Main Points In This Episode:

1. Evaluate expectations 
2. Be Mission minded 
3. Don’t over delegate
4. Pre-frame your kids’ potential experiences well
5. Don’t fall into the Parenting Promise Trap
6. Don’t let fear hold you back
7. Teach Your Kids, by example, how to live again

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Full Transcript:

Welcome to Courageous Parenting Podcast, a weekly show with parents with biblical truth on raising confident Christian kids in an uncertain world.

Hi, I’m Angie from Courageous Mom, and I’m Isaac from Resolute Man.

We’ve been married for 21 years and have seen the fruit from raising our eight kids biblically. Based on the raw truth found in the

Bible, we can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children. Too many children from Christian families are walking away from their faith by age 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. Join us as we start an important conversation about effective parenting in a fallen world. Welcome back to the podcast.

Hey, everybody, so we are actually on our RV trip.

we are sitting in the RV, the kids are being all quiet for us. We appreciate them so much. That’s right. We wanted to make sure, as always, this comes out on time for you to help. So if you hear some noise in the background, this is real life.

That’s right. So we’ve got quite a few of the kids right here. But they’re going to they’re going to help us out so that you guys can can learn as much as is possible from our honest reflections of vacations

And how to set up your family for vacation success. So if you’re thinking about doing a vacation with your family, regardless of ages, this will be helpful, whether it’s way in the future and you’re desiring it, but you don’t know when or you’re about to do it the summer.

That’s right. So as you guys know, we’ve shared a lot over the last couple of years about annual RV trips. Right Isaac has been something that we’ve actually been doing with our family for about 12 years. We rented before we own and we’ve owned our RV for over a decade now. And it has evolved into something that’s really become a traditional thing with certain missions that Isaac and I have focused on. And we want to share those with you today.

And regardless of whether you’re our viewers or your campers or your hoteliers or whatever you do, it doesn’t matter. It’s these principles will be the same that’s riding on how you travel on your vacation.

So we’re talking about how to set your family for vacation. But before we do, we just wanted to thank you guys again for supporting the courageous parenting legacy movement, the one million legacy movement.

Absolutely. Every time you share, we know you’re part of it. Every time you write a written review or get five stars on iTunes or anywhere else, it is a huge help to get the episode out there and the podcasts out there in the movement out there. And we are so thankful for everybody as part of the Parenting Mentor program. We love talking to you guys that are part of it.

And we’ll just even in the Facebook group, like, I don’t think people really are aware that once they’re in, they’re in indefinitely, right? Yeah. And so we have people from two years ago still piping in on Facebook lives. That really exciting. But the thing I love the most is just today I was in that Facebook group. I was just there for a brief, brief moment. Before we jump to the topic, I was in there and one of the moms was very transparent because most of it well, whenever someone posts in, there is usually a transparent post, right, Isaac? But she was just being honest about her struggle with having more kids. They have four little girls. And I was so impressed that Post was a brand new person. There were already twenty seven comments that were all I will be praying for you and women related and people encouraging one another in the Lord. And there was not one bit of bad advice in those 27 comments, and it was just awesome. The support, the prayers, support just the like mindedness, and that she felt that that was a good place to bring up the struggles that she had.

And I loved her last live where the man asked the first question and lots of men were involved, which isn’t always the same case. Right. But that was really cool. More and more that’s happening. OK, let’s let’s dive in so you can go to CourageousParenting.com for all the free workshops, free resources and the paid ones that support us and help us do and continue doing this and hopefully helps you to at least we hear it is helping people. OK, so first point is evaluate your expectations. This is so important. In fact, within your marriage, you might even have different expectations. Let’s face it, when you have kids, it’s you. We can’t just go, oh, I can’t wait for vacation so I can not have my responsibilities and just lay in the sun all day.

Well, the reality is, is we all have expectations whether they’re voiced or not. So the number one key under these expectations is you actually have to communicate what your expectations, your desires are. And I would say that that starts first between spouses, right. Between the parents. And I think that it’s also healthy in a family meeting to ask the kids what they want. So I remember last year, even we did this six week trip. Right. And we asked the kids if there’s one dream that you would want fulfilled, what would it be? And they were like, oh, I wanna learn how to surf. Remember that. Yeah. And so, you know, there’s there’s two elements to this communicating expectations between you and your spouse beforehand, but also before you leave communicating with your kids also and asking them what theirs are.

