“I’ll never marry a military man” were my famous last words when I met my husband back in 2001… Ha Ha! Never say never! Don and I met at a local youth group in our hometown in Virginia Beach when we in High School. We then dated for 4 years and in 2005 tied the knot! Little did we know the great adventure God had in store for us years later.

In 2007 we had our first born, “God’s gracious Gift” Jonathan and in 2012 welcomed our beautiful, fierce Bella! This was the year my husband came to me and said… “Babylove, I know you said you would never marry a military man… but I want to become a Navy Seal…” (long pause, yes my mouth dropped open to the floor) “I have been praying an awful lot and I feel like I just need to go do this. Can we at least pray about this and see what happens?”

So, to save on time and a very fun conversational piece (sarcastic wink), the Lord opened up miraculous doors for my husband to get a BUD/S contract at the age of 31. In His perfect timing, God orchestrated all the moving pieces and readied our hearts. So, in faith (mine was a tiny mustard seed…LOL), we said yes to God and dove into the waters of the unknown to accept this military call!

For some time we thought the “end goal” was to be a Navy Seal and serve in that capacity, but God had different plans. (You know that scripture a, “A man’s heart plans his way, BUT the Lord determines his steps.”) Yup, during the training process at BUD/s my husband got hurt and did not make it through. He was then transferred into the regular Navy and deployed for 11 months on a ship. There was about a 2 year span when we saw one another for 3 weeks total. Not only did we get a first hand look at the sacrifices and hardships of the military lifestyle, but we saw the great need and brokenness surrounding the family unit.

In 2017 we had our third kiddo, our precious Elisabeth (aka Peas) and 4 weeks later was transferred to Augusta, GA. This again was a great hurdle, moving away from all of our family to a new place… BUT GOD! Looking back, God took us out of our comfort zone to replant us into His beautiful story. There is so much we could share, every season, person we met, seed planted, has been a testimony to His faithfulness! In 2019 Don and I were on a little weekend get-a-away for our 14th anniversary and that’s when God began to reveal His heart for a family retreat center. So here we are today, taking one step at a time, listening and letting God lead us into the vision He has for restoring families!

Again, there are so many moments of faith and God-sized provision that we will save for in-person conversations, but we are just so humbled to be here and serve. We are walking this out each day and leaning into the power of God’s Holy Spirit to continue to thread together the healing fabric and hope He has planned for each the family! So, have courage and hold on to the Hope that is Jesus! He is our GREAT REDEEMER, our HEALER, our FRIEND, the One who knows our comings and goings, the Lover of our souls! He truly does turn ALL things for GOOD and He has GOOD plans for YOU!

The Vasquez Family,

Don, Becky, Jonathan, Bella, Elisabeth & River