JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- It will be a Christmas to remember for the Mitchell family.
Tuesday Troy Mitchell and his wife Vickie Parsons put pen to paper to close on their first home on Atchison Street in east Jefferson City.
"We knew we'd be in a house someday," Troy said. "But we never really dreamed that we'd have a brand new house that was just built and we'd get to be the first people to live in it."
Their family has been working on the house since May, when Habitat officials approved their application.
Other homes out there were just too small for their family of seven, or too expensive.
"It’s Christmas and there's a lot of love that goes into a Habitat House and you'd have to be a real Scrooge not to get excited when someone's getting a house at Christmas," River City Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Kelly Smith said.
Both Troy and Vickie have full-time jobs and five kids between age nine and 16.
But that hasn't stopped them from putting in the required 450 hours of "sweat equity."
Troy and Vickie worked 10 hours a week on both their home and another Habitat house.
Jefferson City area Lutheran churches also helped build Troy and Vickie's home.
While the home is only about 1,500 sq. ft., it’s one of the biggest local Habitat houses. It has six bedrooms, so each child has a room of their own.
"The kids are excited," Troy said. "Having their own rooms is probably the best Christmas present that they'll ever have."
Habitat officials are quick to point out this is not a hand-out program.
Troy and Vickie will pay the cost of building the home through a 25-year, no interest loan. Their payments go towards funding a build for another deserving family.
"They're going to have that empowerment and that sense of home ownership and not that something's been given to them," Smith said.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a financial services organization, also helped fund the project.
And Troy and Vickie said that's a dream come true.
"There's no way I can put into words the joy and everything that this is bringing to my family," Troy said.
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