Showing all posts by Amanda Richard

Revival in Reality

Posted on
Revival in Reality

Since this has been a topic rolling around in my mind for a while with not really a good way to approach it, this feels like the perfect opportunity to address “Revival.”

I’m not here to speak on what is going on in a specific place, or any of the other places people are claiming “revival fire” is popping up.  What I want to do is address Christian’s obsession fascination with “revival” and do we really know what it means.  If “Revival” came to our doorstep, would Christians recognize it?

First, it’s important to define revival.  Initially, when I think of the word revive, or revival, I think of something that was once dead or almost dead, revived.  Brought back to a state of living.  For instance, if you have a houseplant, that you say……forget to water and when you walk by, what was once growing upward, has now become wilted and sad not that I would know anything about that.  You have a very small window to water it so that it will be happy and return to its natural state, or if you continue to neglect it, the roots completely dry up and there will be no amount of water that will return it to life. 

So far, not a good look for the Church.  That’s probably another post.  But let’s look at what Merriam-Webster says about  Revival-

a: an act or instance of reviving : the state of being revived: such as

b: renewed attention to or interest in something

c: a new presentation or publication of something old

1): a period of renewed religious interest

2): an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings

Before I lose you completely and y’all fuss, I want to take you way back…to a galaxy far away….

..just kidding…

I want to look at what I feel makes for a true revival in scripture.  One, ironically enough, before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every Believer.

In 2 Kings 22 we see an overview of the reign of Josiah.  Josiah was a king in Judah.  In previous overviews of the rulers in Israel and Judah, we see how many did evil in the sight of the Lord.  We also see how some did right in the sight of the Lord but failed to tear down the high places.  Those were places of pagan worship and many evil things happened there. 

Since previous kings were not following the Lord, the temple of the Lord had fallen into disrepair.  If you read through chapter 23 you will see they were using the temple to store everything from items made for Baal, Asherah, and all the starry hosts (v4) to housing male prostitutes (v7).   Not a stellar start.  So in all of this, Hilkiah the high priest finds the Book of the Law.  He gives it over to the king’s secretary who reads it and then reads it to the king.  Josiah hears all of this and is appropriately horrified and distraught.  He sends his minions to go inquire of the Lord about what was found in the book.  They go and find Huldah the prophetess and she has a pretty harsh message.  The Lord isn’t happy about what has been going on with a people who are supposed to follow His ways and be an example to the rest of the world.  The Lord is going to bring about justice, but because Josiah’s heart was responsive and he humbled himself before the Lord, the Lord declared he would not see the disaster He would bring about. (22v15-20)

Josiah hears the word Huldah spoke from the Lord and takes immediate action.  In Chapter 23 Josiah gathers all the people, reads the Book so they can hear it, and renewed the covenant to the Lord to follow Him and keep His commands and the people did the same. 

Then King Josiah gets to work.  He removes all of the pagan idols, items, priests, mediums, fortune tellers and the like.  He didn’t just take them down, they burned the items and/or ground them into dust.  He tore down and defiled all the high places so they couldn’t be reused.  He did what the other kings wouldn’t do (save Hezekiah). 

"Josiah did what the other kings wouldn't do"

Now that you have that short history lesson, let’s look at the following responses Josiah and the people made when they understood something was very much amiss and they were not following the Lord.

  1. You have a people who have turned away from the Lord and have been worshipping other gods. 
  2. When it was brought to Josiah’s attention they were not following what the Lord had instructed, he was distraught and tore his robes.  He understood they were in for big trouble.
  3. There was repentance and a decision to follow completely the ways of the Lord.
  4. There was an immediate removal of everything that was not Holy.

Mmmmmm that last one tho.  Gonna have to circle back to that.

I grew up of the Southern Baptist varieti, and when we talked about revival, that consisted of a week, or maybe a Wednesday-Sunday evening services of someone who was not our regular preacher.  You’d sing some hymns, have a sermon, maybe some people would get saved or rededicate their lives to Christ (awesome!), eat a potluck (because that’s what Baptists do well hello) and call it a success.  I know other people who recall tent revivals as I guess having your meetings in a tent outside constituted for more of a “revival” atmosphere instead of just being hot or humid. 

Now when I hear people talk about revival, what they really want is a “move of God” or “move of the Spirit” and for many (by no means all), that means a super long worship service where they feel a tangible presence of God.  It means “feeling” something.  To some it means demonstrations of the Spirit, falling out, laughing or something like what was experienced at the Brownsville Revival. 

I am not here to pick apart people’s experiences, nor the Brownsville Revival or what has gone on in the more recent years.  So before people fuss…  People tend to have a lot of emotion tied up in this subject.  What I do want to highlight is what would a revival look like and is revival even something we need to be striving for?  That is, if we are looking at this word as Christians look at it currently.  And at the moment we are..

When we gauge whether something is “Revival label worthy” I want to look at a few things and they are going to parallel my points above. 

  1. There is going to be a tangible, “Oh poo moment.” An “oh no, we have not been following the Lord like we should and a move to rectify it.
  2. There is going to be true humility and repentance.  No place for pride if we want a move of the Spirit.
  3. There is a realization that the Most High is Holy and we are called to be Holy like He is holy
  4. There is an immediate removal of everything in your life that is not holy. You identify the high places in your life and tear them down at all cost.

