Southern Hospitality and Toilet Tuesdays

The hours are long, but the days are short! And boy do the days fly by…Once again, it has been too long since my last post. We have already spent an eight week assignment living in Dothan, AL , and another living in Phil Campbell, AL, and have embarked on our month long tour of Florida. In this post, and possibly another, I’d like to recap how we’ve lived and what we experienced in the land of cotton and peanuts.

Our time in Dothan was very fruitful, and we met it with gusto. I would have the kids to myself during the day, as Leah worked, and I planned to make every moment count. The park we stayed in had some nice walking trails with wildflowers to pick as well as a pool (although unheated). We found a public transit system that would pick us up and bring us to the library once a week and safely return us to the RV campground. The kids were enrolled in a Tuesday evening gymnastics class. We found a great, welcoming church that offered a Wednesday Awana program for the kids and a married couples bible study at the same time. And get this: the title of the very first sermon we attended was “Coming down off the Mountain”, all about handling re-entry into culture after a spiritual high, and what to do with what was learned. Seriously? I was on fire to trial-run what I had learned from the RevWild experience and put into practice the vision I was granted in the Mountains of Colorado! Oh, and you already know about the pecans. We had it set!

While in Dothan, we celebrated my birthday, celebrated fall with pumpkin picking, trick-or-treating, and enjoyed a great Thanksgiving meal. Three of our four bigger excursions were all to the panhandle of Florida, just south of us. We were fortunate enough to be able to meet my brother’s family in St. George Island, we made our own little family getaway to Panama City Beach later, and took a day to paddle the crystal blue waters of Cypress Spring. Our other trip was to Blue Springs State Park in Clio, AL. All beautiful, natural, and real experiences spent with my family. Unforgettable.

However, I felt the longing to do something bigger that has always been there – it was just screaming now. I felt like I had a good system around me to try what I felt like God was calling me to in Outdoor Christian Leadership. I took the steps I could at the time and completed a wilderness first aid course, and made some very viable connections through the church to gain a possible audience. I did need a little more time to make a presence in the church community to gain the trust of a group of people to take into the wilderness…but it could still be done in time to take my first group out after Leah’s contract was over the first weekend of January 2021. Let’s do it!

As the days continued on, I poured my creative energies into season-appropriate crafts, a very organized (for me) daily schedule on a dry-erase board, and filling the gaps of time in my day staying active with the kids. I kept reminding myself of the words God gave me in the Rockies “start small, make ripples”. My kids are my ripples. However, the days quickly became shorter, and the cold pool lost it’s luster, and it felt like every day was our favorite (purposeful sarcasm) chore day: Toilet and Tub Tuesday!

….And then we all came down with Rona. I am so thankful none of us reacted horribly to it. We all suffered from cold symptoms and some aches, but overcame those well. However, we did have to quarantine ourselves. Which for me meant a hold on building any kind of relationships in the church to get my ministry going, and the need for a whole bunch more crafts!

….And then Leah’s contract was cancelled, sweeping this location off our map and requiring us to move again. Luckily she was able to negotiate for a short rotation in Alabama, but all the roots we quickly planted were pulled. Well… a fresh start, a new location, this will be good, lets hit the road.

So, we traveled from southeast Alabama to Phil Campbell, population: 1,245, in the Northwest corner of Alabama. Here we were fortunate to find a brand new RV park located on the banks of a beautiful reservoir, at an extremely good rate. It was upon our arrival we got our first real taste of “southern hospitality.” Literally, upon our arrival. After a full day of travel, we arrived on a Saturday evening, right about halftime of an Alabama game. Having not even come to a complete stop to check in, a good half dozen Alabama jerseys came to meet us. With hardly enough time to say our names, we were pretty much told to just leave our rig parked in the middle of the street, because we had to come eat. Verbatim. I did insist on, and was met with counter-insistence to come eat, that we would like to get set up before dark.

After finishing set-up, I headed up to the clubhouse to join my family, who had already joined the festivities. We were greeted with such open arms, and so much food, I was kind of left speechless. Well, I was hungry, so I was feeding my face. But this was their normal – “It’s what we do” was the response I got more than a handful of times when I gave my thanks for feeding us while Faith and Fisher were making best friends running around with same-aged kids. The next weekend… was a shrimp boil! These people did this just about every weekend!

However, they were only there on the weekends. During the week, the campground looked occupied, but we were the only ones there from Monday-Thursday. And with a town that small, there was no need for public transportation…Thank goodness for the availability of nature, including snow and rain puddles, and more crafts to be creative with!

We were able to take advantage of some beautiful hiking nearby in the Dismals and Bankhead National Forest, and we found another very welcoming church family. Unlike the large, happening church we attended in Dothan, this was a proud small, southern First Baptist church. This did not deter Faith from spreading her joy and excitement every Sunday. The second time we attended, she asked the pastor if she might sing some Christmas songs, and she did, with her brother after practicing all the week prior. She also hand made bookmarks, cards, paper flowers, and hearts she would pass out to those in the congregation before the sermon. God blessed me with the best kids ever. Period.

Yet again, this desire to do more, be more, was welling up in me, and I was – hate to say it with all the good and beauty around me – stuck! Stuck without an outlet, stuck without time to create, and what created the most anxiety in me, stuck to a profession I really didn’t want to go back to. You see, I have desired for quite a while to do something more creative, that I could be more passionate about as a means to support my family. I have been hopeful, and trying all along to find that. And continue to do so, however when doors shut and every chore becomes toilet Tuesday, frustration will set in.

I know there has always been, and always will be, the issue of those who are unfulfilled in what they are doing in life to make a living. That is nothing new, and will always be the majority in the working life. God even promises us in the Bible that work will be burdensome as a result of the original sin. However, I also know that the current status in our nation and world has left a lot of people floundering with the notion – “Just what the heck am I doing? What does all this mean?” We have never been promised happiness in this life. We have however been promised joy and hope in the Savior. And yes, life is hard, but we have a choice – choose your hard.

I live an awesome, privileged life, I do. I am blessed beyond measure. And because my Heavenly Father has gifted me with the best (and I unabashedly claim this) grandparents, parents, brother & family, wife and kids, I am motivated. They believe in me. And Leah’s sweet encouragement, joy, and creativity lift me up daily. Through this, we have spawned some fantastic ideas we plan on making a reality. This has helped me to regain my focus and efforts into creating something that could just be what was I looking for.

So right now, I am thankful to sit in a hallway of doors not shut, just cracked slightly – we’ll see what’s behind the next one and take the “right next step from there”. (And enjoy the warmth and beaches of Florida instead of the single digit Midwest)!

PS – I would love to hear from you, I really would. Being asked questions, suggesting topics, or just a hello gives me additional motivation knowing what I write is impacting you somehow. Please reach out – use the comments section down below. Or, check out the “Contact Us” page to find our email address. God’s Blessings!

One venture I am continuing to pursue is learning digital art. It would be awesome if you checked out The Essence Page for personally created and useable art work and schwag.  We also have an Etsy shop for customizable digital art inspired by outdoor recreation (etsy.com) for you to check out customized for you digital art work for purchase.  You’re sure to find a fun gift for the nature enthusiast in your family (which might just be you)!