Our time has come to an end...

...in Tucson, Az that is.   Wait, you didn't think we were stopping this crazy train did you?  We're just getting started.

I usually try to show you our house and yard when we move.  We ended up moving from this spot though because of some electrical issues but that ended up being a Good thing. 

I have to start off telling you how hot it is here!  You know it is hot when you go to take a shower in your RV; the hot water tank hasn't been turned on in a few days; and the water coming out of the faucet is still to hot to be on you!  It was 118 in Phoenix yesterday while we were there and it was 112 today here in Tucson.  That is with a whopping 4% humidity (literally...I'm not making this up.  I don't know why they even report that!) and a mostly constant breeze that feels like a convection oven.  Sometimes our RV feels like a large pizza oven so we just leave and go to the pool. 

We have been planning the next leg of our journey for a few days now and have sent an email to YWAM to see where we can best meet their needs next.  We plan on heading north and making our way into Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Canada.  But, we have a few things to cover before we talk about that. 

We came to Tucson in March for the single reason of letting Zachary play baseball.  This place allowed us to be considered "residents" to the city for ball, had something for Caleb and Kamryn to do (more on that in a minute) and didn't cost us an arm and a leg in RV pad fees.  We got so much more than we bargained for.  I don't mean to repeat any information that has been presented before but God has shown us so many amazing things and so many amazing people here. 

We came here and instantly found a church to settle into.  We met some great folks and began teaching grades 3-5 for Sunday School.  We had some amazing kids in our class and had a great time.  We also had the opportunity to be involved with a few get-togethers and had great opportunities to meet other families and share how god has worked in our lives.  The kids have taken every opportunity to be involved...EVERYWHERE!  Even a few days ago, we were at a Chevrolet dealer and Kamryn began sweeping the garage where the service department received the cars coming in.  She said she wanted it to look nice for the people arriving and dropping their vehicles off.  There was a hot dog cart that came in to sell hot dogs that day also and the kids asked to help them set up.  The people didn't know how to tell them "no" so the kids help them set up their little road side restaurant station.  It was great to watch.  Kamryn and and her brothers help to clean up each week at dance.  They can all be caught at times, doing different "jobs" (sometimes seemingly unnecessary to others but important to them) in different places.  This has truly become the story of our lives; sharing at every opportunity and not giving a second thought. 

Let's talk about each of the kids a bit and then the family and our plans. 

Kamryn has finished dance and loved it.  The girl has rhythm and shows it off often!  She dances when she wants to and has a style that is all of her own.  As I said already, she is the helper and we think we have found her gift with the help of a friend here.  Kamryn is a tender-hearted individual who loves giving and making people know how special they are.  She makes cards for everyone for all (sometime made up) occasions.  She told someone in our Bible study group last night that she wanted to help pay for one of the babysitters because Kamryn wanted her to know how much she loved her.  Our friend mentioned that this may be her spiritual gift; she may have the gift of gifts and giving because she has noticed this in Kamryn before.  This was solidified a bit today when we told the kids that we going to reward them for a job well done for something yesterday and take them to lunch.  Kamryn told us that she almost cried because she was so happy that she was receiving this reward.  She is a special little girl and she touches many hearts.  She also continues her love of puppies.  She has been hired on again as a walker for a Dachshund near us and checks on her often.  It is great to be able to spend so much time with her and see her grow.  There's more...she also finished her swim lessons and did great and finished her baseball season as well.  She loved it...even more so because her team was the Cardinals.

The mermaid.

So excited to be the Cardinals!

Her favorite position, like her brother, pitcher. 

What a stance!

She randomly asks places if they have a broom so she can "make it look nice" for others. 



These two are buds.  (With Caleb and a bottom tooth missing)

Caleb has also accomplished so much.  He played on his baseball team and finished strong.  He wanted to play catcher like his brother.  Zachary was an assistant coach on his team; that was pretty cool.  Caleb also did a great job in swim and is extremely difficult to get out of the water due to his love of it.  He has also taken ample opportunity to help out also.  We were watching someone's house recently while they were away and Caleb wanted their house to be spotless when they got home.  He led our family in team cleaning and it was spic-n-span from top to bottom!  He has also earned the Sparky Award for AWANA and We are quite proud of him for that.  He is quite the helper and really has the gift of encouragement.  He continues to show that he doesn't have many negative words.  He is always the one that is encouraging the others and telling them how great they are doing.  He motivates everyone...young and old!  We have also found that has a great interest in robots.  He bought and built a 600+ piece robot that stands about 2 ft tall.  He loves it.  He also has a solar robot set that he enjoys doing when it's not 400 degrees outside.  He loves this area because the sky is so clear and we can see much at night and there is so much wildlife.  He continues show us how much he loves Creation.  On an odd note, he is also in the stage of losing his teeth, he has lost 3 in the last few weeks, 5 all together...I'm not sure, they just keep falling out and he keeps pulling them out.  I walked into the Chevy dealer bathroom a few days ago and he had his hand in his mouth yanking on a tooth.  There was blood in the sink and a young salesman looked at him like he had three heads.  I politely asked him to make sure he cleaned out the sink and to hurry up and I left.  He came out with another hole in his mouth.   

