12 Years Later…We Are HOME

After 12 years of marriage and 10 years of renovating houses not meant for us, we have finally found our forever HOME.

Wow. I did not expect the flood of emotions I am currently feeling while writing this post. Almost 5 years ago, in October of 2018, I wrote my very first blog post at HammersNHugs.com. Do you know what it was about? It was about building our forever home.

I started Hammers N Hugs as a creative outlet to share our fixer-upper adventures with the hope that I might one day make a full-time career as a DIY/home decor blogger, creating a space to share the process of building our forever home in the French Country style I adore.

I had NO idea what my small corner of the World Wide Web would become, and if you are interested you can read the speed version of the story here.

We sold our 3rd fixer-upper in May 2022, capitalizing on the seller’s market, and have been renting a home the Lord miraculously provided since then.

For the past 5 years, I have been praying very specifically that God would provide just the right property, at just the right time, at just the right price.

In that time, however, one of the dreams I let go of was that of building. Even if we had a million dollars (which we do not) to afford the elevated market prices, land in our area has simply not been available. In the course of 5 years, Zach and I saw a handful of properties we would have wanted had we even been able to afford them, so I had accepted we would buy someone else’s home that I would tear down to the studs and rebuild (also costly).

And then God did what He does so often and provided a way I could not have asked or imagined.

For the cost of 1/3 acre, we are getting everything we dreamed of – big open spaces, woods with lots of trails and potential for secret forts (the kids and I already found our spot), a pond, etc.

And the best part?! I get to build my dream house from scratch. *pinch me*

I am overflowing with joy and gratitude and cannot wait to share more. As many of you know I have transitioned away from home DIY/decor blogging and stepped into my personal and professional passion as a full-time virtual health and fitness coach including the launch of my upcoming premier program, Early Morning Habit, but I am a DIYer at my core and always will be, so if you want to follow along with our house in real-time, then please following me on Instagram stories. Please, please do because Instagram stories are where I will be asking for design advice and feedback. Seriously. Please follow along and help me with the 4,729 decisions coming in the next 4 months. I will continue to share home and life updates on the blog as I am able to, but Instagram is where I am!

Those retaining walls are at the back of our property; the upper wall will be level with our large walkout basement. I cannot wait to create a stunning two-story outdoor oasis back here. Especially with this view as our backyard.

Took the kids all of 2 seconds to turn these retaining walls into rock climbing walls.

The day we got this property happened to be the same day our son found out we were adopting him into our family. There were a lot of emotions, and after Zach and I got the property I stood at the top looking out over the beautiful landscape and cried. Ha. All happy tears. Just a lot of them.

This earth is not our forever home, but the fact that I am able to create a temporary space on this side of eternity to restore as a family and minister to others is a blessing I do not take for granted.

Thanks for being here and celebrating with us. You are LOVED. Let the home-building fun begin!!