Well, this past month has definitely been a roller coaster of events, adventures and faith building exercises lol! Do you ever experience a day that feels like a whole week (or a month) was packed into it? I can tell you our days are soooooo full that there are evenings when I look back at where we started the day and wonder, did all that really just happen today? Our bus has needed some regular maintenance for some time now and earlier this summer it was becoming very apparent that we were going to need some major repairs done. This started when the AC on our bus stopped working back in June while we were in Colorado visiting our family. Joshua is a member of a really cool Vintage Bus Enthusiasts group on Facebook that help each other trouble shoot mechanical issues, and offer great advice and resources for services around the country. They spent several months troubleshooting the common issues associated with our AC system and he got some great information for a shop that specializes in Bus AC repairs! It turns out that we were going to be about 20 minutes from that very shop, without leaving our tour!!! It really couldn't have been better timing. Since we do not have regular windows on the bus that we can open (they are emergency windows only) we resorted to opening our emergency hatches while we were driving just to get some kind of air flow going through the bus. I shared with my daughter and close friends this week that I will never look at another sauna the same again in my life LOL! We were traveling to each performance in 80-90 degree temperatures at 80-90% humidity in a closed up box of steel driving down the road...yuck! There are so many things during this time that I chose to focus on....I began a practice every morning of thinking to myself; I am sooooo grateful for the AC unit we have when we are parked, clean water to drink and to shower with, food, a safe place to stay, electricity, my health, the strength of my body....my list goes on and on!!! We had some of the best financial successes of our tour during this time AND we also experienced some of the biggest repair bills during this time. Each time we pulled into a mechanic shop, we would literally have just enough in our pockets to pay the bill. It was as if God, the universe what ever you want to call it, knew exactly how much we had (as I am sure this is true lol). Each one of these experiences were just opportunities to keep stepping out in faith and trust that we were exactly where we were supposed to be at exactly the right time.
These experiences have just shown us how much we have grown since last year in our faith, our trust in God and in each other. Is there stress? Sure, we still have a knee jerk reaction that says "Oh Man...What's Next?!?!" the difference is we don't immediately go into panic mode. Instead, we take a step back, look at our choices, make a decision and take the next step right in front of us. Before, we would be looking so far down the road at what the consequences of this decision might be that we missed out on the moment, overthinking the situation by looking too far down the road that we stressed our selves out and made ourselves sick by creating stories of an outcome that may never even come! It is so freeing now to look at a situation, say "What's the worse thing that could happen?" take a step back, face the worst thing we could think of and realize...oh that's it! Well, we could live through that and then take one step forward instead of trying to take ten all at once or making a rational decision that we may regret in the future, like settling down, finding "real" jobs for a false sense of security lol.
Life is a practice and we are learning everyday to follow (and trust) our hearts, listen and keep stepping forward in the direction of our dreams!!!
So, "What's Next!?!?" I have no idea and I wake up everyday ready for a new adventure, experience and opportunities to learn, serve and meet people everywhere we go!!!