We quickly established a family tradition. My parents would brave I-30 to take in an exhibit at one of our city’s world-class museums, and we would all meet for lunch at The Original Mexican Eats Café, affectionately known to generations of Fort Worthians as The Original. As we sat at one of the round tables by the windows, my father would order the Roosevelt Special, my children would gorge themselves on chips and queso, and my mother and I would catch up.

But, as Heraclitus so succinctly put it, the only constant in life is change. After a protracted legal battle, The Original moved to North Main, and the historic building on Camp Bowie has undergone a complete transformation.

Now, after extensive renovation by property owner Derek Muzquiz, the 7,500-square-foot former restaurant is home to six businesses – Color Game Women’s Clothing & Accessories, Waring Tuxedos Fort Worth, Shannon Bower Home & Interiors, Dos Femmes, Honey Loves Boho, and Bowie & Byers Salon.

Longtime customers of The Original won’t recognize the former restaurant. Renovating a restaurant into retail takes an enormous amount of work, but Muzquiz completely renovated the space. Floor studs were replaced. New plumbing and electrical systems were installed. Walls were rebuilt. You might remember seeing an enormous crane on Camp Bowie. That was to remove the restaurant’s massive vent hood. However, if you squint, you can see a little of the building’s original (no pun intended) elements – a skylight here, ceiling tiles there.

Photo courtesy of Camp Bowie District

The building’s metamorphosis from restaurant to retail won the 2025 Camp Bowie District Transformational Award. “It’s remarkable,” Muzquiz says. “People tell me it’s such a great transformation. They wanted more shops on Camp Bowie — somewhere to grab coffee, shop a little, maybe get lunch.”

“Camp Bowie really is having a renaissance,” said Houstoun Waring, proprietor of Waring Tuxedos Fort Worth. “With landmark developments such as Bowie House and the Crescent Hotel, I can only imagine what Camp Bowie will look like in a decade…  From the Stockyards to Camp Bowie, Fort Worth’s strength has always lain in its unique blend of 19th and early 20th century buildings, paired with the technical innovation and business growth of this century.”

When asked why he chose to open “on the bricks,” Waring said, “Choosing to open Waring Tuxedos ‘on the bricks’ was a no-brainer, and truthfully, I didn’t consider any other locations. Options such as University Park Village might have had some logic due to its higher foot traffic, but Camp Bowie’s historic nature, attractive brick road, and central location in the heart of West Fort Worth made it the obvious choice.”

For Erica Bracken, owner of Color Game Women’s Clothing & Accessories, locating her boutique on historic Camp Bowie was a happy accident, but the history of the building and the area were a plus. “I was still toying with whether or not to open a brick-and-mortar store when I met Lexi Eagle,” Bracken said. “She was getting ready to open her store Dos Femmes and told me about available space next to her in the former Original restaurant location. Being in a building that’s considered a Fort Worth institution brings a certain presence to our shops. Clients appreciate that sense of place and continuity, even as the space takes on a new life.”

Fort Worth has a particular aptitude for honoring its past while embracing the future. The renaissance of Camp Bowie is proof of that. And while locals miss The Original, the continued renewal of historic areas is good for Fort Worth. (Don’t worry, you can still get the Roosevelt Special and Elbert’s Tacos at The Original Mexican Eats Café Del Norte on North Main.)

“Being part of Camp Bowie’s renaissance feels incredibly special,” said Erica Bracken, owner of Color Game Women’s Clothing & Accessories. “There’s a renewed buzz on the bricks, and I love that Color Game contributes to that momentum.”

And while our family no longer enjoys a leisurely lunch at The Original when my parents come to town, never fear. We just moved across the bricks to Lucile’s. After all, Camp Bowie is a tradition not only for our family but for the whole city.

The post A Renaissance on Camp Bowie first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

The part of my career in which I helped innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups maximize their chances for success had come to an end. The podcast I hosted, which shared the stories of local innovators in Fort Worth, rode off into the sunset. And the programs, events, data, and research that I created to build the entrepreneurial community in Fort Worth now faced an uncertain future.

I wanted to see if I could keep this work going because I know that my city needs more entrepreneurs and innovators doing what they do best – inventing the new, creating jobs, and building wealth for our community.

So, I did what I saw so many of the entrepreneurs I had worked with do. I started my own company.

