Do we dare?

Pete and I did something yesterday that could lead to our life together taking a very, well, *different* avenue than anyone in either of our families has taken for generations. We have longed for quite some time to do something like this, and with Pete's retirement from the Army looming larger every day on the horizon, we have some decisions to make. Of course, since it is new territory for either of us, we wanted to at least see what it would look like, so we took a drive. About twenty minutes north of Huntsville was a property he'd spotted in one of those real estate brochures he picked up, and both of us was flabbergasted to find how "at home" we felt standing there on that ten-acre plot of farmland just half a mile from the Tennessee border surrounded by a lot of nothing.

Granted, the house that sits on the property is uninhabitable. It's a 100+ year-old farmhouse in need of more than just TLC. It's in need of a bulldozer! The barn is not too much better off. However, at $114,000, that piece of land is probably the closest we'd come to getting the best of both worlds--the farm life we both would LOVE to have with the potential to eventually build our dream home with room to breathe, plus the close proximity to a good job for Pete.

Thing is...you talk about risks! We'd have to find a not-so-expensive mobile home to put on the property to live in...immediately...not to mention that house is going to be a bear to tear down! However, the thought of working toward self-sufficience is really sparking our interest even further. Standing there on that big, green piece of land imagining ourselves living off of the bounty that the Lord provides from the land, having the space for our children to live and grow without having to worry about what ridiculousness our nextdoor neighbors are up to...it's a good thing we aren't going to be truly "in the market" for a home for another eight or nine months. This piece of land has been available since January of 2007...I wonder how long it will be sitting there?