It's Amazing What 10 Years Can Do....

Ten years ago (well actually 11) Shane had a recruiting command in Brainerd, MN. Our consolation for him having such a crappy job was that we bought a lake home. We lived really tight for 2 years because we purchased an expensive, but beautiful lot! I honestly think we have the most beautiful lot on this lake. We love our outdoor space and spend a lot of time there. The house on the other had--needed a lot of work--still does. But, we bought the amazing lot--with the intent to "fix" the house.

Nine years ago, we moved---that seems to happen a lot in the Army :) We kept our beautiful lake home and dreamed and dreamed of how we would remodel it when we returned. If you talked to us at all during that 9 years, I'm sure you heard of our dreams.

About 5 years ago, we started on our journey of eating real, whole foods. We love organics and how we feel eating "the good stuff". Part of that journey resulted in Shane's "new" dream of having a hobby farm and making us self sufficient. So...

Two years ago we bought a 17 acre farm only 5 miles away from out lake home.

One year ago, we bought an additional 20 wide open acres.

In March of this year, Shane began to realize his dream. He bought some animals. He started a garden. He started figuring out this whole hobby farm thing. And we have both learned ALOT!!!! We both LOVE having these animals (yes they are a pain sometimes, but we love them). We love being able harvest some of our own food (albeit very little right now). We know that this is the direction we want to keep going.

In July of this year I got a job teaching 3rd grade in a town that is a 36 minute drive from our home. We also have come to realize that 5 miles is really inconvenient when you have to go care for animals twice a day. And 5 miles is a real pain in the butt when you leave a tool at one location and need it at another. In light of all these things we started doing some thinking.

We have absolutely everything we want and everything we need in our 3 properties. We are blessed beyond belief!! BUT, what if we could have everything we wanted all in 1 location???  Wouldn't that be even better??? And what if it was closer to where I'm going to be working? So, we started looking to see if that even existed...it does. So, we have done more looking, and more looking. And then talked to a banker, and now are talking to a realtor.

Do you see where I'm going with this??? We are not sure exactly when it is happening, but the Barna Family is going to do something we never thought we would do. We are selling our lake home, and our 2 acreages and we are making one final move--to a place that has it all! We are having a realtor come through in a day or two and we are going to start staging our home to sell. UGH! Decluttering here we come! And once it sells, we have a couple properties that we have our eye on...one in particular. Yep we are going to move fast.

So, dreams change and that is a good thing. I never thought we would move again, but it is the right decision. We will have everything all together and we will be living our dream even more completely. We are truly a blessed family!