Hello Friends and Family!
We’re excited to share some wonderful news! Restoring The Garden is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization! Your support has been instrumental in achieving this milestone. Thank you for being a part of our journey!
Donald and I want to give you an update to all the things happening in our lives. As most of you know, we have closed our chapter of being on staff at Mountain Gateway and moved to northwest corner of North Carolina called “High Country.” It’s in and around the area of Boone. Donald is working for Samaritan’s Purse until January, at which point he hopes to stay on permanently.
In our time here, we have found an awesome church family through Harvest House Church. Donald, Liam, and I spent a week serving as camp counselors at their kids’ camp. Charlie attended and had a blast. All the kids spent time learning about God’s creation and how He designed it for us. They even built forts in the woods, learning how to work together as a team to build their shelter.
For the first time in 7 years, we feel that this is where we are to settle…to put down roots. The neat thing about it is, this is the area where my root began. I can remember stories that my mom would fondly tell me of how she and my grandfather (who was a Baptist Pastor and Missionary all throughout NC) would go into the mountains to minister to the gypsies. She would ride on the wheel well of the car so that the children could ride down safely to VBS inside the car. She loved it! She loved to love people well throughout her life.
In addition, Donald’s parents have always cared deeply and understood the depth of servitude God calls us to for others. Donald grew up watching his parents welcome people in need, the weary, the lonely, and those in ministry into their home. He saw them feed and create a place of rest for these individuals. As he grew up, they truly exemplified Jesus and what He was to those He encountered. They still do to this day.
This is the legacy Donald and I carry and hope to steward well.
Back to what is currently happening in our lives…to truly understand our journey, I will recap to 2017, when we moved from Huntsville, AL, after more that 25 years of living there. I can remember immediately after deciding to move, the Lord speak to creating “A Place of Rest.” Our lives have been nothing short of an adventure and quite intense, often not reflecting “rest.” We thought we knew how to set boundaries as a family. Little did we know that the Lord would show us that we did not know what true rest was.
We went straight to Louisiana only to develop some the most rich and fruitful relationships we never expected! Over time there we began to hear the Lord say “Be mobile” and “American Missionaries”. Our visions of that combined with “A Place of Rest” were unending. Even though it did not look like what we perceived it to be, He orchestrated all of those things. It started in 2019, when our eldest Calvin moved back to Huntsville to work and serve at our home church, The Rock Family Worship Center. In 2020, we bought our first RV, gutted it and remodeled it only for Donald, Liam, Charlie and I to be on the road 2 months later to Nashville, TN for a job. We stayed in Nashville for 4 months before getting our first job as campground managers in Rhinebeck, New York! That was intense! Then we moved on to other campgrounds, one of which was built on the foundation of Matthew 11:28-30…“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This was when the Father began to show us, how to rest in Him.
Once 2022 rolled around, we truly felt called into missions, received the invitation and were intending to be trained by Mountain Gateway as missionaries. Mountain Gateway is an incredible organization that trains and sends missionaries out into the field, equipping them to stay in the field. Well, eventually we ended up working for them! Little did we know that this was just a personalized way the Father intended to train us. Being that we worked on staff with Mountain Gateway, our training just looked a little different from the rest of the missionaries. It was extremely difficult, and we failed in many ways…however we learned to embrace that failure and allowed it to work in us despite how hard that was. Failure became an unexpected and unwanted friend. It was extremely difficult and extraordinarily rewarding, as it brought on radical transformation and growth, even after our time with Mountain Gateway ended.
We believe our mission work is far from over—in many ways, it feels like it’s just beginning. Through our time spent discipling and counseling remotely, we sense that there will be moments when He will send us out again. These steps of obedience have marked the start of our journey as “American Missionaries” and “Being Mobile.” We have always known that the time would come for us to create a place where people can find true rest. Now, it is time to establish “A Place of Rest” to show others what it truly means to find His rest for their souls.
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We are dedicated to nurturing spiritual and emotional wholeness through Christ-centered counseling and discipleship. Your generous donations not only sustain our family’s basic needs but also enable us to provide remote counseling, expand our ministry’s reach, and develop our vision of creating a physical sanctuary.
By supporting us, you help transform lives through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, allowing us to continue our mission of restoring wholeness for many. Your partnership and generosity make a profound difference.
We love you all and thank you so much for being so supportive over the years! We look forward to connecting and sharing what God is doing in our lives and others!
With heartfelt gratitude,
Founders of Restoring The Garden