The Parker Family Land Dwellers

Whew buckle up because this is gonna be a LONG one as it’s been a year-long journey to get to the place we’re at now and let’s be real – this story really goes back much further than that.

In 2010 we made the decision to build a home for the first time with the full intention of it being our forever home. I was honestly very reluctant to build a home at that time. I was happy in our three bedroom home, I felt like we’d be fine staying there until we at least had a second baby (Kye was just a little over a year old at the time). I felt like we had a good few years left in that house and had always heard how stressful homebuilding was and it just seemed like it’d be a lot.

We went forward with the build and I’m so thankful we did. I LOVE OUR HOME. The building process was stressful but it was also exciting. Here I was a first time mom with a new toddler and it was fun to plan out our futures and the little babies who would someday fill the rooms. It’s been pure joy filling our home over the last 12+ years with our babies, with so much joy, with memories that I will forever cherish.

It’s also been so fun to see how the plans we made with just one child for our forever home truly ended up serving the needs of our family even once we had all four children. For building a home for the first time and not having any clue what life would really look like down the road, I’m pretty impressed with us and the decisions we made 😉

The ONLY thing I’d change about our house after 12 years in it if I could go back and do it all again is to add a half bath connected to the pool. We knew going in that we’d wished we had that half bath but didn’t do it in order to save money and instead put an access door from our master bath to the pool and it works fine! So even the thing I’d change isn’t something that is really a big deal.

When we said forever with this home, we meant it. We’ve made it truly, 100% FOR US.

When we built the home we built it with the future in mind, not just in the people who would fill it but also the changes we’d want to make. We built this home relying on Zach’s handiness in order to make upgrades as needed. We made lower-cost upfront choices knowing he’d be able to do the upgrades down the road. And he has! He has loved creating the awesome playroom for the kids, the super fun study room space, and Tess’s amazing bedroom. And let’s not even talk about that crazy epic treehouse 😉

He has also completely redone our kitchen, we’ve upgraded floors, and done so many other changes over the years. Our home continues to evolve with us and we’ve made so many strategic decisions to upgrade our home to be up to date while also keeping that welcoming, cozy vibe.

In 2016 our lives were forever changed when Zach received the tough news that he has multiple sclerosis. I am a big picture long-term thinker (so much so that I struggle living in the present as I’m always mentally mapping out the future!). So when he was diagnosed my wheels started turning. I had to grieve the life I thought we’d have in order to accept what life could possibly look like.

Part of that process was thinking about our forever home plans. We’d built our home with forever in mind. We lived in it with forever in mind. It never, ever had been part of the longterm plan to move.

But with a diagnosis like multiple sclerosis you gotta really think about the future and what it may possibly be. At that time we had NO CLUE what may happen with his diagnosis, we didn’t know the medicine options, we didn’t have a game plan yet in place.

But I knew looking around our home that we could potentially have future issues. IF he did have to be in a wheelchair someday…how would that work? Our home is not an ideal set up for someone in a wheelchair to live. It would require some renovating and reworking of things.

I knew that life potentially in a wheelchair would be a hard enough adjustment for Zach, but to also have to renovate parts of our home to accommodate that life change? I knew that would really be a LOT on him if that day were to ever come. In my early days of MS research I also read that it’s best for mental health and physical health to live in a place that is already conducive for potential future needs rather than have to make changes to accommodate. It’s also MUCH cheaper to build a home with ADA guidelines in place rather than have to go back into an already built home and make changes.

While many aspects of our home would be FINE, some spots would be tricky. The distance from our fridge to our bar (the main entry point into our kitchen) probably wouldn’t fit a wheelchair. The turn down our hallway into our master bedroom is a tight right corner. Our bathroom has a water closet that I can’t fathom how someone would be able to transfer from a wheelchair to use the toilet.

These are the types of things you start thinking about when you’re hit with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Being a big picture long-term over-thinker my mind went to ALL those little details.

I went to Zach and I told him we could move. We could sell the house and build something that would be better suited for the future.

At that time Zach was adamant that his diagnosis wouldn’t change the course for our family. The adoption was our main concern and he didn’t want anything to affect that journey and he also didn’t want our family sacrificing things for his health that we weren’t even sure would be a problem down the road or not.

We didn’t talk much about the idea of moving and instead stayed focused on the adoption, his health plan of action and continuing life as normally as possible.

