Our Stamp in the Earth: Excavation Day
Excavation, Foundation, and the Magic of Living the Dream in Real Time
We officially have our hole dug.
Our foundation is completely carved out.
And listen—I know I keep saying this at every stage—but there’s something monumental about this one. This is our literal stamp into the earth. The first big declaration that says:
We’re here. This matters. This is ours.
⬅️ There she is in all her glory!
Last night, I found myself thinking about how much I love Mark.
How we’re the kind of people—and the kind of couple—who actually do what we say we’re going to do.
We said we’d change how we were together. And we did.
We said we’d start going to the racetrack. We got the toy hauler, and we go.
We said we were getting married in Saint Lucia. We did.
We said we’d build a house. And we are.
Here’s the funny thing about us:
We don’t wait until we have all the answers, or the perfect timing, or the “extra” money.
We just go. We chase what matters to us—and somehow, here we are.
The Messy Morning Surprise
The day the excavators arrived to start digging, everything was moving smoothly—until it wasn’t.
Not even an hour into the dig, we hit something unexpected: a drain tile.
Suddenly—water everywhere.
Spraying into the space that would eventually become our basement.
They had to stop the dig right then and there. Before anything else could move forward, they had to track the tile outside the dig zone, carefully excavate it, cap it off, and make sure the water stopped flowing.
It was messy.
It was annoying.
But honestly? It was handled like the top-notch pros they all are!
That little moment—the mud, the pause, the course correction—could’ve turned into a major delay or a panic for someone who didn’t know what to do. But the team stayed calm.
And while I’m certain there was some choice language flying through the W. Newburg air at that point… they fixed it, cleaned it up, and kept right on going.
The whole thing passed as quickly as it came.
And that’s when it really hit me:
A good builder doesn’t need to see the unseeable.
They just need to know how to fix it.
They don’t throw a Band-Aid on it or do what’s easiest for today at the cost of a problem tomorrow. They solve it right, even when the solution is messy, unexpected, or inconvenient.
That’s what you’re paying for.
The Lesson in the Dirt
Later that evening, when we brought the kids to the land, they ran around playing tag as Mark quietly surveyed the dig site with his hands on his hips—classic.
That’s when I saw it.
We’re not just dreaming anymore.
We’re in the dream.
Standing in the middle of it, covered in dirt and scraped knees and late-night decisions and big, beautiful unknowns.
And nothing brings peace quite like realizing—
This is our life. And it’s beautiful.
On the drive home, Isaiah—our 8-year-old—looked confused.
“Mom,” he said, “if you dug a hole first… how will you build on top of it?”
Nova piped in before I could answer:
“A basement!”
She was right. But the question opened the door for something more.
Mark and I explained that the very first step in building a home is digging the foundation.
You have to tear into the earth—make a mess—before you can build something that lasts.
You dig first. You deal with the roots. The rocks. The unexpected.
You lay the footings, pour the walls, waterproof, backfill—all of it happens in the hole.
The mess comes before the magic.
A Final Thought
Whether you’re building a literal house, a family, or a new season of your life—
You’re going to hit a drain tile or two.
Something unexpected is going to spray muddy water all over your plans.
And that moment will either shake you—or shape you.
The key isn’t seeing everything coming.
It’s knowing how to respond when it does.
And if you’re lucky, you’ll have someone standing next to you—hands on hips, calm as ever—ready to fix it and keep going.
Because beautiful things really can grow from the dirt.
- Cassie
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