Many times people groups and church congregations may get to #2 and maybe even #3.  But like the kings of old, we fail to completely tear down the high places in our lives.  What may have sparked a flame dies off quickly as there is no lasting substance to it.  We get our emotional high and maybe our lives change for a time, but it doesn’t last because we. don’t. tear. down. the. high. places.

Why not? Why didn’t the past kings of Israel and Judah tear down the high places?  Probably several reasons.  But likely, they knew it would make many of the people disgruntled.  They liked their pagan gods and rituals.  It pacified the people groups that had moved in and married in. 

In 2 Kings 17:41 it says that while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols.
Ouch.

As Believers, we might be born-again, but what are we also serving or allowing in our lives that is keeping us from holiness? 

What do you tolerate because if you got rid of it, stopped doing it, stopped watching or listening to it, it might make you look like the weird holy roller to your friends, coworkers or family?  Maybe you don’t get rid of it because you have justified it, or just want to outright continue _______. 

Whatever the reason, next Sunday when your arms are lifted and you are crying out for revival, remember it can start with you.  What are you willing to do for what you determine is a revival? 

Normally, I like to end on an uplifting note, but I really feel we need to redefine and discern how we are using this word. 

I hope it will initiate a look into how to discern what people are so quick to label as revivals. 

Does this Nation and Church (Ecclesia really) need a change?  Absolutely.  But maybe we need to stop looking for a Revival when what we really need is a complete overhaul.  More on that in the future. 😊

~enjoy the journey!

Fan the Flame

Posted on
Fan the Flame 
Feeling dry? Sometimes you have to stir yourself up.

Just like David had to tell his soul to “Bless YHVH,” (Ps 103:1-2) there are times when we need to fan the flame. Did you know the word for “stir up” or “fan” is anazōpyreō and is only used once. (I love those types of words).

The usage is similar to that which remains of a fire and that by which a fire is kindled anew or lighted up.

Bless the Lord, my soul,
    and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
 Bless the Lord, my soul,
    and never forget any of his benefits

Psalm 103:1-2

In our house in upper New England, the main source of heat is a wood stove (from 1977 to be exact).  If we are to stay warm, it is dependent on us.  We have to keep the fire stoked, fed and kindled. 
In the mornings, if no one got up for the last fire feeding (yes, it feels like we have a newborn all over again), the stove will have gone cold.  But much of the time, if you turn over the ashes, there are some red coals hidden away in the bottom.

tranquil young woman drinking tea in front of fireplace

With some care at the first, you can baby those remaining embers until you get a small flame.  And from that small flame, you can start to feed it small bits of kindling, blow on it, and in a little while, you will have a roaring fire.  All from some bits of coal hidden away in those ashes.

man blowing on burning fire among friends in camp

As a Believer, sometimes it can feel like we’ve gone cold.  We feel like our dreams or purpose have gone cold, we wonder how and why aren’t we using our gifts and we can wake up to what seems like a fire that’s died.  And maybe the fire did.  Maybe you didn’t take as much care to keep the fire fed and going.  Maybe you haven’t had good teaching on spiritual gifts or that you even have one and feel like you should be doing something in that regard, but not sure how.  But I promise you this Believer: you still have some embers in there waiting to become a flame again!

As a Believer, sometimes it can feel like we’ve gone cold

Maybe it’s in another area of life.  Your marriage, your family life, your job or finances.  What about your personal and spiritual development?  There are so many areas we can apply this to, but let’s stick to spiritual gifts for now.

You say, “Yep, Amanda, that’s me.  For whatever reason, I let the fire go out.  Now what?’

Well I’m glad you asked.  That is the question isn’t it?  How do we fan that little ember back into a healthy flame?

To rekindle a fire, especially in an old wood stove, you need a few things.  First off, you’re going to need a little patience.  Dumping too much on it too soon will smother it, and that’s really frustrating when that happens.  You’re going to need some kindling that will light easily.  Some newspaper, small sticks or bark put on there in small pieces until you get a flame.  Then larger pieces as that flame grows.

close up photo of orange fire

You need some air.  If you blow too hard on the embers, they’re gonna go out.  And then, again, you’re going to be starting from scratch.  But with proper air flow, your small flames will catch and start to spread to the kindling until you can start adding your larger pieces of firewood or fuel bricks. 

So what are some practical things you can do to rekindle that fire that you feel you’ve lost?  1: You want to recognize and acknowledge what has happened.  Whether life got in the way, there was some hurt, or you just neglected your gift, repent!  Tell the Father you are sorry for not using what He gave you and to open up doors of opportunity for you to be able to step out and use them. 

Are you a teacher but not teaching?  Find ways you can teach others about the truth that is in the Word.  Don’t wait for your local church to put you somewhere, start a study, make some video’s.

Are you an exhorter?  Find ways to encourage people and come alongside them when they need help. 

Do you feel called into one of the 5 Ministry gifts?  Are you doing everything you can to learn about the function?

pile of books

Always be learning, what do you feel the Holy Spirit wants you to focus on?  A book of the Bible?  A person in scripture?  Spiritual Warfare?  The prophetic?  Healing?  Do the work!  Read books, watch video’s, take some courses.  In this day and age, information is at our fingertips or at least the capability to get it in front of you within a few days, so there is no excuse!