Up until last spring, I hosted 150 episodes of a podcast featuring local innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and startups who were trying to use their time, talents, and treasure to make our world a better place. These are our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, and yet we don’t know the stories of the important work they do.

Some of our guests were trying to improve simple things at home, and some were taking on grand challenges that all of humanity faces. Some were producing higher efficiency electric motors or exploring new ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease. These are tough problems to solve, and if our community doesn’t know who these people are or what they are working on, we won’t know how to help them.

Sharing these stories is why the podcast came into being. Most of these innovators and entrepreneurs were in the early stages of developing their solutions and didn’t receive the attention of traditional media. They were too busy innovating to tell their own stories. For many of them, this was the first opportunity to share their story.

Once these stories became public, we saw amazing things happen. By telling their own stories, these innovators and entrepreneurs found a missing puzzle piece – a co-founder, an investor, a mentor, or someone with a solution unique to the problem they were solving. An appearance on the podcast allowed them to tap into the broad resources that are available in our community.

But, like all good things, that podcast ended in April.

A few weeks later, Texas A&M-Fort Worth called, expressing interest in continuing the podcast through the Fort Worth–Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, an entity formed to build an “innovation district” around the Texas A&M Law School in the southeast quadrant of downtown Fort Worth. They saw the value in telling the stories of local innovators and asked whether I would be interested in restarting the podcast under the maroon-and-white flag. I called my former producer, Kendel Rogers, and asked if she was interested in getting the band back together. She agreed, and the “Fort Worth Innovates” podcast was born.

Mission resumed.

photo credit: Devan Peplow

We started in September with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, who is one of the best champions of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. We have since featured innovators who are creating “Gatorade for dogs” and an app that uses swipe technology to make consumer surveys more fun. We’ve also featured innovative institutions like Cook Children’s Hospital and Texas A&M’s aerospace program.

And we’re just getting started.

We have big plans for 2026. Taylor Sheridan and his work to put Fort Worth on the map for film and movie-making is a great story to tell. Our city is becoming a hub for video game developers, and the animators and visualization students required to design these games are starting to take off here. We hope to tell some behind-the-scenes stories of local companies like HTeaO that are growing and thriving from their home base in Fort Worth.

We invite you to join our community and learn the stories of the innovators solving real-world problems in Fort Worth. Tune in to the “Fort Worth Innovates” podcast and find out how you can help these dreamers, doers, risk-takers, and visionaries make our world a better place.

The post Helping the Dreamers first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Not New Year’s resolutions, necessarily. Just a change in attitude. In 2026, instead of trying to lose those pesky pounds, why not get off the fast fashion merry-go-round and start thrifting? Fast fashion relies heavily on exploitive labor practices and is very damaging to the environment. By thrifting, you’re keeping pre-loved clothing out of the landfill while saving loads of money. Win-win!

We asked the members of the Tanglewood Moms Facebook group for their favorite thrift shops and places to donate clothes. Unsurprisingly, they had the best answers!

Berry Good Buys

If you ask the Tanglewood Moms where to donate gently used clothing and home goods, or you ask for great places to thrift, you will be overwhelmed with recommendations for Berry Good Buys. Since 1988, all profits from Berry Good Buys have gone to The Archway (formerly SafeHaven) to support their work offering victims of domestic abuse a safe and stable way forward. Whether you’re donating clothes your family no longer wears or looking for a great new look, Berry Good Buys is ready to help.

Fort Worth Community Collaborative/Cowtown Closet

Fort Worth Community Collaborative (FWCC) operates Cowtown Closet, a free community closet for anyone who needs it. No judgement. FWCC sorts and repairs or upcycles gently used clothing, either stocking their storefront and emergency clothing lockers for partner agencies or recycling what cannot be used. If you want to thrift, FWCC has Donation Mondays, where, for a $5 donation, you can find anything and everything your thrifty heart could desire.

The Resale Shop

For more than 20 years, the Resale Shop has offered gently used clothing and home goods, with all proceeds supporting the Center for Transforming Lives in its mission to help single mothers and their children thrive. Additionally, participants in the Center’s programs receive “Resale Bucks” to help clothe their families and make a home for them at no cost.

Clothes Mentor

Clothes Mentor is committed to reducing fashion waste while providing women with trendy, stylish clothing. With sizes 0 to 26, Clothing Mentor ensures most women can find the perfect outfit at an affordable price. And when you sell your pre-loved clothing at Clothes Mentor, you get cash for a new outfit on the spot. It’s all part of what Clothes Mentor calls “cyclical fashion”  – sustainable, fashion-forward, and affordable.

Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County

When a person arrives at Union Gospel Mission (UGM), they usually only have the clothes on their back. By donating your family’s gently used clothing, you are providing more than a pair of jeans or shoes. You’re providing a child with a school uniform. You’re providing a person with an outfit for a job interview. You’re giving a person a bit of their humanity back.

Flipstone Vintage & Thrift

Owners and sisters Dancing and Lily are seasoned thrifters, and they wanted to use their expertise to create a thrift boutique that combines the best of thrift shops’ selections and prices with vintage boutiques’ curated offerings. And thus, Flipstone was born. The sisters also travel throughout North Texas, compiling a guide of thrift stores to help people shop sustainably. Flipstone is an indigenous- and woman-owned small business.

Prom Dreams Boutique

How many little children dream of prom? But prom dresses are expensive, and not every family can afford one. Prom Dreams Boutique at University Christian Church allows students to find the prom, Homecoming, or formal dress of their dreams, complete with shoes and accessories. If you have pre-loved formal dresses and accessories, you can help a student’s dreams come true!

Thrift Giant

Are you a hardcore thrifter? You NEED to check out Thrift Giant. A DFW chain, Thrift Giant boasts the most extensive thrift inventory in the Metroplex, daily sales, and a handy app to help you with your thrifting. They accept donations, and they use their profits to support local nonprofits. Big sales, an enormous inventory, and they support local nonprofits? See you there!

Community Crossroads

Community Crossroads is First Presbyterian Church Fort Worth’s outreach ministry located in the Near Southside. As well as offering free food and sack lunches, pet food, diapers, and formula, and a free dental clinic, Community Crossroads is proud to offer its Clothed in Love ministry that distributes clothing and blankets to those in need without judgment and with love.

Uptown Cheapskate

If you’re a thrifter who loves finding a bargain on premium brands, check out Uptown Cheapskate. With a focus on designer brands, you can find amazing pieces at incredible prices, ensuring that you’re always on trend. Bring your clean, gently-loved clothes in and get a new outfit before the store’s buyers make you an offer. Uptown Cheapskate will donate items they didn’t buy, so you don’t have to bring them home.

Love and Light Ministries

Love and Light Ministries works with the unhoused in Fort Worth, helping them “from camp to a home.” As part of their outreach in the homeless community, Love and Light donates approximately 150 items of clothing each month. You can be sure that your donations are needed and will be appreciated by people in need.

Family Thrift Center

Another thrifting supercenter, Family Thrift Center offers gently-used clothes, toys, books, and household essentials at incredibly reduced prices. With a user-friendly app and a loyalty rewards program that allows you to save even more, Family Thrift Center is your one-stop thrifting shop.

Chosen Ones Community Closet

Families who foster and adopt are special, and they sometimes need special help. Chosen Ones is a ministry that supports fostering and adopting families, offering counseling, help navigating bureaucratic mazes or finding a pediatrician, or clothing and diapers when a placement occurs more quickly than anticipated. The Community Closet provides food, clothing, baby equipment, toys, and necessities like diapers and formula so that families can focus on what’s important – giving love and support to a child who needs it.

The Mercantile

You can’t have a list of places for thrifting without mentioning The Mercantile. Founded by Fort Worth businessman Holt Hickman, The Mercantile has over 200 carefully curated dealer booths offering everything from antiques to fashion. The best part? After you’ve found your treasures from multiple dealers, there’s a central checkout process that streamlines your thrifting experience. Great deals, a curated selection of dealers, and an easy checkout? Score!

ReStore by Trinity Habitat for Humanity

While it might not be your traditional thrift store, ReStore needs to be on your list, especially if you’re a do-it-yourselfer. You can find building materials, furniture, and even appliances at the four locations of the Trinity Habitat ReStores. And if you have leftover building supplies, furniture/or appliances that need a new home, ReStore runs on donations. By shopping or donating, you’re helping families come home.

Vintage Martini

If you’re into vintage clothing, you need to make the drive to Dallas. Vintage Martini was founded by a costume designer who loved and collected vintage clothing. Need a dress from the 1920s? No problem. Want a Christian Dior dress from 1961? They’ve got it. And they carry contemporary pieces from design houses like Mandalay, Versace, and Fendi. They offer consignment services, too. Now if only they would move to the cool side of the Metroplex!

