 For many, unforeseen setbacks and uncontrollable circumstances put a halt on their quest for the American dream. Yes, we were looking to buy double wide before all of this happened and then my husband was one of the coal miners at the time that started going through the layoff and being a mom with three kids, my oldest was a teenager in high school, played football and didn't ever want his friends to come over because he was embarrassed. And that's when Susie Miller and her family found out about Habitat for Humanity and like most of us, she wasn't familiar with the program. When one of my friends actually encouraged me to apply, I thought well no, there's no way they're not going to give me a house, they're not going to give me a house and then I had to learn that they don't give you a house, they give you an opportunity. We do have a house payment, that's something most people don't know but the house payment includes property taxes and it includes the insurance and it's very affordable. Susie and her family moved into their new home in the Robinson Heights subdivision two years ago. Work is being done now on Habitat Home on Cowpen where every day a group of volunteers roll up their sleeves and help. They're professionals and get this house framed up and framed up in the right way, good strong on that, that's why I can use contractors, they know what they're doing. Construction manager Brent Thompson has been building homes for years and he says Habitat Homes are no different than any others. These are built very strong, energy efficient, as I say, I've been a builder over 40 some years, I've built up to 600,000, 800,000 houses on that and I do the same with these on this. We use two to six walls, we're building on slabs, this one's going to have a brick front. Habitat for Humanity Homes are affordable thanks to contractors who donate their time and businesses that donate supplies but a big part of the manpower comes from the homeowners themselves. One of the requirements to receive a Habitat home is that the person must also work on their soon to be home. It's called sweat equity. Well I hope we make that clear, sweat equity doesn't just come out and help them, help them to build your house. So I work with them to help them to do what they can do on their house, you know paint, whatever trim, whatever they can do, clean up, yard work, anything, anything counts as long as they're working on a Habitat project, it don't have to be their house, it can be another house for Habitat. I learned to use the hammer and nails, I've learned to use power tools but not only this house but we've also helped with others. I put the insulation up underneath one house up there. We worked on some of the drywall, another one I just sweat, I could tell you who helped me work in which room and I watched it come together piece by piece, day by day. So it was full of memories before we ever even moved in and it actually inspired me to do a summer of service with my children so when everybody else was going on vacation that year we volunteered anywhere we could go because I wanted them to give back to the community that had given us this opportunity. Sandy Valley Habitat for Humanity is accepting applications now for its newest subdivision on CalPen which will be called Birdzoll Valley. We probably got around 20 some lots at the other site, you know we're just waiting on the infrastructure, you know get approved, get in on that. We've got to have people qualified you know to apply. Any potential homeowner who's thinking about it is contact the office which is 606-437-4011 Donna Casey and she will mail them application and help them walk through it. You just apply, ask questions, you know the house is available. The best experience I've ever had in my life and having a home there's nothing like having a piece of place on earth that this is yours. You've worked hard for it. You've got a place to come home to.