For close to 20 years, I’ve written about the juxtaposition of love, faith, family and marriage as it’s been inevitably interwoven with raising our second set of kids, also known as our small businesses. We have grown up alongside them and just like raising their human counterparts, the days have been long and the years so inexplicably short.
To recap quickly for those new here, in 2003 we birthed our first born, Kindred Oaks at our home and we were no spring chickens at the time.
Little sister Zuzu’s Petals was conceived in 2007, an oopsie baby if you will, but playful and determined. And then, just when we thought we were done raising babies, along came the midlife crisis child named Lincoln Chapel in 2018, full of strong will and lots of personality.
Kindred Oaks is now a 21-year-old adult having survived the terrible two’s, a rocky pre-adolescence as par for the course, and while almost causing her parents to offer her up for adoption during her late tweens (think covid), God’s word in Proverbs 19:21 became a stronghold. It said, ‘many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lords’ purpose that prevails’.
Zuzu’s Petals is graduation age and about to fly the nest and little Lincoln? At almost 8 years old Lincoln Chapel is living his best life oblivious to most of the chaos around him.
With that snapshot of our history as the backdrop, (most told through the years in our archives), it is our joy and honor to announce that we have been given the gift of being able to retire somewhat, after our last events in early May of 2026, after 22 years at that time, God willing.
Steve and I will continue to book weddings for the remainder of 2025 and Spring of 2026, still host open houses (see below) and then we will close the doors of Kindred Oaks after our last events are held. We will turn the venue over to a small non-denominational church, Cornerstone Community Church who has been worshiping at the venue since December 2020 when they knocked on our door.
In all seriousness, we took on the purchase, creation and building of a venue out of sheer innocence and the total grace of God at a time we least deserved the opportunity. We have always felt we were mere stewards of the land and the peace this transition has afforded us is a gift no human plan could have granted.
We will continue to own the Kindred Oaks property until after that last event and we’ll watch Zuzu’s Petals as she learns to spread her wings even further than she does today and hopefully soar on her own. She and Lincoln Chapel reside on a separate piece of property that abuts Kindred Oaks, and it is there that we will continue to raise the two remaining ‘kids’.
Jim Croce penned the lyrics to Time in a Bottle in 1970 after his wife told him she was pregnant with their first baby.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
We are so thankful to each one of you. You are intrinsic to our success and the celebration of this new season. Good ol’ King Solomon, the wise one said in Ecclesiastes, “He has made everything beautiful in its time”.
With deep appreciation,
Elaine & Steve
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