Darren & Sue

We really don’t think of ourselves as anything out of the ordinary, but we know that we have been fiercely blessed. Married fairly young, over 30 years ago, we prayed often to be used by God and to do His will. As parents of 4 grown children and as many grandchildren, we feel much of our lives is centered around faith and family. Our main goals often focus on our relationship with God and our relationship with others.

Most of our projects were born out of necessity. We were doing our own thing before we even heard of the fashionable coined DIY phrase. Starting out with very little in the way of money, we learned quickly that our prior childhood experiences and skills would serve us well. Darren grew up on farm, driving tractor at 8, and planting crops soon after that. He began fixing whatever he could at a young age. I grew up with 8 siblings on a small hobby farm. My parents modeled do-it-yourself my whole life. I learned to bale hay, garden and can, raise chickens, pigs, ducks, and cows and how to feed large crowds. My dad taught me how to cut shingles for roofs, mix concrete and lay cement blocks. My mom modeled hard work and reminded us we could do almost anything we put our mind to. When I look back, I don’t remember a project that my parents weren’t willing to tackle. Just this past year, my dad (now in his late 70’s) shared pictures of the walls they were plastering and painting, and raised beds they created and were harvesting from.

Trying to keep expenses down, Darren and I have studded walls, pulled electrical wires, drywalled, and plastered. We have painted, hung cabinets, and laid floors. We’ve built and dismantled garden sheds, added decks and sunrooms, tilled and planted lawns and gardens, renovated a camper and designed and built 3 full basements.

We finally feel that we can create things that we have wanted to try before, but other priority projects needed to come first. Lately, we moved on to creating bedroom sets, outdoor benches and crafts. Darren’s known for his ability to make it up as he goes along, and for the most part this has served him well. He can also be heard using the phrase, “How did that happen?”, but in the end always seems to figure it out. I’m sure many of you can relate. We made plenty of mistakes and had numerous successes. But most of all, we have learned…A LOT! We would love to share some of the things we have learned, things that worked for us and may in turn work for you.

We really don’t use anything fancy, and most of our projects are made of ordinary material or repurposed items. It’s fun to watch these regular things turn into new and exciting projects. We sure hope that’s how God feels about us as he fashions us, just ordinary people, into His work of art.