We (Steve and Melinda) were high school sweethearts and were married shortly after our high school graduation. Our first five years were marked with many challenges. Trying to figure out how to live together, our future vocations, where to live, when to start a family and how to pay for all of the above was a lot to take on by a couple that started out with a blank balance sheet. Fortunately, we were fiercely committed to each other, our faith in Christ and a philosophy to pay as you go, even if that required living on one light meal a day.  Looking back, we would not change a thing. Those early years forged us into the people we are today. Even today, we still go to the discount dollar movies, order water instead of tea, and purchase clothes at Wal-Mart/Academy (more so Steve than Melinda).

The next 25 years were one adventure after another. Melinda spent some time working for the Department of Public Safety, an insurance agency, Arthur Anderson and was the first associate of Research Consultants. Melinda then spent 5 years homeschooling their two girls. After the girls graduated from high school, Melinda decided now was the time to fulfill a lifelong dream of business ownership and opened Serendipity Home Décor and Gifts in Waco, Texas. Steve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and opened Abbey Printing & Office Supply in Austin, Texas at the age of 20. Six years later, he sold the company and completed his business education at the University of Texas. After a very short stint with Chevron in San Francisco, Steve headed back to Texas and partnered with a friend who was the founder of Research Consultants. That friendship/partnership would eventually lead to adventures in real-estate development in south Texas and a trip to New Zealand to import some of the first Boer goats into the United States.

In the summer of 1994, Steve and Melinda purchased a small exotic animal ranch near Centerville, Texas.  Every Friday evening, they would pack the Ford Explorer and the family would make the trek to Barefoot Creek Ranch. Knowing this was the lifestyle Steve and Melinda desired for their young family, the decision was made to look in earnest for a place to grow a family and their ongoing businesses. A simple little ad in the Austin American Statesman led them to Spring Lake Ranch.  Steve and Melinda knew from the moment they entered the property that this was it. 14 years has come and gone since our  family first called this plot of dirt home – and home it has been.