2020

We spent our first week of this RV adventure in New Mexico, doing more preparation for travel than actual traveling. Mom last used the motor home in September/October of last year, as she moved from California to her home in New Mexico where she wanted to spend her final days.  Since the RV had been sitting for the better part of 6 months, we weren’t sure what we were getting into. But after initial inspection (plus removing the dryer sheets and ivory soap that were placed in every corner to prevent mice from chewing up any wires) everything seemed to be on the up and up. The front windshield was cracked and we had to jumpstart the battery every time we wanted to drive, but these seemed like issues we could deal with down the road The next agenda was to figure out licensing and registration. We plan to end up in Ohio eventually, so New Mexico gave us a “transit permit” to get us from here to there. (Of course we are taking much longer than the suggested 10 days to get...

Observations so far from our road trip: Baja is slow. California is fast. Arizona is hot. New Mexico is cold. Texas is windy.  And big. By big, I mean that we never manage to spend less than a week in Texas. This time it was nearly 12 days. Our first stop was right over the border in El Paso, where we went to my cousin (first cousin once removed, to be exact) Cyndi's house. She treated us to lunch at Kiki's , where we had some delicious Mexican food, followed by a drive to a scenic overlook where we stood at the end of the Rocky Mountains. (Epic!) While we were out running around, Jovi was enjoying Cyndi's beautiful backyard -- a nice change from the backseat of the car! Three-and-a-half years ago Randy, Jovi and I made a similar journey, in reverse order, moving Jovi and me from Ohio to California. Randy and I had met 6 months before in Spain and knew we wanted to be together forever. Texas was a long and memorable part of that move, too. One of ou...

I've been thinking about "40" for the last several months. I turned 38 this week, which is just a stone's throw from 40, and I find myself super excited about it. Crazy, right?! But I'm so excited about spending the next two years becoming the kind of person I want to be on my 40th birthday. With that number 40 on my mind, it flows naturally into thoughts on Lent. The season of Lent -- the 40+ days leading up to Easter -- has made a HUGE impact on my life. In 2013, for the first time ever really participating in this part of the liturgical calendar, I felt God nudging me to read the ENTIRE Bible in 40 days. I didn't quite make it, needing another month or so to finish my reading (let's face it: Numbers and Chronicles are HARD to get through!), but I didn't give up. I remained faithful to the finish. And met God along the way. In 2014, God again called me to something grand: walking across Spain . Again, I didn't quite make it in 40 days,...

Easter ("Pascua") in San Felipe is very different than Easter in Santiago. For two years in a row ( 2014 and 2015 ) I was in Spain for Easter. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the country for an opportunity to be a part of a two-thousand year-old tradition. They read the local papers for schedules of "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) events. They lined the streets to watch nightly processions go by, from Mary weeping to Jesus carrying his cross. They fasted and waited for the doors of Cathedrals to be opened so they could sit at the altar, touch the feet of the Saints, and receive a blessing. They packed the pews, eager to hear the familiar words of Scripture: He is not here. He is risen! Likewise, hundreds of thousands of people flock to San Felipe every year for Easter. Except they don't call it Easter. They call it Spring Break. They line the beaches to watch nightly processions of 4-wheelers racing across the dunes. They wait in line at the 7-el...

The directors of Sonshine Hacienda, Gary and Karen, told Randy and I to take the week to unpack and get settled. A week sounded like a long time to us, but we’ve been extremely grateful for it! On Saturday, the kids helped us unload our trailer and carry everything up to our second-floor apartment. Jesús worked harder than anyone else, so Randy thanked him with a short motorcycle ride up into the trailer. Randy and I went out for brunch and were surprised when the waitress brought Randy two hot dogs when he ordered sausage! We went to the local market run by Wal-Mart, but ended up at the next door grocery store when they didn’t have much by way of fresh produce. In the afternoon we made use of the communal laundry room and started to organize our apartment. We had a delicious soup with the kids and are going to love the fresh tortillas daily! On Sunday, Randy and I went to the English service at church, where Gary is the pastor. The congregation is f...