So let’s talk about the marriage for a second. And like I said, you might have this rosy picture, but really, I think there’s a better picture, a more fruitful picture of a purposeful vacation. Yes, there’s going to be times of relaxation. But let’s face it, when you’re a parent, you’re working. It’s just a different kind of work and you’re experiencing things together and you’re leading your kids. And I think that makes everything go well when you’re committed to the work. And, you know, you’re not just going to be vacationing, per say, we kind of have to get that term identified because when you’re when you have your kids with you,

You know, it’s not as restful as people would. I would say if I think about vacationing, what are some words that come to mind that most people would think they would think restful. They think maybe even rejuvenating, do whatever I want. They would think out of the ordinary and fun, peaceful, peaceful, you know, so, so comfortable. But if you were to ask kids, I mean, I just said what? Maybe mainly adults probably are thinking of U.S. kids. They’re like fun, adventurous, exciting, do new things, you know, eating out like they’re thinking of all the, like, fun types of things. Right. And maybe maybe you’re an adult. You’re thinking like like the kids. And, you know, that’s cool with you, too.

So I like the ATV rides

Exactly. And so but this is why it’s so important, right. Because different people can have different kinds of expectations regarding vacation. A lot of times that steered based upon what season you just are.

You were just in to ask yourself what are your expectations? And then have a marriage conversation about what are our expectations about this trip. And let’s let’s make sure it’s balanced with purpose towards family unity, towards family growth, towards individual mentoring of your kids and deep conversations and long car rides, memory making memories together versus just escapism, thoughts of fun and comfort and freedom when you know, that’s really not what’s best probably for your family, because there’s an opportunity here to have fun while at the same time being purposeful about it.

So another aspect to this, we were talking to one of our kids about this topic, about what we should be talking about on the podcast. And they gave us some really interesting insight that they’ve noticed that sometimes people have expectations of vacations that are so focused on rest and peacefulness, so much so that they actually approach vacation for more of a selfish perspective rather than a purposeful parenting perspective. And what I mean by that is they immediately look for a hotel where there’s nanny services and Spas and different things like this. Not those things are not necessarily bad as a whole. But are you planning to delegate your God given jurisdiction and potentially miss out on opportunities that could be relationship growing with your kids? Because you are putting rest on such a high pedestal as far as your expectations of what you want for the trip.

What a beautiful challenge. I think there’s a balance of it. Right. Why aren’t enjoy saying it’s like it’s OK to, you know, go out to dinner in and nurture your marriage and get a spa treatment and these things, of course, Angie’s done that. I’m not much of a spokesperson for that or, you know, we’re just different that way. But we make sure you get sense of taste. But but but anyways, it’s a balance, right? Yeah. And I think that our hearts intention makes a world of difference when it comes to moments we need to have patience when we’re actually on the trip. And things definitely things don’t go according to plan. They never do.

Right. You know what’s interesting about this as well is that when you said patients regarding things going to plan as well, that that is actually a conversation for both. Well, I would say more so with the kids, because by this time being a parent, you should be able to get that like, yes, sometimes life things happen, sometimes cars break down. Sometimes you are missing a pull from your tent. Sometimes your air mattress has a hole on. It deflates. Right. But kids kids are still learning because they haven’t experienced as much of life as you have. And so sometimes kids can struggle with having a good attitude and being flexible when things don’t go the way they’re expecting. And what are they expecting? If you communicate something to them, they will be expecting that if you don’t communicate something to them, they’re still expecting something. You just don’t know what it is, right? Yeah. And different kids react differently based upon their personality, how they react to changes in circumstances.

Yeah, absolutely. So nurture that in your marriage, set some good expectations within yourselves, and then expectations with your kids are really important to setting up for flexibility that we we will have a plan, of course, but things aren’t going to go to plan. Tell your kids that up front. Otherwise they get disappointed when things don’t work out. Like, for example, today, you know, we had a slowdown with the RV. There was a problem and I took a couple hours to fix. So, you know, that happens and alters the plan and we have to have flexibility with us. So you have to talk about that ahead of time and set expectations for that, which is good.

