Give the seven children of David and Heather Payton credit. They sat still for 40 minutes Friday while adults talked about sacrifice and patriotism and what a great guy their dad is.
The whole time, they eyed that red ribbon. Behind it was a door that opened to their new house.
Their free new house.
At long last, the grown-ups finally finished.
Snip! Dad cut the ribbon. Mom opened the door. The kids thundered inside.
Their parents? Dad didn’t know what to say, and mom choked out a few words — “grateful” and “awesome” were a couple.
Payton, a former Marine staff sergeant who was badly wounded while deployed in Iraq, became the recipient of a new home Friday to accommodate his large (and getting larger) family. They got it free and clear, courtesy of the builder, PulteGroup.
The family is moving from a smaller house in Woodstock to the two-story, five-bedroom and four-bath home. It's located in Harmony on the Lakes, a Cherokee County subdivision in Holly Springs, 45 miles north of Atlanta. Homes in the young subdivision sell in the $280,000 range, Pulte officials say.
Payton, who cannot see, listened as his wife described each room. With daughter Faith in one arm, he reached out with the other to touch walls, doors. His white gloves, Marine Corps-issue, picked up not a trace of dust.
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”
Nor did his wife, who married her man after his return from Iraq. Yes, he was wounded. No, she didn’t care.
“I can’t tell you how much this means,” she said. “This is just mind-blowing.”
They had known each other for decades, but time and circumstances meant they didn’t get together until early 2005. By then, Payton’s tour of duty in Iraq had ended — suddenly. He was sleeping in his compound in Iraq when as a rocket-propelled grenade struck it, igniting chemicals that severely burned his lungs and eyes.
In spite of four cornea transplants, Payton’s vision faded, and eventually failed.
They married in April 2005. The children came in rapid succession: twins Nathan and Callie, 9; Taylor, 7; David Jr., 6; Grace, 3; and twins Faith and Hope, 1. They’ll soon have a sibling: Heather Payton is due to deliver in November.
They learned that Pulte had a program, Built to Honor, that gives homes to wounded veterans. Since the program's inception two years ago, Pulte has given away 30. The builder works with Operation Finally Home, a nonprofit dedicated to finding housing for wounded veterans. The Paytons applied for one.
“We thought it would be like putting our name in a raffle,” said Heather Payton.
They learned, instead, that the family of nine had already been given the home.
It’s a fine structure, with a two-car garage and scalloped siding over the front porch. In the yard is a young hardwood, still staked to the earth. In the backyard is a play structure. It may not be big enough.
“It doesn’t feel real yet,” Heather Payton said.
Pulte, which has built more than 650,000 homes, was happy to donate the 2,800-square-foot structure to the Paytons, said Harmon Smith, the builder’s executive vice president of field operations.
Each Pulte home, he said, is special. “But the houses we’ve built under Built to Honor are just a little more special.”
The kids, meantime, were busy getting acquainted with new rooms. Three girls oohed over their bedroom, a sunny spot painted in shades of pink, gray and white. Across the hall, David Jr. and Nathan bounced on a bunk bed.
“I call top!” Nathan crowed.
“No!” David yelled back. “I get top!”
A few minutes later, they discovered the play structure outdoors. While the adults toured the house and kept on talking, the children of Heather and David Payton began sliding and swinging, making their new house their new home.
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