Core Truths

  December 18, 2020. Last year, it was the last day to ship packages so they would arrive in time for a Christmas delivery. Inside this tiny UPS Store, the line extended out the door with anxious customers holding armfuls of packages piled high above their faces. We stood there at the counter, pen in hand, somewhat in disbelief this day was finally here. We knew this was faith—faith at every unexpected turn. What led us into this UPS Store on this particular day started a couple months earlier. We had made that trip to North Carolina where we unexpectedly found our dream home. We had decided it was our time to do what we dreamed of doing. Making the decision to move took far less time than the actual logistics of making the move happen. In the beginning, we contacted our realtor, we worked tirelessly to get our house ready to sell, we listed it, and we were under contract. At the same time, we were working with a realtor in North Carolina, we made a first offer, then we made a more...

Long before we made our big move to North Carolina, there were literally years of long discussions, soul-searching, and making lists of wants and don’t-wants. We were pretty clear that living in the suburbs, a daily hour-long commute, and being buried in student loan debt was not what we wanted, but it did take time to become very clear on what it was that we did want. I very much remember telling Brandon that we could do anything he wanted to do, that we could go anywhere he wanted to go, that I would pick up and follow him to any place, he just had to tell me where that place is. Not long after that conversation, Brandon got to work on his vision of what and where he dreamed our life could be. And when I say he got to work, I’m talking about how he bought a trifold foam board and some fancy pens so that as he became clear on his vision he could actually draw it out. Days later he emerged with a finished product. He didn’t have a name of a city, but he was very clear on what he wanted...