So, where did this adventure begin you ask?
It all started with a three-tiered tray… I love how these trays looked beautifully decorated on kitchen counters. I bought one in 2019 and thought how hard can it be to decorate one of these things, right!?! People have always comments on how nice our home looks so I just knew this would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong, I looked all over the internet for ideas on how to decorate this tray. I just couldn’t make it look right and I just ended up shoving it up in our pantry so it didn’t sit on the counter mocking me.
Several months later the Coronavirus made its appearance in the USA and we were locked down with everyone else. I was lucky enough to work from home and help Abby with her schooling. Adam was able to be home part-time for a while before being furloughed for a few weeks. The first weeks were fun, no getting up early, no rushing out the door, leggings, comfy shirts, and lots of uninterrupted family time.
Our little family is small, mom, dad, daughter, dog, and cat. I have no idea how larger families stayed sane…my hat is off to you people! We never lacked anything and always had just what we needed. Spending more time at home seemed to be going well for our at-home projects. I organized most closets and purged a lot. We finally finished painting the inside (it only took a year). I organized the pantry…all the while, the three-tiered tray in the corner mocking me.
We had a sofa that was broken pretty badly and we needed to get a new one. So we masked up and headed to the furniture store. Taking Adam and Abby anywhere when serious shopping is needed is never a good idea. I wanted a comfy couch that we could curl up on and one that a good nap can be shared with me and our 60-pound dog. Adam and Abby had other ideas. We did agree that we wanted a reclining sofa. Once at the store and assigned a salesman, he took us straight to the top of the line reclining sofa. This sofa was fully electric, with light-up cup holders, and electric recline, and an electric headrest. This sofa set also came with USB and Wireless charging abilities. This looked like something that belonged in the NASA breakroom. It was a hard no for me and I wanted to see more. Adam compared every sofa to the first one and Abby fell dramatically on every other sofa and said “it’s not like the first one.” We left that store and I made them go to 2 other stores. They still kept saying the same things and I could see that I am about to be outvoted. We go back to the first store and put in our order for the NASA sofa. It was going to take 2 months to get our new furniture. As we drove home I could not believe that I agreed to that sofa set.
The next morning we sat at our dining room table and I was just lost in thought … the thought of all the stuff around us, how we were so physically close to our neighbors, and how there has to be more to life than figuring out how to decorate a three-tiered tray. I love God and know that serving and spreading his word is our ultimate purpose in life but how is he going to use me and my family to serve this purpose. Adam asked me what I was thinking and without hesitation, I said “I want less”. Adam said moments later… “me too”.
Side Note: We enjoyed the convenience of the suburbs and the awesomeness of being close to family but we were ready for space. Like physical space, not relationship space. We lived in a 2300 square foot house for 3 people. We did not need that much space and were ready to look for the smaller house but MORE land. Abby was not much of an outdoor kid but had been going to a school that promoted less screen time and more time for kids outdoors and learning about nature. We loved that school and so did Abby. Adam had been playing a farm simulation game and we both had gotten into the game (well me watching while cross-stitching and telling him how he should be tending that field, haha). We even got sucked into a tv series about what it’s like being a farmer in the present-day and the difficulties that it can bring.
Later on, that day as Adam played his Farm game, we both started talking about acreage and could we do it…not a farm but just more land and financially. We looked things over and after a talk with a realtor, it was looking we could totally make this happen… right in the middle of a pandemic. In our area if you are going to sell your house you better be ready to move. Houses were not lasting but just a few days on the market…so if we do this we need to be ready.
On July 30th, 2020 our house went on the market. After 3 days on the market, 19 showings, many competitive offers, we sold our home. During all of these showings, we were off looking for our next home. We saw plenty with lots of land but the house was too small or didn’t have one. To get land within an hour of my job was taking us to some interesting places. I happen upon a house that looked perfect; about 45 mins from work but in a subdivision. We did not really want a subdivision because we wanted no restrictions. We wanted space to try our hand at gardening and chickens. Ya know…farming lite. The property was on an acre, was lakefront, came with a chicken coop, and a separate shop for The Graced Woodshop. Adam went by and said we should check it out. Later that evening we went back and went inside and straight to “Great Room” to see the Lake View!!! It was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. The detached shop was bigger than expected, there was a separate craft room and a separate living room. We would still have neighbors that we could see but I wouldn’t be able to touch their house from my property line. There was no HOA…whoop! No other placed we looked at came close to the potential of this house. We decided to make a strong offer and it was accepted! We sold and bought a house in the same weekend!
From this point forward we became slightly obsessed with our plans for the yard. To us a whole acre was huge! You could have fit 4 of our old properties on this acre! The craziest part is that we wanted a smaller house but ended up with 200 more square feet!
Our new home became the focus of a different type of life that we wanted. We started dreaming about one day having a homestead. We wanted to explore having a veggie garden and raising chickens. Maybe one-day having goats but I think that will have to come later on down the road when we buy a farm and starting our own homestead. Moving day came and we couldn’t stop staring out those big windows to the biggest piece of property we have lived on and that beautiful view of the lake. This new outlook on life brought us closer together as a family. With this blog, we will share our journey with you. We want you to come along and see the lessons we learn, the funny times, and maybe learn something about yourself.
Welcome to The Graced Farm
thegracedfarm.com 
Love the raised beds
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