Hmmm...

Check this place out:

An expansive 7.5 (or so) acres on the outskirts of a little Normal Rockwell-esque village in NE, this property has four barns, a hen house, and a two-car attached garage.

It's also got this volleyball-court-waiting-to-happen.

And plenty of trees to climb.

The house itself is stone with recently replaced roof, furnace, etc... (You can see one of the big barns behind Anna's head there.)

All the outbuildings have been cared for particularly well.  This big barn I can see housing barn dances -- and future wedding receptions maybe?

That little "garage" just in front of the kids there?  That would be my new "summer kitchen" if I can get some kids to help me fit one out again. ;) This one is bigger, would have room for bunks and a double bed, too!

And there's this.  This beautiful tree. One of many.  I see art classes, sketching and painting this tree.
(Those are the neighbor's barns across the street in the background. His are white; this house's are red.)

And look at this.  The world's best sledding hill.  Ohmygosh.  Can you imagine??

And another view of the sledding hill. You can see the town water tower there; it's just west of the house.

So, that's outside.

We were so taken with everything we saw outdoors, we were afraid to look indoors....  But looky!  Not scary at all! We were pleasantly surprised; everything has been updated, everything looked plumb, and efficient

Only specs out at 1700 s.f. or so, but that's because the basement is only partially finished.  As is, there are three bedrooms, but room for another in the basement, plus lots of storage and a rec room.

 But, we loved this miniature "great room."

And the master bedroom was lovely, with hardwood floors -- and I would totally keep the color of these walls!

The second upstairs bedroom has the little boys' names written all over it.

Two bathrooms.  The one in the basement is a little wonky, but could be fixed up easily.  This one upstairs, is small, but modern and well appointed.  And drains into a proper septic.  (Those who understand what I'm talking about...  well, you understand what I'm talking about...)

The one and only drawback we could find in the house was this tiny kitchen.  But, there's a laundry room with pantry space and an extra fridge or freezer adjacent.  And, we figured that if you take out the wall you see below (that the oven is on), bump it out a little bit into the great room, and make a counter between the two rooms, it'd be more than adequate.

Other interesting possibilities would be converting the double garage to living space -- maybe a mother-in-law apartment? Or a rec room?  There's plenty of space in the barns to park your cars, so it's possible...

And, get this.  To the back of the house, there are miles of open land, forested hills, sprinkled with
farmed pastures and Salt Creek winding its way westward from the Platte River.  Then, to the front of the house, on down the hill, lies the tiny town of Ashland.  It's a five minute walk south to miles of forestland, five minutes north to the grocery store -- and a quick bike ride to the town library.  (Can you hear the sighs of imagined bliss?)

Best of all, the whole wonderful package is listed at a reasonable price.  I'm afraid this place is going to go before we can do anything about it... And if it does, we'll assume it's God's will. But, I'm praying on it!  Anyone who has a mintute for an Ave or two, could you send a couple up for us to know the Divine Plan on this?  And that if He says "OK," He also makes it possible?

Thanks so much!  We hate renting (You have no idea the trials we're going through with our landlord these days) and are dying to have a forever house -- and never have to move again!

Deus Vult!