City to Homestead: A Family's Dream Stalled

This is not the post I thought I'd be writing.  I thought I'd be writing to tell you that in a just a week's time, my family and I would be moving out onto our own perfect piece of the Texas Hill Country to begin our next stage of life. I wish I could tell you all my feelings about the real estate deal that fell apart...but for now I will just share those thoughts with Jesus (and my therapist) in hopes that they subside. All I will say is that I uprooted my family and put 98% of my belongings in storage for two months under the impression that a legally binding real estate contract would in fact be honored; however that is not the case.

My family is completely heartbroken, but one thing is for sure: we will not give up on our dream. We've had a dream years in the making to transition from the city to our own homestead. Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. To us, it also means a simpler way of  life where family comes first and not the "rat-race" of living in a bustling city. In a lot of ways, the homestead dream is also a dream of returning to our roots. Both our families made their way in this country by working the land in some way or the other. Like the song, we just want to watch our crops and children grow (and eventually have enough food to share with others in need).

My husband and I believe that God is the process of redirecting us. If you are reading this, I am going to ask that you  pray. Pray that God's will be done. Pray for strength and patience as we wait for direction. Pray for a family's dream to come true.

XO - Olivia

Update - 5 years later and reading the above post still hurts my heart. Everyone around us was following our story and knew we were counting down the days of that 90 day close. To our surprise, the property we were going to buy was off on the appraisal to the tune of $120,000. This meant the bank was not going to cover the full amount and it was on us to come up with the overage. Luckily, our amazing real estate agent had a clause in our contract where we could back out. Even so, we were crushed. We cried that whole weekend as our little Texas farm dreams faded away.

Read how it all turned out here: Happy Homecoming.