Nextly, put to practice what you’ve learned.  If you aren’t using your gifts, that can lead to a lot of frustration and then turn into hope deferred making your heart (mind) sick.  Many times, we can feel unsettled and unfulfilled in life if we aren’t using our spiritual gifts.  Sometimes we can be the deferrer of our own hope.  We wait for the Holy Spirit to grab us by the hand and to put us into situations so we can use our gifts.  Maybe we are waiting on the leadership in our local church to recognize some gift in us and put us to use. 

Your church leadership should be discipling and equipping you to go out and use your spiritual gifts in your day-to-day life.  If they aren’t, find some people you can glean from.  This may fall into a fanning your own flame area!  YOU are responsible for YOU!

YOU are responsible for YOU!

Once your fire is roaring, you’ll close your doors all the way and adjust your air flow.  Too much or too little air will put your fire back out or it will burn too fast.  (I’m sure there are more efficient wood stoves now, one is on the list) But I digress…

Pace yourself.  Life is a marathon, not a sprint.  You don’t want to put too much on yourself (learning too many things at once and not taking the time to settle it in your mind before moving on to the next topic).  You also don’t want to do so little that you barely keep that flame going.  Set a pace and stay consistent. 

Consistency is key!

~enjoy the journey!

The Secret Muses of a Disabled Vet’s Wife:

Posted on
The Secret Muses of a Disabled Vet’s Wife:

“How are YOU?” It’s been 11 years and I honestly don’t know if in these last 11 years I have answered the question completely honestly.

“How are YOU?”

  Being married for 19 years and having 3 kids, it’s easy to answer that question as an all-encompassing family question.  “Hub’s is fine, he tweaked his back again yesterday, but his attitude about it all, as always, is stellar.  He’s working on projects…. yep. He’s a genius.  The kids?  Oh, they’re great!  Working hard, staying busy, the usual.” “Oh me? I’m good, staying busy,” I reply without a pause. 

And I am.  Life is good.  God is good.  I actually love “adulting.” I love my life and love living it.  But as much as I’d like to fool myself, our life is not “normal.” 

Life is good.  God is good.

11 years ago, our lives changed.  My active duty Army husband had a jump out of a plane that ended his promising military career and then ended his short-lived civilian 2nd career.  The soldier that jumped behind him got his feet tangled in my Jeremy’s risers.  While he was able to get untangled, it sent my husband’s parachute into a pendulum swing and he not only hit with the normal downward force of a mass jump dump, but also hit the ground on the downward swing of the pendulum.  He managed to land in a PLF (“parachute landing fall” designed to land the parachutist safely), but he hit hard.  It knocked him out and the parachute drug him across the landing zone for a ways.  Amazingly, he broke no bones.  He does however have a massive amount of scar tissue from his body tensing to protect everything, a bent spine, degenerative arthritis in his hips and back and a TBI which spins him into vertigo at the most inopportune of times.  His medical records read like a dissertation listing all of his injuries.  It’s a lot.

When you live as a military spouse or family, you know how precious time with your loved one is.  In the civilian world, spouses generally go on errands alone and enjoy “alone time.”  In the military, it’s not uncommon for soldiers to go on errands with their spouses like grocery shopping and dr. appointments together.  That time together is precious, because you know how quickly that can change and your soldier is deployed, or doing training, or at a school and you are single mom-ing or dad-ing it for the forseeable future. 

We went from doing all sorts of things together, day trips exploring or hiking, grocery shopping, movies etc…to me having to go alone. It went from him getting the oil changed, airing up the tires, doing the “guy chores” to me doing it alone.  He went from being able to roll around and play with the kids to having to watch everything he did.  It’s hard to teach very young children that dad can’t hold them or play with them like he used to. 

Looking back, I realized I never really mourned what would have been.  A life where we don’t have to pick and choose our activities and outings together and space them out because of chronic pain.  A life without central vertigo sneaking up on you when you have made plans.  The different life our kids have lived because of pain and injury.  Just looking at my husband, you wouldn’t know he is in pain unless you catch him on a really bad day.  If he’s limping and not “faking” walking normal, he is hurting.  His accident thankfully didn’t injure his cognitive abilities, he is the same Jeremy as he has always been.  All his injuries are internal.  Which is both a blessing and a curse.  People that don’t really know him might accuse him of being anti-social or rude because he can’t jump in and help with things or may be quieter because he is in pain. 

If he does come to the store with me (for a few items) I will unload and load everything on the belt and cart because just him bending down and coming up can throw his back out.  We have to ignore awkward stares because you know they are thinking “why is he just standing there?”

On his “good” days. I.e. the days when his back is behaving and not out, he will exercise and try to get in better shape. It is challenging for him not to over-do because he knows just how quickly things can go bad. That bad may be tweaking his back just walking down the hallway, or brushing his teeth. Luckily, he has found just walking is his best mode of exercise. As long as he is going at a steady forward momentum on a smooth surface, he’s golden.

Throughout all of it, he keeps an amazing attitude.  He is upbeat and positive and it encourages those that know him.  He is an amazing husband and dad.  He loves Jesus.  He is supportive and doesn’t take for granted the things we do when he can’t.

As “normal” as I’d like to think we are, we are not.  Accepting that has been something I’m not sure I have ever done or will do.

