Our Why.

What on earth would ever prompt us to build 12 cottages uniquely designed as the perfect couples getaway?? 

For us, the answer is simple - it was to create a place where couples could retreat, to slow things down, connect or reconnect, create memories, but ultimately grow as a couple. 

But why does that matter to us?? 

Y’all, life can be hard.  Busy.  Demanding.  Work, kids, school, sports, activities, dinner, pack lunches…lather, rinse, repeat…everyday. Jase and I realized early in our marriage the importance of intentionally setting aside time for ourselves.  One of my greatest fears was arriving on the other side of raising kids, when life starts to slow down, and realize we had lost each other along the way.  So, together, we committed to investing time in our relationship, wherever and whenever we could.  

The investment didn’t always look the same. As with anything, there is a season. Some seasons allowed us to pre-plan date night with dinner reservations. Other times it was “oh, the kids all have last minute plans with friends, so let’s go do something”.  And sometimes, we scheduled a trip. A weekend getaway somewhere within driving distance (usually Charleston) that would allow us to explore, have fun, and oftentimes, dream about our future. 

About 3-4 years into our marriage, we attended a local marriage retreat, through Marriage Life Ministries, that my boss invited us to. To be honest, I didn’t think we NEEDED to go to a marriage retreat.  We were doing just fine but we went anyway. It turned out to be an amazing weekend but one of our biggest takeaways was date night rules.  When you are on a date, no talking about kids, work or finances.  It was hard at first but over the years we’ve just naturally stuck to the rules and, to my surprise, it created space for us to talk about the future. Our dreams. Our goals. Our desires.  

Y’all, we take our time together very seriously. On the notes app, we share a note titled “Charleston Restaurants”. The note started when we realized there were more restaurants we wanted to try than we had time for in a single visit, so we started a list. The next trip, we just checked the list and booked reservations. It made things simple! It worked so well that we started doing it for Knoxville restaurants. New places would pop up and we’d say, “we’ll have to try that sometime”, we added it to the list. It made it so easy when we had a last minute chance to grab dinner or go on a date.

You know what else?? I didn’t realize it then, but over the years, I have learned there’s so much value in your kids watching you love spending time together. I know it’s not easy or alway feasible to get a babysitter or run them Grandma and Papaw’s….seasons come and go, for sure. We always found a way to get creative with our time so we never lost sight of each other. It wasn’t (still isn’t) uncommon for us to put together a cheese & charcuterie board and snack while we watch a movie or a show. Do whatever makes sense for you and the season you’re in!

We are very fortunate in that we have lots of family around us. - we’re also a blended family - so when the “big kids” went to their Mom’s, we would sometimes schedule for our youngest to spend the night or weekend at Grandma and Papaw’s or with my sister. Selfishly, we were being intentional about our own time together, but what I’ve also realized is what we were giving Liv was time (and memories) with her grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and our closest friends.

All that to say, be intentional. Take time for each other. Love each other well. Let your kids see you love each other well. For us, we continued to learn about each other, it taught us to hold tight to each other when life was hard, and we just fun to have that time to always look forward to. It’s always fun for us to take a timeout on life to just be us.

So,

Run that errand together.
Go for a walk around the block together.
Find a hobby together.
Schedule a date night together.
Book the trip. Just the two of you.

Spending intentional time together and sticking to our date night rules pushed us to use our time differently. To plan out what we wanted our lives to look like going forward and how we wanted to use our love for real estate, DIY and design to serve others. And from that came Anson Arbor Farm. If we’re fortunate enough to be the place you escape to, we promise we’ll take great care of you at the farm. Time, intentionality, peace and quiet…space to love each other well is the most important thing to us.