About Me
Here’s a little background on us (me in particular).
I have wanted to live on a farm for as long as I can remember. As I moved from childhood into adulthood and eventually parenthood, my idea of what I wanted changed significantly. When I was 8 years old, suffering from the effects of chemotherapy for leukemia, the first dream I wanted to ask the Dream Factory for was a farm. My mom said that was a little too big. When I was a teenager, I envisioned a large horse training facility. (I am blessed to have a mom who is as crazy about horses as I am, so horses have always been a part of my life.) I was competing heavily and successfully and, like most teenagers, couldn’t imagine life being any different. I just knew that one day soon I would make it big and have a world class training facility.
I grew up, a little.
In college, my plans changed from a huge operation to something smaller (or a more “focused business strategy” as my entrepreneurship professor put it). I dreamed of training 3-4 top notch show jumping horses at a time. Also while in college, I met the man who would one day become my wonderful husband. He told me that despite having horrible allergies to everything outdoors AND growing up in a suburb he had always wanted to live on a farm. Dream come true!
The movie A Walk to Remember had come out right before we started dating. I loved the idea of making a list of things that I wanted to do before I died, so I made one too. I shared it with DH (then boyfriend) one day. One of the items was to find the end of a rainbow. DH said that if we ever got a farm we would call it Rainbow’s End.
Around the time we got married, life started throwing major curve-balls my direction, which I am sure God was using to redirect my plans. First, the Great Recession hit. Any hope I had of raising, training, and selling horses went down the drain. No one was buying luxury items anymore. A year and a bit after we got married, DH was in a horrible car accident and hit his head on the car window, changing his personality and mannerisms forever. Not long after that, my ankles gave out (meaning that now I can’t even use stirrups when I ride without being in extreme pain the rest of the day or longer). God was definitely trying to change my course. DH and I had to rediscover how to function cohesively. Besides that, I couldn’t jump anymore. I continued riding but had to switch to dressage (like ballet or figure skating with a horse) without stirrups.
I grew up, a lot.
Fast forward a few years. DH and I were functioning reasonably well. We (well mostly the bank) owned a small house. We had a dog. But our family was incomplete. We decided to try to have a baby. The doctors had told me that I would probably never be able to have kids because of the chemotherapy so early in life. God had different plans and blessed us with DS and then DD 2 years later.
Our family was complete, but, deep down, my dream of a farm still lingered. Now, though, all I wanted was a quiet, peaceful place to raise my kids. I envisioned a few chickens, a big veggie garden, and a few horses.
And now, I’m finally getting it! DH and I found the farm of our dreams, and God worked in ways that are so much greater than I could have ever imagined to make it happen. I have never felt so at peace letting go and leaving the process in His hands before. (Believe me, I’m a total control freak – just ask my husband.) But with this decision and through the whole process, I haven’t needed to feel in control. I know the One who is, and He is so much better that I am at directing my life.
So, welcome to my journey. I invite you to be in this adventure with me as my family and I work to build things and get back to basics and simplicity. Welcome to our own little pot of gold, our Rainbow’s End.