I have a confession…
We’ve been keeping something from you, but it’s only because nothing is certain right now, so we didn’t want to tell anyone without us knowing more. That’s the sensible answer I came up with, but I figure, eh, we’ll just tell you and in return, we’d be so grateful if you could help us by praying for our journey!
I think most of my close friends have heard me talking about our new dream to buy and renovate a chateau or castle in France, but in case you haven’t heard, surprise, that’s our new big dream! Also, plot twist, the boys are actually excited about it too, and want to move with us when we go, which is pretty cool.
For the last year, since we went on our family trip along the coast of California, and drove through the beautiful rolling hillside, Jon came up with this crazy (awesome) idea that we should buy and live in a castle and own a bunch of land, in France, during a pandemic. There’s nothing crazy about that, right? Nah.
Well, per usual for us, we were all pretty stoked about it and we immediately started researching everything from castle listings to how to live and work in France.
Once we started sharing our crazy plans with others, we heard from both people who thought it was a cool idea and others who thought we were crazy. But then one day I heard from someone -who I initially thought was spamming me – and she didn’t think we were crazy at all, in fact, she and her TV production company are more than excited about our castle adventure!
Which leads me to the big secret we’ve been keeping…
We may or may not be doing a TV show about buying and renovating a castle in France.
Although nothing is official yet, and although I can’t reveal any additional information publicly at this time, (and hopefully I haven’t already said too much), we are beyond excited about the opportunity to be considered for such a fun adventure.
Regardless of what happens on the TV front, we are planning on going to France some time this year to celebrate Jon’s 50th birthday (if that’s even possible with all of the COVID restrictions.) During that trip, we plan on visiting several castles to get a feel for all that goes into a restoration project like this, and also to better grasp the size and magnitude of these historic buildings. It’s one thing to browse listings online; it’s an entirely different ballgame to actually walk into the grand salon of a castle that’s a few centuries older than I am and be transported back to a time in history when Lords, Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses owned these prestigious properties.
Jon and I have been praying a lot about this process—the timing, the finances, etc.—and we are very much aware that this dream is crazy enough to be something that we can’t not do. We just have to do this!
When we do buy, whether it be this year or a few years from now, we have hopes of opening it up to the public so everyone can share in the magic and history of a beautiful castle that’s been brought back to life. We would love to share this piece of our story and our crazy big dream with all of you. I will be updating you as we know more, but for today, all I can say is that I am content with where we are, and excited about where we are going.
In the meantime, Jon and I are still cranking away at projects around the house to get our property finished (even if it’s a phase one type of finish), and we are spending a lot of time investing in each other and in our marriage.
With all the changes we’ve all had to make over the last year, the change I love most is how intentional Jon and I have been on working on us. We have a great marriage and we just want to keep getting better. I dig that.
If I can leave you with one thing today, it would be to never stop dreaming those crazy, awesome, ginormous dreams. You never know how God will use it in your life and in the lives of others.
Stay tuned for more castle updates, marriage pointers, and design renovations coming your way.
Sincerely,
Linds
SUPER excited with you!! Can’t wait to come
Yay! Us too. 🙂