BIG Changes for Our Family

Just so you know, this is really long…

We have been on a crazy journey the past several months as we followed arrows, waited (SO hard), trusted God, spent a lot of time with Him (together and separate), moved forward when we needed to, and watched God close doors that weren’t ours to walk through.

I wrote a post several weeks ago that we were thinking about leaving camp (I have deleted it since), and how we decided to stay. It’s a super long story, but it doesn’t matter at this point.

Well, we didn’t feel right about not following through with one of the site visits that we were invited to (we didn’t feel God’s peace about closing the door), so this past week we visited that camp (in Colorado)!

The second day we were there (first and only full day), Robert received a written job offer. Not only did the camp and people feel like home, it is also just a great opportunity for our family for so many reasons! So, Thursday we decided to move forward with it! He called the director and accepted the offer!

Robert is truly seen. They know what they are getting with him, and they know they “hit the jackpot.” Truly. Robert has so much experience and skill that is hard to find!

At the beginning of January, we will be moving to a camp in Colorado! It is about 20 minutes north of Colorado Springs.

Everyone who knows our family knows that we LOVE where we live. We just felt called to seek out other opportunities (there were several reasons that I’m not going to list here). We will greatly miss this place and the people that we have called family for 8 1/2 years. I have gone on so many amazing hikes. We have adventured with these people. We have made so many memories, and I have gone through so much healing from my mental health struggles. In fact, I’m planning to move forward and stop focusing so much on my past with mental health struggles. It doesn’t define me, and I’m starting fresh!

It is very bittersweet emotionally, but there will be so many amazing things about moving as well!

First, the camp itself is amazing. It’s a great size (max 400 guests at once), and the staff seems to really love being there and each other. They love Jesus and celebrate the life-change that happens there. The camp is very single-focused which helps so much. The director focuses a lot on the staff and making sure their needs are met. He makes sure people don’t get burned out, which is huge. He’s been at enough camps in the past in which he got burned out, so he has learned the right and wrong ways of running a camp. Family is number one for him! The camp is at 7500 feet of elevation, and it’s gorgeous. The house that we will be moving to is much bigger than the house that we have now (1250 sq ft) which is SO great for our family. The kids will each have their own bedroom, and we will have plenty of room for people to stay with us when they visit! The house has 4 bedrooms, 2 bath (possibly a half bath as well- we just need to finish it), 2 living rooms, a dining room, kitchen, sunroom, garage, and a fenced-in yard. The whole bottom floor is a finished basement (with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a large living room space).

Side note: I have decided to put my homesteading on hold. It is too hard to move chickens, the coop, etc. Our friends here are taking them! I’m totally okay with it partly because we will have so much more opportunity to adventure, and having chickens makes it a little harder to just get up and go! It’s also easier to just focus on moving and then homeschooling and getting used to our new adventure. I decided to switch back to my old blog name, and I think I will just stick with this moving forward. It’s so much less single-focused which is great because I’m not a very single-focused kind of person!

In addition, the benefits package is the best we have ever seen in camp ministry which is huge. Our family will be very well taken care of! We will be set for the long-term better than ever before. The retirement package is amazing! We are getting to the age in which that’s a real thing to consider.

The kids and I can all work hourly as the camp has a need as well. This is huge because here, the kids can only work during the summer. It’s so hard because we live too far from town for them to work in town. The director also told me that when I’m ready, they would have a place for me to work full time. The kids will be grown and out of the house before we know it!

We will be 20 minutes from Colorado Springs and 10 minutes from the nearest town with a Walmart (they also have a Natural Grocers, an amazing Goodwill, and so much more!). This also means that we will be close to church, homeschool groups, etc.

There are SO many homeschoolers in Colorado. There is a lot of accountability (under an “Umbrella School”) which a lot of people don’t like, but the awesome thing about it is that the kids will have an official transcript and diploma. They will also have a lot of kids their age to spend time with. I joined a group on Facebook of homeschooled teens in the area, and it is very active. Right now we are an hour and 20 minutes from the nearest town with stores, our church, etc, so it’s really hard to be involved in anything outside of camp.