I would also say, too, that a lot of times people will often choose not to have a vacation because they feel like they can’t get away from work as often as not. Right. And I would just say, like, hey, you know what? Look at your weekends. If you’re someone who hasn’t really had a track record of doing things out of the ordinary with your family because there are so many opportunities for growth when you do it for us, regardless of when I was doing ministry or when he was working full time or tech company, we have always tried to make time to be able to get away with our family for many different reasons. Right. Whether it’s to recalibrate, to rest or whatever. And so we would encourage you guys like there is no time like today. You don’t know what you have tomorrow. Yeah. And if you have to take work on the road with you in order to make it happen, you still need to do that. But you need to set expectations with your kids. Like, for example, here we are in our RV shooting a podcast and we have five kids awake right now. We have one son sleeping. And we were not expecting to shoot the podcast here, sitting in the front of the RV with rain coming down on us. Right. We were we have a different plan. And so you just have to run with it. You have to be flexible. But you you can see there’s things you can communicate with your kids before you even go on the trip. Like we told them that we were going to shoot a podcast.

Yeah. And I think there’s a good expectation to set, which is that were the goal is to one of the goals become stronger as a family together. That means we’re going to give and take. We’re not always going to get to do exactly what we want to do, because sometimes that only works for certain age groups or it divides the family and sometimes that does work OK and sometimes it doesn’t work. OK, so just encourage you to, like, make sure your kids have that mindset of here’s where we get to grow stronger together. Too many families sometimes you see them, one kids over here by the pool, the other kid has to go and doing something else. The parents are doing something else and they’re on vacation, but they’re missing an opportunity to grow stronger together.

You know, and that’s the other thing, too, is, is there this what are the expectations of the kids like? Are they expecting to be on a beach by themselves doing nothing or and not spending time with the family? Or are they expecting some outings as a family? Right. And that that might be something good for especially people who have kids that are ten years old and older. Yeah. Like to communicate. And ask them what would be the one thing that you just really would love, because good for us parents to know that and to try to surprise our kids sometimes if we can. But then there’s that element of like, hey, buddy, that’s an unrealistic expectation. Like, you kind of need to communicate about like what is a realistic expectation of this time that we’re going to have together so that you set that kid up for success in and not getting impatient or struggling with being inflexible.

I want to take a moment and give you something for free if you haven’t got it already is the date night one. She is a beautiful document you can download that Will has some key questions on it for your date night. Just get in alignment about what’s most important for your family. No matter what time of year, it’s always important to recalibrate. You can get that by going to CourageousParenting.com and subscribing to our mailing list. Also, you can get all of our show notes and everything at CourageousParenting.com. And I also just want to share real quick about the Parenting Mentor program. So many families are being transformed by going through this. It’s the six week self-paced program with live engagement for us and even direct interaction. So if you want to join us, here’s a little bit more about it and you can find out more CourageousParenting.com

Steve and I realized that we were getting too comfortable with the world’s vision of how to raise our children. But Angie and Isaac have done and creating this is literally phenomenal.

This program provided awesome scripture based teachings and just some really great practical applications.

This class has just really rocked my world. It is given me a vision for not just the different things that we might focus on as parents who are trying to raise our kids biblically like how our kids are behaving or what we’re doing with discipline, but also the things of heart.

We now have a game plan to how we want to raise our children. We have so many answers to the questions that have been

In our mind. It’s not just these hypothetical situations or it’s not just this. Here’s what I think you should do. It’s let me show you where in scripture this is. Do your legacy a favor and yourself a favor and just do it. One of the best things that we’ve done this year, one of the best investments we’ve made this year, and I could not recommend it more. We’re no longer fearing

Dark days ahead, but we’re so excited to raise the lights to be leaders for the next

Generation. So our next point has to do with expectations, too. But it’s so important. We wanted to make it its own point, which is be mission minded. That’s right. What do you think about that?

