I’m back!
What started out as a one month hiatus to be present and enjoy my time, my 45th birthday, the road, has turned into an almost 3 month hiatus from blogging and vlogging. But don’t think I have just been sitting around doing nothing. Those that have been following along, first, thank you for coming back. But you also know that is not me. I have been plenty busy living life. For those that are new here, welcome and I hope you stay.
So what’s happening?
A New Address
We moved. I’ll keep the detail close, but I’ll give you the truth of it. This was not necessarily on my radar, but when the Lord says move…I cleared out the storage that had held the bulk of our belongings for the past five years. I had forgotten what all I had in there. Boxes for weeks.
Working with a budget that made me get creative. Figuring out how to make a new place feel like home before I’d even hung the picture frames. It was important for my children to feel safe, to feel like it was their home too.
We have everything we need: a patio, little fenced yard, love. There is a corner out back that’s already turning into something special. Give me a season and I’ll show you.
New seasons don’t ask permission before they start. This one didn’t. But it’s giving now.
19 Days, One RV, Four of Us
It was me, my mom, uncle, and aunt. 19 days, one RV, crossing 11 state lines. No kids this time, just us.
We had quite the adventure. Animals, mountains, hikes, rafting. The closest I came to fear was a black bear. The second I heard it, something in me went straight to the story of Lot. Don’t look back, just move. That same spirit came over me. Don’t look back. Keep moving forward, toward the RV, toward safety. So that’s what I did. I didn’t run in panic, I moved with purpose. And I know it was the Lord with me in that moment, because the fear didn’t freeze me, it focused me.
Wyoming, though. I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful that state is. There are some places out there that make you feel both humbled and connected at the same time. Small in the best way, like you’re part of something so much bigger than your own life.
Some of the best of it we found on gravel and dirt. Roads only Google Maps and the locals know exists. And that’s its own lesson too. We’re often unsure of her when she takes us down miles of unpaved nowhere, but we trust that she’s been there before, that the technology knows something we don’t yet. Keep moving forward anyway. That’s where I’ve found “heaven passing through.” Majestic and untouched land that stops you mid-sentence. Too bad so many people mess up what they’re given.
I always come off the road a little different than I left. It teaches me something. Shows me something about myself I didn’t know I needed to see.
On Competition
Yall know I am a soccer mom. For Aliah, that means cheering from the sideline, maybe some coaching. I can’t help it. But for Arrington’s team the shirt says COACH on the back. I’m in the thick of my 8th season now. That can’t be right. Wow. Time passes.
I’m competitive on the field. Healthy competition is a good thing. But off the field, I’m just working each day to be better than I was the day before.
Not everyone plays it that way, though. I think a lot of us are quietly keeping score in relationships that were never supposed to be a contest. Spouses. Sisters. Cousins. Mothers. Daughters. Old friends.
That showed up in a conversation I had this summer, with someone off the field who told me they felt like they had to compete. With me. With my daughter. Many around them. I told them what I’ve told other people in different rooms: I am not competing with you. There is nothing to win. We were never on opposite teams.
I work to compete with myself, on improving myself. That is it. I was never the one holding the scoreboard. But somebody has to be the one to simply step back from the competition. Bow out. This season, that was me.
The Leaves Are Turning, and So Am I
This is publishing right as fall turns over, and I didn’t plan that on purpose, but I’m not going to pretend it isn’t fitting. Fall is my favorite season anyway. The heat finally taking a back seat (please, Texas), the colors shifting into something softer.
Everyone who’s walked into my new place says the same thing: it feels warm, cozy. I’ll take that.
If I’m honest, there was a part of me asking, am I ready for this? New address, new season, a version of myself I’m still getting to know. But that same spirit from Wyoming hasn’t left me. Don’t look back. Just keep moving forward, trust that He’s got you even when the road is gravel and you can’t see where it leads.
It reminds me of my very first blog post, starting something new, unsure of everything, trusting it anyway. Turns out the seasons have been teaching me that lesson on repeat ever since.
You don’t have to know how fall becomes winter. You just have to trust that it will, and that you’ll turn with it.
BTW: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Who’s someone you’re going far with this season? Tell me below — I read every comment.
Other Post You May Enjoy:
Living With Uncertainty in an Unstable World
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