“How are YOU?” My friend Kristen asked over the phone this evening as I gave my normal spiel and dodged talking about me.  She voiced what most people will not.  “I know it must be difficult with him in pain all the time, I understand that must be a hard thing as a spouse to deal with.”
I manage to sputter out that yeah, it is a different life and yes it can be hard.  I don’t know if I formed a coherent thought in reply.  I’m not used to people thinking I might not be okay.  Even when I’m not, somehow I must give off the vibe that I am completely fine.  I don’t know what it is, I don’t try to hide it.  And in my “now” life, I am fine.  Like I mentioned above, I love adulting.  I love my family, my life.  But no, my life isn’t “normal” and that isn’t okay.  I am not “fine” with it.  It just is.  You adjust fire and keep on keeping on. 

If you are the spouse of a disabled Vet, I want you to know you are seen, and you are heard.  This injury is NOT your identity.  It can be a lonely life.  Not necessarily lonely as in lack of family and friends around although that may be the case.  Lonely in a sense of you are the primary doer of things.  You do them faithfully and without complaint and you may be tired.  No one quite understands this life and the sacrifice your spouse made.  Heck, no one quite understands the sacrifice you’ve made. 

and the truth is that

all veterans pay with

their lives.

some pay all at once,

while others pay

over a lifetime.

-JM Storm

It’s a funny life, this life.  It never turns out quite like we planned.  There are twists and turns that take you to places you’ve never imagined but if you didn’t go, you wouldn’t be who you are today without them. 

So mourn what once was and what it was supposed to have been.  Because it is a loss and like with any loss, there needs to be time to grieve that old life.  We can be doing all the things but that doesn’t make our veterans injuries okay or normal, and THAT’S okay.

As you might have guessed…

Posted on

We are no longer traveling. Our time on the road seems like a whirlwind. It was a good almost year and a half out of our planned 2-5 years on the road. But God seemed to have other plans.

The spring of 2019 we started the trek back north as the weather got warmer. We went through Arkansas to visit Jeremy’s sister and family and from there made our way through Kentucky to visit where it all started for the Richard’s and then started making our way northeast.

I’ve always wanted to visit the northeast. When I was younger, I wanted to live in New England in a cute little cottage with a white picket or stone fence. Lined with tulips of course in the spring. When I was in Junior High and High School I even sent off for LL Bean, Land’s End and Newport News catalogs and would circle what clothes I’d wear as an adult and ooh and ahhh at the scenery the pictures were taken.

What I won’t tell you is that up until 9th grade, I thought New England was a state. I had always heard of it, and I guess assumed it was one of those little states up there in the northeast around Vermont and New Hampshire. I was so confident in this, that I argued with my high school geography teacher that New England was INDEED a state. After an animated discussion (and my lack of finding it on a map), my bubble was burst and my hopes and dreams of one day living in a cute little cottage in New England proper were dashed. Who knew?

(Everyone but me, that’s who.) Don’t laugh. My genius husband didn’t know pickles were cucumbers until recently. Yes, I’ll throw him under the bus.

Mad props to Mr. Rutledge my geography teacher though. He handled it stellarly.

Anyhoo, we had a good (albeit cold) time on our way up. Final destination: Maine. I had planned out major stays and booked them because it is rather difficult getting a spot as large as we’d need them and for a 50amp. The plan was to spend 3 months in Maine and get a monthly spot in different places. Well I was able to book 2 places for a month each, but could never find anything for the month of August.

So as we are getting closer to Maine, I think both Jeremy and I are feeling that our time RVing is coming to a close. And we’re not sure what to think about that. It wasn’t in the plan, it’s not that we wanted to stop and settle down, it was just a feeling of ending. We would pray about it and as we got closer to Maine, we started talking about staying. What if God was telling us to stay? Really? Maine? It’s so….far….from everything and everyone we love. We were really thinking we’d end up in Wyoming or Idaho or Montana…still far but not far enough to feel like you’re in a different part of the world. I mean, people might come visit us on one of those other places, but Maine? Did I mention it is FAR? Mainers have a saying about everyone NOT from Maine. They (we) are all considered “from away.” And from away is right. Because everywhere else is from far away.

As we crossed over into Bethel, Maine in our 41ft RV, it was like we were home. Not Bethel, just Maine. We further crossed the Sunday River and other places and landmarks marked our trip with the Holy Spirit saying “You’re Home! It’s here!” Again, when we prayed. And we brought back up the idea of planting a church. It’s one of those things that have always been on our hearts but it was never the right time and then there is the drama of running or starting up a church. In case you’re not aware, that comes with the headache of running a business (when you just want to teach and preach) and the drama of church drama. After being burned in a church in the past, did we really want to take that on?

Back in 2014, Jeremy and I went to a presbyetry service at Gateway Church in Dallas during the Jewish New Year. That is a story in itself, but long story short, that night during the words in season given, Jeremy was one of the ones called out of a service of a few thousand and given a word. Part of that word Ed Ivy gave Jeremy was, “Keep the Main thing, the main thing.”

That part seemed obvious. Of course we will keep God at the forefront as the Main Thing. That’s how we got there!

We’ve carried that word with us. Well the next morning as I am sitting drinking my coffee, Jeremy walks by me, stops, turns around and kind of looks at me. “Mandi, what if “Keep the Main thing the main thing is Keep the Main thing the MAINE thing? Is it that obvious? The revelation hit us like a ton of bricks and right there Jeremy prayed: God, we will start a church, just lead us to where.”