Oh yeah, Karis decided to homeschool her last semester. She and I are actually both very excited. She has already been accepted into the only college she applied to and has already started receiving scholarships, so she is totally fine to homeschool her last semester. The goal is to just make sure she has her last few credits that she needs! She is excited to have some extra time with us while she’s still home. She’s excited about her dad being around more to take her on breakfast dates. Right now, he travels all the time. That won’t happen there. When I drove her to the bus yesterday morning, she was giddy with excitement. This has been the thing that I have been the most stressed about… Karis being a senior and all that comes with it. But yesterday she said “you seem to be WAY more stressed about it than I am.” And literally 5 minutes after Robert accepted the job (by faith), she learned that she received the Presidential Merit Scholarship at her university. It’s only $4,000 per year, but it’s a huge start and a reminder that God will provide!

Ethan has been excited from the beginning but is kind of back and forth right now. Levi hasn’t wanted to move, but he seems to be accepting it and seeing the positives. We are all definitely on an emotional rollercoaster. We have been here 8 1/2 years, and we honestly never thought we would leave.

We have a lot to do in the next few weeks on top of it being the Holidays. We have a lot of plans for Christmas! We want to make sure we spend time with our people before we move out of state! So, I started packing yesterday!

I want to share some pictures of the camp!

This is the inside of the dining hall. There is a constant supply of coffee (and cereal haha). They use a local coffee roaster!

These pics show one of the dorms, indoor chapel, outdoor worship space, trees (all the beautiful trees), our view from the camp (I believe it’s Pike’s Peak that we can see), the challenge course, putt putt golf, gaga ball, the snack shack, the office lobby with coffee bar, the snow tubing hill, game room, human Foosball, and more! I didn’t get pictures of everything that we saw.

We went on a quick hike while we were there. I wish I could capture the beauty in photos. I took some, but you just can’t imagine what it’s really like unless you’re there! There are many options for hikes right there. Robert’s assistant is an avid climber like Robert, so he’s super excited to have the opportunity to climb a lot!

I took some pictures of the house, but I didn’t get great pics. There is someone currently living there (moving out soon), so I was having a hard time taking pictures. I also don’t want to share them since his stuff was there! The house isn’t super cute, but it’s spacious (like I mentioned above). I can make it cute! It was probably built in the early-mid 70s. We are excited to get there and make it ours!

It’s going to be interesting being back at a Baptist camp after being at a non-denominational camp for so long. But we also felt so at home there. We had so many connections with the director. We know people he knows; we have been some of the places that he has been. We know the Baptist world pretty well since we were at a Baptist camp for so many years (and we both grew up Baptist).

This place seems to be super laid back which is so awesome. Here, we can only have two animals (chickens aren’t included in that) and the dog breeds are limited. There, we can have as many animals as we want. The director has a dog, chickens, rabbits, and even bees. We might eventually work on the homestead again, but we want to get there and get settled before we decide. We do plan to get another dog eventually! Robert really wants a German Shepherd, and they aren’t allowed here.

Also, here, there are major limitations for what the kids can do to serve… even when volunteering. There, it is a true family ministry! They can start working at 14 (even during the “school year”). They can run rec at 16, and at 18, they can run the challenge course. Again, this isn’t just in the summer like here. Ethan is thinking he might actually get a job in town when he turns 16 and is able to drive. We will see what happens! Being homeschooled also gives him so much more flexibility.

Anyway… I can’t wait to show pics of our home once we move in and get set up. I’m beyond excited and honestly just ready to get there!

This song has been on my heart and mind the past several months as we have been in this process.

Chris Renzema’s “Let the Ground Rest”

[Verse 1]
Been waiting on a moment
Been waiting on a sign
Waiting for them to call your name
And you’re next in line
Been waiting for your time to come
You’re fifteen minutes in the sun
So don’t you find it strange
That God, He made four seasons and only one spring?

[Chorus]
So-o-o-o-o just let the ground rest
‘Cause if it’s not right now
It’s for the best
You’re gonna gro-o-o-ow, I know this
But for no-o-o-o-ow, just let the ground rest

[Verse 2]
You’ve been waiting on a moment
Been waiting on a sign
Waiting for the lights to change
When you won’t feel so stuck or so left behind
Been waiting for the day to come
When you can leave behind what you’ve become
Wash it all-all away
These flowers only grow once they’ve tasted rain

[Chorus]
So-o-o-o-o just let the ground rest
‘Cause if it’s not right now
It’s for the best
You’re gonna gro-o-o-ow, I know this
But for no-o-o-o-ow, just let the ground rest

[Interlude]

[Outro]
‘Cause He’ll finish what He starts
He started this I know
But if you saw the plans
Maybe you wouldn’t go
I watched Him plant a seed
And then let the ground rest
So child, oh, believe
‘Cause I promise there’s a harvest