Time went on and we welcomed our fourth, and final, baby and Zach had a great health outlook with his medicine and plan of action with his heath care staff.

In 2020 we went through some changes in several ways with Zach’s career path as well as with our financial focus. I became hyper-focused on financial peace in a way I never had before and when we were blessed with a year of abundance financially we were both very focused on using that added income to pay off our house.

Our forever home was in reach of being fully paid off. No house payment. EVER AGAIN.

Anytime we travel we always talk about future travels or daydream fun ideas. We love owning a home near Disney World and before we even bought that home we had always talked about someday owning a home at the beach.

We were on our family beach trip in St Augustine in July 2021 daydreaming about someday having our own beach home and started searching things up on Zillow. We started looking at land. Discussed how it’d be fun to just own property and eventually build. Or buy something and rent it out and eventually renovate. Ya know, the typical “someday” kinda talks.

We even called a few people to discuss options. The more we talked, the more we both realized that if we did a beach home it’d end up costing much more than the house we live in on a daily basis. That the things we’d want in a beach home for us to use in retirement age would be things we should also probably be making sure are in the home that we live in daily and plan to live in through retirement as well. Kinda silly to potentially build a vacation home to better accommodate aging in place than the home you’re actually planning to age in place IN right?

We got home from the beach and that same week Zach’s dad asked him to come to meet with a business owner with him. I can’t remember the why but that’s not a super common occurrence and it was a VERY chance meeting as this business owner is very tough to get ahold of.

At the meeting, Zach made an instant connection with the business owner and ended up spending a couple of hours talking with her. She had also walked the path of adoption as well and as they shared personal stories she mentioned owning a lot of land in an area where I’d actually mentioned to Zach when he was first diagnosed as a good spot that we could maybe build and move.

She was so nice and didn’t even know exactly how much land she owned or what she’d paid for it when she bought it. She told Zach she’d be happy to let him look at it and buy some of it for the same cost she paid originally.

It was all SO crazy and just so perfectly fit that it felt like a God moment. Us daydreaming about the beach house just a few days prior had opened our minds a bit to potential futures. Then this random chance meeting with a woman who owns land during a time where there is NO LAND for sale anywhere around here AND that she was offering it to us at such an insane price was just beyond generous and kind.

It was zero percent part of MY plan for what I’d had thought of as the future. It all came out of nowhere and I felt pretty blindsided by it all. The timing when we’d been talking about beach house situations made me feel like God was trying to close that beach house door for us. My thought instantly went to Zach’s health. He’s been episode-free since his diagnosis. Was all of this happening because we’d NEED to move? We’d NEED a home more conducive to a wheelchair for him?

It was hard for me to jump on board with this game plan. This idea of buying land. Building another home. Leaving the one I love so much and had been so hyper-focused on paying off!

This wasn’t EVER part of my personal plans or my personal dreams.

I am very, very content in our home. I truly, truly love it. When friends around me over the years have moved, upgraded, and built newer nicer houses, I’ve never felt even a twinge of jealousy. In fact, I feel the opposite. I’m relieved to be settled. To not have to make all those choices and decisions. Not have that stress. To be in the place where we’ve been for so long and continue to plan to be forever! Raising all my babies here and picturing them coming home with their babies to visit someday too.

I do believe that God blesses contentment. I also believe that sometimes God puts something on our spouse’s heart and that our role is to be supportive. I felt VERY strongly led to adopt. That wasn’t Zach’s plan, it wasn’t his idea, it wasn’t something God laid specifically on his heart. But he was SO supportive and that initial calling may have been mine but it quickly became OURS and something we shared and walked the path together and both are so thankful for it.

With the house situation, I felt like this was my opportunity to be a supportive spouse. Zach was INSTANTLY excited about the whole idea and concept. He was all in. I tried my best to be as on board as I could be, but it wasn’t easy for me. He is the main character in the buy land and build another house storyline, I’m just a supporting role. 🙂

We started pouring over house plans and discussing ideas and options. It may sound silly but I cried, A LOT. I am just so, so, so content in our home. I love it so much. And I don’t want to leave it. When we discussed house plans I wanted to just rebuild our house in that new location. It took me a good bit of time to even find things I’d WANT to change in a new build. I look around our house and don’t see any flaws or things I’d change because the plan was to never move!