“Keep the Main thing the MAINE thing”

We realized why we could never book an August spot here, it was because that was the month we would move in to a house here in Southern Maine.

With Covid looming it’s ugly head around the corner, God was looking out for us settling down when we did. It has put a wrench in our church plans, but God knows the timing.

Currently, Jeremy has been busy writing a book and working on a podcast. I have been finishing up counseling courses for Christian pastoral counseling, writing a book, and will be starting counseling soon with my brother who will be moving up here to kick off this ministry with me. The kids have adjusted to a sticks and bricks home nicely and have settled in to the slower paced life here.

Life in coastal Southern Maine is slow, beautiful and we are excited for what God is going to do in Maine. The harvest is ripe.

Acadia Nat’l Park

Where It All Began

Posted on

After snaking our way out of the Arkansas mountains (hills? I dunno), we headed to Kentucky.

When J and I were first married, we were both in the Army and our first duty station together was Ft. Knox, KY. We have fond memories of there. We didn’t actually, then. But after we moved to the Ft. Bragg, NC in the pit of hell, we had a new appreciation for our time spent in Kentucky.

Our first home. Funny story: Under this window was this giant hideous bush that I tried to kill the entire time we were there. They had to have pulled it out, because I don’t think anything could have killed it. They also repainted. It was red brick with white siding.

Ft. Knox is the first place we made a real home, had our 2 oldest kids and I had to see my husband off for his first deployment as a married couple. We frequented Louisville often and went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. Often.

So we decided since we were headed to Kentucky anyway to the Ark Encounter, we’d make a detour for a few days and show the kids where they were born and see how much had changed. Elizabethtown has added a lot and Radcliff as well. We went to a movie at the little theater there in Radcliff for the memories. (I think before kids, J and I would go see every movie that came out worth watching)

We arrived at the military campground right north of Ft. Knox and it had changed a bit from the day my parents came to stay there while I had my middle. I remember being in labor when we went and met them at the park to get them checked in, then later my mom and I went shopping. In the cold, almost icy rain. Don’t worry, I didn’t have B until later that night.

We took the kids around Ft. Knox and saw our old house on post, the buildings J and I used to work in and ate lunch at the PX. Such good memories and nostalgia. I didn’t quite realize how emotional it would be. Its been what? 13 years since we’ve been there but it feels like a lifetime ago!

To finish off our time, we took the kids to downtown Louisville and the Old Spaghetti Factory to eat dinner. Jeremy’s mom loved that place and when we’d leave, she would always get a bag of Mizithra cheese to go. So of course, so did we. My favorite is the browned butter pasta with mizithra. Yummm.

I think the kids enjoyed seeing where they were born and K remembered bits and pieces of it. So excited we were able to show the kids a piece of their history.

New Familia and Sightseeing in Mountain View, AR

Posted on

Arriving in Mountain View, Arkansas was an adventure. The road from Hot Springs was increasingly windy and steep. I guess it makes sense being that we were going down into a valley, but seriously. We have decided that in the little towns headed down into the valley were designed by the town drunk.

Mountain View however, is a little paradise in the valley. Such a sweet little mountain town where folk music is everything. We stayed in a nice little campground right outside of town, Blue Sky RV Park, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Nice and quiet and the owner was super nice. When we arrived, it was still cold and everything was brown. Apparently we arrived before their tourist season started. By the time we left, everything was green and the weather was beautiful.

People will bring their instruments to the Pickin Park and play and sing. Since we are not instrumentally inclined, we listened. 🙂

We had a reason for venturing into Mountain View, and perhaps that is the reason it has taken me so long to write about it. This is the first time my husband would be meeting his sister. It would also be the first time our kids met their cousins. Its truly an amazing story. One that’s hard to fit into a blog post.

But the background is: my husband was adopted when he was about 2 1/2. He had known all his life he was and that he had other siblings out there. His mom passed away in 2014 and we had much of her stuff at our house. When our house came under contract we had 30 days to clear it and get stuff packed. It was about 5 days before closing I was going through a tupperware of his moms papers, pictures and notes that I came across his original adoption notes from the paralegal. In this, we discovered his birth fathers name, the birth dad’s family and detailed notes on where they were from and what they did. It was truly amazing. It put us on a path to finding his birth moms sister whom he spoke to on the phone, a potential half sister and her siblings and the employer of his birth father. We learned from his aunt (birth mom’s sister) that she was contacted by a female saying she was the birth moms daughter.

We had a picnic out here with us 5, Jeremy’s sister, mom and husband! Such a beautiful area!

Making a long story short, we found the name of my husbands sister and we did what we knew how to do: find people with that name on Facebook and start messaging. It wasn’t until a few months later that the correct Kimberly messaged him back saying she was the right one! What is amazing, is that she knew about her brother her whole life and her adoptive parents actually wanted my husband as well. Instead, the adoption fell through at the last minute. She had been looking for my husband under his original name, but his name had been changed when he was adopted. So this is why she was never able to find him. It wasn’t until a few years ago, my husband actually knew his given name at birth.