Clotheshorse Anonymous

I have a confession. I grew up in Dallas. I know, I know. But I grew up hearing about Clotheshorse Anonymous, and believe it, it lives up to the hype. Since 1974, those in the know have found incredible buys on luxury brands. In fact. Clotheshorse Anonymous is Dallas’s oldest luxury consignment shop. As part of their services, they offer brand authentication; you know you’re getting the real deal.

Clothes Circuit Upsale Resale

Another Dallas classic, Clothes Circuit is a luxury resale shop that offers a drop-in-and-donate service for busy Dallasites, in addition to more traditional luxury consignment services. Their donations are your gains because you can find incredible deals on hundreds (yes, hundreds) of designer brands, and you can shop, knowing that each piece has been authenticated. Trust me, it’s worth the drive!

Second Glance Thrift Shop

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for middle- to high-end clothing, furniture, kitchen accessories and appliances, plus games, books, and other media, you don’t need to take a second glance. Profits from Second Glance support CEC (Community Enrichment Center) and its ministry among the unhoused people of our community. They also accept clean pre-loved donations, and seniors and veterans always receive 10% off their total purchase each Tuesday.

Angels’ Attic Upscale Resale

What began as a series of garage sales to help the hurting and the hungry, Angels’ Attic Upscale Resale is now a thriving resale shop filled with fabulous finds. Whether you’re looking for gently used clothing, furniture, or accessories, Angels’ Attic is the place to shop. An outreach ministry of White’s Chapel Methodist Church in Southlake, proceeds from Angels’ Attic go to support nonprofits and ministries around the world.

Christ’s Haven Resale Shop

Christ’s Haven for Children offers trauma-informed, family-modeled care for displaced children and teens in a neighborhood of homes in north Fort Worth. The families who love and care for these children need clothing, furniture, baby goods, and more. Any donated items that are not used are sold in the Resale Shop, with proceeds going directly back to the program.

Seven Boutique

Do you love designer goods but not designer prices? Seven Boutique offers pre-loved luxury items from top designers at bargain basement prices. Looking for a pair of Louboutins? They have them. A Louis Vuitton handbag? No problem. What color would you like? From Alexander McQueen to Zimmerman, Seven Boutique has you covered.

Kiss It Good Buy

Furnishing a house is expensive, especially if you want something other than do-it-yourself, laminate-covered items from a big box store. Kiss It Good Buy, located in Grapevine’s historic downtown, offers an eclectic assortment of gently pre-loved and unique home furnishings, décor, and accessories. So rent a trailer and head up to Grapevine – you’ll be glad you did!

Furniture Consignment Gallery

What do you do when you have a beautiful couch or antique armoire that you don’t have room for in your home? Or where do you go to find quality furniture at prices you can actually afford? Furniture Consignment Gallery, of course! Whether you need to furnish a room or you want to get rid of some beautiful pieces that you don’t need anymore, Furniture Design Gallery is ready to help. As their website says, “We all love affordable luxury.”

The post Out with the Old: Best Places to Thrift, Consign, and Donate in DFW first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

In honor of the new year, we are featuring recipes from Madeworthy friend Chef Hao Tran, who teaches cooking classes at Conundrum Farms, that are guaranteed to shake you out of your cooking rut, plus a recipes that I created to take advantage of some delicious Conundrum Farms produce. They’re healthy and fresh, and can be made with ingredients from the grocery store or the farmers market (especially from Conundrum Farms!). So refresh your menu this year!

Chef Hao’s Weeknight Vegetable Thai Red Curry

Ingredients

1 to 2 tablespoons red curry paste (Chef Tran prefers Maseri brand, available at Whole Foods)
1 tablespoon neutral oil like canola or grapeseed
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced (Editor’s Note: I used the edge of a spoon to peel the ginger and grated it on a zester)
1 stalk lemongrass, smashed and cut into pieces
2 to 3 lime leaves (sometimes available at Central Market or Whole Foods, can substitute the zest of ½ a lime)
1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
1 cup vegetable broth
2 to 3 cups mixed vegetables – carrots, potatoes, squash (winter or summer), peppers, cauliflower, or any seasonal vegetables you can find (Editor’s Note: I used a combination of carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, onions, mushrooms, and eggplant, and it was delicious!)
1 to 2 tablespoons of soy sauce or fish sauce (Editor’s Note: I used 1 tablespoon of each)
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Juice of ½ lime
Fresh basil and/or cilantro for topping
Cooked jasmine rice to serve

Directions

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Stir in garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add in the red curry paste and stir for 30 to 60 seconds to let it bloom in the oil. Once it is very fragrant, add the coconut milk and broth. Add the lime leaves or lime zest and stir until the curry paste dissolves. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

Stir in the vegetables. Add the firmer vegetables first (carrots, cauliflower, etc.) as they will cook faster. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the quicker-cooking vegetables next and simmer for another 5 to 7 minutes.

