Now, I certainly wouldn’t call me a farmer. But I guess you can call me a dreamer!

It’s about Christmas being a gift to each of us and then sharing that gift with others.

As I watch the leaves slowly change color, I am reminded of how important change can be.

What we didn’t know on that day is that just six months later we would move to these mountains!

You see, what makes this story special is that two years ago when we moved here, we didn’t have the proof that this place would be the picture-perfect community for us to raise our family and call our forever home. We didn’t have the proof, but we had the faith.

When it comes to determining what you want, it’s helpful to know what you don’t want.

When we started to envision the life we wanted to live, and we listed out the things we love doing, none of those things that had been consuming so much of our time even made the list!

I’m grateful that we gave ourselves permission to rediscover our dreams two years ago and the freedom to relentlessly pursue a life that embraced those dreams.

And once we had a clear image in our minds of what that life would look like, we looked at each other and said, “Why wait? Whose rules are we following, and what are we waiting for?”

The truth is, our priorities, our values, and living with intention is what truly allows us to put first things first.

Last year, after we took the huge step to unbind our life and made the 1,000-mile move across the country to live out a simpler life in our 117-year-old historic home, I reached out to Sara. Turns out, so many parts of our stories are eerily similar and we have more in common than I ever realized.

I have learned our dreams are always worth it, and they are worth it now.

I knew the life we had built did not align to our values or honor our dreams, but I could not, for the life of me, find a way out.

We knew we valued our faith, our family, and traveling. But when we looked at how we spent both our time and our money, those things were not at the top of the list

Looking back, I am more grateful than ever for the day I sat across from a life coach who dared to ask me, “What do you want to do?” and then “What are you going to do now?” These two questions have guided me out of my worst fears and my biggest excuses.

We never dreaded a day, not even a Monday, when we were on vacation.


We wanted that life—a life we could live like we were on vacation.

So dream. Dream big and say that dream out loud.

And that’s when I would get most uncomfortable because I didn’t believe this vision actually existed—that it could ever be a reality. It’s like I didn’t believe people could have the life they truly wanted. I was full of fear and doubt and I didn’t want to talk about it.

Today, we count our blessings that we decided to put a stake in the ground, give ourselves permission to seek a life of freedom, and relentlessly pursue all we had ever dreamed of.

This is the part of the story where fear and worry could have started creeping in. But this is the part of the story where we put faith in front of fear and we moved forward anyway.