Road trip day #1

Today after church we began our annual road trip to "Oregon"... We always say that but really it's initially a road trip to Redding, CA where my sister lives. Eventually we get to Oregon.

In the past, I'd wake the kids early in the morning, load them in the car, and we make it closer to Sacramento before stopping for the night. But since we didn't get on the road till about noon, after church, I decided to stop for the night in Thousand Oaks, CA.

I like Thousand Oaks. Everything grows here! Only the Santa Monica Mountains separate us from the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to go to the beach tonight but I'm just toast. Working night shift Friday night and then getting up early this morning has my body pretty fatigued. I plan to go to the beach either in the morning with the boys or on the way back home to AZ on Thursday.

I love road trips! There's just something about the open road. I guess I like the feeling that I'm going somewhere. Sometimes life feels like you're going nowhere. When you're on the road, you're going somewhere.

I'm glad I stayed for church this morning. I needed to get my compass pointed the right direction before I hit the road. It's hard to hear the preacher preach on a subject that is a specific point of sin in your own life. As I listened today, I wondered if this is how folks feel when they hear a sermon on divorce after they've gone through one- or more- themselves. It's hard, but it's good.

I'm confident not a single person who's gone through a divorce would hear a sermon on what God has joined together let no one separate and be opposed to what they heard. They, in fact, would probably be the first to stand up and say, "Amen!" They know the pain themselves. They know the damage. They know God hates divorce. They know... they hate it too. The same goes for the woman, who married an unbelieving man, who listens to the pastor preach from Ezra 9 and 2 Corinthians 6. Amen! The damage is extensive. There is no fellowship. The heart is drawn away from God, and then, when won back (if won back), is faced with the heartache of being separate in what God designed to be joined together.

During the sermon my oldest son looked over at me with a, "You're busted," look on his face. He knows. He grieves. He feels the ripping apart that comes with living with unequally yoked parents. Even though I hate it for my kids, I pray that the mercy and grace of my good God will use the pain they experience now to prevent them from going down the same path and cause them to love God's ways, which are good. All the time.

We'll talk about it tonight before we go to sleep.  Which is in about 30 minutes.  Time to sign off.

 Quieted,

Sheila

More Roadtrip Thoughts

Not much time for blog posts on a road trip vacation like this. From the time we reach my sister's in Redding till we leave Roseburg to head back for our long drive home to AZ, the days are packed full of visiting family.

We're in Roseburg now, got here late Saturday night. The family worlds all come together here. My dad plays basketball on Saturday nights right down the street from where my house full of nephews live. This is our home base (the house full of nephews, aka the Simmie house) here in Roseburg. On Saturday when we got in, we visited my grandmother in Oakland for a little bit (this is my boys' great-grandmother) and took the tour of the house she's living in, which my dad has been working on remodeling for quite some time. My dad does carpentry work well, even though he is a log truck driver, he's gifted in home construction, furniture carpentry and masonry. He's made much progress on the house. I'm always amazed at the ability to build things from raw materials.

My grandfather is living with my dad.  Ryland is thrilled to find Rockhounding runs in the family.  My grandfather (his great-grandfather) has a collection of rocks he inherited from his dad (my great-grandfather) who was a rockhounder, did masonry work and made jewelry.  Ryland is thrilled!  He spent much time talking to a his mostly-deaf 80 year old great-grandfather about rocks.  Ryland doesn't know it, but my grandfather can probably die happy now.  Not another child or grandchild in his family  has shown as much care for the rocks he's kept as Ryland.

My Simmie nephews are all awake now (it's 11:30 and this is a night-owl house in the summer :)  and we're off to go for a hike in a bit.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, or back at the Waddell hacienda my husband is holding down a full-time work schedule in a new position at work, trying to install new showers and purchase used appliances, keep our rental house clean while prospective renters come to look at it... amidst all that he says he really misses food.  Real food.

We'll leave very early Friday morning and will be home late this Saturday night.  I start my orientation with Phoenix Baptist Hospital on Monday and we have to be moved out of our rental by July 1st.  It's gonna be busy until then.

 Quieted,

Sheila

He's chasing me

I'm married to a police office, even still, when I see an officer behind me, I get all nervous. Suddenly I'm trying to recall everything I learned in driving school. How many feet from an intersection do I need to turn on my blinker? Who has the right of way? Grab the wheel at 12 and 2, or is it 9 and 3? And even though I don't have a lead foot, I do occasional drift above the speed limit, so when I see that patrol car behind me, my eyes immediately check my speed.  I've had several of such moments on the road today as we made our way from Litchfield Park to King City, CA where we've stopped for the night.

As I was driving I remembered reading Ann's blog regarding this line from Psalm 23:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life... (vs. 6 ESV)

She talked about the word for follow: radaph.  It means to pursue or chase or run after.

I smiled as I drove.  God is chasing me with his goodness and mercy.  He is following me, not to punish me for my sins (Christ took all my punishment), but to show me his goodness and give me his mercy.  I'm being pursued by God's mercy and goodness!  Just think about that.

I thoroughly enjoy a road trip.  For me, it's not about getting there fast.  It's about the memories and the experiencing new places and changes of scenery.

This is our 4th year going west for the summer.  This year might be the last two week trip to Nor Cal and Oregon we get for a couple years.  Since I'll be starting a part time position at a hospital 2 days a week, I won't have two months of summer free.  So I'm especially treasuring this year's trip with the boys.

They did really well considering they were stuck in a small car for about 11 hours today.  Connor especially has very long legs and not much room to stretch back there.

While we were driving we listened to 15 chapters of the Last Battle by C. S. Lewis.  I had not read that book in the Narnia series.  So many great analogies in Narnia... the dwarfs hardened their hearts to the notion of there being an Aslan at all.  They'd been told lies by the ape and had been tricked into slavery by the Calormen.  When face to face with the truth about Aslan they chose to not choose.  They would be independent, they thought.

Tomorrow we head to the Monterey Aquarium.  I'm sure it will be a great time.  We went to cannery row last year, but didn't have time to go to the aquarium.  We'll spend the first half the day there and then head north.  At least that's the plan.  Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll be looking over my shoulder for His goodness and mercy and slow down long enough to give thanks for it!  And I'll be missing the sweetness of the gathering of believers at Pathway.

Quieted,

Sheila