Stir the soy or fish sauce into the curry. If you are using sugar, add this, too. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Remove the lemongrass pieces and the lime leaves, if used. Squeeze in the lime juice and top with fresh basil and/or cilantro. Serve warm over jasmine rice. This recipe makes enough for 4 to 6 people with leftovers.

Chef Hao’s Easy Kimchi

Editor’s Note: We’ve gone somewhat kimchi-crazy in our house, so I was thrilled to see this recipe. It’s easy, delicious, and healthy. Try stirring it into scrambled eggs or adding it to sandwiches for a funky kick. Chef Tran suggests using the kimchi “juice” in sauces, soups, and marinades.

Ingredients

1 (approximately 2 pounds) Chinese or Napa cabbage, chopped into squares
¼ cup sea salt
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup gochujang chili paste (available at most grocery stores)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped (Editor’s Note: I use a spoon edge to peel the ginger and grated it on a zester]
1 ½ tablespoon Korean red chili flakes (available at Central Market, Sprouts, or Whole Foods)
1 ½ tablespoons cane sugar (Editor’s Note: I used turbinado sugar, available in most grocery stores)
1 medium daikon radish, peeled and julienned (you can use radish, carrots, Asian pears, jicama, pineapple, green apples, cucumber, green papaya, or mango if you can’t find daikon)
3 green onions, sliced into 1-inch strips

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a very large bowl.

Toss well to ensure all ingredients are incorporated. (Editor’s Note: I massaged the vegetables well with the seasonings to start the process of breaking down the vegetables’ fibers for fermentation. USE GLOVES!)

Pack the mixture tightly into sterilized mason jars. Put on the lids. Tighten just to “finger tightness,” and let the jars sit on the counter for 3 days. Once a day, you will have to “burp” the jars. To burp the jars, slowly unscrew the outer ring of the lid for just about a quarter turn while listening for a hiss. As soon as the hissing stops, immediately retighten the outer ring of the lid to finger-tight. This method allows the carbon dioxide from the fermentation process to escape while preventing oxygen, which can encourage mold growth, from entering.

After 3 days, store the jars, unopened, in the refrigerator for another 2 days before eating. Kimchi can last in the fridge for 3 to 6 months, but understand that it will get funkier the longer it sits. And as with any fermented product, check for mold before consuming.

Spicy Stir-Fried Eggplant

Ingredients

1 serrano pepper, or 2 jalapeños, chopped
4 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated
4 green onions, chopped, whites and greens separated for different uses
2 tablespoons of a neutral oil
2 to 3 Japanese or Chinese eggplant, or 1 ½ to 2 pounds of any other variety of eggplant, diced
¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
Juice of 2 limes
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
1 scant tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

Be sure to have all your ingredients ready before you start cooking.

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and Chinese five-spice powder. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over high heat until you can see heat ripples in the oil. You need to get the oil ripping hot for a good stir-fry. Add the chiles, garlic, and whites of the green onions and cook, flipping the vegetables or stirring almost constantly until you can smell the garlic and ginger.

Add the eggplant and continue to flip or stir for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until the eggplant has softened.

Give the vinegar mixture a quick stir (the cornstarch will have settled) and add it to the eggplant. Continuing to flip or stir, bring the mixture to a boil. Continue stirring or flipping until the sauce has thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the green tops of the green onions and sesame oil, stirring or flipping to combine. Serve over rice or noodles as a side or as a main dish. Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main.

The post In with the New’s Fresh Family Recipes first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

If you ask Micah and Jenna Kinard, they will say a need for renewal.

Micah, the rockstar, described how his marriage to Jenna, the Fort Worth Top Chef, had once been falling apart, much like the long-neglected and decidedly dilapidated Fort Worth Public Market. Today, Jenna and Micah are rebuilding both the Public Market and their marriage. Their love story traverses winding roads from late-night tours and busy restaurant kitchens to a plywood cabin in Alaska to finally return home to Fort Worth, where they are breathing new life into a landmark.

