Be Still and Know Peace….

There comes a day in everyones life after your kids are grown, that your mind starts to wonder "what if" and you start to look at other possibilities for life other than paying a mortgage and living in suburbia.  For some, that is when they find that special parcel of land in the country that seems to say "Buy Me, and go in debt again...", for others it is the call of the open road.  For us, it was both (ok, not the go in debt again part).  My husband and I always said we wanted to purchase about 10 or 15 acres, put a doublewide on it and be free to travel around the US and see God's creation.  Living in an RV fulfills only half that dream.  That would be the ability to travel half.

When we sold our house and got rid of our stuff and moved into a 33 ft. RV I thought "This is going to be great!" , and it is....for the most part.  We moved to an RV park in Mineola, TX called Somewhere RV Park, yeah I know, but you gotta live somewhere right?  It was really great, close to shopping but in the country, lots of full-timers to learn from and best of all, a fenced dog park for Winston and Madi to play in.  The bad part of living there was that my husband had to make a 45 minute drive to work and a 45 minute drive back every night, and since his hours were anywhere from 3 pm to 6 am, it didn't settle my little heart.  Ok, I was afraid he would fall asleep on the way home.  It also didn't help that all my new neighbors told me about the wild hog and deer accidents along that particular stretch of road.  Don't get me wrong, my husband is a good driver - I am just not a good waiter.

SO.....

We set off to find an RV park closer to my husbands work.  Picture this, Hubbie works at a Truck Stop off I-30, looking at the map, just 2 inches away (that would be about 10 miles to all you drivers), is a very large, very beautiful, inviting Lake.  Cypress Springs Lake has been voted the most beautiful lake in Texas by travel magazines, and rightly so.  It is stunning; but all the parks around there that allow camping do not allow monthly full-timers.  So no staying on the lake.  Bummer.  I did however stumble on a website for a park that was right between the lake and hubbies work, this might be ideal for us right?  So I called the owner to have him show us and tell us about his park.  Turns out the website was only up for about a week before the owner took it down.  He didn't really know anything about having a website and didn't see the value...duh....that is how I found him!  Anyway, we looked at the park and discussed price and such and drove around the area looking at the town.  We told the gentleman we would pray about it and get back to him, but on the way home we decided to stay where we were since it would be difficult for me to buy food since I have a special diet.  Celiac disease is not something you can play around with, if you can't eat gluten don't, if you can eat gluten, why put yourself through that?

The VERY NEXT DAY...for all those speed readers....we called the owner and told him it was not going to work out and why, "but thank you for your time".  I have to admit, I get disappointed when something does not work out the way I want it to.  My husband still had to drive, and that lake was so beautiful and my little heart was so set on living up there.  Another Bummer!  That afternoon, after I had resolved myself to living with the sand and the train that were my only complaint at Somewhere RV Park, the owner of the other park calls us with the offer of a lifetime.  He wants us to come and manage his RV park, AND he is willing to not only give us free rent and utilities, but he is willing to pay me $100 a month to compensate for having to buy my food online!  Ok, for those of you who know me, you KNOW I was doing the 'Little Angel Dance'!  Then my husband told him, "we will pray about it and get back to you at the end of the week", WHAT??!!!  Pray about what?  Are you joking?  It seems God just dropped this amazing opportunity in my lap and YOU want to give Him a chance to say NO?????  Pffttt!

Fine, I'll pray.  And I did.  It went something like this:  "Lord, I love you and I know you love me.  You know my heart better than my husband.  You know Lord that I sold my beautiful house and all my belongings to live in less than 300 square feet.  You know that I have always wanted to live on an acreage but not go into debt to buy land (the park has 30 acres, 28 of which is meadow and it has a fishing pond on it).  Please help my husband see that this is exactly what we wanted and Lord, if You know it is a good move, make it happen - (insert back of mind translation: "Lord, don't let him screw this up for us").  I love You Jesus, in Your Name, Amen."

Waiting the 3 days to the end of the week was excruciating!  Of course I didn't let my husband know that.  When Friday finally came I woke up and and immediately said, "today is the day, right?

Well, to make a long story just slightly longer, I am the new Manager at Still Meadow RV Park in Mount Vernon, TX!  Whoo Hooo, I get to clean bathrooms for other people!  LOL, ok that is NOT the reason I love this job that I have now been in for 1 month.  I love the people that I meet from all over the world, I love the full-timers that live here, and I LOVE being on 30 acres with a pond and close by a beautiful lake!

Check out the web page I designed for the park and you will see why I love living here, oh and come see us if you are on the road!  We have a lot to offer here that you might not know about....sorry that is the promoter in me coming out....better stop while I am ahead!