Tucson So Far

It has been nearly eight months since my family has stayed in one town for more than four consecutive weeks! And we picked Tuscon, Arizona to do it. Despite my working five days a week with a thirty minute commute on either end, we have packed so much in. I would like to share what life has been like for us so far.

We are currently parked at the Tucson LazyDayz KOA RV resort. We were lucky enough to grab a reservation for three months at the last minute, and it will be tough to top this place as far as amenities. Although a little more than we would like to be paying, I think this has been a good first experience for Leah and the kids. Without a vehicle during the day, one has to be pretty creative with the kids. However, when you are staying in a region that gets so much warm sunshine, and at a place with heated pools, a nature pond, organized craft time for kids, it’s own farmers market on Fridays, live music and a full restaurant, most days can be filled without leaving.

Leah has done well getting the kids out into the city to the Tuscon library, a visit to the children’s museum, to see Frozen II and a production of Sesame Street Live (complements of Grandma and PopPops for Christmas). How does she get out? Well when going into the city, Uber has served her well. She even found compact booster seats that she can fold and stick in her back pack! (mifold on Amazon). For local parks, they bike using a nice paved greenway path to make it there safely. Fisher rides with her using the UrRider child bike seat (again Amazon- highly recommend for ages 2 and up) and Faith has managed to keep up well riding on her own.

Leah has done a fantastic job making sure the kids’ experience has been meaningful and rich. And I can see the changes in the kids. For example, to manage Faith’s busy and task oriented mind, Leah has been able to facilitate school learning, a learn to paint with watercolor program (thanks to Grandma Hose!), and her own start-up businesses of nail painting and selling decorated rocks for any passersby (soon to expand to lemonade and possibly jewelry).

Fisher struggled for the first month trying to figure out how to gain attention. Like most three year olds he defaulted to poor behavior often screaming and acting out. With the patience of a saint, Leah has poured into him, and believe it or not, even he has settled in, learning his letters, playing with creative toys and tormenting ants.

The question/concern many people bring up when they learn of our lifestyle is how will our kids be socialized? This was, of course, something we also considered given the fact that both ourselves and the kids had such close friends in Oregon. Without attending school or playdates with our long-time friends how will they ever have friends again? Well, after observing them during our cross-country trip and especially during the last 2 months at this RV park, we can all rest easy that they are indeed probably the most social kids you will meet. We have been blessed to meet several families here that also have young kids and it took about .5 seconds for the kids to latch onto each other like they’d known each other forever. This also means our days our now filled with the constant peering out windows to see if “the friends” are outside and asking us to text their mom and see what time they are going to the pool. I can imagine the flip side to this will be the fall-out when we leave, but like many experiences in life that can hurt- you could miss the pain but you’d have to miss the dance.

Their socialization is in no way limited to children either. One of our neighbors quickly took to our family and calls herself “Grandma Judy”. And a regular scene at the pool: Leah taking a break on a lawn chair, Faith telling our life story to some retirees in the hot tub, and Fisher floating around in the deep end with his puddle jumper flirting with all the ladies. So, yup, put a big check mark in the socialization box!

We have done well ourselves. Through social media, face time, and regular phone calls we are doing our best to maintain the relationships we so greatly value with our friends and family. And as far as exploration, with minimal space and the forever ramped up minds of a six and three year old, we have been forced (and desired to) explore a new area. Tuscon has really come through for us on this end. Every weekend we have found a new activity to explore.

Our explorations have led us to the city to ice skate or find Santa the weekend before Christmas. We have rambled through the Saguaro National park to see the giant Saguaro cati dotting the beautiful desert hills, play in fresh snow on top of Mt. Lemmon, paddle in a desert reservoir lake. The most majestic moment was when we came across a small heard of wild horses while floating the Salt River outside Mesa in the Tonto national forest area.

In and amongst the experience of a new region, Leah and I made it a point to make the three holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years warm and special as a family. Celebrating without extended family is always tough, however, not new to us either. We were able to enjoy the festivities put on by the campground as well as bake cookies (takes some skill in an RV oven!), have a special meal, and even decorate a 5 foot tree! Our kids know that the birth of our Lord, Jesus, is the reason for Christmas, however they are kids, and were reassured to have a Christmas tree inside the RV and find that Santa’s magic will allow him to make it into all types of homes!

Early on in our stay here, we wanted to find a local church we could worship and hear God’s word. It was during this venture we realized we “weren’t in Kansas any more”. Leah had done her research (as always) and found two promising church communities within a block of the campground. I am so glad we decided to try the closer one first. Our eyes were opened! Just to preface the following explanation: everyone is free to worship who and how they want to. That is how awesome our country is. Leah and I have chosen a path we firmly believe to be of truth. That being said, what we experienced was definitely outside the usual for us.

We were warmly welcomed into a well dressed congregation, and the kids seemed to have no difficulty feeling at ease in the Sunday school rooms. Leah and I recognized the opening worship songs, although sung slightly differently, and were interested in hearing the sermon on Psalm 55:22 delivered by a guest pastor. This was actually the verse I chose when I was confirmed in the Lutheran church in the eighth grade! Well… that is about where the familiarity stopped. During the opening prayer, we began to hear mumblings from those around us, and this continued to grow until around three quarters of the congregation joined in speaking gibberish- speaking in tongues. I know the Holy Spirit speaking through an individual in this manner is Biblical, and can happen, however, as I understand it, is not a casual event to join in because it is what others are doing. I looked at Leah and said, “Oh yeah, this is happening.” which promptly turned her quiet giggles into an uncontrollable laugh-sob (once she starts there’s no turning back). I put my arm around her and told her to pretend she was being moved to tears. She had no choice as the prayer ended abruptly and we were asked to greet those around us! As the sermon was drawing to a close, we were not surprised to find ourselves as one of the few people in the congregation that did not join the pastor at the front to have him grab our heads and claim instant physical healing. Like I said, this was a unique experience for us. And again, to each his own in the end.

We did find the other church close by to be much more our speed, and have made a temporary church home with them. And get this, they will even be having a Daddy/Daughter dance our last Friday in town! Faith was longing to keep up our yearly tradition, and I was honestly afraid we might not be able to. God is good.

Leah and I love to experience the new and share our journey with others. It is part of how we feel we can be most alive during our life together. However, we also recognize the importance of consistency within the thread and heartbeat of our family. So far, we have stayed sane and enjoyed our first rotation of this journey!