It was May 2012, we were driving back to Ohio from Florida, windows rolled down, sun warming the whole car, road trip playlist humming in the background.
My husband had the wheel, while our two best friends were in the backseat. Something about **kid-free** road trips has always lent itself to almost a retreat-like feel, a sacred space to reflect, journal, read, and think. On this particular day, a special dream was conceived in my mind and fleshed out with pen and paper, a dream for Hope Anew.
I have the journal sitting in front of me now, as I write this. I can see the progression of thoughts, as they slowly developed into this grand dream. The thoughts started with this quote:
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”
- Frederick Buechner
I then went on to journal of my “unexplainable desire to be with horses”, the love I have for these “majestic, strong, free-spirited animals”, combined with my desire to live a purposeful, whole life. The crossroads that Hope Anew first came to life was in this place of longing to know how all of these things would fit together.
Then I drew a picture of a farm. Several houses, a horse, a garden, trees… and the acronym started to evolve …. What is now Healing Occurs through Purposeful Elements: Art, Nature, Environment, Well-being. The original vision for Hope Anew was a place where people could come and engage with these various elements in order to experience healing. To experience wholeness. To make steps towards living a full life.
This moment of inspiration really stuck with me through the years. Hope Anew became a dream that was in my heart. I thought of it wherever I went.
This moment of inspiration really stuck with me through the years. Hope Anew became a dream that was in my heart. I thought of it wherever I went.
It took almost 7 years, but on January 17, 2019, Hope Anew was born. I actually received what looked like was a birth certificate in my email. It was the certificate stating that Hope Anew was approved to do business in Ohio from the Secretary of State, but it seriously reminded me of a birth certificate! For the first two years, Hope Anew began to take shape in the form of monthly workshops, one-on-one sessions, and a planned retreat to Puerto Rico in April 2020 (which was sadly cancelled due to COVID). These early years were formational as a business. As I partnered with other barns (shout out to Bookmark Farms, Serenity Stables, Equestrian Arts Foundation for hosting me in those early days!) I kept dreaming of the day when Hope Anew would have a home of its own.
Written in 2019: “I still fully believe it will grown into what was originally envisioned- a physical place with land, and a community of people collaborating together to offer a wide range of healing opportunities for people who are longing to live to their fullest potential. To empower people to live in the crossroads where their deep gladness meets the deep hunger of the world.”
In 2021, that dream is becoming reality. Land that has been in the family since 1967 is going to become the forever home to Hope Anew.
We knew that this was an extra special place when in 2016, Matthew and I visited this land and Matthew realized he lived there as a kid for a few years. It was a sanctuary for him in the midst of his parents divorce when he was 8 years old. It was a sanctuary for my own dad when he was a kid in the 60’s and 70’s, a place to get out of the city and just be a kid.
We hope that many more people will be able to return to their roots, their inner sense of awe and wonder, their innocence and original design, as they engage in nature-based coaching, spiritual direction, equine-assisted learning, and the growing list of therapeutic practices we plan to offer here.