Williston and Titusville, FL

After Destin, we headed to Williston, FL, near Ocala in Florida horse country. We spent a few days at Williston Crossings over Thanksgiving and had an opportunity to visit the Parelli ranch. This is a working ranch where horse lovers from around the world come to learn “Parelli” horse techniques. You might remember we traveled to Kansas City last summer to attend a Parelli horse conference. Ashley’s horse instructor is a Parelli trainer – so needless to say, it was a highlight to visit headquarters and see the facilities.

Next stop was Titusville, FL, on the space coast. We enjoyed the nature trails and wildlife at the Great Outdoors RV Nature and Golf Resort. God really drew our attention to the heavens last week. First, we watched two incredible space-related DVDs: The Privileged Planet and Star of Bethlehem – both of which brought us to a place of awe and wonder about the Creator of the universe and tremendously strengthened our faith. Second, our memory verses for this week just happened to be from Psalm 19 – all about the heavens declaring the glory of God. To top it off, we visited Kennedy Space Center and spent the day pondering life from a very different perspective.

It is deeply moving to glimpse the complexity, enormity, and synchrony that God set in motion when He created the heavens and the earth. And is it not amazing that He created us in such a way that we can discover and begin to understand it? How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Lord!

Destin, FL (Topsail State Park)

After Arkansas, we drove like crazy (11 hours – way too far for one day) all the way to Topsail State Park in Destin, Florida – one of our favorite spots from last year. It’s a beautiful park with a private walking/biking trail to the beach. The kids enjoyed designing and building a variety of sand castles.

One of the highlights of the week was meeting Kelly and Jared at Amore Pizzeria in Santa Rosa Beach. We biked to their lovely café one afternoon for lunch and after tasting their excellent pizza we asked if they would be willing to teach us how they make pizza crust. What a huge blessing to learn this culinary art from such a gifted baker and teacher! Jared showed us each step and the kids got to get their hands in the dough and make pizzas from start to finish. There is a lot more to gourmet pizza crust than meets the eye. We are so grateful for Kelly and Jared’s generous hearts and their willingness to share their expertise with us. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop by for the best pizza ever!

We also visited another state park called Eden Gardens where we toured a southern mansion and enjoyed the live oak trees and beautiful gardens. And then it was out for dinner to celebrate another Bendickson birthday…we are always busy blowing out candles this time of year.

This week we were reminded of the forming, transforming, and conforming that God does with us when we allow Him to work in our lives. Nothing gets transformed without going through a process that often includes stirring, waiting, kneading, pressing, stretching – and a certain amount of heat. It’s true for pizza and it’s true for us. Thank you, Jesus, for the work you are doing to refine us so our lives can more accurately reflect who You are.

Star of Bethlehem

It's hard to believe we are once again standing on the doorstep of Christmas.  Like many of you, our hearts desire is to slow down and truly savor the mystery of Christmas.  Last year, we watched a DVD that was a huge blessing to our family. It’s called The Star of Bethlehem.  This documentary-style video drew us into deep appreciation for the incredible lengths God went to when He orchestrated the heavens to coincide perfectly with His Word. What Rick Larson uncovers and shares in this video is simply astounding. One cannot watch and not be moved to worship! This is now one of our Christmas traditions. Here’s a link to the video at Amazon if you want to read the reviews &/or order it.  You may also be able to rent it at your local video store.

Speaking of stars...if you haven't seen Indescribable by Louie Giglio, I invite you to check this out too. You can watch it in five segments on YouTube (or you can buy the DVD at Amazon). Here's the first segment. I'll put links for the other four below.

May you be blessed as you stand in awe of our Creator who designed and built the incredible universe in which we live.  He truly is ... indescribable! 



Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPybgiX9J60
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiI5gb6ZR04
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CetMLmH_b6Q
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viUwtv27Pec

Village Creek State Park, Arkansas

After bustling, busy Branson, we settled into a quiet peaceful week at Village Creek State Park near Wynne, Arkansas. We felt like we were living in a panoramic picture of beautiful fall colors on a peninsula overlooking a serene lake. We more/less had this sanctuary all to ourselves and every day we woke to the sounds of birds singing, squirrels foraging through crunchy, fallen leaves, and the sun rising across the pristine lake.  We were so content we never even ventured out of the park all week!  It is truly one of the most awe-inspiring places we have ever been.

