The days leading up to September 26th were once again filled with every emotion. A lot of time spent with family and friends making sure we got in all the hugs. My mom spoiled us and did all our laundry and made us our usual Christmas dinner since we will be missing Christmas with them this year. And we snuck in time for family pictures! See ya laters are never easy especially pulling our kids away from grandparents but I have to keep believing this is where we belong right now and we are going to make a difference in our kids' lives and other people's as well.
An 8 hour drive was a long one for our first trip but with the weather changing fast in Michigan, we were ready to get into some warmer weather. We made lunches, packed the cooler and the snack bag and the 7 of us piled into the truck. We stopped at a weigh station and weighed our truck and camper because we hadn't done that yet and we wanted to make sure we weren't over packed and over weight. Our total weight is 26,000 pounds so we are heavy, but good to go!
Following up from Chris story of our trip, after a long stressful day of traveling, sick kids and a few mishaps, we finally made it to Lost Valley Lake, Missouri. We successfully got checked in and got our site number!
Have I mentioned in a while, we are still learning a lot!?! We haven't said much about learning how to level our 40 foot beauty because when you buy one of these things they come with an awesome button called "Auto-Leveling" and you think you're good to go! ;) Our first campsite in Kalamazoo taught us that auto-level isn't always so automatic and 2 hours later, we were finally level. So anyway, here's to hoping that this Missouri campsite is a little nicer and our auto-level can do it's job in about four minutes flat.
Praise God! 15 minutes later, Connor and Maddi were tucked in bed, dogs were definitely happy to be out of the truck and Chris and I sat on the couch taking a deep breath and looking at eachother like holy moly, we made it! Chris had the week off of work so we could get adjusted and relax, so Tuesday morning was time to finish getting set up and go check this place out! We quickly learned that this place was not one that we would be walking or biking the whole thing. Two lakes, three ponds and very steep hills made for an adventurous walk and our biking legs are just not up to par for that yet. The following day was spent at the lake fishing, frog-giggin, playing and relaxing!
It is beginning to be off season for camping so these campgrounds have been pretty slow and very quiet. One evening we went to the onsite movie theater and got to pick out our own movie and had the whole place to ourselves. That was an experience! :)
There hasn't been one cloud in the sky since we arrived which has been a pleasant surprise since leaving Michigan. It's been a steady sunny 70-78 degrees here everyday so we decided to fill up the camelbak backpack and put our new hiking boots to the test. All the way around one of the lakes here is a hiking trail we thought it'd be beautiful scenery and a chance for the dogs to run off leashes as well. The first trailhead we try is inaccessible, we thought maybe they just let that one go. After grabbing our campground map we find a different trailhead and give it a shot! We are loving the trail! Inspecting bugs, trees and different types of poops deciding what all lives in these woods. About a mile in, the trail gets a little hard to find and thick with tall grass and forest, and soon enough, there is no trail at all. We continue on because we can see the lake and think we can make it around if we stay close to it and maybe the trail will pick back up again. Well, that doesn't happen. Beau is our Border Collie and he is always our leader so him and Chris took the lead and they were doing a great job! It's funny how even being lost in the woods we all had a peace about it, for a little bit anyways! Saw a handful of deer, squirrels, a very old truck and tractor parts. We stopped for a minute and took a picture, looked at the map and kept going.
As Chris mentioned, the boys quickly learned about mites in the Missouri woods. That was a small worry in our minds as we went on this hike but we didn't want it to stop us from hiking as its something we love to do and have a goal to hike in every state. Soon enough, Maddi had a pile of them on her leg and was freaking out, then I did, then Chris did and sure enough so did Connor. These little things come in the hundreds and are almost like little tiny ticks the way they embed in your skin, bite and then itch; it is so gross!! Come to find out from some locals, they are called Chiggers. Not fun! At that point we were fighting horse flies, bees, and chiggers. I knew if we had them, the dogs had them and we were only about half way around the lake. We decided to turn around and head back since we didn't have a trail to follow, it might take a while and panic about the bugs was starting to set in a bit. We ended up hiking a little over 4 miles, encountered a whole lot of bugs, finished all the water in the camelbak, and we were over it.
Note to self: we need a lot of bug spray if we're going in the woods down south. Not having cold enough temperatures the bugs just continue year round and get awful in the fall! Silly northerners! ;)
The rest of the week was spent at the pool, fishing for Catfish, or really anything...with no luck at all. We did a lot of bike rides, family games and trying to get into a routine before Chris goes back to work.
Part of our adventures are going to be checking out new churches, it's time for this small town little lady to get out of her shell! I am excited to experience a few true Southern Baptist churches!
So Sunday came around and we had found a church in the next town over to go check out. It was a bit of an older crowd, with a total of 25 people there. We sang worship songs out of the Church Hymnal and had a great sermon out of Genesis 22. Abrahams faith was tested when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Time and time again, God continues to show us to keep having big faith, to be uncomfortable and growing in all that we do.
"This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed-all because you have obeyed me." Genesis 22:16-18 NLT
After the service we talked with a few people about things going on in nearby towns and the Pastor prayed over us and our travels. They are in the process of putting together shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse-Operation Christmas Child; with all kinds of hygiene and school supplies so we asked how we could help with that. Then, at the table at the door they had a bowl of pennies and in the penny was a cross cut out of it, they are so cool! The kids each grabbed one and then the Pastor came over and dumped the whole bowl into Chris' hands and said take them all! What a gift for us to pass forward to anyone we can!
This isn't something we have talked much about just yet because we don't truly know our plan, but we do know that God is going to use us for his glory and He is already showing us glimpses of how this is going to work out.
We decided to go back to The Ridge Church again on the second Sunday we were here. The Operation Christmas Child was something we thought would be a great start to teaching the kids how we can help and serve. We went to the store each with a basket in hand and filled them up! Bringing the bags of things to the church was awesome!! The kids saw the stack of shoeboxes that they would be filling, they talked about past testimonies of children that received boxes and Connor and Maddi's eyes lit up and I had a lump in my throat as we sat there listening.
My hope is that this is just the very start for us and our serving journey. God provides an exceedingly and abundant life when we put our wants and desires aside and let Him work in our hearts and minds.
We almost had a run in with a skunk wanting some dog food. We walked or hiked a total of about 7 miles. We met some friends which the kids were very happy to play with and paint pumpkins and have smores together! Definitely made us miss home, missing family and friends. Video calls just arent the same as real hugs, but we are doing ok. We bought guitars so Chris and I can learn together and then teach the kids, more on that soon! And we even got some school done last week.
On Friday we went out on the town for the day! We visited and toured Meramec Caverns, where Jessy James hid from the cops after stealing stuff off of a train in the 1800s. The tour was so cool! That was definitely our school lesson for the day! The kids were a little freaked out that we were actually underground, but loved it!
All in all, Missouri was relaxing and quite peaceful! We learned a lot more about our rig, about giving grace when needed and living together in small spaces. Still trying to find a good routine that works for all of us but we'll get there!
Thanks for following, encouraging, and praying! We appreciate every bit of it!
Until next time!
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