Well, I mean, you guys know our heart for the great commission and being a missionary wherever you are all the time. And that’s something that we’ve really wanted to instill in our kids, that they understand that they are a light, that they are part of the body of Christ, that God has a job for them to do. And part of that is that they get to be a light in how they act when they’re sitting in the restaurant. Right. Do they make eye contact with the waitress? Do they speak respectfully? Do they use manners like please and thank you. Do they ask with politeness or do they have a harsh attitude when you tip, do you tip? Well, because obviously they’re if they see you praying together at the table, we were just talking to some friends about this after church. Right. Just about, you know, Sunday traffic being a waitress. Right. And when people know you’re Christians and you come in, you pray before your meal and then you barely tip, that’s a bad witness. So that’s just one thing on the forefront of my mind is how do we treat the people who offer us services all along our time away? Yeah, whether it’s the person we’re checking into the campground or the busboy or a waitress or someone handing is a towel by a pool. Do we have kindness on our lips? Do we smile with joy or are we respectful and and to teach our kids we used to do this with her kids whenever we want. I remember we said, guys, what what is your job up to show people children are a blessing.

Absolutely. And it’s also for your kids. Your most important disciples are your children. So what an opportunity. Have deep faith conversations. It’s in the RV. I can think in past summer vacation where we talked about the spiritual world that the the the enemy, the evil side and now the spiritual warfare and so forth. And then ask the kids asking, asking kids about their dreams and them sharing candidly. It was wasn’t until an RV trip where some of these things came out or there’s a long expanded time of just being together with no distractions. It’s one of the benefits of when your family goes somewhere is there are no other distractions. There’s not the pressure, which is good pressure for hospitality in the sports or the you know, even, you know, church regularly on Sundays and these kinds of things sometimes

Divided time,

A little break. Just your family can be really, really good. And so be mission minded with your kids to think about what kind of questions you get asked. Kind of. Conversations you can have and that is important, too, and, you know, you said this in the first point, but another point is, if you’re mission minded, you’re far less likely to over delegate your parental responsibilities and you’re far less likely to get selfish about the times and things you want to do on the vacation as a parent when you’re focused on, well, this is an awesome opportunity to uplift, encourage my kids in Christ.

So and I just want to clarify, I don’t want people to misunderstand what I was saying there in the sense of, like, you know, there is a time and a place to go away with your husband, too. Yeah, but this we’re talking about family vacation right now. So different topic. Different topic. That’s a different expectation where maybe you have grandparents or somebody that you can trust that is able to stay with you kids, maybe have older kids that can be in charge, younger kids. That’s a blessing, too. That’s different than this. When you go on a family vacation, your heart attitude and your expectations need to shift more towards how can I be purposeful in parenting, understanding, guess what you guys you are teaching your kids how to do family vacation. You’re modeling for them and what hopefully they will do with your grandkids one day, which is to have those deep personal conversations. It’s to be flexible. It’s yeah. And guess what? Sometimes when you’re together for a long stint of time, sometimes stuff comes out that you didn’t really realize. Was there like a tension in a certain relationship that maybe it was easier to overlook when you were in your house because you could send their kids to separate bedrooms? Or you could just say, oh, gosh, you guys, we have people coming over. We can’t deal with this right now. Right. I know I’ve struggled with that in the past with certain at certain times. Well, when you’re together, you can’t ignore those situations. And you have, like Isaac said, undistracted time where it’s actually the best time to dig into those relational issues.

And it’s such a great time personally to. I know. I mean, there’s different ways to vacation, but when I’m driving the RV, it’s thirty nine feet. It’s a big rig and we’re passing semis in the rain and all these things driving in the dark and driving. We drove right next to New York City, Jersey. Right. You see the Statue of Liberty. That’s how close we were crazy. So all we’ve been all kinds of places, small towns, sea seaport towns, little towns everywhere. And you know what I do? I pray. I pray. Why I’m driving. There’s a reason we’ve been safe. It’s God’s protection. And so I’d encourage you that way, too, and ask your kids to join you in prayer and for other people and for your own protection. And that we get to see things. And as you mentioned before, what’s your heart’s desire to the kids? And we pray about these things and we would see them happen and we rejoice and give God the glory. You’re going to miss out praising God and giving him the glory, if you don’t include your kids in the prayer and prayer requests that need God for them to happen,

That even reminds me of like when we did our three month RV trip and we were driving back to the Grand Teton specifically because it was one of our kids birthdays and we gave them the choice of where they wanted to land on their birthday and Tetons or this other place. And they said, of course, I want to go back to the Tetons and we’re driving towards it. And it’s right where you can see, like, huge, beautiful mountains. And it’s just like raining rain’s coming down like crazy and it’s overcast and cloudy. You can’t see it. And Isaac, you encouraged one of our little guys to pray with you about it. And we literally saw God answer those prayers and just the the surprise and the delight in the joy in that kid’s face as God was answering each of their prayers one by one. It was incredible because actually that story, I think there was no rain at first, but there was tons of bugs all over the windshield, so we couldn’t see very well. Then you prayed for rain and then you prayed for God to stop the rain. It was just like this. Boom, boom, boom.

