Our little Piece of Heaven

These past few days I have day dreamt about our land, the land that God blessed us with a little over a year ago. In fact, I daydream about it quite often, and what will be established there. It's something I pray about constantly. I long to be able to live on our land and embrace all the big and small gifts that will come along with it. Sometimes thinking about it makes me smile from ear to ear, sometimes it takes my breath away, and still other times, I feel frustrated from being anxious and overly excited about living on our land. You see, this dream of mine (and Brandon's) has been embedded into my mind for so long and in-detail that it's hard to wait patiently all the time for that glorious day of when we will be able to build our house and live on our land. The idea of our dream slowly coming true, and having the land is both an incredible blessing, and yet nail biting as well. Having that dream at our finger tips is like the analogy of having all the presents wrapped in a pretty little bow under the Christmas tree, but you can't open them until Christmas morning. Our dream is a gift waiting to be opened... and the land is a peek into that gift... into that dream.

Although I don't know when we will be able to build our house and start establishing on our land, I DO believe that it IS going to happen. It's something I have always believed in. I don't think it's just a coincidence that I have had this dream for so long. I believe that God has some amazing plans for us once we get there. And I can't wait to live them out. I know that He is preparing us now to be ready to live on our land. Preparing us financially, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I feel like He is having us go through a season of growth (a growth in many different ways) before we can officially begin the process of living on the land that He provided for us.

I have many many goals for our land, and I will mention a few of them a little later on in this blog, but right now, I'm going to talk about one in particular... One of the biggest goals, if not THE main goal of our land, the property that God gave us. It is to completely give Him all the glory for everything accounted for on our property. I crave to have God's presence so deeply at our place that people who just drive by can feel His presence and His peace. Due to so much hate and evil in this world (it's not everywhere of course, but it is definitely more noticeable), I want our place to be a place that God's peace resonates. Not that I want to be put in a box or that challenges won't come our way when we live on our land, but I just want it to be a place that God holds us tightly so that we fear Him, and not anything of this world. I want this peace to flow from us to anyone who visits, walks by, or as I've said before, drives by. In correspondence to the goal of wanting God to have all the glory, I also want, when people come visit us or go by our property, that they see HIM and HIS anointing, and not us or our works....after all, none of it would be possible without Him, plus it all belongs to Him anyways.

Some other goals that I have, which is what I often catch myself daydreaming about include the following (and don't worry, the goals that I have are the same ones that Brandon has as well, only his might not be quite as detailed as mine):

The House:

A house similar looking to this: I love the colonial farmhouse look, and I found this one in a Southern Living Magazine and fell in-love with it (of course, right? I mean who doesn't fall in-love with Southern Living houses?). I also LOVE porches, so having two in the front like this would be amazing....plus the top one gives our kitty cats a way to enjoy the outdoors without getting down. What can I say, we're cat lovers!

But, I would want the exterior colors to look more like this...an off white with red roof, shutters, and door. I know it's a lot of red, but the goal is to have it red so that it matches the red barn, only it may be different shades.

Although there may be some changes between now and when we actually go to build our house, this is a close replica of what our floor plan may look like on the top level, which would also be considered as the main level. We both like spacious rooms, plus, my desire is to have our house be the one where people visit often, enjoy all the parties that we will host, holiday traditions, etc. so we feel like it needs to be sort of big enough to hold enough people. Another goal is that we want this place to be our first home owned, as well as our last one. Therefore, creating enough space to grow into, as well as space that is easily accessible for later is important to us.

Again our kitchen may have different variations from the one in this picture, but we both like the lighter wood look for floors and cabinets.

A kitchen pantry is a goal for the obvious reasons-having a place to put things and to keep it organized. Cooking and baking are things that I enjoy doing, and they're something that I want to become REALLY good at so that I can bless my family and those who come to visit with homemade, welcoming, and tasty food. I am currently working on it now, but I feel like I still have a lot to learn...but with time and effort, I will get there!

A screened-in porch is another dream I've had for a long time. It may take a while to be able to build one beside the kitchen area, but hopefully one day it will happen. Another thing I LOVE is sunshine!! So, having a screened-in porch is definitely a goal for this sunshine girl...and it will probably look a lot like this, very tropical. The country and the beach are two things that pretty much sums up my personality. So finding ways to incorporate both into our place is an objective of mine.

As I have mentioned multiple times in our blog before, shopping and fashion are hobbies that I LOVE (can you tell I love a lot of things? ;)), so having a nice size walk-in closet will be very beneficial for me.

Having a formal dining room has always been a must-have for me because as I said above, I LOVE hosting get-togethers and I also LOVE holiday traditions. So, having a formal dining room allows everyone to sit, mingle, and eat around the same table. This will be a NO CELL PHONE zone so that we focus on thanking God, on each other, and of course on the yummy food.

Having a living room that gives off that warm, comfy, and inviting feeling is a goal so that our family and our guests feel right at home...where they can kick off their boots and be themselves.

Okay so this is a really BIG mud room. We don't want ours to be THIS big, but we do want it to be the place where we have our washer and dryer so that they are on the main level. We also want to have a place to hang up wet clothes, a sink to use for laundry and for washing off from when we come in from outside, and we want this to be the place where we put our pets's food/water bowls.

The main level will have a warm, southern living feel to it, but once we finish the downstairs, we want it to have a more retro look with pops of color. The downstairs will eventually have an entertainment room, a bedroom for whoever is the oldest child at the time of them living there (so Hunter would be first, but when he moves out, the next oldest would get it, and so forth), a bathroom, a storage room, and a room for Brandon to display all of his collectibles.

​The Outside:

Definitely a red barn for our horse(s). Mmmm ahhh....I can smell the fresh hay and the smell of horses already. That saying "happiness does have a smell" is what defines the inside of a barn, for me anyways. But we would also like to have another smaller shed for yard and garden tools.

Horses are another HUGE dream and goal of mine for our property!! I also have A LOT to learn in this category, but I am oh-so excited and eager to learn it all!

We both adore animals, so we also want to experience most, if not all other types of farm animals as well. Again, we don't have any experience in farming, so we will be taking one thing at a time. Besides, we don't want a big farm, just a small pet farm to maintain.

​So those are some of the really big goals and priority goals that I (we) have. Below is a just a few more pictures of some smaller goals we have in mind. Yes, we realize that these dreams cost money, but with the help from God and working really hard, I believe we will get there...one step at a time, one paycheck at a time, and one prayer at a time.  
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