So, a surreal several months later, we made our way to Arkansas to meet his sister and her family. I’m not sure what I imagined, siblings meeting for the first time, but it didn’t go like that. We met at her husbands restaurant with all the kids on a cold, misty day. They hugged, we hugged, we introduced nieces and nephews ( I have nieces and nephews y’all!) and just talked. After getting the stories told, from each perspective, it seemed like they had known each other all their lives.

We were able to meet Kimberly’s mom (who had almost adopted Jeremy) and her husband. Later that week, Kim’s sister and niece came up to meet everyone. It was all so surreal and have been able to spend an entire month with them all, getting to know everyone and the kids getting to know their cousins.

Our daughter also had her Sweet 16 here! We were so blessed we got to spend it with new family!

Its truly amazing how much the kids all favor each other, looks wise and personality wise. They enjoy many of the same hobbies, they are artsy and get along so well.

God has worked all of this out in His perfect timing and plan. I shudder to think that those notes could have been packed away without a glance into a storage unit to not be found for who knows how long. Because we are full timing, we were able to spend time to get to know each other.

My husband is over the moon that he has found his sister and he is so proud of her. Being an only child and now he has 2 sisters, brothers in law, nieces, nephews, and a whole other family who already treats us like family. God is so good and it goes to show, you don’t always have to be blood related to be family. I can’t wait until we go for another visit.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Posted on

After a dreary, wet winter, we are finally starting to see some semblance of spring. We fell back an hour, (why are they still torturing us with this?!?) our daytime is a little longer, and people look to be coming out of their holes for spring break.

We spent about a week at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and while we didn’t find a diamond, we really didn’t get a good chance to make a noble go of it. It was either raining or freezing. But I highly recommend Crater of Diamonds State Park. We had a lovely campsite, spacious, paved and the park was quite nice. There are easily accessible walking trails as well. During warmer months, they have a small water park and snack bar open.

Crater of Diamonds

We started making our way toward Hot Springs and it wasn’t a long drive, a little less than 2 hours maybe with our RV. In Hot Springs, we managed to snag a spot at Gulpha Gorge Campground in the national park there. There are no reservations, just first come first serve. Arriving on a pretty chilly Sunday, we got a good spot that fit our RV. FYI: the spots closer to the front of the campground are more apt to fit a larger RV. The ones in the back may if you can back in. They are tighter to turn, and there are several spaces with trees that may make it more challenging. It was nice, our RV backed up to a pretty creek and it was quite pleasant.

Hot Springs was an enjoyable city. We learned our way around pretty quickly. We spent many of the days perusing the old downtown and Bathhouse Row. My birthday passed while we were there so we all went to a movie as a family and then my oldest and I had a girls afternoon and hit the private baths at Quapaw Bathhouse, shopped downtown, then hit the local tea shoppe. We brought home yummy cupcakes and cookies to celebrate.

The kids and I spent a day at Garvan Woodland Gardens. I think this was my favorite of our stops these 2 weeks here. The kids had such a fun time exploring the gardens. It was so well planned and laid out. There was a trail to follow, but from the trail there were so many rock paths and other tiny trails that led to somewhere else with something new to see. Or something that you could really only see well from the trail. It was beautifully done. For reals. If we lived near there, we would so invest in a season pass. I could imagine spending a day there sitting and reading or drawing in some little nook you found.

The Tree House area is a kids dream. While the treehouse was cool, there were tons of places to explore, climb rocks, explore a cave behind a waterfall where you could climb up and come out above…I had fun as an adult, but can just imagine the things a kid could dream up and pretend spending time there.

It was still too early for the tulips. (sad face) But the daffodils and some other bulb flowers were blooming. I think the lady said there were something like 100,000 tulip bulbs. Tulips are my favorite flower, how could they not be?! They are such a happy flower. So huge bummer we missed them blooming, but the other flowers were beautiful and bright.

Another highly recommended place to go with kids was the Mid America Science Museum. We took a field trip day and the kids got to try out all of the hands on displays there. They had 2 shows to choose from: The Tesla Demonstration and a Solar System Tour in the planetarium. The Tesla was by far our favorite, getting to see a 1.5 million volt Tesla Coil in action was pretty stinking cool. Unnerving, but cool. The Planetarium show was neat, but it looked a little too computery, and my brilliant observant hubby was quick to point out that they weren’t using the updated image models of Pluto. So what can ya do? Poor Pluto, it just can’t win for anything.

There were so many sights to see in Hot Springs, what would you add to the list of “must sees?”

~Enjoy the journey!

RV Kitchen Must-haves

Posted on

Living in an RV, you learn pretty quickly what items you need and don’t. In our sticks & bricks, our kitchen was fairly large. Plenty of room for kitchen gadgets and utensils for specific things. In an RV, you don’t have that luxury.

I started by donating, selling or throwing anything I didn’t use. Then I went back through and took out things I wanted to keep, but not use in our RV. (We do have a storage unit with some things we wanted to keep: Piano, furniture that’s been in the family and keepsakes for the kids from their grandma, my vintage Pyrex…because I loves it.) I absolutely loved our kitchen, and I love my kitchen gadgets, so I knew this would be an adjustment having the bare necessities.

It actually hasn’t been so bad. We have simplified our lives significantly, so who needs a specific press JUST to juice a lemon? Not I…for now….