We celebrated Jake’s 10th birthday in traditional fashion with cake, presents, - and flag football. I knew Ashley and I were in trouble when, on the initial play, I was running full speed ahead carrying the ball toward the end zone when Rich clipped my heal and we both went flying and tumbled to the ground. Those boys take this game seriously! We kept up with them pretty well – at first – but eventually their expertise paid off and they won the game 20-11.

This week we had an incredible opportunity to learn about the Trail of Tears - when thousands of Native Americans were forced from their land in the Southeast and moved to Oklahoma in the 1830’s. We watched a very moving video depicting this tragedy and then actually got to walk on a one-mile stretch of the trail which runs through this state park. Our hearts were drawn to a place of deep repentance for the ways in which our Europeon ancestors played a part this incredible injustice.

It is impossible not to stand in awe of our Creator in a place brimming with so much natural beauty. God, we praise you and we thank you for how You created our environment to sustain itself and us. So often we take things for granted – like the simple act of trees taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen so we can breathe. Yet even this is a testimony to Your love and care for us. Your creativity is beyond compare. You are God alone!

Oklahoma, Fort Rock, Branson

Howdy – how y’all doing? We’ve been in the south for a few weeks now and thought we’d give y’all a shout:-) I just love those southern accents! We hit the road and headed out of MN on October 18th which means it’s now official: We’ve been living in the RV for over a year now. The weird thing is that it seems completely normal. More on that another time…

For those of you who have spent a night in our little humble abode, you will be happy to know that we got our toilet fixed in Kansas City and it no longer sounds like a jet engine! After a few days in KC, we headed south to spend a week at my aunt & uncles house in Oklahoma where they have 40 acres and full hookups. For you non-campers, that means water, electricity, and sewer. Ashley celebrated her 13th birthday while we were there and Aunt Annabelle baked her a beautiful chocolate cake. Oh, and the kids got to drive Uncle Jim’s tractor!

We also took a field trip to Fort Rock Family Camp in NW Arkansas. It was an incredible blessing to meet Terry and hear how he went from being a work-a-holic real estate agent to building a camp and homeschooling his kids. What a blessing to hear his story and see how the Lord is using this family to restore other families. The camp looks like an 1800’s town set in the backdrop of the Ozark Mountains complete with a diner, a trading post, horses – and the longest zip line in the state of Arkansas! Did we climb to the platform and take a leap of faith hanging from nothing but a wire tied to two trees? (Remember my fear of heights?) You’ll have to watch the video to find out!

After picking up Grandma Carole at the airport and saying farewell to my aunt and uncle, we headed to Branson, MO, to check out this musical city. We saw a couple of great shows: Pierce Arrow and The Haygoods. The kids got their picture taken with one of the Pierce Arrow guys who holds the Guiness Book of World Records for having the lowest voice and the widest range. Rich and I compare Branson to the Wisconsin Dells…small towns that have a point of interest. For Branson it’s all about shows. For the Dells, it’s all about water parks.

What’s it all about for us? That is a question we are pondering these days on the Bendickson bus.

Summer 2009

Where do I begin? It’s been nearly four months since our last update. This summer flew by and the leaves are falling again (and so are the temperatures)! We are quickly approaching our one year anniversary (Oct. 16) since we set sail into the great unknown. When we hit the road last year, we all thought we would return to MN, sell our house, and find land. Well, we returned and we sold our house…but we didn’t buy land which means our traveling days are not yet over. Our home base campground closes October 15th – so we are hitting the road again in just a few short days.

We feel like the Israelites wandering in the desert following the cloud by day and the fire by night. We know God is leading us to land, we just have no idea what route we are taking to get there and how long it’s going to be before we arrive! I guess that’s where the walking by faith part comes in. We don’t have a clue where we’re headed, but we know God has a plan. So we’re choosing to trust Him.

