Simplicity in Sunsets

Living in Silicon Valley and the hustle and bustle of just regular life in the Bay can be exhilarating and exciting at times. However, there have been more moments as I get older and having lived in the Bay for a long time, it’s hard to step out of the “Bay Bubble” and slow down. When you’re running and going at such a fast pace, it’s hard to notice and enjoy the little things that God has placed in your life. When you’re in an environment where it’s so easy to “control” every little aspect of your life, it’s hard to let go and let God into your life. I know that this perspective or reflection may not be true for everyone but I wonder if it resonates with some people. 

Having been out on the road for awhile now and out of the environment that we live in, I have come to realize how important it is to intentionally make time to slow down. I don’t mean just waiting for the weekends or vacation times but purposely carving out time in each day to slow down. When I say “slow down”, I don’t mean spending time on my phone, TV or on the computer browsing my good ole favorites of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, watching “This is Us” or even online shopping or reading blogs (just saying these are my crutches ya’ll). What I mean is finding things that give me life and that fills my soul. 

Being out here on the road and in the midst of God’s creation has made me slow down and take a deep breath. It’s slowly helped me see the beauty in the little things such as sunsets. Living in the Bay, it’s hard to notice and enjoy the sunsets because I’m either in a car, inside a place, or in the house making dinner. But out here in the wilderness of His creation, in the vast open sky, the sunset captures your attention. The colors, the beauty, and the time it takes for the sun to set is just amazing. Sitting to enjoy the sunset has been and is one of the things that gives me life and fills my soul. It slows me down because in that moment, all I am doing is watching the sun set in the sky. Such simplicity. 

Grand Canyon Adventures!

We spent several days in Grand Canyon (on the South Rim) and it was a wonderful experience for us! We got lucky and was able to get an RV campsite at the Trailer Village inside Grand Canyon National Park. Trailer Village was super convenient because there was a shuttle stop right at the entrance of the village and it was close to the huge general store and the Yavapai Lodge which also had a cafeteria and a small restaurant. The best part of staying in Trailer Village was seeing the Elk roam freely around the campground, which I blogged about earlier. Dave got to ride his bike twice in the morning which was life-giving for him and a good exercise as well!

The first day, we spent our entire day on taking the shuttle bus from our campground to Hermit's Rest. The total bus ride takes about 40 minutes but there are 8 stops along the way where you can get off and take pictures and enjoy the scenery. It was a nice way to see the Grand Canyon from a different point of view. Plus, the girls loved riding the shuttle.

 The one thing that really made me nervous was the big openings in the railings at the edges or even no railings. Most definitely I was holding onto the girls' hands super tight till my knuckles turned white! The shuttle would come every 10 minutes so we never had to wait very long for the next shuttle. We even met a young couple who rented bikes and rode the same route, which is also a fun way to see the canyon. 

No railings behind Mae! Eek!

That's as far as Joi could go. Still made me nervous though.

Several places, there were some rocks for the girls to climb that were far enough away from the edge of the canyon and at one stop they found a pile of rocks that they made into a stage and began to sing for everyone to hear. It was a pretty precious moment to see.

We ended up at Hermit's Rest which is the last stop on the shuttle line. It had a cute little gift shop and a little place that had snacks, sandwiches, drinks, and ice cream to buy. So, we bought some ice cream sandwiches to share with the girls as a treat and checked out the gift shop. On our way back to the shuttle, we met a couple who literally live a couple blocks away from us in the same town! How funny that we would meet them in the Grand Canyon at Hermit's Rest! It was fun chatting with them while we rode the shuttle back to our starting point. 

We ended our day, playing outside in our campground, riding our scooter and bikes. But the best part of the end of the day was seeing elk roaming around our campground and watching them with our RV neighbors Butch and Ryan. Plus Pedro spent the afternoon just basking in the sun in his new camp chair. We discovered early on in the trip that he loves sitting by the campfire and just basking in the sun. So, we went to Walmart and bought him his own camp chair that has a pattern of bears on it! We ended our first day taking Pedro to see the sunset at Mather Point, which is one of the scenic points at the canyon. 

Yes, that kid camp chair is Pedro's. ;)

Look at that elk! That was one of group of 5 that was roaming around the campground!

Sunset from Mather Point

Pedro at Mather Point during sunset!

How deep and how wide!

If you haven't ever been to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, it's really breathtaking when you step out onto the cliff and look down. The canyon is so deep and so wide that there's no possible way to see everything from just one point. We spent 4 days at the Grand Canyon and at every different viewpoint, it was always "AMAZING!" (as the girls would say). The colors, the jagged rocks and
edges of the canyon, the depth of the canyon, it's all just so beautiful no matter where you look!

