"Are Your Dreams Coming True and Your Prayers Being Answered and You Don't Even Know It?"

In 2004, I had a run-down cinder block building in my back yard that was screaming to me to be a boarding facility.  I was newly married with a baby on the way, and stressed about what the future might hold.  I started obsessing over this building and the what if’s and what could be’s.  I would doodle, and design on napkins while sitting at the kitchen table.  I started calling to find out about business license, taxes, and restrictions.  I started trying to clean it out, while pregnant, and was very unsuccessful with that.  Once my sweet baby came, I realized that wasn’t a possibility now and I needed to shift my focus.  However, it always stayed in the back of my mind and morphed each time I would move or boarded my dog for vacation.

Over the next twenty years I would daydream and come up with fun ideas around dog and cat play areas.  My parents and I would look at property and talk about how that would make an amazing pet resort location.  I worked as a vet tech at a vet hospital trying to make ends meet.  This made the dream even more tangible and at times unbearable to not be living it.  I was learning more about pet behavior, pet medicine, safety and protocol, but I was dying to be my own boss and create a refuge and vacation stay for dogs and cats.  I have emails from almost every single year for quotes and estimates on prefab buildings and kennels.  A few years ago, I haphazardly sketched out some plans for a kennel at the farm.  I was obsessed with this dream…secretly. 

I made other plans.  I raised my baby.  I went to school.  I got divorced.  I got remarried.  I traveled.  I bought houses.  I sold houses.  I buried soul dogs.  I dealt with sickness.  I healed from sickness.  Life came, no matter what my dreams wanted or consisted of.  Life happened, and I’m thankful.  God showed up in so many ways in my life, so many answered prayers, and so many miracles.  I would pray for my heart’s desire, but never considered what that might look like.  I figured God knew better what my heart’s desire was even more than myself.  And I was right.

Now twenty years later, here we are.  We used that sketch as a rough draft for our final goal and planned our future.  God opened doors that I didn’t even know I needed open.  God allowed connections that would help, and work, and carry us into the next phase.  God gave me the experience and knowledge to feel confident enough to step into this dream.  God prepared my husband with experience and knowledge to contract and oversee every step of the construction.  God tailored a barn and acreage that was made for this dream.  I just had to dream it and show up.   God did all the work while I thought I was just surviving day to day.  He was planning, He was preparing, He was building.  I was just living, oblivious to what was in store. 

There aren’t words to describe what it feels like to watch a dream and a prayer come into fruition.  I will just praise Him.  That’s all I know how to do.  I will praise Him and watch Him continue to show up.  I will praise Him when I doubt and when I can’t see in front of me, or I don’t know my next step.  I will praise Him when I am certain things can’t get any better, because God knows no limits.  I will praise Him.  Please, please, please, don’t stop dreaming.  Don’t stop praying.  Don’t put yourself in a box with limits, because God wants to show off.  When you pray for something, God says “Okay, then what?”, because our God is bigger than that thing you prayed for.  God’s plans are always better than our own.  Had you told me that twenty years ago, I would have laughed in your face, because I was certain there was nothing better than that 300 square foot, condemned, cinder block building in my back yard.

Welcome to The Red Barn Pet Resort.  Where we have over 6000 square feet of climate controlled, plush, home away from home accommodations for your pets.  We offer 18 acres of mountain trails, fields, water play, enrichment, love and cuddles, knowledge, and experience so that you can rest easy knowing your pets are in good hands.  We love them all, even the ones that are harder to love.  We are on site 24/7, boast climate control, low lighting, classical music and TV playing, easy booking through our mobile app, summer camps, parties, clubs, photo ops, packages, day care, and so much more.

Don’t give up.