It was it was remarkable. You know, there was no rain. We needed rain to clean the bugs. They were caked on. And then all of a sudden it starts raining. And then I asked you, me and the kid asked, you know, that it would stop raining and the sun would come out and boom. Right. But when we got to the Tetons, the spot that’s just beautiful and epic. It was this extraordinary mix of some clouds with sun breaking through, hitting the mountains, clear view of the mountains, an extraordinary image.

It was like these simple things that we take for granted. Like God, we teach our kids that God wants to know all of your heart’s desires. He wants you to pray to him about all things. And so it’s just really there. There are those kinds of moments, too, like the RV breaking down and thanking God that it wasn’t a bigger situation on a different part of that trip. Right. Well, we smelled something gasoline wise and there was a motor leaking underneath. And, you know, it could have been dangerous. But praise God, we. No one was hurt, and so there have been many different opportunities, challenges, if you will, where God has strengthened our faith, our kids faith through the power of prayer, and we’ve seen him work in mighty ways and seen divine appointments come out of it, which is part of being mission minded, actually, on your trip and praying ahead of time. So this is about preparing your family for having success. And if one of your goals is to be a missionary, where we at that should be part of your conversation, prevacation, where you’re setting them up and saying, hey, guys, you should be praying for right now if God has any divine a plan is for you on this vacation.

Yeah, it’s not like God stops and goes, oh, you’re on vacation. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens.

I mean, you’re on vacation. Don’t be a witness. Yeah.

Yeah. It’s like nothing is paused. Right. You know, what Paul talked about in the Epistles is true that you’d be joyful in all circumstances and your kids are watching. So you’re modeling for them how to be with their kids someday on vacation and was set to set the stage for that, which is super cool. And the last point we have for you guys, we have been talking about this in essence throughout. But it’s really important as you’re setting up your vacation to pre frame their experiences. That’s talking in advance about the good things, the challenges, the potentialities of the trip in a way that helps them think about it ahead of time. So they respond well if and when those things happen. In reality, I used to do this in business all the time when I manage lots of teams and it’s such a key leadership skill and you’ve got to do that with your kids, too. So no matter what happens, they’ve kind of already, in their mindset, been prepared for that possibility.

I think that part of reframing to is sharing with them your desire to make things happen, but also the reality of what could happen. Right, so that they hold things loosely and then teaching them that concept is kind of like right now, you guys know I’m pregnant, I’m due in just a few weeks holding. I’m holding my birth plan open loosely to the Lord. Only God knows when the baby’s going to be born. But the truth is, is only God knows what your vacation holds for you. So anything you do in life, we have to surrender it back to the Lord. We can make plans, but we need to surrender those plans back to the Lord and that this is an opportunity. Teach your kids that right to go. OK, well, this is going to be our plan. We’re planning to go here and then here and then here and and we’re planning to do this and this and this. But, guys, we need to really be praying about it because this needs to happen in order for that to happen. And this needs to happen in order for that to happen. And you know what? Something could happen on the trip, too. And we used to talk to our kids about this. We still talk to our kids about this to where now when we’re going on a trip, there’s less of a need for preferring me with the olders. But we’re doing the younger’s where it’s like, hey, actually, I’m not making a promise. I just want you to know for sure this is not a promise. But we’re going to try right now.

See, you brought up such a key word. Too many parents fall on the to the promise trap. And the promise trap is you want things to happen so that your kids desires. So you say this is going to happen. But remember, only God can make sure something happens. You have such limited ability actually to make sure something happens.

Control is actually such an illusion.

So let’s stop like promising because that hurts you. You can say things like, we hope this happens. We put things in place, we made reservations, but it’s if God wills,

If the Lord Wills and the Lord

If the Lord Wills and let’s spiritualize it. Aren’t we supposed to

Spiritualize our lives? Well, Lord, we will do this right. And it’s the same thing. It’s the same prayer. And and part of preframing me too is that you pray with your kids ahead of time for a safe trip. For right now, we’re praying that the baby stays in mom’s tummy right long enough to get back, because I would like to actually have the baby at home and not on the road.