It just amazes me how much beauty there is in nature that literally is all around me. It just reminds me that I don't need to be at a place like the Grand Canyon to appreciate beauty in nature but I just need to slow down, look around, and notice. Yes this sounds simple but life somehow takes me for a spin and I loose my ability to step on the brake to slow down. Right? I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way at times.

One thing that I really enjoyed was the first night at the Grand Canyon, enjoying the sunset. It was the most the beautiful sunset with all the different colors in the vast immense desert sky and how it changed the look of the canyon to this mysterious looking but a different kind of beauty. The beauty of the canyon at that moment reminded me of how deep and how wide the Father's love is for us. To me, God is a mysterious Father whose love for me is something that is big and beautiful. I mean, seriously, with all my faults, sins, weakness, I find it amazing that God still loves me, "has my back", and continues to walk with me through everything and anything in life. Seriously His love is so deep and wide for me, deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon! How crazy and amazing is that?! I said it earlier in my Instagram post but I'll say it again because it's a truth that I need to be reminded of everyday. How great God is and how vast and deep His love is for me, Dave, and the girls. For He is good and He is bigger than all our biggest fears, worries, and struggles. 

Lent Season in God’s creation

Lent season has started and I found it very fitting that the Sunday before we departed from home on our journey that Pastor Brad spoke about preparing ourselves during this season of Lent. Our journey for us has just begun and we have been away from the comforts of our Silicon Valley home for a full week now. It has been hard to slow down, be in the present, be at peace, and to really soak it all in when you’ve been running at such a fast pace for so long. A lot has happened for our family to be at this point in this season of our lives. God has truly led us to where we are today.

As fun as it is for me to post pictures, blog and write little snippets about our experiences and adventures we have had so far, this journey is so much more than an experience. So, if you have a few minutes or so, I’ll be sharing with you about how our little family got here and why we are on this journey in this season of our life.

Over the past few years, Dave and I have experienced the following as a family and as individuals: loss of loved ones due to cancer or health issues, personal struggles that we individually battle with, and the stress/busyness of living in Silicon Valley. Through all of this, we have been asking ourselves why is that God has placed us in these experiences of loss/grief, personal struggles, and the busyness/stress of living in the Bay. Thus, it has been a journey for both of us in listening for God’s voice in our lives and to listen with discernment through the prayers and words of our community of family and friends. So as we are in the season of Lent, we are leaning into slowing down in order to hear God’s voice more clearly in our lives; searching for His voice for healing, restoration, and what He is leading us into. Therefore, God has led us into this journey of leaving our “day-to-day” life to be in the midst of His creation so that we may be able to center ourselves, be filled, and be more deeply rooted in our faith in God. And so, it is very fitting that during this Lent season, we are giving up our comforts of our Silicon Valley home to take up living simply as a family together in the midst of God’s creation so that we may be able to hear His voice and let Him lead us into the next season of life, whatever that may be. We are living and traveling with open hearts and open hands. Thus, we are embracing our life journey that God is leading us on. 

Slowing down..

End of day 1 and it's been a great day of travel, well despite the beginning hour of complaining and the natives (2 little girls) being restless in the car. Thanks to the Love & Logic parenting seminars that we've been attending at our church because we got to put some of what we learned into practice and let me tell you, it actually worked! I think it even surprised Dave and I that it actually worked. So after a 10 minute pit stop to "get our energy back" (Love & Logic tactic), the rest of our drive to our first destination, Cachuma Lake Recreation Area in Santa Barbara was beautiful and mostly peaceful (keeping it real here because sometimes road trips with little kids can have its challenging times).

Considering we have to drive at 55mph because we're towing "Chopstick" (our trailer), we've noticed how you begin to notice everything as you're driving because you're not flying down the freeway to get to the destination. So, one thing that I've definitely cherished from today is slowing down to notice all the pretty scenery on our drive down the 101South to Santa Barbara. I definitely got into the mode of taking pictures and videos because I just loved seeing all the scenic beauty! Let's just say Joi started telling me to "stop taking pictures and video Mommy, you're doing that too much!" Haha! So something I've appreciated is how traveling today made me slow down to enjoy what I see around me and to capture those moments as memories of the beauty of God's creation. This is definitely something I need as a reminder for everyday. 

Sunset #1 on our journey. An amazing Santa Barbara sunset.

There's something about rolling green hills, trees, and the sun amongst the blue sky. So beautiful and serene.



There's also beauty in precious moments like this.