Our Story:
We had been attending Christ Chapel for 9 years and attending their campus Downtown in Macon, GA for about 18 months when we were asked by our pastor to help plant a church in Galax, VA. It really caught us off guard.
Dave White and his wife Beth invited us, the unsuspecting couple, to a simple lunch at Market St. Cafe. We thought, oh they have news about the future of the church or they were going to have us lead a children's church. Little did we know they were going to turn our lives upside down by one phrase “Go with us”. They said they had invited a few other couples to move up there with them to start the church, one couple who we had just recently met, had already said yes.
The day after our lunch Yancey said that if we were supposed to go then we would need to hear something audible. We were looking for some random person to come up to us and say “ your supposed to go to Virginia” That never did happen. What did happen was the first sermon we heard was about a mother eagle destroying her nest so the chick would learn to fly. Later that day we had someone tell us they had awoke in the middle of the night thinking about us, and they wanted us to know that when God wanted us to move we would. Things like this happened on and off for months, random people would stop and pray for us or ask if we have packed our bags yet. People would ask if the spirit of the Lord is moving in us.... but we never caught on. We were blind to what God was showing us. We were so focused on looking for a neon sign that we missed the directions we were being shown and told.
A friend asked us " If you never go up there how will you know if you are suppose to go or not?" So we ended up going up to Galax on our son Caleb's two year birthday, because we had taken a few days off of work already. After a normal 6 hour drive from Georgia to Virginia took us almost 12 hours we were exhausted and very unsure we were doing the right thing. The next morning we took Caleb to a playground in Galax while we waited to meet our realtor. After driving thru the city and standing there at the park we both looked at each other and said this is not for us, this was just an Abraham test and God just wanted to see if we would at least consider the idea. So we said we will just have a good vacation, see a few houses and go back home. We drove to Independence, VA and on the top of the hill downtown was so quiet and so beautiful. Maybe we could consider moving here. We looked at a few homes and on the way to a home on Snake Creek Road our realtor said I know of a guy restoring a home to run as a bed and breakfast and is getting ready to sell it. So we said ok if he is at the home lets go look at it. We came around the corner and there was a truck in the back so we got to tour the home. The story behind him wanting to sell it was that his wife and he bought it and the surrounding land to run as bed and breakfast, but November 2011 they found out she had lung cancer and she passed away. He just wanted to finish the house and sell it because his reason behind it wasn't there anymore.
The next problem was jobs (security). Even if we got a house how were we going to make a living in a small town with the nearest architects 70 miles away. We both had very secure jobs so how could we risk rocking the boat? We probably waited another week and at lunch one day I said what would it hurt, just tell your business partner you are moving and then we will go from there. In the beginning of the talk his boss said I will be sad to see you go, but then as he talked more he said maybe we could open a Virginia branch. So we opened ourselves up to the unknown and God intervened and provided us a way to still work while moving to a different location.
We decided bold moves (or steps of faith) by us opened up doors that wouldn't normally open. I told my firm Mid April. They were shocked but proud of us and said I would be greatly missed. During this time of talking to our offices we then decided after all this time to search for the house in Hillsville on the auction pages. Yancey ended up finding it and it said the auction date was set for June 9th, 2012 at 10am. So we had to wait about 5 weeks.
June 8th we drove up to Hillsville, VA. The drive was smooth sailing for me, but Yancey was feeling very nervous. That morning he had been saying what if we didn't get the house what were we going to do. And while I was getting dressed I had Creflo Dollar on in the background. Yancey stopped to listen and he kept talking about not letting your negative attitude kill your blessing. We got to tour the property again when we arrived. It felt like we were going to get it and I became inwardly excited, but wanted to stay calm.
We arrived at the auction the next morning and it was like the county fair. Everyone brought their lawn chairs and were ready to see what was going to become of the Snake Creek property they had watched be restored over the years. The auction began. We had two others bidding against us on the house. At the end we were the high bidder, but we hadn't won yet because at the end the other bidders for the adjacent land could block our bid and buy both. Since the reserve had not been met the owner said he couldn't sell it for less so we upped our bid and the house was ours! Through out the day we met so many nice people that lived in the area or had vacation homes nearby. We ended up also winning a desk, bed, mantle and mirror to furnish some of the guest bedrooms. About 5hrs later we signed the paperwork and were exhausted.
The next morning we drove home and Monday we told everyone about our new residence. We closed on the house in July 2012. We were very excited about seeing what God had for us up in Virginia.
A few years ago we had wanted to buy a few acres and have a weekend home in Georgia and had wanted to name it after our dogs. We never got to do that in Georgia so we decided to here. We had a Golden Retriever named Gus who passed away at 13.5 yrs. December 2013, a Black Lab named Ebony who passed away at 12.5 yrs. July 2013, a Yellow Lab Aimee passed away to congestive heart failure May 2012 and never got to move with us, and our stray dog who found us is Penny. They are all represented in our logo. Feb of 2013 we decided to get another Golden Retriever and named her Daisy Mae and then March of 2014 we surprised our son with a Yellow Lab we named Hank. April of 2015 Lucy our black lab joined the family as a surprise from Yancey. The following year Lucy and Hank had a litter of 10 Lab puppies. All but one went to other homes and we kept one. Her name is Molly. We love animals. We also have several kitties that enjoy the property as well.
The Lord has proven over and over to us again, he is our provider and he will shower us with blessings if we follow in his path.
Dave White and his wife Beth invited us, the unsuspecting couple, to a simple lunch at Market St. Cafe. We thought, oh they have news about the future of the church or they were going to have us lead a children's church. Little did we know they were going to turn our lives upside down by one phrase “Go with us”. They said they had invited a few other couples to move up there with them to start the church, one couple who we had just recently met, had already said yes.
