GRANBURY - If a house could blush, the unfinished, cream-colored job between Granbury and Acton would be positively crimson.

Surrounded by a county full of historical landmarks, the neat but unassuming frame house doesn't even have a lawn yet. Raw red clay slopes away from the foundation, poured only weeks ago.

But the capping off of construction of this house in Granbury's Rancho Brazos addition and three others far from Texas is cause for international festivities for Habitat for Humanity International, the faith-based organization established in 1976 with the grand goal of eliminating poverty housing worldwide.

Habitat, born in Americus, Ga., now operates in 89 countries. The group got a publicity boost when neighbors Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter joined, garnering so much attention that many people mistakenly think the former president founded the group.

The celebration will come, in part, in honor of the fact that the house on Canyon Road, a short drive from the statue that towers above the gravesite of Davy Crockett's second wife, is the 50,000th dwelling the group has built in the United States.

Meanwhile, in Gary, Ind., tool-packing volunteers are finishing up house No. 50,001. The group has built so many houses that it says it's tops among nonprofits, and the May 2003 issue of Builder magazine lists the group at 16th among U.S. home builders.

Outside the United States, Habitat workers on the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic are reaching the same plateau for the group's Latin America-Caribbean region. No. 50,000 is wrapping up in Bercy, Haiti, and No. 50,001 is being built in Jaquimeyes, Dominican Republic.

Being the site of the 50,000th house is "a huge, huge honor for us," said Aurora Petersen, board member of Habitat for Humanity of Hood County.

"Once the national organization realized the 50,000th would be completed sometime this year, they asked each region's support management to help decide where it should be built," Petersen said. "The criteria and guidelines they came up with indicated they wanted a small affiliate with a good track record. Well, we met those criteria -- and then some."

Habitat homeowners do not get their new leases on life for free. Specifics such as required hours and size of down payment vary among affiliates, Petersen said, but the basic model holds true.

"It's not a giveaway program," she said. "Each homeowner [in Hood County] is required to put in 300 hours' sweat equity and a $700 down payment. Then they must stay current with their mortgage payments.

"It's a long process that requires lots of documentation and consideration of such things as their salary range, the size of the family and how dire their situation is."

The Mojica family, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, will move into the Rancho Brazos house once the final touches are done and the dedication ceremonies are over. For the Mojicas, shown in an all-smiles family photo in the Habitat picture-window display at Granbury City Hall, the move is an escape from a cramped, four-room duplex that the city has condemned.

After years of waiting for visas and raising three children in Mexico while her husband worked in Texas with rare visits to see his family, Irma Mojica is astounded that the family is not only reunited but also about to have its own home.

"I spoke with God and asked him, 'How is it that there are such people, so good and so generous, with hearts so big, and so human, to help so many people who, like us, lack so much?' " Mojica said in a Habitat statement.

Like the 22 Hood County families before them that have taken over Habitat homes, Petersen said, the Mojicas will pay about $36,000 for a three-bedroom house with central heat and air that typically appraises for at least $65,000. Monthly mortgage payments of $350 for 20 years cover principal, insurance and taxes; the family pays no interest.

And then there's the celebration.

On Aug. 18, co-founder Millard Fuller, who remains Habitat president, launches a five-day dedication tour of the four milestone houses. He's scheduled to begin in Haiti, move across the island to the Dominican Republic, touch down in Granbury and put a bow on it all in Gary.

"The idea is that the Mojica house and the one in Haiti represent the first 50,000 families," Petersen said, "and the ones in Gary, Ind., and the Dominican Republic are the start on the next 50,000."

Dedication ceremonies begin Aug. 21 in Granbury. A breakfast for ministers and staff of Hood County churches starts at 9 a.m., followed by coffee for staff of two Hood County banks that have supported the organization.

Fuller is the featured speaker at a church service open to the public at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church.

A Mexican-themed lunch, a nod to the Latin American tie-in, is to be catered by Hispanic women from local families who have Habitat homes. That kicks off at noon at the church and is also open to the public.

At 1:30 p.m., Fuller will join city and county officials on trolley-ride tour of Habitat homes, ending up at the dedication of house No. 50,000 at 3619 Canyon Road. U.S. Postal Service officials are scheduled to present special stamp cancellations.

So how long after that before the Mojicas move in?

"Probably right after, I'd say," Petersen said. "That night, I would imagine."