Last weekend was one of my favorite weekends! For the first time on this trip we completely changed our route at the last minute and it gave us so many unexpected gifts. Bryce Canyon, which we were set to do after Zion, was forecasted for snow and cold all week and we just didn’t feel good about that! So after praying about it – our goal was to get south and head toward Mesa Verde in Southwest Colorado for our next “extended” stay.

I knew that Glen Canyon and Horseshoe Bend were on the way so we left a day early from Sand Hollow so we could spend the weekend near those sights. They were on our “bucket list” but I had crossed them off thinking we wouldn’t get to them.

The Lord worked out so many details and it makes me tear up how much He cares. I’m truly LOVING this practicing of listening for Him and following His lead and anticipating in excitement what gifts He has in store.

The MVP app of the trip has been Campendium! A search of the Glenn Canyon area brought up Lone Rock at Lake Powell as a great boondocking spot (no hook ups) for the night so that’s what I had my heart set on but we figured it would probably be too packed on a Saturday.

As we traveled through beautiful Utah we stopped at a BLM visitor center (Bureau of Land Management). We read about dinosaurs and fossils found in this area. They were pretty amazing to see and we look forward to learning much more about dinosaurs and fossils because we (I) really don’t know much in this area. Here’s a cast of a baby ceratopsian found in this area:

And a right hand paddle of a Plesiosaur found 5 miles from the building:

We were shocked at some of the things we read… like the size of this crocodile-like animal that lived thousands of years ago!

There were 3 favorite parts of this lunch stop though:

1. It was so quiet out there in the middle of nowhere it literally hurt my ears. It was awesome! I don’t know the last time I heard quiet like that without any road noise or anything…. no trucks trains planes animals people. I swear I heard a butterfly flutter by.
2. I was feeling literally NO anxiety or pressure even though I had no clue yet where we would stay that tonight, if we for sure could even find a place in the area that would work for us and not be too crowded, where exactly we would head next and for how long…. and many other details. Praise the Lord – I’m growing! More trust, more flexibility, less stress! Over the last few years I have been able to stress without being cranky to B or the kids but I so much desire to stress less and less . Especially because of what stress does to my body. (For example, to this day I still feel the “zings” in my neck and shoulder where the shingles were!) It was so nice to not have to try to manage my behavior while stressed. Taking away stress is way better then trying to not be cranky while stressed haha. I will always have planning as a strength but more each year the Lord is showing me how to pray and listen as I plan and truly let Him lead… and then hold it loosely and let Him interrupt and reroute things.
3. As we sat at the picnic area at the BLM center, we looked down and saw the most amazing ant colony. We tried to find different personalities and different jobs. Some were fast, some were slow. Some were collecting food, others were bringing sand out of the hole. Some were going a far distance to scout things out, some stayed close and tried to find blades of dried grass to bring home. We dropped a piece of crust and watched them all go to town bringing it to their queen. Omgoodness it was just the best. Why is this so exciting and such a memory? With a light hearted, no rush energy going on we had the time and heart to just sit and be present and it was such a gift. There have been many moments like this on the trip and I’m so thankful. Moments of no bickering, no whining, no rushing, no expectations or place to go. I guess normally people would want to keep their distance from the ants during lunch but we sat on this little wall and watched them and just like that time we saw the owl and squirrel saga in Florida, we were caught up in the drama of this whole other world that goes on around us mostly unnoticed. Thank you Lord for these moments.

When B asked the BLM staff member for a good place to boondock with our size rig, Lone Rock was her suggestion and that was confirmation enough for me to at least try. Would it be too packed!? The sand too thick for Betty to pull Woody!? Nope!!!! As soon as we pulled in and parked I thought – Yeap! This is my fave spot ever!!! Can’t believe it wasn’t more crowded.

The kids had such a blast running up and down the soft sand:

Super soft sand, sunshine, beautiful color water, AND mountains in the background!? Couldn’t be better:

After the kids made sure they had sand in almost every spot on their body, we headed to see the Glen Canyon Dam and Horseshoe Bend. See you later, Woody!

