Vine Living Farm Moves to Tennessee!

The past three months have been quite the whirlwind, but we are very excited to share that we are official Tennesseans. 

It all started with a few vacations to north Georgia. What can I say? Our children were officially getting older and we were on a mission to become like all other American families and take road trips. 

The mountains were calling and after a few visits, we began falling in love with this beautiful, green state. 

Robbie and I both remember the moment when we were eating a nice meal at Paula Dean's restaurant in Pigeon Forge, TN. It had been a fun week and we both had been ohhing and ahhing over the landscape and beauty of the mountains. We had been playing around with looking online at a few properties to see "what land went for up here". As we sat at the restaurant, I leaned over and nudged my handsome huz, telling him that there were some properties I had made appointments to see. He grinned. (Rob has never been a "Florida guy", but the possibility of being able to move to a colder climate never seemed to be a possibility. Until now. He got excited.)

We had worked so incredibly hard at our small, 5-acre farm. Many wondered why we would move? 

This TN house was everything we wanted in a home. In a farm. It has so much history (1830 pre-Civil War home), beauty and possibility. The kids would finally get to experience SEASONS. There were a lot of things farming-wise that we would never be able to do in Central Florida. There is so much GRASS here. Very green grass for the animals. Enough grass to have our own hay cut for winter therefore reducing our feed costs to virtually nothing. Creeks, ponds, winter weather for hanging meat after butchering (can't do that in Florida when it's in the 80's in December). It was something we wanted, but never thought possible. Deer, turkey, blackberries coming out our ears and space for the kids to build homes on should they decide to when they are older. 

You see, I had been praying for years. YEARS...that my husband could work from home. We thought it was a sure bet in Florida, hence the rural move to our last home on 5 acres in Central Florida. Never-the-less, that wasn't God's plan. He had something different up His sleeve.

That prayer was finally answered and he had permission from his company in Florida to move out of state! We were overjoyed. No more commuting. No more nights of late dinners. No more worrying of him driving and something happening to him on the way to or from the city.

God had answered our prayer. We were humbled. 

As we looked at properties, we started to get excited. 

Then, we got a call for our precious son to be adopted. As things got sticky through the adoption and it elongated, we weren't sure what God was doing, but the dream of moving got put on the back burner as we had something more important...an adoption to focus on.

 We continued to take fun road trips to "get away" and just enjoy our time as a family. 

Then, we found THE house. It was everything we were looking for. We were hesitant. What was God doing with this adoption and what was His timing for everything?

That's when our FAITH kicked in. 

God started REVEALING what He was going to do and we were to keep our eyes on Him and only Him (I clung to the story of Abraham in the Bible). To the common man/woman, what we were doing made absolutely no sense. It was risky. It could've been viewed as foolish by some. We wound up buying a property, had to sell two other properties (on a year of Jubilee, I might add!), get Rob physically able to work from another state, get farm animals sold (our beloved Mabel and her bull calf, Sampson) as well as ear-tagged and health-checked to cross state lines, a house packed, homeschool arrangements made, finances to work out to pay for everything and the biggest miracle God was going to pull off was getting approval to take Silas out of state for finalization (and at this point, we were still awaiting DNA testing). 

Got all that?

God began moving and working all the while giving us very vivid dreams (have you ever noticed how FULL the Bible is of dreams?) and Bible verses to keep us going. 

As Oswald Chambers puts it, you have to cut out everyone else when you are trying to be the most in tune with what God wants you to do. Be one with Him and Him only. 

Three days before we moved...the truck was booked, the house was packed, our farm in Florida sold in less than 24 hours over asking price (talk about God moving!), our city house in Florida that we were renting sold in a few weeks, the Tennessee house had already been closed on and those blessed words from our adoption attorney came over our emails..."YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO MOVE!" 

It was official. 

What God had been working on and revealing to us all this time came to life. 

I could suddenly breathe again and it felt good. It was humbling that a God so big that created this universe, heard each of our prayers, knew EXACTLY what had to happen and He moved those mountains for us. 

Lots to catch you all up on, but we thank you for your support and prayers. 

We are enjoying this place of rest. 

This place.

I don't even have words to really put all of this into. 

The Lord is truly RESTORING OUR SOULS HERE. He is leading us beside these quiet waters and shepherding us. 

We are finally unpacked. Animals are situated. A barn pad is finished and awaiting assembly in the next 2 weeks. Homeschooling is about to start up again. DNA testing is completed for our sweet baby boy and we are TPR'd (Termination of Parental Rights) and awaiting a finalization date from our Florida judge. 

All the credit goes to our Heavenly Father who knows each one of YOU and loves YOU. Nothing is too big or small for Him. Trust Him. He will lead and guide you in His ways and give you peace. He wants a relationship with YOU at the most intimate level. Time with you. Praise from you. Conversations with you. Time in His Word with you. 

Blessings brothers and sisters!