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Beginnings

Through a series of articles, we show the journey of how we came to Heart Ridge.

We Bought a Zoo

4/21/2020

5 Comments

 
Many people will look back on this Covid-19 crisis with mixed emotions.  Some will have feelings of sadness, anxiety, and frustration.  But I bet most of you will also have some memories of joy, happiness, even peace.  I'm amazed every time I look on Facebook and see what some of our family friends are doing.  

We, similarly, are experiencing these emotions.  Although we don't know anyone personally who has died from the virus, we do know some who have battled through it, and we have had to separate ourselves from many family members as we are trying to safely live in a quarantine of sorts.   

However, unlike many of you--we bought a zoo the day our state issued a social distance mandate.  Ok, it isn't really a zoo, but at times, it certainly feels like it.  Every evening we fall asleep to a chorus of loud nature sounds.  In the morning we awake to the morning crowd, often including flocks of honking geese.  We've seen our share of a variety of creatures, each one unique and beautiful.
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So no, we didn't buy a zoo, but what we really bought was an old camp/reform school/Baptist church/foster home in Blue Ridge mountains in South Carolina in hopes of transforming it into a retreat and cultural center.  
When I say it was all of those things--I mean it really was.  The latest occupants that we purchased it from were a combination of foster/rehab group homes.  They had some money problems and had to bail.  They started many projects on the property, but mostly left it unfinished.  Both organizations left us with a lot of their stuff that they had moved here from their former group homes.  Plus, there was a lot of stuff left over from the other folks who had lived here before (like a reform school, girl's camp, Baptist church).  That being said, we are sorting through lots of stuff!  Here are some examples:
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Hundreds of brand new King's James Version Bibles--they only used this version.
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Over 1000 slightly used Legal Pads
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Brand new Christmas ties!
I can't begin to tell you what all we've found.  Add to this list over 1000 brand new work gloves, army fatigues, cowboy boots, flower arrangements, and schoolbooks.  Oh I could go on. . . 

The only reason I mention this was that there was also a collection of DVDs that we found here.  And in that collection was the movie, you guessed it, "We Bought a Zoo."  

And that's exactly how we feel!  We're overwhelmed, stretched, and wondering if we've made a crazy mistake!  The movie had a happy ending with the family at peace with one another and the zoo bringing joy to community.

That's our hope, too.   

I'm beginning to share here "Glimpses into Heart Ridge" which will take you on mini-tours of the Retreat and Cultural Center and share with you some of our plans.

5 Comments
Kathleen Billings link
4/22/2020 09:15:08 pm

Beautiful Chapel! Thank you for sharing!

Reply
Kaitlyn Mason link
5/5/2020 03:15:58 am

Congratulations! This is really exciting. I've enjoyed reading about your journey on this blog. My family has been on a very similar journey of creating a farm/retreat center for families - we also just found our property! Thank you for sharing & take good care!

Reply
Tami
5/5/2020 06:38:23 am

Kaitlyn,
That's exciting. I'd love to hear about it. Where are you guys located?
Tami

Reply
Kaitlyn Mason link
5/6/2020 01:17:25 pm

We just moved from Charlotte, NC to KY. Actually, I think I have your email address from a friend who connected us awhile back, I'll email you. :) It's funny how similar some of our experiences have been! Peace! - Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn Mason link
5/9/2020 04:10:32 am

Hi Tami, I ended up not being able to find your email address in my inbox. :) So, we felt like God was calling us to create some sort of retreat center and farm. My family lived in Charlotte, NC on 4 acres, and we were doing some farming there. But we felt like God was calling us to scale up, but we didn't have a lot of extra time. So, following this call involved a big career change for my husband, and a move to KY, and we looked at many properties before finding ours. One property was a Protestant retreat center that looked similar to some you explored! In an amazing way, God connected us to a family who already owned a large piece of property they were turning into a retreat center with airbnbs, etc.... so they're selling us a piece of land to build on & we're in a camper until the house is built, and are excited to see what God has in store and how it all unfolds. God bless you for following His call & I'm excited to see what He's up to up there!! :) Peace! - Kaitlyn

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    Keith and Tami Kiser

    On the journey of building a retreat center and more.

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