In 2020, we started to feel restless (much like the rest of the world) but restless in our souls. Midland didn’t feel like the city we were going to stay in, despite our amazing community. Rob started writing songs again and I mean like 5 songs a week. Some he’d write in the car on the way home from being an engineer, some would take longer… written in the minutes he’d rehearse and re-write every night while he monitored bath time. With these songs came a question. “What are all these songs for?”

I could feel a shift coming. I started to have dreams about fire. Fire that did not burn up or destroy, but that got my attention, commanded me to watch and follow. Fire in a Christmas tree, fire shooting out from a light above a dining table, fire moving from one room of my house to the next.

“Prepare the way, He’s coming through. Ready or not our God’s on the move” -Bethel

God was prepping our hearts for a big ask. We knew James at church was prepping to church plant and one day without knowing yet where this church would be located he asked Rob, “What if you came to be the worship leader?” Rob came home and said, “What does it mean that I want to say yes?” We prayed, and I prayed specifically that the church would be in the hill country, a longing in my heart for country and land from a dream decades before. Over dinner some weeks later, James told us it would be Dripping Springs, and we knew in our hearts we must go. 

We knew we had a year to prepare. Looking for houses in Dripping feels much like looking in Austin. Sticker shock palooza. We went back and forth, should we build? I prayed that the Lord would help me let go of the “country living” dream if I needed to, if this was not the time, and I felt him gently say, “do not give up the land.” One morning a property pulled up and its l just knew it was it. We made an offer unseen (and unsmelled), went to see it, fell in love with the vision of all that it could be, lost it, and then got a call the first people backed out. 

We bought it in November and immediately began to paint over the many shades of green and brown to update it as quickly as possible to rent out. We met with the owners Kenneth and Janelle (these will surely be the names of our first goats) They were 80 year old masters level biologists. They left tags with the names of many of the plants so we would know what they were and let them grow. (You can see one hanging from the tree in the first photo) They also hadn’t cut down anything overgrown or dead… in a LONG time. She talked to me a long while about her dog breeding and grooming business, and her desire that we feed the deer. Kenny showed us how to throw dog food all over the front porch for the raccoons. Neat. 

There’s so much work to be done inside and out … for our house, the new church, for our hearts, but we’re saying “yes” to all of it. 

For more before and afters and real time updates follow my on instagram @thehousegoat and see the "goatstead" highlight! 

before paint

after paint + a new fan

This dog grooming house has been turned into a tiny house aka "the Goatel" for guests! 

Goodbye Midland Part 2

Picture of the girls when we moved into our first house in Midland 2017

Goodbye Midland Part 2 ... The last two moves I have written letters to my homes, but not this time. My sweet friends, YOU have been my safe place to land and so this letter is to you.

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Dear Women of Midland ... For 5 years now I've lived in this desert town and the weight of leaving you all feels like I swallowed a heavy rock that is lodged in the center of my chest. At church this morning, James preached on Psalm 84:4

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“Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”

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He commented about when you have God dwelling inside you people want to be near you, and also when other people are dwelling with God you want to dwell with them too. There began the weight in my chest as I started to recall all the women in my circle. I started my Midland journey with 2 friends, one from childhood and one from college. They took care of me, invited me often, watched my kids and took me out to dinner. But you know what is more amazing than that? They dwell with God. One is going back to school to learn sign language because God called her long ago "to use her hands to speak." The other started a non-profit after school program to educate children in the WORD. (You two are what I pray my children find in friendships)

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Then as Midland does, it sucks you into community, my circle began to grow and I learned what it meant to see people often, to know their stories and their hurts and to meet each other where we are on a regular basis... and I have grown to love you for all you have done for me and for others, but more than that... you dwell with God. 

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+One friend gave up her house to live in a tiny home (with three kids) to establish a village for the homeless 

+Many give up weeknights and many random hours to spend time with and meet the needs of teenage moms 

+One runs a school for disabled children 

+Two are fostering children they may or may not end up adopting

+One is fighting for the rights of the sexually abused in a courtroom 

+Three are teaching children the gift music 

+One is driving 45 min to church every week to sing her heart out to lead us in worship 

+One is praying for my family whom she has never met 

+Many have adopted children out of a broken system and are willingly fighting battles they inherited 

+One is showing me how she still seeks the Lord in the midst of postpartum depression 

+One who is watching her two boys deteriorate with a genetic disorder as they age and is still praising God

+One who is using her medical knowledge + natural medicine to heal in a real way

+Two who are counseling and walking into the hurt with others

+All the single ladies serving their hearts out, you inspire me

+One who made my family a full Christmas dinner while we quarantined and spent the holiday alone

+One who dreamed big creative thoughts with me and entertained ideas with excitement

+My community group girls who showed up (and with the best food) week after week, year after year, because of the commitment to community

+So many who are walking in motherhood open, honest, and struggling right alongside me

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These are just a few of the many. Thank you for being vulnerable with me, for porch drop-offs, for watching my kids and all the snacks associated with that, for answering phone calls with a crying me on the other end, for so much encouragement, and for letting me be part of your stories too.

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If I am ready to run the race of the next chapter of our life in ministry it is because you have been my jogging partners. If I am untangled from the traps of this life it is because you have cut the ropes. If I am sharp at all it is because you have been my iron. You are all my heroes, my great cloud of witnesses and I absolutely love each one of you in a way I didn't know I could. 

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Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us 

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Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

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See you at the Goatel