Land!

So many of you know from our Christmas card this year that we found some land in Colorado back in the fall. It all started when we were in Colorado for the summer and I decided that it was time for us to seriously start looking for the land that we'd been talking about for several years. I contacted a realtor about an 11 acre plot in the Black Forest area and things began rolling from there. We had several pieces of land here and there  that we had my Dad go look at for us. None of them seemed quite right. Then this place on Highway 67 just outside the Woodland Park city limits popped up and we were both like, I think this is the one! We had my Dad go look at it and he said it was a great piece of property. We also had Aaron's Grandpa go by and his words were "prime property". So we decided to put in a bid. The land was subdivided and listed as three separate pieces so our bid was for on of the pieces. However, the sellers came back to us and said they did not want to break up the property and that if we wanted to buy it, instead of the 27 acre piece we originally bid on, we'd have to buy the entire 54 acres. Yikes! This was not in the plan and the 25-30% down payment needed for that amount of land was a bit out of our price range. What to do? After discussing back and forth, and there was a lot of back and forth because the sellers had three realtors and a lawyer so it was crazy trying to get information in a timely manner, we learned that the owners would be willing to finance and that we could give a 20% down payment which was doable for us. We worked through learning about the well permit, mineral rights, whether the subdivision was actually legal. So many things were new territory for us. I hadn't expected buying land to be that much different that buying a house but it was a very different world. Finally on December 22, 2014 we went to the title company and closed on our property!
Here are some pics of us on our new place:

We love this property because there is a wooded area toward the back where the build site for a house would be located, but then most of the rest of the property is grassland so perfect for raising some cows. It also has a great view of Pike's Peak and because it is so close to Woodland Park there is a biking/walking trail that runs right in front of the property along the highway. It is about 15 or so miles down the road from Aaron's grandparent's ranch so they could use it to graze some cows this summer if they want to. To keep the ag status of the land, we have a grazing lease with the person who was leasing the property before we bought it. He usually grazes it between January and May. Our hope is that we can pay the land down 50% and then roll the rest of the debt into a construction loan and start building a house. These are big dreams, but then we never expected to own 54 acres in Colorado! We will see what the Lord has planned and we are trying to be patient and wait on his timing. We'd love to be a fresh food factory for family and friends and raise our kids in more of a country, simple, small town setting.
When I look out my window at houses, streets, a new subdivision going in, I can't help but think about the other view I have somewhere in Colorado, being enjoyed by cows at the moment. A view of pine trees and mountains. In some ways it makes looking at the ugly new subdivision easier and in some ways, it makes it harder. For several years my prayer has been that I will be satisfied wherever the Lord puts us. If it is in a big, noisy, ugly city...well there are great things about that. So much to be thankful for. If it is in a quiet, country setting....the yay! But if I can't be satisfied where I am now, then I will not be satisfied when/if I get to live where and how I'd prefer.
In the meanwhile we hope to use Aaron's grandparent's RV to stay on the property for a while this summer. We'd love to have any and all of you come camp out with us for a while if we are able to make that happen this summer.