After our amazing weekend at Lake Powell, Glen Canyon and then Antelope Canyon, we headed to Monument Valley in southeast Utah. Remember, we were still re-routing without any concrete plans for the next 2 weeks other than to do everything we could to avoid anything that resembled winter. We figured Monument Valley was a good stopping place because Forest Gump said so.

Sadly, we followed his example more than we meant to. After arriving on Sunday and enduring dusty wind storms and terrible cell service, we decided on a whim on Monday to Forest Gump-it, stop everything and turn around. It was the quickest pack up ever!

Before I share what adventure the Lord had next for us, let me share with you the pics from those 2 days in Monument Valley:

It was a beautiful area! But it was SO windy that the girls didn’t even want to play outside so they dug out their dress up bin which they hadn’t played with since leaving!

The cell service ended up being the deciding factor for our abrupt departure. It got so spotty that B had to go to McDonalds and you can see his joy about that and their lack of electrical outlets:

So my dreams of riding on a galloping horse with my hair blowing in the wind as I raced against a local Navajo riding a horse in the desert will have to stay on our bucket list for now.

As we tried to figure out where the Lord was leading us to next, I remembered RR saying how much he wanted to go to Pertrified Forest National Park, so I checked out that area of northeast Arizona and it hit all the boxes. Within 3 hours of where we were and where we are going next – ✔️ . Hot or at least warm and sunny weather – ✔️ . Strong cell service – ✔️. So we were off!

Driving through Navajo land was very interesting. The landscape was so beautiful, it was all very remote, and when we did see the tiniest little “village” (is what I want to call it) it didn’t even look like America.

I kept thinking as we drove, “okay Lord, what was that all about? Why did we spend those 2 days in Monument Valley and what do you have for us next in Holbrook AZ? Haven’t we spent enough time in small town Arizona !?” Haha

B and I were talking it out and we thought of fun scenarios of why He sent us to Monument Valley for such a short time. Maybe it was because the owner of the campground we stayed in had been praying for some extra income and our nights stay was a real blessing. Maybe the Lord was protecting us from something on the road or somewhere else? Maybe the staff in McDonald’s we friendly chit-chatted with needed a pick me up. Finally we ended with the thought that we had a great opportunity to see a part of the country many won’t and that we could pray over this land and people as we drove. I started thinking about how much I wanted to learn from the Navajos and other native groups and I wondered if any in this area knew the Lord Jesus and His love. So as we drove we prayed.

Amazingly enough, the next day as I scrolled Instagram, I saw a Beth Moore post on a group of Navajo women who have been plugging into her ministry! (By the way – I commented and she replied! The part of me that’s such a fan of hers was so pumped up!). It was in the exact same little town we had stayed near. So fun! Though it seemed like such a poor area, it was so great to see God at work! And I know the exact little area where they are.

Then I was thinking about a ministry my grandma and extended family supported for many years called “mission to the Navajos”. And I was cheesing so big as I thought maybe some of the ladies who are Christians now and living in the Lord’s love are the harvest of seeds planted through that ministry and maybe even grandma’s support. Only God knows! It’s gonna be so fun to see the big picture in eternity and all He was doing unseen or unnoticed or misunderstood!!!

Back to the recap… the drive down to Holbrook AZ really was pretty and again, very remote. We also went through a mini blizzard and then came out on the other side sunny and 60 degrees. Yeap we have heard it everywhere we have visited – what a strange year of weather!

So since last Monday we have been in Holbrook AZ and today we head out to Colorado!

We stayed at our 3rd KOA in Holbrook and we had a great time! We love that the playground police haven’t come to arrest this old school one:

The kids have spent HOURS and HOURS on this playground. B and I were shocked how much they loved it and didn’t get bored of it.

Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert were very beautiful.

We really enjoyed this blue Mesa area and climbing and walking around there:

B, RR and E climbing up:

Our skin looks just like this pic below after all these weeks in the desert. And my hair feels like this looks!

The petroglyphs were great to see. This newspaper rock was named appropriately with lots of communication!

And finally the petrified wood. RR has been so excited to see these famous trees- turned-to-rocks. They are beautiful ! And heavy. RR was so excited to go to the gift shop and buy his own piece for his treasure chest.

Our last visit to the park was so windy that there was real concern E might fly away like a kite. I got the giggles so bad I couldn’t walk.

We really did everything there was to do in this area and I was really anxious curious how the Lord would fill our week .

We ate many s’mores, played games, chatted with a “neighbor” and learned about hiking (he had hiked the Appalachiantrail!), ended up getting a lot of school work done, a lot of growing (RR slept 12 hours one night!), we played in the pool, E cut my hair, and we washed Betty.

We were really at the end of our list of things we could do then finally, finally! A friendly mom walked by and introduced herself and said she had an 11 year old boy (almost 12!), 6 year old girl and they had just hit the road full time this week! It took everything in me to hold my excitement haha. We have been praying for some more boys RR’s age for him to hang with!

Oh my goodness. This family. We connected in many ways and they are so special to us already. We had such a great few days with them and truly have such kindred spirits and hearts. The boys had the best time and truly bonded. They both are such good hearted, sweet guys and it was so good to see the 2 of them enjoying the immediate friendship. The girls were happy as could be chatting away and playing like 3 peas in a pod.

We had such encouraging and confirming talks over dinner and fires.

We were truly blessed that the Lord would orchestrate all these details just so we would be reminded of His love and have encouragement that we absolutely are on the right track as we focus on living well-loved by Him and letting that love flow out to our loved ones right near us.

We know that when we are well-loved by Him and being continually nourished from that deep spring, we will be a channel of refreshment into the world around us. And in the process, be refreshed ourselves.

Sometimes His love is like a flood and other seasons it’s a stream… but it never runs out and it’s sustaining us forever so we will never be thirsty again.

Our skin, lips, and hair may be dry from this desert-life but our hearts are overflowing!