So proud of the Sparky Award.

Does this remind anyone of a Memorex commercial?!?!?!  This is what Caleb does in his off time?

The smiling swimmer.

It was on clearance and he put up his money quickly!  This is for 10 + yr olds and he had it done quickly.  I helped him with 4 screws of 600+ pieces. 

So proud!

Caleb and his brother Coach Zachary.

Wanting to be just like his older bother as catcher. 

Caleb and the coaches. (Caleb minus one tooth.)   

Caleb's friend. 

This flower lasted for about 2 days.  It was beautiful and then fell off.  He was sad. 

This has been a good place for Zachary.  He as been involved in numerous things while being here.  He joined the youth center, he has earned volunteer hours in different functions, he coached Caleb's team, he started the youth group at church and so much more.  Some of the most significant things though included his beginning of babysitting at our Bible studies.  He earned the Timothy Award for TNT.  He also was asked to house/dog sit on two occasions for long periods of time.  He has really earned great skills and trust while being here.  We have been told that he has had a great impact on a few other children around him also.  Additionally, we have learned a few things about him also.  Remember that we came to Tucson to sit for a while for some grounding and to let Zachary play ball along with allowing Caleb and Kamryn time to be involved with things.  Zachary has done an amazing job in baseball.  I won't gloat about stats but he has done very well.  He has primarily played shortstop and pitcher this year until a few games ago.  I had told him that he couldn't catch this year because his knees had been bothering him when we got here.  He was seen for that and has been doing exercises for them.  A few weeks ago someone mentioned Zachary could be catcher and so it all began.  He found his spot again behind the plate.  So in the last few weeks he has been playing shortstop, pitcher, and catcher and has loved every minute and we are so proud of him.  We have had a bit of disappointment though.  We had to tell him that he will not be able to play on the All Star team here; he was quickly nominated but we had to decline.  He took it very well and understood that our original plan was to be here for the regular ball season and not All Stars.  The All Star season is too long, the monsoon will be here soon, and we are ready to move along and begin traveling and serving as a family again.  He is an athletically blessed young man and has a great impact on his team, both young and old, and those around him while keeping a great attitude. 

I love these pictures.  That's why I always add them!

We went up to Mt Lemmon one day and found an observatory.  Arizona is known as one of the best star gazing places.  We got this close to U of A's observatory but they were closed this day.  Schucks!  It was a cool trip though, we did a ton of things that day. 

We are tending to see this more and more lately.  These are precious moments and we are full of joy when they happen. 

Aye yae yae!  Zachary decided to drive his remote control car up a drainage ditch and it lost a signal.  Good thing the staff around here love us. 

We went to a star-gazing party one night.  This is the guy who has patented a camera that is on the International Space Station (ISS).  We spend hours in this place talking and learning and the kids love it.   It was kind of neat this night because it was the 4th time we have seen the ISS in 2 different countries.  We also saw Mars, Jupiter and Saturn among other things.  The kids love it. 

This is Zachary giving a "baseball clinic"

As a family, we are doing great.  It has gotten very hot here.  It's about 112 degrees, 5% humidity, no clouds, and a dusty wind...otherwise known as the desert.  The difference is that we are in an RV and not in a house.  That may not mean much to you but it does to me when my walls are 2 inches thick and cheaply insulated.  Anyway, we were blessed with this RV and love it.  We have found ways around the heat.  We find things to do and people to go see or we sit here and talk about how people in the "old days" lived in conditions worse than ours or how some people live outside today.  We made it to another National Park.  I think that makes 44 or 45, we have to count again.  We visited Tumacacori, read about it here.  It was quite interesting and had an amazing building that had original paint from the 1700's.  We ended up getting a personal tour from a lady that taught us so much and loved hearing about our journey.  We ended up with hugs and a picture and smiles.  We also met a few snakes that Kamryn did not enjoy so much.  Daddy played hero (I did NOT smoosh them) because we almost stepped on these mating beauties but they were pretty mad at us.  Anyway, everyone was safe and we continued our tour.   We also spent half a day in the Catalina mountains on a hike. This was another beautiful hike and we saw the largest cactus I have ever seen.  It dwarfed us!  We turned around when we got up a ways and the wind shifted and got very strong.  This was right after we had been "attacked" by a dirt devil (a mini desert tornado) in the campground which scared Kamryn pretty bad.  Anyway, it was cool day. 