We had a big talk about the entire situation and I did say I have a few hardcore things:

1. I do not want to move twice. I know so many people who moved during their building process and it was a nightmare for them. A great perk of us working so hard to pay down our mortgage is that we don’t owe much on it and hopefully the love and work we’ve put into it over the last 12 years mean it’ll make a good solid profit for us to be a in a good position in the new home as well. Yes, we could sell first and then build but I want to be able to STAY PUT. Stay where we are while we build and only move ONCE.

2. Everything has to be ADA compliant. If we’re going to do this then I want it to be a home that will allow us to age in place comfortably. Of course, our hope and prayer is for Zach to not be in a wheelchair but who knows – I could be! We have no clue what the future holds and if we are blessed enough to live to old age, we WILL be thankful to have a home built with aging in mind.

3. I want to invest in the lowest maintenance, longest-lasting options. When we built our current home we went on the cheaper side of things and then Zach took on a LOT of house projects fixing things up and upgrading along the way – I don’t want that this time around. It’s important to me that Zach can come home and feel PEACE. I want us all to be able to relax but especially Zach. When we built our home we had one kid! Life is WAY busier at this stage of life with four kids, busy career, sports and school and all the things. I want home to be a place to relax and feel rejuvenated – not have more stress or an endless things to do. Yes, he enjoys house projects but just a house, in general, will have upkeep and such! He doesn’t needed ADDITIONAL things on his plate to have to do too! I want our decisions to be not just based on financial but on longevity and keeping the new home as easy-care as possible.

4. I don’t want this decision to deter us from our goals of financial peace. I understand this move will bring peace in other ways, but the financial side of things can add a WHOLE lot of stress and I don’t want us to be “house poor” or to be soclose to having this house paid off to only then go into massive house debt that takes us decades to pay off again.

5. Speed. I really wanted it all to happen as quickly as possible. When we planned out our babies we thought a lot about the age distances between each child, but didn’t put as much thought into the overall age gap. With Kye and Spear having 8 years between them…it means we will only get about eightish years TOTAL of having ALL FOUR babies living under our roof together. Ugh it breaks my heart to think about it. We are already 4 years down. And if we’re going to be moving into a new home I want it to happen as quickly as possible so we will have as much time as possible to form new memories there as a full family unit before Kye is an adult!

The kids thing is really, really tough for me to think about when I think about moving. I always envisioned them all growing up in THIS house and then coming home to this house as adults with their children. It makes me really sad to think that won’t happen. And I realized that this concern opened up a lot about myself and how I worry if we don’t live in the house they grew up in that they won’t want to come see us. I know people say it’s not the house, it’s the people but I have that deep fear that my kids won’t want me anymore when they are grown and get to choose whether or not to have me in their lives. I’ve realized a subconscious part of me always felt like by establishing a really strong connection to their childhood home they will want to revisit it and therefore me too.

It probably sounds silly reading that, but it’s how I feel. And all of this house/moving talk really brought up a lot of those feelings to the surface! It made me feel a bit bitter as well, frustrated that when I suggested the idea of moving 5+ years ago that Zach wasn’t open to it but now he is and if we’d done it back then I could have enjoyed having all four of my babies together under that roof for a lot longer.

I didn’t want to be stuck being sad or make Zach feel like he was having to drag me into something. I know this opportunity is a HUGE blessing and I needed to get on board and be appreciative of it! We can’t go backward and change things and I have to trust that God’s timing is perfect in all things. There is a reason this is happening now and didn’t then.

This is also an opportunity for me to work through those deep-rooted fears and concerns. It will also be a great opportunity for me to work on being more selfless. It’s easy to be excited when something is what you want or what you’ve dreamed of. It’s a whole lot harder when it’s NOT part of your plan! I know how much it steals my joy when I’m super mega pumped about something and then the people I love don’t feel that same excitement or even feel bummed about it.

Again, this whole entire situation all happened super super fast. First week of July we were browsing beach houses, 2nd week Zach had the life-changing meeting, third week we were in Florida with Zach’s parents pouring over house plans with them and talking about all of our ideas together.

His parents were also planning to build and the timing was really neat to all be looking through house plans together! It was such a fun memory staying up late with them talking about ideas and dreaming about our future homes. It really helped me get more on board with everything and start to feel excited too! Change is hard and scary but I wanted the entire process to be fun with fun memories and wanted to make sure I was appreciative along the way.

