http://www.navajotimes.com/entertainment/110807makeover.php

Home at last

Yazzie family enjoying house, overwhelmed by celebrity

By Cindy Yurth
Navajo Times

PINON, Ariz. , Nov. 8, 2007

A recent morning found Georgia Yazzie relaxing in her sunny living room,
listening to the soothing strains of Carlos Nakai on the stereo.

It was a far cry from Oct. 28 when a houseful of relatives had gathered to
join the Yazzie family as they watched themselves on TV, reliving the
experience of having a new house built for them by the television show
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." "It was pretty emotional, to feel all
those feelings again," Yazzie said.

Subtle daylight filtered in through the skylights in the ceiling, lighting
up the custom furniture, central fireplace and raw pine ceiling beams of
Yazzie's new hogan-style house.

"Sometimes I just go from room to room and sit, just enjoying it," said
Yazzie, who suffered head and spinal injuries in an automobile accident
last year and is presently using a wheelchair, though her goal is to walk
by Christmas.

But just because we caught Yazzie in a rare idle moment, don't assume
that's how her life has been lately. The completely accessible home has
allowed her to care for her family again.

"I can cook, I can wash dishes, I can be a mom again," she said with a
grin. She can also bathe herself, something that was difficult in the
family's dilapidated trailer with no running water. The new home features
her own fully accessible bathroom and shower.

Unlike the trailer, the new house sports a bedroom each for Yazzie, her
daughter Gwen (who used to share a room with her mom) and son Garrett, who
is currently attending St. Mary's Preparatory School in Orchard Lake, Mich.

A smaller, attached hogan is home to Yazzie's grown daughter Geralene, her
partner MacKenzieWillie and their two children, MacQuincy and Kenneth
Willie.

Garrett's room sports a BMX theme, with parts from 30 bicycles (some of
them are whole and rideable, and he took two with him to Michigan).

Garrett also has a "mad scientist room" with a computer, telescope,
microscope and a bunch of strange-looking instrumentation Georgia has no
idea about. Garrett's old school, Pinon Junior High, got a load of similar
equipment the students are now enjoying.

There were initially problems with the home's solar and wind power system,
but those have been worked out and Yazzie says her electric bills have been
small to nonexistent.

The system is connected to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority grid, which
will absorb any extra energy the system produces, but Daniel Wauneka, NTUA
manager for the Chinle area, said Tuesday that hasn't happened yet.

"Usually they've used a little more NTUA power than they've produced," he
said. "Sometimes they've zeroed out at the end of the month. We haven't
really seen an input of power back into the system, although it's designed
to do that if it produces enough power." Wauneka said the grid-connected
system is the first of its kind on Navajo, and the utility doesn't have a
mechanism to buy power the Yazzies put back into the grid - the company
would get it for free.

"So it would be a good thing, from our perspective," he said. "And from
theirs - they wouldn't have to pay a bill." NTUA does rent solar power
systems to homeowners in remote areas for whom connecting to the grid is so
cost-prohibitive it's not an option, Wauneka said. Look for a story on that
option in next week's Navajo Times. The Yazzies are currently negotiating
an agreement with Diné College and the solar companies that designed their
system to make the house a training ground for engineering students
interested in solar applications.

"That way it helps the community and it also helps me maintain the system,"
Yazzie explained.

Perhaps the best thing about the house is how it has affected 12-year- old
Gwen, who suffers from asthma. It came with a state-of-the-art filtration
system that is helping her breathe easier, and the Makeover designers used
only non-toxic building materials like cork floors.

"The only trips to the hospital we've made for Gwen have been to pick up
medicine," Yazzie declared. "She hasn't had a single major attack since we
moved in." Lovely as her new home is, Yazzie does occasionally miss the
30-year- old mobile home that was destroyed to make way for the beautiful
new double hogan.

"Not only did I raise my children there, I grew up there," she said,
tearing up a little. "There were a lot of memories there. Good and bad, but
mostly good." The new flat-screen TV (complete with a selection of videos)
gets a lot of use, but the brand-new dishwasher sits idle most of the time.

"I've never had a dishwasher before," Yazzie admits with a smile. "I kind
of enjoy doing my dishes by hand." The thing that started all this - the
solar space and water heater that captured Garrett a berth in the Discovery
Channel Young Scientist Challenge and caught the attention of three
separate viewers who recommended him to ABC for a home makeover - is no
longer necessary, what with the huge tracking solar panels set up outside.

But it's the first thing you see when you walk into the home. The Makeover
designers spruced it up and hung it in a place of honor like a treasured
piece of art.

"There it is, Garrett's project," Georgia beamed. "None of this would have
happened if not for that." The Yazzies have yet to meet the three people
who wrote to Extreme Makeover on their behalf - a woman in Salt Lake City,
a man in Ausin, Texas, and a man in San Diego - but that may be in the
cards soon.

"The people at ABC have said they want to get us all together," Yazzie
said.

And in case you missed Garrett's letter in the Oct. 25 Navajo Times,
Georgia has something she wants to say.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people and all the companies
who came from all over to build us this house. It's so beautiful. We love
it." If you want to see the house, please don't knock on Yazzie's door -
she's getting a little tired of giving tours. She says ABC has promised to
help the family host an open house some time soon. Watch these pages for
more information.