But those dreams were destroyed early on Sunday, July 15 when the family and a house guest staying the night were woken around 7am by the sound of smoke alarms as the house became engulfed in flames after an electrical fault caused a couch to catch fire.
Jocelyn said William, who had a double cast on his legs after recently undergoing surgery to help with his walking, had managed to get into bed with her when the fire broke out, and eventually had to drag himself out of the burning building.
"He was petrified, literally lying in the foetal position. I said 'William you have to get up', and he said 'can you carry me, Nanna?' And I told him 'I can't, you're too heavy, you'll have to crawl out'." Some 35 volunteer firefighters from Waipawa, Waipukurau, Otane and Tikokino spent around seven hours fighting the blaze. Many were back soon after when the fire flared up again in the kitchen early the next morning.
"They were here all day Sunday and they were back at 3.30am on the Monday morning. So a huge, huge thanks to them," said Jocelyn.
The house was "well involved" by the time firefighters arrived and they were unable to save it.
Bruce likened the destruction of the house to the "death of a family member", while Jocelyn said the couple had poured everything into their home.
Making their loss even more painful was the fact the Johnson St home was uninsured. Bruce suffers chronic pain syndrome and has had two knee replacements - for which he relied on his ACC-provided electric wheelchair, which was destroyed in the fire - while Jocelyn suffered a brain injury in 2005 after a fall at work. After more than a decade on ACC payments, Jocelyn said the couple had stopped paying insurance because they couldn't afford it.
"When you are on low incomes, something has to give. We shouldn't have done it. It was a calculated risk and we lost."
Apart from Jocelyn suffering a burn to her foot, all five managed to escape the fire unhurt. But she said the family had been plagued by nightmares in the aftermath of the fire.
Despite the trauma, Jocelyn said the couple had been comforted by the "overwhelming" support they had received.
A Givealittle page set up for the couple within hours of the blaze has raised more than $10,000, while others had donated clothes, household items, whitegoods and arranged meals for the family.
"The community support has been overwhelming really," said Jocelyn, while Bruce was "amazed" at the generosity of CHB locals and others around the country after their plight attracted national media attention.
"We thought it might be a little sideline [in a newspaper] somewhere, but we didn't expect it to go national. We are just two people trying to create a home for our two beautiful [grand]sons," he said.
Since the fire, the Buchanans have been staying with another Waipawa couple, Craig and Esther Stuart, fellow members of CHB's "strong" home-schooling community.
The Buchanans were looking at offers of accommodation in the meantime, but hoped to build an ablution block and convert a double garage on the property into a temporary home while they investigated their options to rebuild.
But money and time are against them.
Reports they had three sections ready for sell were not entirely correct. They had almost finished the process to subdivide one of three, one-acre sections on their land, but a buyer pulled out at the last minute.
"So we have to start that process all over again. But now we don't have the money to subdivide," said Jocelyn.
"We are 60 years old and don't have the time to start all over again. And we have Hunter and William to think about."
■Donations of goods to the Buchanans can be dropped off to the old Country Traders building in Waipawa and people can also donate to givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-for-the-buchanan-family-after-fire-destroys.