And I know you are experiencing some control problems, aren’t you, honey?

With that,

Yeah. Have didn’t I have to tie your shoes this morning?

Oh, you’re so funny. I hit that stage where I can’t really reach my toes.

She’s like, I feel like a two year old at a time. I was laughing. I was laughing at her.

Yeah. We really had to go through this nine times when you hit that part of pregnancy when you can’t reach your shoelaces. But anyway, so, you know, you have to go through God. Let’s just go through these little mini boot camps because it’s sanctified in that we have to be patient and ask for help and do different things. And you know what? There is probably an element where the kids are even like, why isn’t mom walking faster sometimes? But you know what? They keep that to themselves.

You know what a great tragedy is? A great tragedy is a desire to the. But because of fear of how your kids will behave, you don’t a great tragedy is a desire to do great experiences with your family, but I’m too fearful to learn how to do something new, do something new or, you know, I’m too fearful of this, that or the other thing. And so fear holds you isolated and prevents experiences that are rewarding.

I just have to bring something up in regards to that, because you have been driving this RV for a long time. But what a lot of people don’t know, it’s kind of like the assumption that they make that we always wanted to have a big family, which is not true, actually. We set out to have a big family that’s in a different podcast. Isaac actually didn’t have any experience driving 40 foot or thirty nine foot rigs. Before we started

It, no, no, no, no. And I but I believe that I can do things because I know God can help me do things.

And so teachable heart and you

Learn I have a teachable heart. So when I need to do something really important, I interview the person that knows. So the guy who rented our first RV from is longer. And this one’s 40 foot beautiful. He only rented it a few times a year, like a two hundred and twenty thousand dollar rig. And so first time I’m driving one of these and he trusts me with it. And so I just asked him lots of questions. I asked if you would, you know, help me drop it off so I could watch him drive. And I sat next to him and and I talked to he gave me warnings and situations and, you know, we drove to California back and we were totally fine. I just think that, you know, it’s not my ability. It’s I pray when I still pray when I’m driving, I’m like, wow, this is a big rig. Hmm. I, I pray that everything keeps working while I’m driving on this fast road 80 miles an hour. Yeah.

Yeah. And it’s a teamwork thing. You know, I, I this is not a plug for like getting an RV, just using our RV as an example that a lot of times people go, oh, I’ve never driven something that big. So the fear of trying it is why I’m never going to do it. And that would be like me when we had a boat way back when we were first married for like six, seven years, we married, we had a little little Bayliner risky boat. And I remember how hard it was trying to learn how to back the four runner up with the trailer on it to get the boat on it. But I had to keep trying and keep trying till I got it. Yeah, but I’ll be honest, like I thought, I’m never going to get this. And then I did finally get it. But see, this is the thing, though, is how many people don’t ever buy a boat because they’re scared to back a trailer in and maybe that doesn’t matter. You’re laughing as you’re saying this because you grew up doing that. But everybody has a thing that they are potentially fearful of doing with their kids, whether it’s, oh, well, there’s like six of us. And I would never want to go to an amusement park because trying to keep track of everybody, I’d be all stressed out or, you know what I mean, or rafting or doing something that’s a little more adventurous just because maybe you don’t you’re not the strongest swimmer or things like that. Right. So I would just encourage you to step out of your comfort zone in some of these things. You want to be safe, be safe.

And just because us or anyone else is doing something, you don’t need to do the same thing.

So be safe for sure. Know your limitations. But at the same time, don’t allow fear to squelch the the potential adventures you could be having with your family, the things that are going to make memories.

Yeah. And if you care about not wearing a mask and you live in places where you can get to that, where you cannot wear a mask, choose those places. Right. That’s what we’re doing right now. Just in the in the

We just had to walk out of a place actually that we were going to try to sit and do our podcast in because they were requiring masks here in Utah.

Can you imagine wearing a mask, shooting a podcast?

No kidding me. I’m having a hard enough time being eight months pregnant.

We don’t wear masks.

