The buildings would be somewhere between a facade and a real structure. I want to build a small one-room cabin with a wood burning stove inside that would be great for hot chocolate and story telling/reading well into the night. I also want to build a Mercantile that is actually a shed containing stores for the house as well as things that Heather has jarred or canned. I want to build an Inn or Hotel facade that contains the entrance to a stairway that goes down into the cellar that I plan to dig. It will be a large den-like room with a couple of pull-out-bed sofas, a coffee table, maybe a Foosball table or something, ideally a restroom, and maybe a large closet on one side for storage of things like board games and other fun indoor activities. It would be a great place for friends and family to sleep over if they don't want to make the long drive home right away, also a great place to hang out if we're having trouble sweating out the heat of a lazy summer day (underground it's much cooler). Of course this would be complete with an old west looking (and fully functioning) windmill and a rain-harvesting water tower with the words Dusty Acres on it. We want to be as off the grid as possible, so these types of things will probably litter our property. We will also have some fully solar lighting outside that should stay lit for several hours after sundown.
I also would like to have a small church facade with not much inside but a couple of short pews and a cross at the front, and maybe a small kneeler in front of the cross. It would be awesome to have a little prayer chapel on our property. There would be a couple of other fronts on these rooms too to make it look more like a town. Maybe we could get an old stage to set around somewhere eventually. I think I will make one of the structures into a recording studio as well. They won't be any bigger than little garden sheds, but I want them all to be functional, not just storage. It would be awesome to have a Saloon as well that actually has a wet bar in it. Also at some point I plan to build a small wall (or use one that is already there) to show drive-in movies on at certain times of the year.
I want our ranch to be kind of a welcoming hospitality oasis where people can feel comfortable and where they can share their lives with us. It will be a place constantly bathed with prayer and where the young, the old, the sick, the confused, the happy, the sad, can all come and enjoy a little respite from their ordinary lives. A retreat of sorts. A place where God shines through the festivities and breaks into people's lives like a thief in the night. A place where love and compassion and forgiveness and conviction can all be felt at the same time. A place where people love to come to because they know that God is in their midst when they are there. That's the kind of house that I want to live in. One day, our humble Dusty Acres will be a hopping boom town where sinners go to die and are then raised again with Christ as their center.
Grace,
Jeremy
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