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. I share links to products I love or that interest me, and if you do make a purchase it helps me pay for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

So to start the list, I am on the bandwagon with about 90% of other full time Rvers and say and Instant Pot is a “must have.” I’m not gonna lie, I bought it 2 Amazon Prime days ago and it sat in the box for a good 3 weeks before I mustered up enough courage to even take it out of the box. I dunno why it intimidated me so much. The first dish I made in it was the obligatory Instant Pot Butter Chicken and I was in love.

We use our Instant Pot pretty much every day. Sometimes twice a day. It makes life easier living in close quarters and it doesn’t heat up your RV in the summertime. Winner winner chicken dinner. Literally. I’ve done everything from breakfast egg scrambles, to oatmeal, to soups, pastas, beans, roasts…I have yet to bake a cheesecake in it, but I’ll get to it someday.

#2 on my list would have to be our Electric Skillet. When we started out, I bought a nonstick electric skillet and it really only lasted about 6 mos. Not a fan of the chemicals used for the nonstick already, and then despite taking care when cooking and washing, the area above the heat ring started wearing off and stuff started sticking and burning. It went in the trash.

My awesome parents got me a pretty stainless steel electric skillet for Christmas and I love it! Cleans up nicely. Cooks more evenly and I don’t have to worry about nicking the coating exposing us to toxic yuckiness. This is also something we use pretty much daily.

#3 But should be first is our electric Percolator. I got this pretty early into RV life and it’s a great investment. Ours goes up to 8 cups and takes up little space. I have a Nespresso machine which we had in our RV for a little while but have since put back in storage because for some reason, caffeine has had some adverse affects on me. Its pretty sad for this coffee snob, so I’ve had to lower my standards and drink decaf when I just want a latte. You may mourn for me. Its sad. Really.

#4 Our magnetic knife strip from Ikea. Keeps the counter clear of too much clutter and them also out of the drawers. When we travel, we just put the knives in a lower drawer inside of a plastic pitcher. Easy peasy.

#5 Under the counter paper towel holder. A must. Keeps the paper towels off your counter and easily accessible. (I’m sorry this picture clearly has the paper towels facing the wrong way)

#6 This fruit/veggie hammock. It also…keeps stuff off the counter and in a place the wouldn’t be used otherwise. It also keeps produce easy to see so that we are more apt to grab an apple or orange to eat because we can see it.

#7 This fun drink ware from The Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile. I splurged a little, not gonna lie, but they are stainless steel inside with an enamel coating. We drink out of water bottles a lot, so these are the perfect size for the kids to grab some juice or milk.

Enameled Floral Tumbler

#8 When asking about dishes, and what type of dishes is best in an RV, I will say a million and one times: Corelle. This is some serious dishware. Its tough, holds up amazingly well on travel days, and I’m not afraid for the kids (or us) to bring outside to use. This is what we used growing up and there have been a time or two throughout our marriage I’ve gotten some other kinds of plates or bowls and they have all gotten chipped or broken. Corelle dishes are the absolute best.

#9 Pyrex bakeware. A good 8×8 square or 9×13 glass baking dish will forever come in handy. From baking, heating up food, using it as your dish to take food off the grill and keep warm, this is something we use often.

#10 A few baking sheets. Again, these just come in handy, pulling off bigger pieces of meat from the grill, or using to season your meat, and for baking. We have a few sizes, I kept a medium pizza size, small baking sheet and a large. I use them pretty often. Just make sure what you keep or purchase will fit into your oven! We have a convection oven and it will actually fit our large one no prob. Who knew?

#11 Large glass measuring bowl and small glass measuring cup. We use it for boiling water, mixing batters, making pudding, all sorts of things. Ours has a lid, which makes it good for storage as well.

#12 Rice Pot. This may not be on everyone’s “need” list. Ours lives in an outside compartment unless we need it that evening. That may be once a week maybe. We’re from Louisiana and sometimes you just need a good Gravy or Gumbo. We don’t ruin it by using quinoa or a cauliflower rice imposter instead. While you can totally use your Instant Pot to make rice, if we need rice, it’s because of something I’m making in the Instant Pot.

#13 Ninja Pro Blender. We got this from Costco a few years back and I knew this would be a must for our RV. It fits neatly on a shelf in the cabinet with all its accessories. I’ve used this to make batter for muffins, salsa, sauces and of course plenty of smoothies and shakes.

#14 Cast Iron cookware. So, I put this as a need but I haven’t actually used mine in our RV yet. I took a Cast Iron skillet and pot with us that both currently sit in an outside compartment. I figured I would be using them all of the time and be our main thing we cook with. Being a southern chick, I love cooking with cast iron. But it hasn’t exactly happened since we’ve traded our house for an RV. Now, this is due to me being slightly ok a lot afraid of using our stovetop. Yes, I know it’s completely unreasonable. I cooked with gas in our house. I did however, turn it on a few weeks ago. Baby steps y’all. Baby steps. (I provided a link here, but honestly, you will find good well-seasoned cast iron cookware at your local flea market or antique store)

I fully intend on using our stovetop. At some point. But honestly, my electric skillet or Instant Pot or using the grill outside has done everything cooking on the stovetop would do and with less clean up imo.

