"Fixer Upper" stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have said they are "hopeful for what God has in store" for them as they prepare to conclude their hit HGTV show.
"We really want to focus on this break and take a step back to let this all soak in," Joanna recently told People magazine. "Regardless of what the future holds, we are hopeful for what God has for us and our family in this next season."
"We're entrepreneurs at heart, so we'll always be looking forward to what's next," she added. "As it relates to TV, you just never know."
The Gaineses, who are parents to children, Drake, 12, Ella, 11, Duke, 9, and Emmie Kay, 7, said they realized they needed to "take a break" and spend time with their children. For the past 5 years, they've been filming "Fixer Upper" for 11 months out of the year.
"Nobody told us that that was unique," Chip said. "Nobody told us that that was a little bit irrational."
"I realized the show was demanding time from me, and I needed to be giving it to our businesses, to our relationship and my family," he added. "How far can you push it before something really does break down? And that's kind of where we landed."
"Anybody gets exhausted, and you say or do things you don't mean," he explained. "Jo and I don't want to find ourselves years from now realizing there were warning signs letting us know we were exhausted. We would rather stop here, where we still feel we're in a really good place."
During their time off, Chip and Jo are excited to "regroup and refresh."
"Thank God we stopped and gave each other time and energy and loved our family more than we would've had the resources to do otherwise," Chip said. "Hopefully that will pay dividends down the road."
In addition to starring in "Fixer Upper" Chip and Joanna are behind a slew of Magnolia business, which includes a real estate company and a retail compound plus paint, wallpaper and furniture lines. They also have a quarterly magazine, a soon-to-open restaurant and a New York Times bestselling book, with a second, Capital Gains: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff, due out Oct. 17.
In a video posted on the Magnolia Blog, the couple said that their decision to end "Fixer Upper" -- which has become one of the highest-rated shows in HGTV history since the pilot first aired in May 2013 -- is "bittersweet."
Still, Chip reassured fans that the family is "not going anywhere."
"At the end of the day, you can find us here in Waco, Texas," he said. "Of course, you can always come visit us at the Silos. You never know, you might see us at a local little league game in town with the kids.
"We want to take this time to really say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for letting our family become a part of your family," he continued. "The experience has been like nothing we could've ever predicted. [We] never would've imagined in a million years that God would've had this kind of a journey for Jo and I and our family and our beautiful business here in Waco."
