Business. I LOVE business and entrepreneurship. For as long as I can remember, I’ve liked to do things in my own way and with my own vision. Like I’ve said before in this blog, that can be a good thing, but it can also be a cross to bear. 

Our businesses and our entrepreneurial journey is a big part of my story. There are so many experiences that I couldn’t have had without the presence of a business. Moreover, those experiences were definitely ones meant specifically for me. I’m learning there is no such thing as a coincidence. 

When we first started our Reclaimed business, we were looking for a building that housed a feeling and a vibration of the brand we were going to build. We looked at several buildings around town and liked a few of them, but then we drove by an old church that looked like it hadn’t been used in several years. The property wasn’t for sale, but our hearts had already purchased it. 

There was just something about this little old white church that spoke to us. It was no bigger than a one room schoolhouse and when we looked through the original arched windows we were surprised to see that the church looked like it had been used one Sunday, and unoccupied the next. There were still bulletins on the pews. We had found out a few months later that was, in fact, the story. 

For 3 years that little church sat empty, and the church board had been disassembled. Members were scattered all over the country. It took some researching and conversation with local ex-members to find out that there was, in fact, a lady to contact about the property. 

After telling her our story, meeting with the bank, and organizing a celebration day for the past members, Brad and I were the proud new owners of a building that had been a church for over 100 years. 

We took our families by to see the property and I think they were concerned that we had lost our minds. To be fair, they were seeing it at the worst of times. The east wall  had fallen off the foundation, the windows were not airtight, the ceiling was drooping, and the walls had started to tilt. The church “foundation” was four large flat stones that were probably put there 150 years before. It needed a little TLC.

But for Brad and I, we couldn’t see anything other than our dreams unfolding. That church building represented everything we wanted to be in the world – a place of hope and meaning. Those four walls saw so much turmoil, pain, human connection and love over the years. We knew that history made this the place we wanted to house our Reclaimed business. Reclaimed to us, meant tearing down old barns and building beautiful new pieces of furniture, but it also meant that nothing and no one was worth discarding. Even those old barns that seemingly had no use anymore, could be turned into something more. It fit our brand perfectly. Everything and everyone had a place in this world. We knew, from the very beginning concept, that Reclaimed meant all of that and more.

What we didn’t know is that little church would ultimately, Reclaim, us.