I Think I Feel a Change in the Wind, Says I. – Sam’s Family Spa, Desert Hot Springs, California

We are headed north today, finally feeling brave enough to leave Sam’s Family Spa and see what God has in store for us next. Spending time in the winter desert has been such a healing experience for me. It is absolutely beautiful here. This place will always have a special place in my heart.

Both K (age 6) and B (age 4) learned to ride bikes without training wheels here!

S swam in the deep end of the pool!

Here’s a list of activities that we recommend if you’re ever in the area: Joshua Tree National Park, The Living Desert Zoo, Coachella Valley Preserve, Shield’s Date Farm, Brandini Toffee, Indian Canyon hiking, Tehquitz Canyon hike, Zapopan’s Mexican Food (veggie burrito), Rancho Mirage Community Park, Rancho Mirage Public Library, Sam’s Family Spa and Hot Water Resort, Cabazan Outlet Stores, and Legoland (though that is nearer San Diego than Desert Hot Springs we went there for S’s 9th birthday).

It has been so windy here. I have never experienced wind like this before. It’s no wonder they put up so many windmills. The wind has woken me up in the middle of the night on more occasions than I can count. It’s crazy strong and our home’s foundation is – tires – so it gets to really rockin’ the place good.

We were so blessed to have new friends blow into our lives on this desert wind. It was seriously, just like in the movie “Marry Poppins”! One of the hard parts of RV living is feeling isolated and missing our friends from Paradise and Chico. It’s especially hard on me to see the kids missing their friends. I want to see my kiddos happy, and the ability to make friends available while we travel is completely beyond my control. I can try to make our displacement/adventure as fun as possible by taking them on fun field trips, reading them the same books we were reading before, and trying to get some sort of homeschool routine going. I cannot make friends appear out of thin air…

Hallelujah! God can do anything! Our new friends “the Rookie Roadsters” (www.rookieroadsters.com) swung into the site next to us on a particularly strong gust of wind. Their faith and positive outlook were contagious and came just when we needed it most. In the past, my oldest son has asked me, “Why doesn’t God still do miracles?” Well, meeting these fine folks sure counts as a miracle in my mind. They have such a similar situation to ours. It’s so similar that it’s nearly unbelievable. They started RVing full time after losing their home to flooding caused by hurricane Florence in NC back in September 2018. Nothing but divine intervention could’ve led their family to pull up into the RV site right next to ours. They are definitely our “Mary Poppins” having appeared out of nowhere and changed our perspective with their authenticity, faith, humor, and friendship!

We have learned that we can, in fact, host a dinner party for 10 people in approximately 250 square feet. BYO: dishes and cutlery! We actually had dinner 3x trading off on hosting dinner and hosting hang out time afterwards. Pizza, tacos and spaghetti were on the menus.

It just melts my mama heart to see the joy my kids shared playing with these sweet kids! We were just really missing all of our friends so much and needed some simple play time. Thank you Heavenly Father for providing for our needs!

Speaking of friends we’re missing, “thank you” to my friend M.C. (a fellow Camp Fire survivor), for prompting me to share some lessons I’m learning and hoping that I’m teaching my kiddos in this adventure:

God does, “still do” miracles!

There are pros and cons to everything.

“We tend to seek happiness, when happiness is actually a choice.” – from a Rodney White painting

The most important things in life aren’t things. – Anthony J. D’Angelo

You can still have a home even if you don’t have a “real” house!