Remember this post back in May when we suddenly sold our house with zero idea where life would take us next? It’s now August and it's been one crazy ride. 

Since then, we’ve been renting and doing some soul searching to find out what is next. Surprisingly that's a harder question than we imagined. When we bought our last house, we had a very clear idea of who we were, where we imagined life would take us, our goals/plans etc and that made it really clear in selecting our home and neighbourhood. This time around, a decade later- life has shaped us in ways that we never imagined and we found ourselves craving a blank slate. A fresh start. Something that fit our current life, not the one that was lost along with Zachary. New hope. New dreams. Something peaceful. We craved reprieve. ‘Chapter two’ as we’ve been calling it. 

It’s been our dream to build since we met over 12 years ago. Back in our 20’s we’d talk about the acreage we’d have together with the tree swing and it would be the home base for our life of adventure together. It’s been something that we’ve always wanted but it’s been out of reach. Over the years we’ve put our heads together and tried every creative way possible to swing something, but every way we turned it was painfully another closed door. If you live in the Fraser Valley, you understand there isn’t a ton of land and if you find some, chances are it’s not cheap. So we held onto this dream and while we were always looking… we figured it just might not be in the cards for us. 

Then we sold our home. We bid on a place in Columbia Valley and lost. There still was no land in our price range that was buildable, so we thought maybe we should just be open to whatever is ahead. We started looking at homes. Everything we’d send to our realtor we’d hear by morning already had accepted offers on it. Maybe we’re townhouse people? We quickly tried to explore any option under the sun as we got settled in our rental. We looked in Abbotsford/Mission/Chilliwack/Langley/Maple Ridge. A month in, after looking at places constantly, trying to keep up with work, attempting to get unpacked and find our next opportunity, I felt like I had hit my breaking point. Nothing felt right and I was worried we had made a huge mistake by selling our home on a whim. It’s amazing how a home brings so much stability. Having everything up in the air was scary. It’s exciting when you’re on the outside looking in, but to be honest, it was a terrifying leap of faith for us even though we knew it made logical sense. 

I had become obsessive about watching MLS and telling everyone and their dog that we were looking for land. We even went door knocking. Yup! I’ll save that story for another time. But we were striking out with finding our next move. The market seemed pretty crazy and we were just about to say we should just wait until the winter and stop looking. Terry handled this all a lot better than I was. I wanted a place/idea/plan to channel all our dreams into. Something to anchor us and I wasn’t sure how much to unpack as we could be moving again soon?

And so begins chapter two… 

It was early Saturday morning when I wondered if I should even bother looking on MLS anymore that I found a new listing. There was no photo. The description was vague, something about it being a "rare gem..." it said waterfront. My absolute dream. The price fit our budget, it was 1.5 acre and I immediately called the realtor. This sounded too good to be true, something must be wrong with it. I drove by and you know those moments in life where you get goosebumps and feel like you’re staring your future straight in the eyes? It was like that. Complete with eagles soaring right over the property. My heart was pounding as I drove home. I was trying not to get my hopes up as so many lots we previously looked at didn't work out. But this one felt like home. I couldn't wait to tell Terry when he got off work. I knew it was for us. It had just hit the market and I didn’t want this one to sneak away on us. I made Terry dinner when I got home so we could go back immediately when he got off work. 

Long story short, after a ton of research, ups and downs, number crunching and prayers, within a week WE BOUGHT IT! We are now the proud owners of acreage! Not only that, but a quick glance at my Instagram and you’ll know my deep and lifelong obsession with the water.  Can you believe Terry gets his dream for a small acreage while I get mine for living on the water?!!! Words can’t really express how excited we are for this next chapter as we build our dream home. It's amazing to look back in hindsight to see the timing of everything and know that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

I actually used to drive by this lake in high school (a very long time ago!) and would think to myself as I passed by 'wow imagine getting to live there!' It's an area that when I need to decompress or think, I go to. How funny that now nearly 20 years later we'll start our next chapter here?! It's remote for sure, we will definitely be leaving the suburbs for the woods. It's perfect for our lifestyle. So with that… I’ll leave you with this video that we shot at our new property. We are going to be building our ‘Lake House’ and I will be sharing the ENTIRE process with you guys on the blog and my social media. If you’ve built and have advice please hit the comments below! I am all ears! 

Thank you to all those who have been rooting for us and it’s with tears in my eyes that I say a giant thank you to those who have been praying for our chapter two to hurry up and start. We’re embracing it with open arms. 

Welcome to our next adventure.. 

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