the problem we all face- fear. We all tend to think on some level that we are powerful and in control so that we WANT to control our lives and we listen to everyone else that's an expert telling us HOW to control our lives. It's an illusion, though, because ultimately we have no control over anything but our own hearts. And when our hearts are full of faith and love, we accept God's will and cooperate with it. Then we are able to handle anything that comes our way. Anyone living by faith is somewhere along the spectrum of being ruled by faith or fear. Taking small steps of faith are what it takes to move us along day by day and then we're able to take the big steps.
Andrea Mills
You are definitely correct! We gave been living in fear this whole year but we tend to start next year full of faith. I know our lord wouldn't put us through a storm we can't handle. I'm glad I came across your channel! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. I know you are very busy. God bless you and your amazing family. ♡
did you do a girls room tour
Yes: here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/q_1F1R2VZ2U/v-deo.html
+Andrea Mills thanks
❤ thx👍
Home school ?
do you home school your kids (sorry im really new)
Yes, we've homeschooled our kids from the very beginning.
Just a heads up, rabbits need at least 4 square feet of space and shouldn't be placed on mesh flooring. They also need 24 hours of hay access.
He's got a standard size cage with a partial wood floor and hay most of the time.
Dani_lolik
❤️
why didn't you guts get a battery backup for your sump pump I have two batteries
Where is the us are you?
yall should really save money and renovate ur house to make it bigger over all tht yard space like damn thts so bigg
1600 sq feet?? That huge compared to mine.. mine is 987 sq feet..
If you exclude our business office, we have 108 square feet per person in our family. (Our house was considered 800 sq ft before finishing our basement.)
Are you going to have more kids?
Subscribed 😀Xx
you have a lot of land. why not expand the house? you will still have a lot of land to do what you need to do. you have enough land for another house. your kids won't be little forever and they will need more room as they grow older
We will when we can do it without needing to borrow a lot of money. We'd rather be cramped and "free" than live in a big house with uncertainty.
why not just go outside?