During the back half of 2023 Tim and I became more serious about looking for a bigger home with a little bit of land or even just some land so that we can build our own home. We hope to continue growing our family but with four giant dogs and two littles, we already feel like things are a little tight in our current home.
Early in 2024, our church, Oasis City, spoke about “first fruits” and we were encouraged to pray, trust God and believe for a very specific move of God in our lives. Tim and I immediately knew that we were believing for our home but we weren’t sure what that might look like. We knew we would love to build but finances and miracles would need to align to make it possible. We decided to keep moving forward and to leave all options open. Tim and I were looking at houses and searching for land at the same time. We even visited builders at the beginning of the year but Tim ran numbers and felt that it wasn’t feasible with the current costs of land. I was a bit brokenhearted but hopeful that we would find a home with a little land instead.
We considered so many homes for months and even made offers too but everything was snatched up by cash offers for well over asking price. Needless to say, we were discouraged. We talked to friends and family with land or any connections and nothing seemed to come from it. Tim was ready to take his parents approach and start knocking on doors to see if anyone was willing to sell us a little bit of land 😅
Our goals with our new home, aside from increasing square footage, were to have 2 acres and to cut Tim’s drive to the base significantly. We both grew up on 2 acres and were hoping to provide a similar experience for our kids as they grow up. Tim also currently drives an hour one way and we were hoping to cut that time in half. Even with Tim feeling that we couldn’t afford land and to build, I still felt like we were asked to have faith and believe for something that felt impossible.
Even though we didn’t have land, we decided to believe for it and continue to move forward with Wayne Homes in designing the perfect home for this season of our lives. We kept praying and believing that the land would be provided within the budget we had set. Month after month was certainly discouraging with no home or land but we kept pushing through. We definitely had slips where we felt like it wasn’t going to happen. Every single piece of land and each home that we made an offer on was grabbed up by a cash offer for over asking price. It was nice to have an easy “no” each time but still quite discouraging. We really believed that God was going to fulfill this dream in some way but when we offered our max budget for land on a plot that we loved and again for a separate home that we loved in September of 2024, we finally felt like giving up for a moment. God had other plans for us though.
In that very same month, we heard from cherished friends about the possibility of some land in our future. Thanks to Tim’s 20+ year friendship with John, I’ve also been blessed with the friendship of his wife, Alexis. Alexis is a fellow healthcare professional and creative so you could say that we’re kindred spirits in many ways. We had originally asked them about possibly selling some land early in the year and John understandably wants to hold onto his land. However, John’s Aunt had expressed to them her interest in selling a little bit of her land and they reached out to us immediately. Tim grew up with John’s Aunt being present in his life and he felt comfortable reaching out to her after John encouraged us to contact her.
In this moment, Tim and I both felt that this was God’s move and we were very encouraged by her reply email where she asked if we’d like to meet her to discuss possibilities. We set a meeting for September 26th. With anticipation building and researching the cost of land in that area we realized that this might not work out for us. The cost for one acre of land in that area was at least double our total budget for the two acres we were hoping for. Aunt Pat deserved every penny that her land was worth and we ended up approaching this meeting believing that it would probably be another dead end.
Alexis reached out to me a couple days before to ask what our budget for land looked like. Despite my love for Alexis, I was still a little nervous to share our budget and find our hope destroyed again when she shared what Pat was hoping to get out of the property. I decided to lay it all out and wrote Alexis a book just like this one 😅 (like I always do) explaining our budget and hopes even though we knew how much Pat could truthfully ask for her land. I will never forget the moment that Alexis messaged me back sharing with me that Pat was considering offering us land at a rate that was half of what we had budgeted for land. You can imagine what I looked like in that moment. At 10:30 AM my tears were instantly pouring out and I was on my knees. I was completely overcome by my emotions and gratefulness to God for working through our friends to bring this blessing into our lives. When we went to the meeting, Pat was so incredibly sweet and gracious to us and she was absolutely invested in our dreams for the property. She did in fact offer us the rate that was half of our budget and she allowed us to double the amount of land and fully spend what we had budgeted. This rate is what Tim’s parents paid about 20 years ago and that was considered a steal even then. Her offer was beyond generous and is one of the most profound blessings we’ve ever received.
Trusting and believing for our future throughout this experience has definitely affirmed and strengthened our faith. It’s very clear to us that our friends and Pat were open to being a blessing in our lives and that God was able to work through them to fulfill such a beautiful dream for our little family. The depth of this blessing is still difficult to fully comprehend but we are so incredibly thankful for the future we can dream and experience as a family on our little piece of earth. We officially closed on our land and construction loan on the 31st of March and dig day is coming soon. We are so excited for this next season for our family. Here is a close rendering of what our home exterior will look like. We are so excited to share progress as we build our home.
herphoenixfeathers.com 