Changes this Holiday

As the Christmas Holiday approached, we had a decision to make: should we go home for Christmas? While we had full intentions of staying in Florida for the Christmas season there were plenty of reasons to make a quick trip home to Nebraska. Brittany decided it was time to return home and we could take her, I so badly wanted to be home for Christmas and Jimi, being as wonderful as he is, obliged me and thirdly we wanted to look at a property we’ve had our eye on since the summer of 2016.

Brittany has done well with us on Sanibel, however, with the springtime school events approaching, she wanted to return home. She has plans to attend the prom and graduation ceremonies with many of her friends.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the colors, lights, snow, all the presents and most of all – the family. I had a blast with my selfie stick on Christmas – others may not have shared my delight.

 The little ones LOVED the selfie stick.

However, my sister did NOT!

And the sock puppets were the highlight - all other presents were chopped liver.

Last summer we admired a Methodist church listed for sale at 85k. But that’s all we did was admire it. Just weeks before Christmas my mother told us the listed price on the church was at 46k. This price got us to thinking. We did a ton of research on the building, zoning, etc and then ventured home. A few weeks later, all said and done, we are the proud owners of a 1917 Methodist Church.  The sanctuary is over 2700 square feet, the basement is another 2700 square feet (but it’s been gutted) and the classrooms are 2,000 square feet. We have lots of plans and renovations. Watch our video for a tour.

From Methodist Church to Nicolaus Home; the purchase date was January 3rd, 2017. Our goals are to begin renovations by the end of 2017 and complete them by the end of 2020 or sooner.  Much of this will depend on Sanibel and how fast we can find her a new loving home.

We’re looking at sailing as far up the East coast as we can get to sell her there. This will give us another year to love and enjoy her, beautify her and see another part of the country from a different perspective.

With the holidays and business taken care of here, we're driving back to Florida.