Her husband left her, so she took her children and ran away from home and what she did will amaze you!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, they say. Well, we are all well aware that this is something better said than done, but the truth is that when we put our mind to something and work really hard for it, nothing is impossible. Cara Brookins found herself in an abusive marriage. Being a mom of five, she knew she needed to save her children from the toxic environment they were forced to live in, so she left her husband, took her kids with her,

and built herself a new home from scratch. How she did do it? By drawing construction plans all by herself and watching YouTube videos that taught her how to lay a foundation, build a wall, run a gas line, and install plumbing, among other building techniques. This sounds incredible, doesn’t it? When she thinks about it at this point, she realizes that it does seem impossible the whole way through!

At the time she started building her family’s new home in 2007, Cara, who worked as a computer programmer analyst, couldn’t afford to buy a home that would be comfortable enough for all of her children, and that’s when she came up with the idea to build it from the ground up. “It felt like, ‘If anyone were in our situation, they would do this,’” Cara said. “No one else saw it like this, and in retrospect, I realize it sounds insane.

She purchased a one-acre land for $20,000 and got a construction loan of roughly $150,000. Her kids, with the oldest being 17 at the time and the youngest one just 2, got involved in the building of their 3,500-square-foot home. Her son Drew helped her with the creation of the plans, while 11-year-old Jada used buckets to transport water from the neighbor’s pond, as there was no running water on-site.

She then combined it with eighty-pound bags of concrete to create the foundation mortar. Every day after school, the kids would go to the site and assist with the construction. For the most difficult tasks, this determined mother hired a part-time firefighter with construction experience for $25 per hour. “He was a step ahead of us in terms of knowledge,” she recalled.

The family finally moved to Inkwell Manor on March 31, 2009, named after Cara’s dream of becoming a writer. “We were mortified that building our own shelter was our only option,” Cara explained. “We weren’t particularly proud of it, but it turned out to be the most beneficial thing I could have done for myself.” “If I can build an entire house as a 110-pound computer programmer,” she said, “you can do anything you set your mind to.”

“Decide on a single goal and stick to it,” she continued. Find that big thing you want to do, take baby steps toward it, and bring others who need to heal along for the ride. That carries a lot of weight.” Isn’t this one of the most amazing stories you’ve heard in a long time? If you are as inspired as we are by this family’s perseverance, please SHARE their incredible story with your family and friends on Facebook!

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