On their very first date, Jenna tried to impress Micah with food. “I cooked him this huge meal, and I tried to win him over with food,” she remembered. “That night we talked about how much we’d love to open up our own restaurant, but he was touring the world as a musician, and I was pursuing my own career as a chef.”

For the next decade, that dream stayed on the back burner as their relationship and their careers grew. Micah played shows around the world as the lead singer of metal band Oh, Sleeper. Jenna climbed the culinary ladder at some of North Texas’ most notable properties, helping open concepts like The Westin in Southlake and 97 West Kitchen & Bar at Hotel Drover.

Seen from the outside, they were thriving.

On the inside, they were slowly drifting apart.

“After building our careers and doing great [things], our marriage hit a real low point,” Micah said. “We hit a rock-bottom place in our relationship. We had been chasing career highs, but we were moving in different directions.” He realized something had to change.

photo credit: Omorfia Imagery

“We decided that if we kept going down this path, there was not going to be any more us,” Micah recalled.

So, he started looking for answers. “I started praying about it. Then the Alaska opportunity came up with all of these confirmations. So many that it was laughable. We were like, I think we’re supposed to move to Alaska, live in a ten-by-ten plywood cabin with bear mace on our hips, and figure this out.”

They both laughed as they retold this part of their story, but at the time, it was a serious leap of faith. “We prayed about it, and it was just so obvious,” Micah said. “So, we said yes, and we quit our jobs.”

They packed up and got on a plane to take seasonal jobs at a remote lodge in the Alaskan wilderness. Jenna ran the entire culinary program at the lodge. Micah worked as the maintenance man and sous chef.

Then came another surprise. “We got pregnant,” Jenna said. “So, you talk about basically doing marriage counseling between the two of us in a plywood cabin in Alaska, doing the hardest jobs we’ve ever done.”

“We were in Alaska, two hundred and fifty miles away from the closest road to take you anywhere. Our neighbors were bears,” Jenna emphasized.

“We were working from five a.m. to ten p.m. every day. Zero days off for four months,” Jenna said. “It was the hardest thing we’ve ever done mentally, physically, emotionally. All the things. And we had breaking point after breaking point after breaking point, and all we had was each other.”

In that tiny cabin, without the distractions of tours or restaurant openings, everything came to the surface, good and bad. “God knew we were going to be going through this right now, and he actually wanted us to,” Micah said. “We thought, ‘That means we can access him right now. So, let’s bring him into this and see where the breakthrough is.’ And it happened.”

After three and a half months in Alaska, they finally felt their relationship start to turn. “That last month, we killed it,” Micah said. “We crushed it. It only took three months for us to figure out the groove, but we figured out our stuff; we let a lot of stuff go. It stretched us a lot. The Lord did a lot of healing.”

As the season wrapped up, one big question remained: what happens when they go home?

“We started thinking about what we would do when this job was up,” Micah said. “We were like, ‘All right, Lord, I don’t think we’re supposed to go back and just get separate jobs. That seems like it’s not the end of this story of us working together.’”

So, they sought answers. “We start praying about it,” Micah said, “and we got an email.”

photo credit: Omorfia Imagery

It was from Wilks Development, a Fort Worth-based group behind several major local projects. Before Alaska, someone from that team had casually asked if the couple would ever be interested in opening a restaurant back home. Now, the question was back on the table.

This time, Jenna and Micah were ready to say yes.

In Alaska, Micah started dreaming and planning. “I was crunching numbers while I was in Alaska,” he said. “I was like, all right, we’re going to go back and open our own restaurant. I think that I’ve crunched all the numbers, and fifteen hundred square feet is exactly what we need to crush it.”

They emailed the Wilks team to let them know they were in.

At first, the project seemed straightforward. “They had one building,” Micah recalled. “We start talking to them about it, but a couple of months down the road they’re like, ‘Oh, turns out we promised that building to another group.’” So the search continued.

“They showed us another building that was twenty-seven hundred square feet,” Micah said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s a lot more than I was thinking.’”

They prayed again, felt peace about the bigger space, and moved forward. Then that option fell through, too.

Next came a building just a mile from their house. “To us, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this makes perfect sense,’” Jenna said. And Micah replied, “We were taking it seriously, so we were praying for this thing every day, and [the] talks stretched on.”

