Hello,
You probably know that we try not to flog the fundraising around here. We want to be content, and are chiefly in need of your prayers anyway. However, today I set up a GoFundMe to raise money to pull out our swimming pool and put in a backyard that Stefan Thomas Miner can play in more safely. With the current setup, it's hard to run around in the backyard, so the boys mostly play out front. This is a no-go for Stefi. So, we'd like to tackle this, and we are thankful for help along the way!
Here is the link to our fundraiser, if you wish to visit or share it. We are always humbled by how people show love.
https://www.gofundme.com/a-backyard-for-stefan
In Christ,
Papa
I'm always sorry to see a pool go when they can benefit children with special needs so much, but I do understand your safety concerns. We love our pool and it is a ton of work to watch my kids in it and to get them all cleaned up again afterward, but it's been a blessing since it provides low impact aerobic exercise for them and a relaxing haven for me when I'm in it without them. Will removing it affect your property value?
ReplyDeleteWe have a huge yard and I've been trying to come up with a landscape design that will help me make the most of it, but I admit I'm stumped. I know I need to move our fence to enclose the entire backyard, which will about double it, but we need more shade, a food garden, and I need to find the best place for the place structure that has been unassembled in my carport for the last 4 years!
Do you already know what you want or did you have to research ideas? If so, what sources did you use?
K, thank you for your thoughts. The pool has been of pretty limited benefit to Ana, since she hates the heat & bright sun. I could certainly see Stefi benefiting some from it, but both Grandmas, all the neighbors, and our godparents all have pools. Swimming pools are very common in Phoenix.
DeleteYes, removing it will affect our property value, but that's pretty irrelevant to us, since we concluded that we wouldn't move for some time. Living in the house is more important to us than maximizing a funny-money estimate that is inaccessible without major life disruption... and besides, the pool would require considerable updating prior to sale.
It's sounds lovely to have a huge yard - we don't, and we're trying to optimize the 7000sqft we have! A play structure is the end goal, I would like to install it this summer, and there's no place to put it with the pool in existence.
We welcome ideas, but this is the fruit of much discussion and thought. (And I'm the one who is more in favor of the pool - Mama is much more ruthless.)
Thankful for Stefan's impending arrival and appreciate how this will allay concerns. (Having grandparents with pools will be helpful, too!)
ReplyDeleteHave you thought of contacting Make A Wish? I just did and they got back to me in a few days. My wish for my kids was a backyard job, but they also suggested adding to it a sensory room. I already have a PT room that's got quite a lot, but I don't have anything to hang swinging stuff from and I've been dreaming of one of those free-standing frames that can support all the swinging goodies from the cocoon net to the swinging log. With three kids in PT, OT or both and a fourth who could benefit from it, I thought it was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I've been doing is looking at open homes for sale. Some have great landscaping ideas. Other ideas come from other families with kids with special needs. Pictures online, but they are hard to find when I'm just searching for ideas that I've not conceived of yet myself.