The White Fence Ranch

"The mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9

We have been house shopping for a solid year. Trying to make the best decision for our family all while being budget friendly was more of a challenge than we expected. We looked all over Northwest Arkansas and even considered trying to just find some land in central Arkansas. It wasn't a fun journey. It left us both questioning our decisions and exhausted from the hunt. In January we decided to stop looking. We would just take a few months to rethink things. A few days after we made the decision I get a call from Alex asking if I had seen the house for sale near ours. It was an adorable ranch home on 5 acres. It had every item on our house wish list. Big enough but not to big. Pretty but not so pretty we can't live in it! So I call our agent and she agrees to meet us out there. When we walked in I quickly felt at home. But because of the letdowns we faced the year before I didn't get my hopes up. We fell in love instantly and asked our agent to get our offer in. The 2018 real estate documents were giving her some trouble so it ended up taking us another day to get it in. I'm not gonna lie I was in total panic waiting for this offer to get in. But God had a different plan. While we were working through the issues they dropped the price 25k.  I knew at this point we were covered. 

So we get our new offer ready and get it submitted, its accepted, and just like that we get the ball rolling. All the process and steps that followed were running smoothly and I began getting our house ready to sell. I did the cleaning, the clearing, the staging, and the prep work. We debated over hiring an agent but in the end we decided to just put it on Zillow and see what happens. 10 DAYS later we got an offer and we accepted it. Again I found myself in the comfort of Gods plans.

Its like we are on a roller coaster and the track isn't quite ready and right before we run out another track gets laid and its the perfect bit of twist and turn. So we work through the paper work of closing on the new house, selling our old house, and trying to get a contractor ready for the remodel we are facing. So we begin the fun stuff flooring styles, paint colors, tile shopping, light fixtures, and more! Lots of fun stuff happening but all the while feeling overwhelmed by the task before us. I was trying to pray about the decisions but some days the task before me was daunting. Its like I know its all a blessing and that I should be joyful in the blessing but I would let fears drag me down. Mind you this is all happening in days not weeks or months.

This is when things took another turn. I found an ad on Facebook looking for a family in need of a home renovation. The timeline was when we closed and the budget requirement was ours to the dollar.....WHAT! I applied and just like that we were interviewed and then SELECTED. If you went back a month ago and told me I would be talking to casting and producers for HGTV about creating my dream home I would tell you to check your crazy at the door! A few days into the HGTV process the budget was pushed up and the start date pushed back. We sadly decided to turn down the show.  I'm not gonna lie some big alligator tears were shed over that decision. But in the end the dream was always about the home not being on TV.  So we turned down the show, hired an awesome contractor, and got to work!

I got to do some serious demo work with my Dad to kick off the project. We took out two walls the first day we owned it. We are completely remodeling the bathrooms, adding a window to the master, and creating some sort of pantry/office/mudroom/ laundry room. So far its been an exhausting process but so amazing! Trusting in Gods plan always results in the best plan. Watching my kiddos run across the field brings more joy than I can imagine and I can't wait to see where God takes us next in this journey! 

The Before:

Maybe someday I will write about what this house means to us but for now here is a blurb from our application for the show. 

Since we met our dream has always been to have a piece of land in the Ozarks to call our own. That dream has been harder to get to then we ever imagined. The first house we lived in after we got married was destroyed in a 500-year flood, ruining most of what we owned and forcing us to buy a new home. We loved our new little house. It was such a blessing to us and we planned to stay there happily but when Hudson was born I suffered from preeclampsia/ HELLP syndrome. My doctor in Little Rock told me it was best that he was my only child. My heart wanted more and when we were offered a job in Seattle I was able to get the top preeclampsia specialist in the nation as my doctor. We had to do it! So we left our family, friends, church and our comfort to step out in faith. We were able to have Benson safely in Seattle and soon after he was born our hearts longed to come home. A job opened up in this area and when Benson was just three months old we took it. The move all happened so fast that we picked the first house we could with out a lot of considerations. Benson really is the last baby I will get to carry and so we feel like that chapter is closing and it's time to move forward living out the life we imagined for our family. We know both of our boys were blessings and its our hearts desire for all of us to live as fully as possible, grateful for the life we were given. You should pick us because our story is a bit crazy. We have never felt settled. We have moved 5 times in 7 years. The thought of this house being our forever home is overwhelming and amazing.