Where We Are (most likely) Headed

Life is amazing. Chris and I are standing at a place in life, looking down the road with vision. Looking back, what I see is a series of impulsive or uninformed decisions that were somehow sprinkled with grace and blessing. I see provision.

When we started looking for a property, we had already limited ourselves. We wanted to be out of debt... completely. So whatever we were going to buy, we needed to pay for with the equity we had built up in the house that we are selling. It seemed like all the 'nice' properties were beyond what we would be able to pay for.

One morning, I was toying with the idea of taking a small mortgage out to buy one of those nicer properties, when I felt like God spoke to me: Debt is man's way of working things out on his own. It can rob God of the opportunity of providing for us.

...

We had been contemplating buying a raw piece of land and just building. Chris' cousin knew of a property that was perkable and had city water and electricity at the street. We would have to rent, probably build a garage first and find a trailer to dump on the place while we built. The idea was overwhelming. So when I saw this listing, I got really excited. It seemed to have exactly what we needed: a trailer to live in, AND a big 30x50' garage / workshop to store stuff and operate out of while we build. I started digging into it a bit more, looking at maps of the property, and talked Chris into going down to see the place.

We drove down on a Sunday to look at it, and it was even better than I had anticipated. A 1/4 mile driveway alongside 5 acres leads back to the main 5 acres of property.
The trailer:

Covered porch on the back of the trailer looks out over fenced in yard... I won't have to worry about Z running off:

Looking back toward trailer and garage:
Pump house and little stable just past trailer:
View of pasture across from trailer. An old barn sits at the back of the pasture (hidden by trees).
The old barn we hope to partially rebuild and/or use lumber to build chicken coops, house, etc.

There is plenty of space for gardens and animals and neat, little areas for the kids (and me) to explore. My only concern is that the topsoil may not be deep enough to have a good orchard, but really, I don't know enough about fruit trees to talk with authority on the issue. I think I'll be able to at least find a spot or two for a few trees.

We met the neighbors that live on the same drive. They seem like folks we would get along with, and they have horses they already hinted that the kids would be able to ride. And although I thought I was headed down the home schooling path, there have been several things lately that have caused me to question if that would really be the best for Finley. The school we are zoned for gets rave reviews from everyone we meet, and knowing a family that previously home schooled entrusted their kids to this school... well, it is nice to know we have the option of putting the kids in school there.

We put in an offer I felt was a little low on Monday. Tuesday afternoon, they accepted our offer. Minutes after I heard the news, a friend stopped by with a flier for her upcoming art exhibit. The title of the show was 'Uproot' and on the flier was this definition: "To send roots upward, or in an unaccustomed direction, to draw strength and support from new sources."

We had the inspection during the the rain on Saturday, and although there were a few issues, there was nothing so far to scare us away from the place. We are now waiting for a septic and water inspection...

Although I am still holding my breath (since it isn't quite a done deal yet), I can't help but be a little amazed.