Our work begins at home.
Our work begins at home.
As our life together unfolded, we kept returning to the same kinds of moments: hosting friends, sharing a good dinner, traveling, and noticing what makes a place feel welcoming. Slowly, we understood those were more than things we enjoyed. We wanted to help other people experience that same sense of welcome, beauty and belonging.
Caleb grew up in Central Texas and carries a lifelong love of story, land, old things and the people who gather around them. Ali is from the DFW world and has a gift for creating the feeling of an evening before anyone has thought to name it. She brings an eye for beauty, a planner’s heart and the instinct to make people feel considered.
Together, we live in Fort Worth with our children, Henry and Violet. We are not presenting a perfect life. We are paying attention to the one we have—and practicing how to make it warmer, more honest and more open to other people.
The Rooted & Known is the work growing out of that practice: gatherings, useful objects, journals, homes, music and places that help people feel rooted, seen and known.
It began in an ordinary moment.
I was holding Violet, somewhere in the middle of an ordinary day, when I heard someone talking about the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace. Words I’d known since I was a kid, suddenly landing a little closer to home.
And then there was the Vine. Jesus’ invitation to abide—to stay connected, to make our home in His love and let life grow from there. With our little girl in my arms, I found myself wondering: what if the things I’d learned as a kid were really true? What if our Creator really is that good? What if He cares about our ordinary lives and desires for us to live them fully?
What if the fruit is the sweet byproduct of being loved and living in that union? Love taking root and becoming something we can share: patience with our children, kindness across a table, joy that has room for somebody else.
Then things I’d dreamed about began flooding back. The places, the stories, the gatherings. The hope of making something beautiful and useful, of bringing people together and leaving room for good things to happen. There I was, holding Violet, and a whole little world was waking up again. Okay, Lord. I hear you.
As I dug deeper, the dream began to unfold. One thought led to another: a word on a shirt, a page in a journal, a question at dinner, a song, a garden, a home, an evening beneath the stars. Each felt like a small way to carry that love into the life already happening around us.
And my sweet bride listened. Ali made room for the fun, hopeful dream as I tried to find words for it. I’m sure the first telling had a few more “and then!” moments than a proper business plan. But she listened, and we began to imagine what we might make together.
That’s where this began: our daughter in my arms, an old truth feeling wonderfully alive, and a dream finding its way into our home. We’re still learning to stay close to the Vine and notice what grows.
NINE is the practice. ROOTED & KNOWN is the wider table.