Yeah. So but yeah, that’s us. So, you know, guys, I hope that overall, when you are thinking about this summer and how you’re going to do something with your family, because part of the reason why we’re doing this is because a lot of people are not living right now. They’re not doing things that they normally did because they’re still being controlled by these ridiculous covid restrictions. Yes, I said that it’s been over a year, OK? And it is time to show our kids how to live again. That’s why we did our RV trip last summer in June and July, because we had Covid in March and we thought, you know, we’re done with it, we’ve had it. There’s no fear. Let’s go.

Yeah. We’re not going to bow to the global reset idol and all these things happening, our preparations for a bigger thing. And we’re just not going to bow down to it. We’re not going to be obedient to it.

And I will say I just want to bring something else up as far as preframing this and encouraging you to do something with your family this year, there is an aspect to like that is a lot of people are going to be able to fly. Right, because there are some places are going to start requiring, if they’re not already vaccinations to fly and not everybody’s succumbing to that. Right. And so more people are going to be potentially left to the only option of road tripping somewhere, whether that’s in an RV or a trailer or driving to a hotel somewhere and camping along the way or just driving to a closer location. And I actually think that that can be almost even better for families because it’s closer proximity and you’re going to have to do stuff together, which can be a good thing. Back to the such a good thing.

Back to the old times.

Well, that’s how it should have always been. But the reality is that a lot of people are fearful of going anywhere. Thinking that everywhere in the United States or in the world is like what they’re experiencing, where they are, and I just have to tell you, from experience, it’s not the same place everywhere.

It’s just not. One state to another in the U.S. and one country to another.

It is. We saw that last year in June and July when we visited eight states in six weeks. And then we came back to Oregon and we were like, this is the worst of all eight states. Like but we would not have known that if we had not left and had our eyes open, evaluating and seeing how local government was affecting local citizens. And so I tell you this to give you hope, because if you are in a place where things are just locked down so tight and there’s been fear mongering and such an incredible way, because I know many of you have messaged me about this, it is not the same everywhere. And if you want to get out and see, you can

And what a great opportunity maybe to look at places you might want to move. And if you feel like it’s impossible for you to move, but you desire that. What a beautiful thing for God to do for you because you pray with your kids. It’s what a wonderful thing. Well, there’s no way because our careers here in this. Not now. OK, God can snap his fingers.

It’s all about his will and following where he wants you right then. And there’s no and there’s no it’s not what other people are doing. It’s what God wants for you and your family. And sometimes it can seem like the most countercultural thing. But then when you get there and you have hindsight and you see all the blessings, you see all the things that God did, you have no question in your mind

You usually are most important in hindsight are most important decisions were the hardest to make. And everyone around us or most people around us go, what? Why are you doing that? Yeah. And in fact, as we look back when it comes to marriage, parenting or even our lifestyle or what we’re doing, even sometimes the people closest to us have gone that looks strange.

But then they later go, Oh, I’m so glad you did that. Or, you know, it’s just funny how that all the story changes. But, you know, it’s it’s interesting, you guys. So I just want to encourage you, because I know that this is still a crazy time, the the last aspect of an encouragement during these weird times that we are in these uncertain times. And I say in certain purposefully in that sentence is that we look back on our three month RV trip, which was three and a half years ago, so fondly. But now we look at it with a different perspective because we go we might not have been able to do that in now in the same kind of way just because of how certain states have reacted to the pandemic. Right. Yeah, there’s there are places that we no longer even want to go because why would we go somewhere that is more locked down so that we can just wish that we were at home in Idaho because it’s free. Like that doesn’t make us on a vacation. And so my point is, is like you guys, we don’t know how much longer we’re going to have state to state freedoms in that regard. Yeah. And so seize the moment. Yes. Take advantage of the fact that right now you can cross borders, you can do things but be wise. And as you’re choosing the location of where you’re going, you do need to actually add an element that you’ve never had to add before, which is what are the statewide and county wide restrictions. And that should be part of your decision making process.

Well, hey, thanks for joining us. And you can follow us on Instagram or elsewhere for our stories about our trip.

That’s right. See you next time. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode. For more resources, go to CourageousParenting.com and CopurageousMom.com for free online workshops, blog posts and best selling courses. Also, we wanted to quickly tell you about our six week online parenting mentor program, Isaac and I created a powerful biblical curriculum. Here’s how it works. Each week we release a video with a downloadable parenting package to make it easy for you to incorporate those teachings directly into your parenting.

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