"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."
- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist


As I was trying to come up with what to write here, I stumbled upon (almost immediately and divinely) the quote above, by Paulo Coelho in his book The Alchemist. I read this book for the first time in late 2019/early 2020, after a recommendation from gal who did a spiritual reading for me while I was going through a lot of changes to my mindset and the way I was living my life.

Before you stop reading altogether.. this story is not about my spiritual journey. This is about the transformation of our family and our lives, which does include some spiritual enlightenment along the way, by default. Anyway, I do recommend this book if you haven't read it!

Leeth and I got married in 2013 on his family's farm in Gastonia, NC where we were both born and raised. We began the development of our life goals and dreams when we were dating a few years prior. We both knew we wanted to be out of the city (albeit small, too big for us!) and in the mountains. We knew we wanted to teach our children to work with their hands and to work hard to achieve their dreams. We knew we wanted to host and gather together with friends and family, and to be able to share something really special with them all.

In late 2020, after a series of "ah-ha" moments, we closed on our 40 acres in the mountains of North Carolina, with visions of building a handful of small, eclectic vacation homes (tiny houses, if-you-will) within a retreat of hiking and biking trails, disc golf course, and community gathering spaces like fire areas, an art shack, and a barn for hosting small events. Eventually, we would build our forever home here as well... maybe in 5-10 years. Fast forward two years, and I am sitting on the additional one-acre lot in an old mountain home that we bought from our neighbors this summer.

Now we are here full time with 41 acres, an old house that needs love, and still that same big dream, although it morphs as we live and learn. God had a different plan, and we went with it. I could have said the same exact thing two years ago when we closed on the land.