Our summer was full of friends, family, sports and road trips. I won’t bore you with every detail, but here are a few highlights:

Ashley played another undefeated soccer season with Lindsey and Emily. Jake played baseball (pitcher and various other positions) and was chosen to represent his team in the 9-year-old All-Star Game. Ashley leased a horse named Autumn and rode in her first fun show this fall. Jake went to horse camp at Roselawn Stables with his friend Drake. We picked and dehydrated thirty pounds of strawberries. Ashley got pierced ears and braces on her teeth. We went to Thief River Falls to visit family; Wisconsin to look at land; Burnsville for a family reunion including my 97 year old grandmother; Father Hennepin State Park with friends doing Praise MN;. Kansas City, MO, with friends to attend a horse conference, Royals game, and water park; Strawberry Lake Christian Retreat Camp – what a blessing! Baker Park with college friends; The Stones came to visit us; Grand Forks, ND, for a wedding on Rich’s side.

And finally, the grand finale – a weekend at Tettagouche State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior which included touring Round River Farm (awesome!), taking fourth place (out of four 4:-) in a whiffle ball tournament, and meeting some wonderful new friends – David and Lise.

As I write and remember the last few months, it brings me to a place of deep gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for. The North Shore inspired the music for this slideshow because He makes everything glorious!

Moving

We’ve been back in MN for two months now and so much has happened in eight short weeks. First, in case you haven’t heard yet - we sold our house – and closed this week! We feel very blessed to be passing our home to a sweet family with two young children. And we are so grateful for God’s timing. Having to come back during our trip to pack up the house in the middle of winter would have been a big bummer now that we know how much work it really was. It is amazing how much time and energy it takes to pack up a house! We honestly thought we had the bulk of it behind us before we left. But cleaning out the nooks and crannies and putting everything in storage is simply not that simple. It takes a lot of patience and endurance – and friends with time, energy, and pick-up trucks! To our dear friends - thank you all so much!!! We couldn’t have done it without you!

God has been orchestrating some really amazing things the last few weeks. First, when we left MN last fall, we gave Rich’s car to a friend in need. Needless to say, when we arrived back this spring, we only had one vehicle. While it was somewhat inconvenient to coordinate schedules, we were making due and we were so busy we didn’t have time to figure out buying another car. But God knows our needs! About three weeks ago a friend of a friend (Dorothy) bought a new car and this time we were humbled and blessed to be on the receiving end of a car give-away! Dorothy generously gave us her 1999 Honda Civic. The kids think it’s really cool to have windows with roll down handles:-) We are excited to have another car and to someday pass it on to someone else in need.

But that’s not the end of the story! After Dorothy transferred her car to us, she and our mutual friend went out for lunch. As they were driving along, Dorothy (a recent widow) mentioned how she would love to have a piano. She had no idea that we had a baby grand piano that was scheduled to be moved into storage in just three days. Now we have Dorothy’s old car – and she has our baby grand! She gets to enjoy the piano and see if she really wants to invest in buying one – and we get free storage and the joy of knowing our piano is blessing someone else! Isn’t God’s timing amazing?!

What else? So many things…but here’s a few more tidbits of how the Lord has been moving in the midst of our move: We had Smart Boxes delivered to our house, but we never got organized enough to ask anyone to help us move all our stuff into these storage pods – yet we had three couples plus my mom show up throughout the day to help – one couple we had never met before (that’s a whole other cool story!) Thank you Scott, Suzanne, Andrew, Janet, Peter, and Susan – for all your back-breaking work!

A few days later our friend Ellen came over and cleaned the entire house – what a blessing! And then Robin called and offered to haul stuff so off we went to Goodwill (again…) and the recycling center. Janet provided every box we used – and probably packed most of them too. Thank you!! Oh, and three weeks ago, we decided to have a spur of the moment garage sale – on Memorial Weekend – to try to get rid of some big items. We listed the sale on Craig’s List on Friday, stuck the furniture in the driveway on Saturday – and sold everything! Praise God!

In the midst of normal life God reveals Himself and builds our faith as we notice all the incredible ways He orchestrates what we could never do on our own. To Him be the glory! Here are few pictures from the last few weeks along with a toe-tapping tune that has been on my heart. God is good – all the time!