A dream unfolding!

  Funny, I'm not a computer gal , nor a blogger- but I woke up this morning wanting to blog about our new adventure. Let's see if I can stick to it!
                                                                      The Story

   It's probably a typical American dream to own a bed and breakfast, at least it is for my husband Greg and me.Both of us loving to travel  and being very social, we have always enjoyed staying in B&Bs-In our early married years living in Georgia-we took a trip to New England our first night being in Kennenbuncport Maine.  I still remember that B&B- beautiful Victorian with antique furnishings, four poster bed, homemade apricot brandy and chocolate on our bed at night-and stuffed french toast with dates cream cheese walnuts and a scrumptious baked apple!!   It hooked us for life. Meeting people from all over the world, enjoying visiting with the hosts-in some cases they became family. This was the beginning of our dream to someday have one of our own. Any time we traveled we would ask the hosts for any insight they could give us ,and they were always willing to help. That was almost 20 years ago.

   Two moves later (2 years in Fort Worth Texas and the last 14 in Hollister California ) we have stayed in B&Bs in Victoria British Columbia, Hawaii, Northern California (Mendicino, Napa, Callistoga) just to name a few, always hoping and praying that someday it would become a reality for us.

  I have to confess that I'm the dreamer in our family , while Greg is more the realist. About 6-7 years ago, Greg's company he'd been working for since 1987 was filing bancruptcy and was bought out by another company-and a lot of the upper management like him were leaving the company. He stayed put, until one day he had decided he'd had enough and informed me it was time for our B&B to become a reality! You can imagine how excited this dreamer was-I immediately went out and bought a book on opening a B&B and met with my realitor.....I was off and running!
  Well?   well , well.........nothing! It fizzled, Greg stayed with his company-obviously God was telling me "not yet" But this dream would never go away.

  Tragedy struck the Harvey family in December 2008. Our youngest son, Joshua, a Lance Corp. in the US Marines was killed in an off duty accident on his base in Beaufort South Carolina. He was 19 years old. Our other son Philip 23 at the time happened to be staying with us on that Sat. morning at 5:30 when we were awaken by a knock on our door. Three Marines were there with the news of his death. Thus began a difficult year of pain- yet in the midst of our suffering we had indescribable peace-which came from our faith in Christ Jesus.

  Almost a year later I had noticed a "For Sale" sign on this beautiful Victorian home across the street from our church that I had always admired, thinking to myself it would make a beautiful B&B. Within the year Greg's company took another dive, this time all the upper management was forced to go. So looking for work, he found something here in our town about half the pay, but close to home-which allowed us to spend more time together,and helped us with the healing process of our loss. Every time I went to church, it seemed I couldn't get that house out of my head. So I took the bait and went in for a look. Perect!!! Ok so it had been turned into offices and had no kitchen or full baths-but other than that.....perfect!

" Well-Greg....can we?" Besides the price still being high and the small fact that we don't have the money-he seemed to like the thought of it! So I began a 3-4 month research project, trying to find a way. Being a dreamer allows one to over come most any obstacle that comes your way, not always a bad thing!? My sister helped me write up my business plan, trips to the  EDD, HRD, USA etc.!!! became my daily task, and I was trying to get info from any and every person in my path. My prayer constantly being that God would guide me and if it was meant to be He would clearly show me the way, and on the other hand if it wasn't meant to be and the door shut, that I would be ok to walk away-or at least for the time being, put it on the back burner.Lord knew I really wanted it, but I didn't want to manipulate it at any cost. And so...the door closed.

  As the months went by, friends would ask about my dream and how it was going. I was completely ok with the fact it hadn't turned out like I wanted (which is so not like me!) But my explanation was " the timing wasn't right" and to myself I felt it had been a wonderful distraction the Lord gave me during the holiday season, which was the first anniversary of Joshua's death. Either way life went on. The year was filled with all sorts of 'stuff ' that kept me busy. Then one day it seemed the door blew open!!!!!

  To be continued.........