#15 Silverware. We rarely use plastic. That and we keep any plasticware up in a cabinet that’s kind of a pain to get to. We will break out the plastic if we take a picnic, but other than that, we use good old fashioned silverware. There are 5 of us so I have a 5 of each plus a few extra. I also have a few cute sugar spoons we use for coffee in the morning, because who doesn’t love old pretty sugar spoons?

#16 Dern I remembered one more. 15 was a good number…Anyhoo, a collapsible colander! This thing squishes down and is a great size for draining pasta, meat or potatoes. It takes up very little space in the cabinet and sure beats the awkward space a normal round colander takes up!

As far as kitchen must have’s, these are what we use (save the cast iron) on a regular basis. Its what works for us and I hope this helps anyone downsizing or considering this lifestyle to see what may work for you!

Is there anything you would add to this?

Valentine’s

Posted on

I just wanted to do a quick post about our Valentine tradition. For a few years now, we have done a fun finger food platter and sweet goodies.

Yesterday we were in Waco all day and I didn’t get the chance until the day of to run to the little grocery store here and get the items for my newly acquired Charcuterie board. The little town we are in doesn’t have a grocery store so I had to go to the next town over. While they did have an HEB (and everyone from Texas says “AMEN!” We love our HEB’s) this one was pretty small. So our meat and cheeses were limited, but it worked.

To make a quick and easy and kid friendly charcuterie board, start with a few varieties of crackers, cheeses, and sliced meats. I threw in some dates and dried apricots and grapes that we dipped in marscapone cheese.

I melted some chocolate so we could dip apple slices, pineapple slices and pretzel sticks in. And HEB had some pretty chocolate dipped strawberries to add to the spread.

What are some of your favorite Valentine traditions?

~Enjoy the journey!

NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. I share links to products I love or that interest me, and if you do make a purchase it helps me pay for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Magnolia Market in Waco

Posted on

Day Trip!

Visiting Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Market has been on my must go list for a while. We finally made it yesterday! The kid’s were like, “what exactly are we doing there?” And you kind of have to fudge it a little rather than say you’re going to a large home goods store. They had already been to The Pioneer Woman’s Merc and lodge. So they figured they were good on the home goods field trip front. Oh Contraire! teehee

We are staying at a campground about 40 minutes away so we had to get going a little earlier than our usual to go to Magnolia Table for breakfast. We were all so excited to have my brother Logan join us for the day. He drove up from North Austin and met us there.

  • My brother thought I wouldn’t post this

We went on a Wednesday and at about 9am, we didn’t have to wait at all. The benefits of being able to go on a weekday..

  • Yes, he ordered an adult meal.
    No, he couldn’t finish it.

The inside was true Joanna Gaines style, light, airy and farmhouse chic. Everyone that is employed there are super kind, polite and helpful. We had a breakfast appetizer of Lemon Lavender donut holes that were delightful. I love a lemon lavender combo, as well as a good lemon blueberry combo. I actually have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to blueberries. Growing up with both grandparents owning blueberry farms probably have something to do with that.

Breakfast was a hearty farmhouse breakfast of bacon, eggs, these yummy giant tater tot things, and french toast for me, pancakes for the others or biscuits. The strawberry butter is to die for!

After a nice leisurely breakfast, we loaded up and headed over to the Magnolia Market and silos. It’s a really quaint area consisting of a few acres I believe. It houses their bakery, the market and the back area has a large area of astroturf where kids can play, parents can lounge or you can sit at one of the many picnic tables as you eat a meal or snack from their food truck area.

After dragging everyone through the market and looking at EVERYTHING, I came out with a few goodies. Luckily, living in 350 sq ft keeps you with a good minimalist mindset. You can’t buy what you don’t have room for. Or you could…but who wants that kind of chaos in their life?

Then it was outside where we played giant Jenga and threw a kickball on the astro turf and let the kiddo’s run off some steam.

We made a quick stop at the old Magnolia warehouse shop where they had some discounted and sale items. I found a Christmas ornament for our RV tree, (we try to get an ornament from the places we visit on our travels) a Charcuterie board, (eeek I’ve been wanting one) and neat leather pouch I want to hang on the wall by the passenger seat for my phone and book while we are driving.

  • I can’t believe this was a thing

Downtown, we visited the Dr. Pepper museum. My brother is a huge fan of Dr. Pepper. Huge. It’s a pretty neat museum, at the end, we were able to watch a lab demonstration about the history of “Soda Pop” and watched the demo lady make a celery soda. Yep, that was apparently a popular thing back then. It actually didn’t taste bad.

  • They’re over picture taking at this point
  • Got our “free” Dr. Pepper at the end and tried a chocolate egg cream

Off to the river and the historic Waco walking bridge. This area was part of the original Chisolm Trail and was neat to see.

  • “Everybody turn around so I can take your picture.”

For our last stop, it was back to Magnolia Market to eat a late lunch from the food trucks and get a snack at the Bakery for the next day. Everyone had a burger and I opted for a gourmet grilled cheese. It was all yummy!

  • “I am one with the force..
  • the force is with me.”

All in all it was a pretty successful day in Waco. I wish we hadn’t waited so long to go!

  • My #1; “I have no idea what we’re doing.”
  • The Lemon Lavender were yummy

Have y’all been to Waco? Are there any must see stops for next time?

~Enjoy the journey!

NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. I share links to products I love or that interest me, and if you do make a purchase it helps me pay for this blog, at no extra cost to you.