The Epic Journey - 9 year report

I can't believe it's been 9 years since my husband and I started this journey! Those of you who've been following us for a while will not be surprised to learn that we've moved again. For those new to my blog, in 2016, my husband Kevin and I decided to change our lives and follow our dreams. Since then, we've moved 5 times and have a completely different vision of our future from when we started.

The original plan was to move from Massachusetts to Chattanooga, TN, and create a yoga/art center combined with counseling and retreats for singles or couples. After buying a beautiful home on a mountain in Chattanooga, we felt that the area wasn't the right choice for us, so in 2018, we fixed up the house, sold it for a profit, drove to NC, and decided New Bern was where we wanted to be.

Trying to drive to the house we wanted to buy for a viewing. Many roads were closed at that time.

About 10 days after checking into a hotel to search for a home in New Bern, Hurricane Florence hit and destroyed almost 800 homes and businesses there. We managed to find a home with 13 acres outside the flood zone, but it had been abandoned for several years and needed a lot of work. We repaired and renovated that home to a beautiful finish, but again decided it wasn't the right place for us. In 2019, we sold that house for a greater profit and headed back to New England.

We had hoped to find something in Massachusetts close to my mom, but didn't have any luck. We expanded our search to all 6 of the New England states and finally bought a cute chalet in Maine. Then Winter hit. After several weeks of 8-12" of snow every weekend, we remembered this was part of the reason we left New England in the first place! We made some improvements and sold that home in 2020 with a smaller profit, but 5 times the amount we spent on improvements.

This is when we realized we were accidentally on a different path, but that we liked this new direction. We work well together and enjoy the challenge of bringing a dead or dying house back to life so it can become a home again. With that intention, we moved back to the Chattanooga area in 2020 and bought a distressed property just over the line in Georgia.

Work on this house went more slowly because my mother had many health issues in 2021, and about every 6 weeks, I flew to Massachusetts to care for her. Then, in 2022, we moved her to the Chattanooga area to make things easier for all of us. Since I had more availability to work with Kevin, we bought an additional distressed property in Alabama to renovate that year. I also began spending more time painting, which I dearly missed. Between my burgeoning creative energy and the encouragement of my artist friends, I participated in my first art festival that Fall and discovered I loved it!

When my mom passed away a couple of months later, I threw all of my energy into painting and art festivals. I love what I'm doing, and the next 2 years flew by for me. While the first house was finished and ready to sell, work on the second house had slowed to a crawl. The housing market was also really crazy in our area, with prices far above what homes were realistically worth. We listed the first house briefly in the Fall of 2024 with a price that was comparable to homes in the area, but which we suspected was too high. That turned out to be true, so we took it off the market and waited until this Summer when prices leveled out. Last month, we sold that home and made the highest profit so far, a tangible confirmation that we made the right decision to follow this path.

In addition, I'm painting more now than I have in years, and making connections with people of all ages and types all around the country through art festivals. Whether a painting shares the wonder and awe I feel for one of God's creatures or magnifies the love of someone's dog or cat through a portrait, it's wonderful to speak directly with people about my work and know it's touching more lives now than it ever did in galleries or through the private retreats we had planned.

I don't always remember to take a photo, but here are a few of the wonderful people who've bought one of my paintings. I remember every single conversation, and I'm truly humbled and honored every single time.

We've now moved into the second house in Alabama, which is an hour away from the house we sold in Georgia. The remaining work will go much faster now without that commute! We're hoping to finish within the next 4-6 months, while also searching for our next home (Virginia is calling to us!), participating in many art festivals, and celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary with a VACATION!!! (We haven't had one of those in years!)

Just married! October 1st, 2000

These past 9 years have definitely been epic, but we're happier than ever, following our dreams through our Purpose - revealing Beauty and sharing Hope. We can't wait to see where God and the journey take us next!

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