Chasing A Dream to Make More of Our Home

* THIS POST CONTAINS PRODUCT AND AFFILIATE LINKS. *

Have you ever had a dream? No, not the go-to-sleep-have-a-dream kind of dream. We mean a dream for your life. Some might call it a goal, or an ambition. You set before what you intend to accomplish, then you set out to accomplish it. But that's not quite what we're talking about.

You see, our dream has always been to have a family and to serve students and families in ministry. And we have been blessed to do just that for a long time. Jay has been working with students and families for almost 30 years. Amy has served students and families in various ways for almost the same amount of time. We have been married for 25 years. And we are raising 5 amazing kids; with our oldest now 23 years old and our youngest about to turn 13.

But life is changing. Our kids are getting older and becoming more and more independent. It won't be long before our youngest begins chasing her dreams!

We started our family blog a number of years ago. Back then our hope was to encourage families to make the most of their time together. We talked about raising kids, and how to keep marriage healthy and balanced. We shared our favorite books, speakers, and what we were learning as parents. With five kids, we were a "larger" family and often talked about how to manage as a larger family.

In 2012, we started experimenting with a family vlog. Capturing moments on video and sharing them on YouTube for our extended family to see. In 2015, we set out to be a little more consistent as a vlogging family. We started sharing our lives; the adventures, vacations, trips, birthdays, and holidays. And, while our following was (and is) small, it was fun. Now we look back at those vlogs and smile, thankful that we were able to document some very special family moments.

But our kids aren't little anymore. And, family life looks different. Our oldest has moved out and is living his own life. Our number 2 and number 3 are also adults preparing to set out to forge their lives. And number 4 and number 5 are in high school and middle school, respectively.

Life is different. And it's time for a change. It's time for a new dream.

No, we're not moving. We're not leaving the ministry. We're not going to stop working with students and their families. We love our church, the people with serve with, our students, and our community. And, we're looking forward to seeing God do some amazing things in the lives of those we love!

However, as we consider the blog and the vlog, we think it's time for something a little different. You see, we love the family. We love encouraging, supporting, and helping the family be all that God has called us to be. That part of the blog and vlog will remain the same. We will still share our adventures, life's milestone, holidays, and family fun with everyone who continues to read and watch Life in the Higham House. But we also love the home.

Over the last 25 years of marriage, we have tried to make our house, a home. Our desire has always been to create a space where family and friends are invited, welcomed, and cherished. And together, we have used our gifts of cooking, baking, decorating, and creating to transform the many houses we've lived in to be something more than simply four walls and a roof.

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This is where the change comes in. Along with the family content, we will begin sharing new content such as DIY projects, our seasonal and holiday decor, recipes, favorite family-friendly restaurants and eateries we discover and love, and household organizing tips. For so many years, these topics have been part of our every day lives, and they have contributed greatly to joy of raising our family. 

Starting this week, we will begin posting new content that will fall within 3 categories; Family, Home, and Food. Some of this new content will come in the form of written blog posts. With details and pictures we'll share our adventures, projects, and yummy eats. But we will also share some of this content in vlogs.

Vlogs give us the opportunity to share the real-life moments as they happen. Some of the vlog posts will continue to be the family being the family. Breya and Jay will continue to create new episodes of Kids Talk, our kid-friendly web show where we cook, bake, try new things, and create moments for kids. But we will also share our DIY projects, decorating tips, and organizing helps.

So why the change?

​Well, we do have a dream, and that dream is two-fold. First, we want to help families make their house, their home. If we can help or encourage you in the areas of family, home, and food, we would be thrilled.

But we also have the dream of one day welcoming guests into our home. The second part of the dream is to one day own and operate a Bed and Breakfast. We love entertaining and having people one our home. So what better way to continue to serve families than by welcoming families into our home.

Now this part of our dream is many, many years away. But with any dream, you have to start somewhere. It's is our hope that the blog and vlog might help us eventually see our dream of a B&B become a reality. Through the sale of our t-shirts, affiliate partnerships, views on YouTube, and hopefully some sponsored posts, we hope that LifeintheHigham.com will become one of the ways we might invest into our dream.

You can help us with our dream.

1. Please continuing to visit and read the blog! We will do our best to share content that we think is helpful, encouraging, and of course, family-friendly.

2. Visit our t-shirt shop! We have partnered with a company that allows us to sell quality t-shirts with original designs that we create. From our fun holiday tees to our original line called, In A Word, our t-shirts and sweatshirts look and feel great! 

3. Visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel, Life in the Higham House! With almost 500 vlogs, going all the way back to 2015, you can watch the kids grow up before your eyes. And now with our new DIY, FOOD and HOME videos, there's never been a better time to subscribe than right now! We would love to reach 2000 subscribers by the end of 2021. By doing so, we'll be able to monetize our channel and make more videos!

4. Consider our affiliate partners. A lot of bloggers load up their sites with affiliate links for all sorts of things. We intend on using our affiliate partnerships a little differently. Instead of choosing random links that promote everything and anything under the sun, we will only post and promote products and companies that we ourselves use. That means we will only share products that we already use and love. Our first partnership is with Amazon. We shop with Amazon regularly. If we find a product helpful, you might see us recommend it here on the blog. And, if you purchase that product using a link on our website, we receive a percentage of the purchase at no additional cost to you!

5. Similar to affiliate partners, we are looking forward to partnering with some of our favorite companies through sponsored content. These posts and vlogs help us bring great content and resources to you, without costing you anything. We only ask that you take a few minutes to read, comment, and share these posts with your friends!

Owning and operating a bed and breakfast is a big dream. But we have given it and this blog project to God, and trust that His will would be done! Our job now, is to get to work producing great, family-friendly content for you! So let's get started!

​- the higham family

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