Randy and I have very different packing styles. We’ve know this since about day 3 of walking the Camino, and yet still we haven’t quite figured out how to mesh our styles. Randy is a hurry up and get it done packer. I’m slow and methodical, making sure everything is in its perfect place. Dusting it before it goes into a box, maybe conjuring up a couple memories, feeling all the feelings that go along with that particular item. The one thing we do have in common is that we are both procrastinators. So even though we’ve known since August that we were moving to Mexico, even though we’ve known since August that we would have to pack up our entire house and put it into a 16-foot trailer, even though we’ve known since August that we would have to itemize every single box in order to satisfy Border Patrol, we still waited until 3 days before we had to be out of our house to start packing. We were busy! We had a party to plan. Work to do. A yard sale to have. Friends to ...

Yesterday I really began to understand the importance of having mentors in your life. Randy and I have so much on our plates right now that we've found ourselves more overwhelmed than excited about our move to Mexico. But yesterday we had the opportunity to sit down with Tony and Julie, a couple who have become so important to us. They were there for Randy during a very challenging period in his life, they encouraged him to go on the Camino where we met and fell in love, and they took us on our first visit to Sonshine Hacienda. We absolutely adore them and their entire family. They are the kind of people who make you feel at home as soon as you meet them. And, as little Rosie said while Tony was playing guitar last night, "My grandpa is so cool!" After an hour of just hanging out with the kids and catching up over a pitcher of Sangria, Tony turned serious. "I teared up when you called and said you were moving to San Felipe. You guys are an answer to our p...

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” –John 14:18 My husband Randy first mentioned moving to Mexico to volunteer full-time at a children’s home a little over two years ago. I had long since wanted to volunteer at an orphanage, but the idea of actually doing so seemed impractical, even for someone who loves doing the impractical as much as me. And because we weren’t in a position to make such a move, I didn’t devote much thought to it at the time. But early in 2016 we suddenly came into a position where we could make such a move. And now the question changed from “could we”, to “would we”? During a conversation with Eden Grace, Global Ministries director at Friends United Meeting, she stressed the importance of a “site visit” for individuals considering serving in the field – actually traveling to and seeing the place where you would be serving before making any commitments. While the children’s home in Mexico is not an FUM project, I valued Eden’s wisdom a...

After our 10-mile hike on Saturday, and climbing over 180 flights according to our Fitbits , our bodies were craving carbs. We raided our "Backpacker's Pantry" and came up with Lasagna . As soon as it started cooking it smelled exactly like we'd put a lasagna in the oven. And it tasted just as good! I filtered some more water and did our dishes in the lake. Then Rand pulled out another tasty treat as a surprise... Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! This treat was extra special because I know Rand can't eat them (they give him migraines). So I knew he'd been thinking only of me when he froze them before we left on our trip and carried them out into the backcountry. I savored my chocolate and peanut butter as we finished the last of our red wine, looking out at the mountains and the water, thankful for every moment. It was much colder this second night than it had been the previous evening, and we were extra tired, so we crawled into our tent at 8 p.m. We...

I wasn't sure how Jovi would handle sleeping in a tent, or if the three of us would be uncomfortably tight, but I was pleasantly surprised! That doesn't mean any of us had a great night sleep, of course. The night started eerily quiet, only to be invaded by the sound of frogs calling out to one another until the early morning hours. One of our sleeping pads had a hole in it, so Randy let me have the good one while he slept on the hard ground. Jovi was disappointed that we didn't bring her a sleeping pad and kept trying to sneak onto mine. We were definitely ready for coffee when the sun finally came up! Already our camp felt like home. Randy made some really good coffee (Starbucks instant) and some not-so-good scrambled eggs (not his fault! freeze dried eggs are simply not good!). I purified some water out of the lake to prepare for that day's needs. Jovi patrolled the area to see if any creatures had tried to sneak into our camp at night or if there were...