plans.

Plans, plans, plans. 

Hmmm. We haven't made "major plans" in a long time. 

Plans as to what to do on the weekends? Yes. Plans for a beach vacation? Yes

Plans for maybe what to get Cade for Christmas? Yes Plans as to what to order for the store? Update my office? New event or fashion show? Yes.

Major, life changing plans? No. 

It has been nice to sit back and enjoy the time of calmness since we've had Cade. 

Ok, scratch that. 

Maybe not calmness with a newborn who grew too quick into a vivacious toddler, but you plan a wedding....then few years later, you plan for a baby....then once the baby is here the "major planning" is done I suppose. Until the next one, but we are in no rush to begin planning for that.

We are in a place of contentment. The Lord has blessed both Chad and I with jobs, which are going along smoothly and a healthy child who fills our hearts and days with so much joy...and busy-ness, and we love it. We have good health, a roof over our head, family...We honestly could not ask for more. God is so good.

But along with working hard and possibly "thinking ahead", we have tossed around the idea of moving. Not necessarily because we don't love it here. We've been here for five years. I'll stay here another five...ten...fifteen, etc... if that's God's will. After all, I've lived here the majority of my life. For years at a time with my parents as a child, and now for years with my husband and a child of my own. 

We have been truly blessed with this house and know it was all part of God's plan that we somehow chose here over renting or buying a home five years ago. God knew that a few months later after we told my dad we would gladly live in his empty house for a while (after major renovation mind you!), that I would get the crazy idea to start my own business and once married, live off of one income - not two. God also knew that a few short months later, my dad would surprisingly pass away from a heart attack and we would need to be next door to my Papa to take care of him. If you want to talk about planning, talk to God, because I can assure you from personal experience HE HAS A PLAN for everything! I've seen it work out in my own life and you talk about "everything happening for a reason"? While I still question some things often (miss my dad so much everyday and will never understand why God chose to take him early), I look back and realize that God made some things fall exactly into place. It does happen for a reason. We just may not know until way later in life. I'm a firm believer.

So all that being said as a "backstory", this blessing of a house has been just what we needed as newlyweds and starting a family. Five years later, the house is still great but now my sweet papa has also passed...our lives are busier now with a toddler...and we've still got a lot to keep up here. Our dream for over a year now, has been to find a house that fits our "needs" a little more. Something with a little more square footage to hold our growing family (we would like for Cade to have a sibling ONE day, Lord willing) and actually less land to tend to. (grass to cut, buildings to keep up, pool to clean, etc...you would be amazed at all of outdoor work Chad does) Oh and if we could get me a little closer to my job everyday, that'd be great and help with my 40 minute drive one way!! Keep in mind we knew we still wanted a country setting. 

So we started looking for houses.

A little over a year ago, we saw a piece of land that caught our eye. Basically a 3 acre lot that was in a country setting, yet just right outside the small college town of Due West. (home of Erskine college and high school Chad and I both attended. Where we hope our kids will go)

We were a little unsure about the asking price and that also meant we would have to BUILD a house, so we weren't set on that either. Hey, but let's face it - when you grow up living in the country there's no abundance of neighborhoods with tons of houses for sale. WE ARE the neighborhood.  Most neighbors are half a mile apart. So you either 1. look for years for the perfect house to pop up for sale or 2. build one, which is what most do. Actually when we would find a house we somewhat liked, by the time we combined price of home + renovations "to make it our own", we quickly realized we could just build one for cheaper. Seriously. Plus, I have always liked the idea of building, Chad not so much, but I actually enjoyed remodeling the house we're in now (and we were both very hands on) and think I would love the process from ground up. Yet we continued to look at so many more houses after that. We looked at lake properties, foreclosures, houses closer to Abbeville, the works. The tricky part is that Chad's job is OPPOSITE the direction of my store, so we needed to "meet in the middle" and find something that worked in between. We thought about family land...went back and looked at even more houses...searched, searched, searched...and over a year and a half later, we ended up starting back at the 3 acre lot in Due West. Hmmph. 

So one random day in July we both finally looked at each other and

 thought "What the heck. Let's go for it"! Logical, right?

Timing is everything. We didn't make a hasty decision and buy this land first thing a year and a half ago. I can honestly say that after MUCH consideration (probably too much), this is when we felt it was right. Do we think this will be the spot of our forever home? Maybe. Would we love to have more land, or move to family land and maybe have a bigger house way later in the future? Sure. I have absolutely NO idea where God will lead us, but this is what we feel is best for us at this time. 

We closed a few weeks ago so we can now say this sign is gone and this little slice of land is going to be our little slice of heaven once we eventually build a house and make it our dream HOME...

After all, our "dream home" is just basically going to be any house with an ice maker, working dishwasher and bigger closets :-) Not even joking. We live in less than 1700?1800? sq ft now, so anything over that and we're going to be as happy as pigs in the mud. It's not going to take much to please us. We are just SO tickled to have a place that is all our own...a place we worked hard for! 

When we will start the building process? Mmm, no clue. Back to this whole "plan thing"... we aren't too good at it. We may or may not have a "rough draft" timeline in the back of our mind. Maybe. For now I'm a little too overwhelmed to even think about it and just letting this all sink in. Also, poor Chad wouldn't even LOOK at a house plan until we signed on the dotted line for the land. "One thing at a time", he said. Did I mention how much this man keeps me grounded? Blessed, I tell ya.

I reaaaaally hope it's sooner future, rather than later future, but we are reminded constantly that it's all about HIS plan so might as well hand it all over to Him and wait for that "gut feeling" that the time is right. We are trying to stay smart, finish paying off car loans and a little bit of annoying CC debt (I'm almost done, thanks to loosely following Dave Ramsey plan. Praise!!) So, yes it will happen. All in good time, friends, all in good time...

**I hesitated about whether or not to even post about all of this, but 1. it's a huge step for us and milestone in our life, and this blog is after all.... a scrapbook of our life and 2. I thought it was a great way to share to some of our Due West friends who may not know that yes! we are coming your way.! Watch out! Say a prayer for us that the Lord will guide us as to what to do next.**