Joanna and Chip Gaines are doting parents to five children, but things are changing fast! This year, their firstborn, Drake, will fly the nest to attend college, and in the new issue of Magnolia Journal, Chip has reflected on their ever-changing family life.
He wrote: "All of a sudden, I look around and have to catch myself. The kids are growing up and moving off, and Magnolia has turned into something bigger than we ever could’ve imagined."
He added: "In those 20 years, our world changed. But the one thing that didn’t was the promise Jo and I made to one another at the altar in front of our family and friends. They asked if we’d stick it out through thick and thin. We said yes, and we meant it. We still do."
Further expanding on the time passing by quickly, Chip wrote: "Twenty years ago this May, I married the love of my life. Twenty years. It doesn’t even make sense. Just yesterday, I was on one knee in a jewelry store outside Archer City, Texas, asking Jo to marry me.
"Just yesterday, she told me she was pregnant for the first time. Just yesterday, we walked into a run-down house we could barely afford, but it didn’t matter because it was ours and we were going to make it the best home in the world."
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The couple live in a gorgeous home in Texas with their children Drake, 16, Ella, 16, Duke, 14, Emmie, 12, and Crew, four. In August, Joanna opened up her thoughts on Drake leaving home to go to college.
Chatting to People, she said: "When [Drake] was Crew's age, people would look at me and say, 'Oh, you better hold on tight. It goes by fast. Now, being a mother of a four-year-old and an almost 18-year-old, it's a constant reminder to not take these moments for granted."
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In an essay in Magnolia Journal, the quarterly lifestyle magazine she publishes with her husband, Joanna further reflected on Drake's then upcoming departure.
© Michael Buckner"Soon, our oldest son, Drake, will be leaving home for college," she wrote. "In the grand scheme of heartbreaking things, this one comes with a lot of gratitude and excitement."
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"But still, my first child is moving away, and our family dynamic will change because of it, and that can feel like a loss of its own."
The summer issue of Magnolia Journal is available online now and on newsstands starting May 5
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