For about 5 years now, my family and I have had the dream of owning our own land, planting a beautiful garden, taking care of our own animals and giving back to our community.

After having our own backyard chickens and a small suburban garden we knew that in order to make our dream a reality we had to give up the words “someday,” “maybe” and “after we retire.” We knew we were in charge of our destiny and the only way to make anything happen was by getting up and doing it.

So we sold our home in Southern California, moved to Arkansas (a state we knew nothing about) and found an adorable 1920’s farmhouse.

The ambiance was intense and such a dream location for a our future farm. Nestled on 2.5 acres with original hardwood floors, dreamlike wrap around porch and nestled in a park-like setting, surrounded by trees and singing birds and ten acres available for purchase right next door!

An adorable historical house and 12.5 acres equalled everything we wanted in our future home. Perfect for our garden, our animals and for the community.

We envisioned movie nights under the twinkly summer night stars, abundant fruit and vegetables that we could give out to families in need and extra rooms in our home we could open up for families that need help.

But this dream came to a halt after we closed on the house and discovered that the past homeowners hid major water damage, mold and structural damage from potential buyers, inspectors, and appraisers. There is so much damage that it has been recommended to us to tear the house down completely and rebuild. After weeks of seeking legal advice, prayer, tears, and midnight talks we have concluded that this is just too much of a burden for our family to take on alone.

We had tried to do everything in our power to choose a home that we could update and make our own but were never expecting such a devastating amount of damage hidden underneath a few layers of new paint.

Since we cannot move in we are living in a small RV on the property with our three children. Space is tight and every single thing is now harder to do than we could ever imagine. Meals, laundry, working, schooling has been made 100 x harder. Winter is coming which brings so many unknown and scary circumstances our way and we need help. This move has been hard on us physically, mentally and emotionally and we are just trying to get by as we pursue legal action.

In the meantime, we are asking for the community of Northwest Arkansas to come together and help us get through this time.

We need time, labor and materials donated to help rebuild this home. We need time and labor donated to help build a barn so we can store our belongings. We need YOU, the community to help make this a successful community-centered farm. If you can’t donate your time or material and feel like a monetary contribution would be best we appreciate that too.

We appreciate you, your prayers and any help! You can find a GO FUND ME page HERE if you would like to learn more on ways to help. We will also be updating our Facebook , Instagram and blog here.

We are overwhelmed but not broken, and we believe that through this we will become stronger people, a stronger family, and a stronger community!