The day after our lunch Yancey said that if we were supposed to go then we would need to hear something audible. We were looking for some random person to come up to us and say “ your supposed to go to Virginia” That never did happen. What did happen was the first sermon we heard was about a mother eagle destroying her nest so the chick would learn to fly. Later that day we had someone tell us they had awoke in the middle of the night thinking about us, and they wanted us to know that when God wanted us to move we would. Things like this happened on and off for months, random people would stop and pray for us or ask if we have packed our bags yet. People would ask if the spirit of the Lord is moving in us.... but we never caught on. We were blind to what God was showing us. We were so focused on looking for a neon sign that we missed the directions we were being shown and told.
A friend asked us " If you never go up there how will you know if you are suppose to go or not?" So we ended up going up to Galax on our son Caleb's two year birthday, because we had taken a few days off of work already. After a normal 6 hour drive from Georgia to Virginia took us almost 12 hours we were exhausted and very unsure we were doing the right thing. The next morning we took Caleb to a playground in Galax while we waited to meet our realtor. After driving thru the city and standing there at the park we both looked at each other and said this is not for us, this was just an Abraham test and God just wanted to see if we would at least consider the idea. So we said we will just have a good vacation, see a few houses and go back home. We drove to Independence, VA and on the top of the hill downtown was so quiet and so beautiful. Maybe we could consider moving here. We looked at a few homes and on the way to a home on Snake Creek Road our realtor said I know of a guy restoring a home to run as a bed and breakfast and is getting ready to sell it. So we said ok if he is at the home lets go look at it. We came around the corner and there was a truck in the back so we got to tour the home. The story behind him wanting to sell it was that his wife and he bought it and the surrounding land to run as bed and breakfast, but November 2011 they found out she had lung cancer and she passed away. He just wanted to finish the house and sell it because his reason behind it wasn't there anymore.
The next problem was jobs (security). Even if we got a house how were we going to make a living in a small town with the nearest architects 70 miles away. We both had very secure jobs so how could we risk rocking the boat? We probably waited another week and at lunch one day I said what would it hurt, just tell your business partner you are moving and then we will go from there. In the beginning of the talk his boss said I will be sad to see you go, but then as he talked more he said maybe we could open a Virginia branch. So we opened ourselves up to the unknown and God intervened and provided us a way to still work while moving to a different location.
We decided bold moves (or steps of faith) by us opened up doors that wouldn't normally open. I told my firm Mid April. They were shocked but proud of us and said I would be greatly missed. During this time of talking to our offices we then decided after all this time to search for the house in Hillsville on the auction pages. Yancey ended up finding it and it said the auction date was set for June 9th, 2012 at 10am. So we had to wait about 5 weeks.
June 8th we drove up to Hillsville, VA. The drive was smooth sailing for me, but Yancey was feeling very nervous. That morning he had been saying what if we didn't get the house what were we going to do. And while I was getting dressed I had Creflo Dollar on in the background. Yancey stopped to listen and he kept talking about not letting your negative attitude kill your blessing. We got to tour the property again when we arrived. It felt like we were going to get it and I became inwardly excited, but wanted to stay calm.
We arrived at the auction the next morning and it was like the county fair. Everyone brought their lawn chairs and were ready to see what was going to become of the Snake Creek property they had watched be restored over the years. The auction began. We had two others bidding against us on the house. At the end we were the high bidder, but we hadn't won yet because at the end the other bidders for the adjacent land could block our bid and buy both. Since the reserve had not been met the owner said he couldn't sell it for less so we upped our bid and the house was ours! Through out the day we met so many nice people that lived in the area or had vacation homes nearby. We ended up also winning a desk, bed, mantle and mirror to furnish some of the guest bedrooms. About 5hrs later we signed the paperwork and were exhausted.
The next morning we drove home and Monday we told everyone about our new residence. We closed on the house in July 2012. We were very excited about seeing what God had for us up in Virginia.
A few years ago we had wanted to buy a few acres and have a weekend home in Georgia and had wanted to name it after our dogs. We never got to do that in Georgia so we decided to here. We had a Golden Retriever named Gus who passed away at 13.5 yrs. December 2013, a Black Lab named Ebony who passed away at 12.5 yrs. July 2013, a Yellow Lab Aimee passed away to congestive heart failure May 2012 and never got to move with us, and our stray dog who found us is Penny. They are all represented in our logo. Feb of 2013 we decided to get another Golden Retriever and named her Daisy Mae and then March of 2014 we surprised our son with a Yellow Lab we named Hank. April of 2015 Lucy our black lab joined the family as a surprise from Yancey. The following year Lucy and Hank had a litter of 10 Lab puppies. All but one went to other homes and we kept one. Her name is Molly. We love animals. We also have several kitties that enjoy the property as well.
The Lord has proven over and over to us again, he is our provider and he will shower us with blessings if we follow in his path.
Fast forward to Summer of 2016, our life brought a new direction for our family. In 2012 we walked in a door into an unknown future. All we knew was that we were supposed to move to Virginia to help start Christ Chapel Galax. We also knew we were to bid at auction for this house. God opened this door and we have been in our house all this time. Alot has changed but the constant is that our family is supposed to be in southwest Virginia. We no longer attend Christ Chapel, in 2016 we knew it was time to go. No regrets, no doubts in God's plan we are where we are supposed to be. Transition and change can sometimes be hard and not everyone will understand but we are still seeing God's provision and leading at our new church. We keep moving forward one step @ a time.
Below are some pictures of the house through the last 100 years. We decided to name each room in honor of the previous owners: Martin, Prince & Poff. Without them the house would not be what it is today.