Zach went out to the property several times, we took the kids out there and told them. It was happening so naturally and so easily that it all just felt like it must be meant to be.

And then.

August came and it was about time to close on the property and things were close to finalizing when a friend in real estate called Zach because he saw a property come up for sale that looked to be the same area that he knew we were buying.

The super sweet lady who connected with Zach so instantly and made such a generous, kind, giving offer to our family? That lady? Well. Turns out she wasn’t quite so sweet or generous after all. Without any heads up or anything she decided to list the property with an agent. The same land that we were supposed to be closing on that very week.

Zach was devastated.

I have no doubt that this whole situation is a big part of what caused Zach’s MS symptoms to worsen in August. He was so stressed. He felt like he’d been played for a fool. It was heartbreaking for him to trust someone so much and feel so excited and then to have it all taken away.

We put in an offer on the land. We included a personal letter to her. We prayed she’d do the right thing and follow through with the word she’d given us.

The property sold for over double of what she’d told us she’d sell it to us for.

We get it – hello that’s a TON of money and you can’t blame someone for getting full value for their property! The whole situation just should have been handled in a much different way. She could have communicated with us. At least let Zach know. Instead she had Zach do all the legwork for the land (he helped her figure out what she paid for it, figure out the exact property lines, he got it surveyed, he did physical work on it to start clearing it) and then just up and sold it out from under him.

It was the kind of thing that makes you lose faith in humanity! It was SO BAD. I never met the woman nor did I have that same connection with the land that he did. My personal tears came because I hurt for him and because I was just so confused.

I had been SO content in our home for SO LONG. Why would God lead us to a situation that would force me to be discontent only to say “oops never mind, go back to being content again!”

This all happened in August and then in September Zach got the not-so-great news about his medicine dosage. It was a LOT at once to be hit with and it all just felt very confusing and conflicting to me. Okay so now I’m discontent in my house that I was always so content in AND now Zach’s health is back to being a potential concern but the door is closed on us moving to better fit his potential future needs?!?!

When the lady sold that land I thought that door shut. The selfish Emily part of me honestly felt relief that that door had closed. Oh well, guess we just have to stay in the house I love forever 😉

But that is not how Zach saw it. I struggled a bit with this situation. The lady’s land all happened so naturally and so easily that it felt like such a God-thing. Zach started to legit “cold call” about land. He knocked on doors. Sat on front porches. He asked around to everyone and anyone. I felt like that was making it forced. Were we following God’s Will? Was He saying NO but we weren’t listening?

I talked it over with a friend and she so beautifully explained it to me that sometimes a no isn’t a closed door, it’s just a different path. If we saw that land for sale at the price that original lady ended up selling it for we’d NEVER have made an offer. Moving wasn’t on our radar AT ALL. So God opened the door to the idea of moving through that lady. He knows how to speak to us – through a DEAL 😉 Maybe the next path required more work on our side. Maybe it required more patience. Maybe the lessons needed to be learned with that lady’s land so we were in a better position for what was truly meant to come down the road.

We pressed pause for awhile. In our house plan hunts we couldn’t find anything that really fit what we were wanting (aging in place AND four kids is a RARE situation for building a house!) so we decided to do the plans ourselves from scratch and find an architect to help bring them to life.

A few pics of the house plan process! We drew out ideas with chalk, I printed literally 48 house plans out to draw from (which was narrowed WAY DOWN from the 189 house plans I had saved on Pinterest haha), and then Zach put a pencil to it all to combine the things we both liked and wanted into a legit enough plan to take to an architect.

Zach was cautiously optimistic. He made a connection through that original lady to a man who seemed very open to the idea of portioning off a bit of his property. Big Daddy had passed away in June of 2021 and this man has a very “Big Daddy” vibe. He and Zach connected and bonded very quickly. The man doesn’t have a son and has also had very bad experiences with that same lady landowner in the past. He understood Zach’s hurt and frustration. Being older himself he understood Zach’s concerns for the long term and connected with Zach’s desire for land for our children to have to explore.

We didn’t tell ANYONE. We didn’t tell the children. Even between us we kept the words like “maybe” and “if” heavily in our vocabulary.

I have never done well with waiting. Waiting for me is always the hardest in any situation. I’m a planner and I like to put plans in motion. I don’t like to be waiting around waiting to be able to do and go and make progress.

