Tina Brown was like a child trying to sleep on Christmas Eve on Friday night.

She couldn’t sleep for thinking about how her family’s life was about to change Saturday.

She said she was up at 5 a.m., singing “This is the day, this is the day the Lord has made.”

The house where the Browns used to live at 412 N. 21st St., which had been condemned by the city, was about to be transformed into something wonderful — and large enough — to accommodate her and the seven of her 11 children she still has at home.

Brown and most of her children were there early, along with more than a dozen volunteers. They ripped out drywall, removed nails and insulation, and tore shingles off the roof.

Randy Campbell said there were “just about the right amount” of volunteers, 12 to 15, who came out to help Saturday. They were able to get the first part of the job done without getting in one another’s way.

Campbell, his sister Terri Johnson and an acquaintance of Brown’s, Stephanie Wade of Tulsa, have organized a drive to give Brown’s house a makeover that will take it from a one-story, three-bedroom house to one with two stories and eight bedrooms. It will have a large living area and a separate dining room.

It will be built to Energy Star efficiency requirements, but likely will not be certified with that rating because of the extra money that would require, Campbell said.

Still, the utility payments should be much less than what they were when Brown moved into a rental house several months ago with hopes of remodeling the house, then moving her family back in.

Certainly, Campbell said, the utility payments will be less than the $500 per month rent Brown has been paying.

Although this has been a slow year in the construction business, many builders, construction workers and materials vendors have agreed to supply labor and materials for the transformation of the house, Campbell said.

In all, the project will require about $91,000, with all but $28,000 of that in labor and materials, he said.

A good deal of that $28,000 cash needed for the project has been donated to the Tina Brown Fund at Citizens Security Bank, Campbell said. Muskogee pediatrician

Dr. Kevin Wade made a sizable contribution, and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, has made a pledge. Numerous anonymous cash donations also have been received.

Employees of Citizens, along with the Muskogee Head Start management team are among groups that have volunteered their help with the project.