This dam and the area around it including the RV spot were so similar to the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead… even where the marina and RV places were located. So funny!

The kids earned another Junior Ranger Badge. Despite all my work with World Vision and learning about water use around the world…. I was still shocked to learn that the average house toilet uses more than 2 gallons of water every flush. Wow. Living in the RV and boondocking several times (though not near as often as most full time RV-ers) really makes you think about water use! 2 gallons is a lot of water.

When we walked across the bridge, E right away spotted this amazing bird! We definitely think it was a hawk but it was so far down we couldn’t tell. I’m shocked she spotted him! This is as close as I could get on super zoom:

Next it was off to Horseshoe Bend. Instagram alone is to thank for the popularity of this trendy trap haha.

It really is amazing though, isn’t it?!

It bothered us that it was so crowded we couldn’t just sit and enjoy the view quietly. There was some serious jockeying for best selfie position…. but it truly was gorgeous!

Thanks to AB our pic isn’t too trendy so that’s good:

The rest of the night was spent rolling in the sands (the kids not us geesh!) and truly soaking up the view together. As I put away some things in my room I thought wow – what a bedroom view!

RR had the best view once again:

B and I sat by the water and thoroughly enjoyed being together. The kids popped in from their play every so often haha but they mostly did their own thing and we had a semi-date! We sat and reflected yet again on how good God has been to us. Our whole lives!!!! But specifically this year. It still chokes us up every time we talk about the flood and the literal thousands of gifts He gave to us. We are so undeserving and we pray to pass along the love and show our thanks by how we love others.

Look at how beautiful God made these girls. The praise goes to the artist! (RR too of course! But he couldn’t stop for a picture because he was non stop rolling down the hill.)

Everybody who knows me knows I love sunsets!!! And we had an awesome one that night, but….

I have discovered that B LOVES a good moon rise! This one truly felt like a gift from God to him. It was amazing.

I really enjoy taking photos and capturing the moments but I love about B that ever since I’ve know him he can actually just sit and “be”. I often have a lot on my mind, in general, but even when I’m not deep-thinking I’m wanting to capture special moments and plan things and keep up with routines and yada yada… but what a gift it is to have a husband/Daddy who truly knows and practices how to be present. Phone put away, mind quiet, just sitting and enjoying the moment. He’s not thinking about talking about this moment to others in the future. He’s not looking around at others or distracted in any way. He’s just being with His Lord and His loved ones. He worships the Lord in his enjoyment and contentment. It’s truly inspiring and one of my fave things about him. The reason he is such a peaceful and content person is because of his worship. I’m so grateful for the gift he is! And I love how we influence each other more towards the “middle” of the extremes instead of being polar opposites in everything like we used to be.

What a special gift this weekend was from the Lord. Wow I mean the whole adventure has been such a gift!!! But sometimes He just goes over the top! I think He really wanted to teach us me yet again again again what it looks like to follow Him and let Him lead.

We I could have been stressed and anxious of heart when we felt led to re route… I could have rushed around in action trying to get a plan together quickly so I could “know” it’s going to work out. But instead I just had faith that it would work out and stayed peaceful. I trusted that the interruption was from the Lord and so I waited and watched for His next move and for Him to show us what was next. In the meantime as we waited to know what was next…. boy did we get the blessing of me having a happy peaceful heart.

This is the tiniest example, yet again, of the joy found in trusting His sovereignty and contently with hopeful anticipation letting Him lead.

He let us experience this blessing of trust and faith during the unknowns before during and after our season I like to call stress sickness and school (B’s MBA) …. He let us experience the blessing of faith and trust before during and after the flood…. and He is continuing to help us practice it more more more!

He wants us to trust and walk (and plan) WITH Him meaning we are both actively doing (in His timing!)…. and then be flexible and and hold all plans loosely because we have faith that He cares about EVERY detail, sees way more than we do, and is sovereign…. not only in the big life events but the small every day realities… like where in the world you’re parking your home that night and next week and the week after that ha.

The Lord had even more in store for our weekend though…. On Sunday we got to experience and see what will definitely be a top 5 of the trip….