On the Road Again

Long winding roads with twists and turns and loads of trees lining the sides of streets can only mean one thing. . . we’ve reached the I-20 stretch from Alabama to Louisiana. 18-wheeler trucks fly by while various vehicles come and go. Brooks & Dunn, Morgan Wallen along with other of our family’s favorite country artists comprise our playlist as the GPS on our van proudly welcomes us to the next state.

As a child and young person, I often dreamed of a life full of adventure. Adventure on our next family vacation. Adventure of what the week would hold or adventures of the next craft project with my grandmother. Growing and journeying with the Lord has shown me that no matter the circumstances, life is adventurous. Like the ideas of what adventures looked like as a child, I find that adventures look different depending on the season and the mission laid before us.

Driving for days on end to visit family is definitely not my idea of fun although I do enjoy the hours of driving, conversations, thoughts, and amazing power naps in the van. As I look back, I notice I didn’t document much on #raising3rushes blog during 2023. Partly due to my forgetfulness to document, but mainly due to I was fulfilling my 2023 resolution of “learning to live.”

January generally means a start to a new year. I do enjoy clean slates and fresh beginnings. Personally, I tend to listen more clearly and pay more attention to wisdom and apply myself to the knowledge learned (Proverbs 22:17) during this season of fresh beginnings. And yes, I listen and pay attention to the Lord the rest of the year as well.

January 2023 brought on Craig’s opportunity of speaking at the ECHL Hockey All-Star Fame game breakfast and our family attended countless games. He is in his third season of hockey chaplain for the Norfolk Admirals team and our family loves helping make meals that Craig takes to chapel during home-stand series for this group of young men. Our kiddos have had opportunities of meeting some players and enjoy standing above their locker to cheer them on as they head to the ice. Christmas of 2022 a handful of these young men joined our family at Tab for their first Christmas Eve service.

Winter months in Norfolk means it’s COLD! I’m thankful for heaters, blankets, and access to all the warm yummy foods my heart desires and my hands can make or purchase. For others in our community it means scavenging for warmth, blankets, clothes, and food that’s edible. From January 1 to end of March churches throughout the community open their buildings and have volunteers to host 50 guests who currently find themselves living on the streets of Norfolk between the hours of 6 PM to 6 AM the next morning. During this time frame, guests are served hot beverages, hot home cooked meals, breakfast and given a bagged lunch to eat throughout the next day. Our family looks forward to preparing and serving food one of the nights during the week Tab Church hosts.

Preparing meals for our Winter Shelter guests

It truly is a humbling experience when we place ourselves in positions to see people for the persons they were created to be by the same Creator who created you and me. When faces have names and names have stories. When lives of addictions become lives who understand they are loved and forgiven and that Jesus died for them too. When we see John or Jane (names changed) year after year or at a stop light and we can call them by name and say hello and ask how their day has been. Or even better when we hear stories of when John and/or Jane’s situations have changed for the better and no longer need their spot for winter shelter. If you’re looking for personal fulfillment or trying to figure out this whole missional living thing, try volunteering and serving someone less than yourself. I promise, it will change your life.

Winter also brings about youth retreats and leadership labs for our kiddos. Secretly I have been waiting til the day that one of our kiddos would be old enough to attend youth group (be it at whatever church we are serving). This was the year our oldest was able to do just that! The Weekend winter retreat was his first experience of an over night away with youth group and it was an amazing experience of fellowship, worship and growing in the word!

February in Norfolk tends to be gloomy season, short days that are cold and rainy. For this southern girl, it’s my least favorite month. Strategically our family enters into February with a game plan of staying warm, staying connected while catching up on lots of sleep that will be needed once the time changes back in the spring. I enjoyed many coffee dates with friends and cleaned lots of teeth. Yard carding was kept to a minimum and I marked off several books toward my yearly reading goal. Kids continued in TabKids leadership lab and TabYouth group at church while school continued in learning through their PBLs (project based learning).

February meant the Toby Mac concert!!! Our entire family waited patiently for two months. So many great artists on tour with Toby Mac and an incredible night of worship.

March

During Spring Break 2023 our family crashed the senior adult bus trip to Lancaster, PA where we saw “Moses” at Sight & Sound Theater and toured Amish county. If ever in that part of the country, I highly recommend doing both of those and please make sure you grab a hot and fresh homemade Amish pretzel!!

April

We carded yards galore and geared up for Spring sports. I noticed the super cool shadow on the house while sending the picture to the client! We may not talk about it much anymore, but we are still carding yards and praying blessings upon each yard we enter! It truly has been a super cool way for us to connect with people we’d never know! Thanks for inviting the Rushes not only into your yards but also into your lives.

May

Oh what a cold, rainy, sunny and hot trip we had as our first experience in the OBX!!! SO MUCH FUN!!! This was the only full family photo captured during our entire trip. Adding to my bucket list for 2024 is to take more family photos!