I had to accept off the bat that my desire for SPEED in this process was just not possible. I had to see the waiting as an opportunity for me to work through some of those fears and concerns. The rushing was important to me for reasons that are probably not all that important overall at all. Longer time in our current house isn’t wasted time – it’s extra memories to be made here together.

My mantra has become “God blesses patience.”

As we have been in the waiting stage of things the housing market has continued to change. Interest rates are climbing. Building costs are still sky-high. Let’s be real – it’s a pretty awful time to build a home. Especially one that you want to make sure to make low-maintenance, long-term investment decisions while building!

Zach and the kind man kept having talks and working out things and looking at options. He is very generous and kind and I’m thankful Zach met him when he did as I do think that other lady burning him so badly could have really caused Zach not to trust people anymore but this man was quick to come in behind her and remind Zach that good people are out there!

This man offered us to purchase some of his land and we got it surveyed, and water tested, and he and Zach came to an agreement on the purchase price. It got to a point where Zach was very confident in the end result so in January we took the kids out to the property and told them the news!

Britt and Spear are the most excited about the move and LOVE going out to the land. Kye and Tess are more like Mama and are struggling to get that same excitement. They both love our house so much and struggle with the idea of moving, I think it’ll be toughest emotionally for Kye because he is the oldest. Tess just doesn’t like all the bugs (can’t say I disagree with her there!)

This whole experience has been a bonding situation for Zach and his dad too and as part of his inheritance his dad has given him a tractor for the new land. Although part of me feels like it’s more for Spear than Zach 😉

Over the last six months we have been working to finalize house plans and to get the land portioned off so we could make the purchase. We’ve now officially bought the land and are in the final stages of the house plans (we had it finalized but these house prices WHEW so we’re working to cut off several hundred square feet).

We, thankfully, got the wonderful news in January that the half dose of medicine did not cause ANY progression in Zach’s disease (read the full update here) and that the doctors are JUST as confident that his future will continue to be the quality of life he knows now.

That has not, however, deterred our plan from building a home that has the potential future in mind. Again, we are ALL going to get older someday. All of us! We’re all about big picture, long term thinking and planning and having our home be a home we can comfortably grow old together in is a top priority.

We pray that we never need to take advantage of the ada compliant features, but we’re also in the insurance industry – we live by a “better safe than sorry” outlook on things 😉

I was able to return to my childhood home in April when Tess and I went to Disney on Ice and it was a great chance for me to work through some of those struggles I’m having with my kids leaving their childhood home for the move.

It also helped me get more on board for non-neighborhood living. I was able to return to my childhood neighborhood and see how much it’s changed in the last 30 years and who knows how things could change in our current neighborhood 30 years from now. Living on land we don’t have to worry about potential changes in the surrounding area, commercial properties popping up, the HOA beginning to slack, etc.

It also helped me to see that house and see it as it is – just a house. Standing there looking at the house didn’t fill me with the same joy that thinking about the memories in my mind brings. The memories made there mean so much more than the physical home.

This house that I love so much? It’s also just a house. I am always all about opportunities for personal growth and I think this move is a big opportunity for me to grow in ways I wouldn’t be able to if we stayed in our current home forever.

Seeing my old home with a different car in the driveway also helped me to better picture another family living in our home. At first the thought of anyone else living here made me feel sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to even think about that. I mentally was trying to think of a way for me not to even have to meet the future family. I don’t want other people to live here – it’s our house! (Yes, I realize this is the “denial” stage!).

But seeing my childhood home helped me thinking about my memories there and that another little girl (or several seeing as it’s been over 20 years since we moved out) got to grow up in my room, race down our stairs, play on our porch. That they got to have it be part of their special memories.

And I want that for our current home too. I want the work Zach put into making it special to be able to bless other kids beyond just our own. I want this home to be a place where other families gather. Where their memories are made. Where they have joy and love!

We even traveled to Cape Cod for our anniversary trip in May with the new house in mind. I LOVE the Cape Cod/New England styles of homes and wanted to go in person to draw inspiration and to help get me more excited about the whole thing 😉

We do not know a real timeline for anything. We own the land and that’s as far as we’ve officially gotten. Once we get the house plans finalized we will then see about pricing and then see about the when to start building timeframe will be.

