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A Very Modest Cottage Giveaway

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Welcome to day 2 of Wandawega Week! If you missed day 1, click here.

Today, we’re giving away a signed copy of Tereasa’s book, A Very Modest Cottage. If you’d like a chance to win it, just leave us a comment on this post between today (Tuesday, August 9th) and Thursday, August 11th at noon (Central Time).

But before you scroll down to comment, I’d like to share with you a few more gorgeous Wandawega photos, and a very special blog post Tereasa wrote about her Dad, Tom Surratt. It’s filled with love and heaps of hope, and I’m sure you’ll be as touched by it as I was…

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“An old car, a decrepit piece of furniture, a rusty old tractor, an abandoned cottage is never beyond hope. They just need to find someone who’ll believe in them.

Tom Surratt believed.

He didn’t see a worthless, geriatric farm machine that was too far gone. He had a gift to see the youth, the former self, the beauty in everything. He saw his grandson one day driving that tractor down Main street in the annual Beardstown Fall Fun Festival Parade. He didn’t see a rust bucket of a pick-up that was beyond repair. He envisioned the ‘country limoisine’ his son Sam would drive his bride Tara home in on their wedding night.

Tom’s ability to see potential where most saw junk was a gift he passed on to every member of his family. His son Sam can bring pretty much anything with an engine back to life again. And again. And again. His daughters Amy, Lisa and Holly married men cut from the same cloth. Men who know that the right combination of ambition, duct tape, and elbow grease make all things possible. His wife, Kay, held Tom’s hope in her heart as she hammered, nailed, painted, and restored half a dozen condemned properties into loving homes for low income families with her two hands. And my father Tom inspired me to see the beauty locked within an abandoned cabin bound for the wrecking ball. I saw a quiet, happy place where Dad could go to read his books and listen to his grandkids and watch the clouds roll by.

Dad didn’t make it to see the rebirth of the modest cottage.

Or to witness his grandson – with a grin a mile wide – old enough to pilot that old international Harvester tractor down Main street and win best of show for antique restorations. But his ability to dream and hope and believe lives on.

I hope this little story of a resurrection inspires you (like my Dad inspired me) to think twice before you lose faith in that old car, that weathered piece of furniture, that old tractor, or even an old, abandoned cottage.

(Tereasa’s Grandpa, holding up her Dad)

Even the most modest of projects can be become something beautiful. There is no such thing as too far gone. With hope and a hammer, I believe there is always a way.”

– Tereasa Surratt, author of A Very Modest Cottage

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(Photos 1, 2, 3, & 5 courtesy of Mary at at Home Is Where The Boat Is. Photos 4 & 6: AVeryModestCottage.blogspot.com)

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. lynda

    Oh my. this place is amazing and the labor of love even more so. thanks for sharing. tahnsk for teh give away.

    Lynda

  6. Skuba

    We’re fixing up an old house right now, last summer we put a brand new basement where there was once only a crawl space, the other day someone who knew me and the former residents came up to thank me for keeping the old house and not just tearing it down. It’s the first time I realized we weren’t just doing this for us. And since it was my dad’s, grandparents and my great grand parents house I completely understand how they got to the point of saving that old cottage.

  9. debi Brown

    Thank you for offering this book. I would love to win this and take it with me to read as we are taking our son back to college. Long road trip and it will help me as I will miss him so.

  10. Heather

    This post was inspiring as I myself and currently in the process of renovating my home. Awesome ideas and personality!

  12. Sarah

    I got chills reading this post… the idea that beauty lives beneath rust and dust is a principle I live by! We’re living in a time when going back to our roots would do a lot of us a lot of good… this book should be cherished.

  13. Jen Jeschke

    What a touching story! Her book looks amazing and I would be so happy to own it 🙂 Thanks again for all you do.

  17. Jenn

    I’ve really enjoyed seeing the photos of the camp and cottages! Our family has a small cabin in the mountains and I’d love to give it some of the touches and look that the Modest Cottage has. Thanks for sharing this with us!

  21. Duff Dunagan

    You can tell alot of love, soul and heart goes into her projects. I’m sure the book tells the story – the little we’ve viewed is amazing.

  22. Kimberly M.

    Great story, great photos. Would love to win the book to see the rest . . . (if not, I’ll buy it, though!) Thanks for the chance :>

  25. Amy McC

    Everything has value! Love this story and miss my dad…he was a renassaince man and a cottage kinda guy. He’s been gone 7 years this September.

  26. Cyndy

    Wonderful storyteller – I just finished reading about the treehouse in Tom’s honor. Beautiful, clever and inspired. I would love a copy of Tereasa’s book.

  29. Abbey

    I’m dying to visit Wandawega! and have started plotting buying my own cabin to fix up.

  30. Ashley

    Sounds like a great read! What amazes me about a story like this is that it’s such a parallel to how God sees us. We are never too far gone. He looks at all our flaws; our broken and run-down pieces and says ‘Oh the potential I see in you!’

  36. Meggan

    Wandawega is so inspiring! I bought this book for my mom and would love a copy of my own! I live in MN, so I have a special place in my heart for northern woods!