At first, they worried the square footage was too big. Then a sermon at church shifted Micah’s perspective. “I thought, ‘Thirty-three hundred square feet is not a lot for God,’” he said. “If he’s doing it and we’re fully locked into his plan, laying down everything for him, it will work.”

That season became a turning point.

“It took way too long for us to realize that going our own routes and just trying to pursue our own dreams only led us away from each other,” Micah said. “It only led us away from him.”

They laid down every fear and prayed a simple prayer. “Lord, we want where you have us,” Micah remembers praying. “If this is it, great. If not, just shut the door.” Three days later, they got their answer.

“Three days after we prayed that prayer, oh man, we get an email,” he said. “‘So sorry, it’s not going to work out with you guys.’” Another door closed.

Three days after that, an even bigger door opened.

They finally heard about a space that felt different — the historic Fort Worth Public Market.

Photo courtesy of Jenna Kinard

“My earliest memory of Fort Worth is in the backseat of my parents’ Suburban, leaving an event, just looking at the outside of it and wanting to go in,” Micah said.

Years later, in 2011, when Jenna was first moving to Fort Worth, Micah drove her past the same building. “He pointed it out and told me it was his favorite,” Jenna remembered. “I said, ‘What if we did something with it?’” At the time, it was just a passing comment. Now it felt like a promise coming full circle.

Flash forward to today, and the couple has partnered with a team to reopen the historic Fort Worth Public Market.

The Fort Worth Public Market was once a bustling hub with more than 140 vendors. Residents could pick up produce, file their taxes, and get a haircut in one stop. In 1941, the after-effects of the Great Depression and World War II forced its closure to vendors. Manufacturers used the facility until the early 2000s, and since then, this grand old building has mostly sat empty.

Having seen God carry them through the hardest chapter of their marriage and knit them back together stronger than before, the Kinards felt confident He would lead them in restoring this historic space as a place of love for the community.

When they first started dreaming about a restaurant, Jenna and Micah were looking for fifteen hundred square feet. Nine months later, they ended up with fifteen thousand. Micah and Jenna see that scope as proof of how God has been leading them and growing their trust. “His timing is unbelievable,” Micah said. “We went back again, we prayed about it, and talked to our business partner. We just had overwhelming joy about it and not an ounce of fear.”

With fifteen thousand square feet, they realized they could not open just one concept. They were about to bring several experiences to life. “We want to honor this building by staying true to its roots,” Micah said. “The old slogan was ‘Everything for Everyone,’ and we are trying to provide that.”

Inside the renewed Public Market, three concepts will anchor the space.

Madrone will be their Texas-inspired fine dining restaurant. The name carries its own meaning for Jenna.

“I named the restaurant ‘Madrone’ because it’s a Texas evergreen tree, so it’s always in season,” Jenna explained. “That’s the idea behind our menus. I’ll print them probably every six weeks in-house. We’re just looking at what we are working with right now. These relationships with our farmers and our vendors are very important to us. We want to be as close to the farm itself as we can be.”

Willow will be a cocktail lounge with a strong zero-proof program, so guests who do not drink alcohol can still enjoy thoughtful, crafted beverages.

Public Market Cafe & Goods will be a daytime hub featuring baked goods, coffee, and local products, including hydroponic greens grown on-site, handmade items from local artisans, and everyday pantry staples. Jenna is passionate about filling the market with local foods and local makers, creating a space where small businesses and neighbors can thrive together.

Photo courtesy of Jenna Kinard

Through their interview, Micah and Jenna kept circling back to how different seasons in their lives prepared them for this one. The long hours in restaurants. The pressure of touring. The plywood cabin in Alaska. The breaking points and the healing that followed. Jenna said that while she has worked extremely hard in her career and in her marriage, she is excited to merge the two and let both become ways to reflect God’s love.

“We just kept coming back to ‘Everything for Everyone,’” she said. “To Micah and me, it hit one day. We were like, ‘Oh my gosh. Jesus is everything for everyone.’”

From a broken marriage to a restored landmark, the Kinards’ story is one of choosing to stay, choosing to rebuild, and choosing to trust God with each subsequent step. Their hope for every person who walks through the doors of the renewed Fort Worth Public Market is simple.

Jenna said, “I hope everyone leaves feeling just a little more joyful than when they entered.”

The post Saving a Marriage, Saving a Market first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.