As I mentioned earlier, the land of waiting is my least favorite in any situation. Even though we got the worst-case news for Zach’s health diagnosis, I still felt better KNOWING that news than I did the weeks leading up to it when we were in this limbo stage of not knowing. My mind has a really, really hard time shutting off and I will just analyze and re-analyze and think through different scenarios over and over again.

That’s how this whole situation has been for a year. I don’t think I’ll be able to feel excited until we KNOW the legit GAME PLAN. Know the numbers. Know the timeline. Knowledge is my jam 😉

As far as location? Don’t worry, y’all know when we got married Zach made it clear that our crew will be Valdosta for life 😉 And yes, Zach’s parents are building on their land and Big Daddy’s land is also still in the family but we’re wanting to have our own land – land we want to be able to pass down as a legacy to our children and for them to have the ability to build their own homes on someday as well if they desire to do so (so far Britt is the one who has made it known she wants her kids to be able to run through the woods to our house from her house someday!).

A couple pics of the property:

I know this will be a wonderful situation for our family. I know many happy memories will be made in our new home and I feel confident this new home will provide long-term peace, comfort, and joy for our family unit. Having built a home before, I do dread the whole process but Zach and I both are diligent in wanting the building process to be FUN and joy-filled and as minimal stress as possible too.

I’m thankful he and I are on the exact same page in so many areas. We have the same values on what matters the most to us and what we are prioritizing and we’ve both matured a TON in the last 12 years so I’m praying that personal growth and our marriage growth helps to keep things running smooth throughout this new journey.

I do believe this is the best decision for our family and for Zach and I into the future, even though it’s not what I’d pictured or planned I trust him, and, most importantly, I trust Him to lead us and guide us. While owning land was never part of my personal dream, I’m warming up to the vision Zach has and most of all I love the idea of our home being a place of rest and relaxation for him. On our wedding day 15 years ago I promised in my vows to create a home he’d want to come home to each night and I think this land, and this as low-maintenance as possible home, will be exactly that!

I know this is a LOT to be sharing at once. While it’s big news, it’s been a slow time coming and even though it’s now pretty dang official since we own the land, it still doesn’t FEEL legit yet to me. I’m sure it’ll hit me!

I know the longer time goes on I’ll see more and more reasons to be excited and discover more ways in which this decision will be a positive thing for our family unit. Every time I go out to the land I feel a bit more connected to it. I love seeing Spear’s excitement. I love seeing the joy on Zach’s face and how he lights up anytime he’s talking about the land. I love picturing the kids exploring together in the woods. Having a legit treehouse hidden in the trees (you think Treehouse 2.0 is cool…just wait for Treehouse 3.0!).

Our core family unit is THE most important thing in my life and I know this will be a bonding experience for us all. In just this short time it has already been so fun having the kids be old enough to take part in the decision-making with the house plans as well as the physical aspects of clearing the land to create this home.

They’ve been out there riding the tractor, cutting down trees, and getting the property ready for the building process. It’ll be such a labor of love for us all and will be so neat to have them carry these memories into adulthood!

Our first official family picture on OUR property:

I believe firmly that God is good ALL the time in ALL ways and that every situation can be a blessing if we just look for it. I already see reasons that it’s been a positive thing that the first land situation didn’t work out and I know throughout this journey we’ll see more and more reasons why this timing is better than that timing. It’s hard to see right now as we could have paid a LOT LESS for the same house a year ago, but I also see mistakes we would have probably made then and lessons we’ve already learned in this past year that will serve us well with this current timing.

We are working on finalizing the plans so we can get a true price point from builders and decide who to work with on this project and have a starting point and ending point. Hopefully we’ll be able to start sooner rather than later but I also know that “God blesses patience” and that this whole process is His timing, not ours.

Plus now that we’re able to announce the news any local friends who may have recommendations please feel free to reach out and hook me up 😉

We have loved our home for the last 12 years and I know that this new adventure will be exciting and that we will love this new home just as much as we have our current one! I’m so thankful for the memories made here and eager to see what lies ahead as we venture out of neighborhood living and into land-dwelling 😉

I am also praying for the future owners of our current home. I pray that the perfect family finds it and loves it like we have and that our wonderful memories will carry over for them to create their own as well!

Here are more pictures from the day we told the kids the news and when Zach’s parents gave us the tractor as well as some from when Zach has taken the kids out to the land to work on clearing it: