We said “goodbye!” to our life in Colorado, the only life Cole has ever known, and set our sites for Potato country!

Reflecting on Colorado

I (Cole) have only ever lived in Colorado (that I can remember – we were in So. Illinois when I was young) and I have mixed feelings about leaving. I turned 30 last month and the last ten years especially have been foundational in my life as a man and a Christian.

College confronted me with opportunities to grow up that I was not prepared to face and quite frankly, I spent a lot of time floundering. I loved my time in college but I became enamored by the ways of the world. The Lord was so kind to put faithful men in my life who would pull me back on track when I started to get squirrelly. I met Ambryn in college and married her shortly after. We had two amazing boys born here and another conceived. Our church, Calvary Redeeming Grace, fed us Christ when we were wandering spiritually, hungry and destitute. The people, the church God gave us over the last ten years have been a gift I wouldn’t come to expect in a hundred lifetimes.

But things were by no means perfect. Denver is a sprawling city and we lived inside city limits, in a poorer area where safety in a number of areas was a concern. Once Ambryn was followed home by a woman who thought our boys were hers! All the while Ambryn and I became more and more desireous to raise our children in the outdoors, with animals and growing our own food. Not impossible in Denver, but it doesn’t lend itself to that lifestyle. So we started looking and praying about leaving.

And we landed on…

Looking Ahead

We will live for the first year or so with Ambryn’s mom and step-dad in their (massive) shop next to their house. It’s really very generous of them. Idaho is one of the best states for ‘homesteading’ lifestyle and already we have been inspired by some of the people we have met. Last weekend we went to a permaculture homestead run by a friend of Ambryn’s mom and were in awe of it. They had horses, chickens, ducts, turkeys, llamas next door, and about an acre of garden! They are going to be a wealth of knowledge for us and there’s so many more people like them we are excited to meet.

We’ve been here about a month and just starting to feel a little settled in. We are still looking for a church to call home, I will likely do another post on that in the coming weeks. But we have really been enjoying our new home. Here’s some pictures of our new life.