The entrance to the chapel at Tumacacori. 

This paint is original from the 1700's.  We are amazed that thins last this long. not only that but that things were created TO last this long.  It was so ornate. 

This young lady did so well with they the bazillion questions from the kids. 

Caleb asking about Creation. 

These are the two snakes we almost stepped on walking into one of the gardens.  They weren't happy with us. 

This was a 6 ft sidewalk and he almost completely covers it even all slithered up. 

The boys loved it though!
 

We loved the personal tour!

 



Another one in the books. 

We found this tasty treat on the way to the Catalina Mountains.   It was amazing...corn syrup and cayenne.  So good. 

 

 

This is our girl with her new water pack and ready for a hike. 

Heading into the Catalina Mountains.

Look at the size of this thing!  This would easily be 200 yrs old.  They are so interesting.  Read about them here.

"Eating Out" in the Catalina Mountains.  The kids are now making this joke when we take our lunches on our hikes or tours.

 

 

 

 Mother's Day happened so we checked off another holiday in the camper.  Momma wanted burgers so we made big ones...at home!  They were yummy and we all talked to mommy and told her how great she was.  David also came in the last few weeks.  He came for a week from Tennessee and stayed with us.  The time went quickly but we had a good time.  We didn't do anything real special but we did spend a great deal of quality family time together.  The time came and went and he left and headed back to Tennessee and we will see him next time. 

We are staying busy as a family.  We found out about how many hours we have put in volunteering and serving and it was pretty cool to see.  Zachary is being put in for a congressional volunteer award and we have talked about putting in each one of the kids.  We have met some really great people here also.  We have had the opportunity to lead a Bible study, housesit and babysit.  We have been invited to baby showers, birthday parties, and other shin digs.  We spend hours upon hours talking with people and getting to know them and finding out who the are and what their story is.  We have met young couples with one child.  We have also met retired folks with retired children.  We have been asked to move here so that we don't have to leave and take our family away.  This is only because the Lord has used us in a way that has impacted many lives here...this didn't come from our mouths.  This came from the mouths of many others.

 

Burgers for Mother's Day.

  

The fam. 

The kids and I were watching a friend's kids while momma and their momma went out for a while. 

Water balloon fight!!!

Having a homemade sushi night.  We were housesitting for someone so we went over and crashed their pad. 

Totally crashed it...

  

That's our baseball team. 



A morning a coffee, devotional, funky hair, night pants, and almost interested children.  

So, now not only do we walk dogs, we also walk chameleons .  (Caleb minus 3 teeth only 2 days later)

 

A friend's daughter is getting a lesson on Caleb Jr by Caleb. 

What is there to do when it's 112 degrees?!?!?!  Well, I meant the pool, I don't know why they lay on the concrete sometimes. 

This is Sam.  He belongs to a family that we love a whole lot even though he wears a Chicago Cubs collar.

Ensuring we have clean teeth even while we are on the road. 

This was a night that we got together with a few friends.  Two of them still live in a house while we just helped the other two move into an RV full-time. 

This is one of the many couples that we have been blessed to meet.  We ended up with a story that will never be forgotten from these guys. 

 

 I must explain something.  When we get to a place, any place, we pray about what the Lord has in store for us.  We pray that He will use our family in Mighty ways and lead us and let us be involved in His work wherever we are.  Also, that we will see his work so the we can jump in where we can.  When we got here, we thought it was going to be all about finding something to do in the local area, being involved with base programs, coaching, or just simply building upon relationships and loving on others.  I have to say, that was all true and we did all of that but something else happened.  We realized how much we missed a church family, friends, confidants, teaching, and other "normal" things.  Don't get me wrong...we spent one day in the woods last week and after about 5 minutes we all said, "I can't wait to get back on the road again and start traveling" but we have been missing something.  We were just missing some fellowship and needed some long-term loving on.  We have had so many people love on us in the last year.  We have met some amazing people from all over the world who have blessed us in so many ways.  We are thankful for that.  Since being here though, we were unaware that it wasn't just about us doing His work here.  He was having others work on us!  Well, our tanks are full and we are going to miss some pretty amazing folks from here.  We are about to head north through Wyoming, Idaho and either continue to Calgary or head west to Oregon and Washington, we're not sure.   One thing we do know is that we are ready to travel and Serve!

Until next time...