Safe Haven News for May

What a difference a month has made! 

Since I last wrote, we have stayed in 4 more Airbnb’s! We stayed in one in Texas that was more suburban than the first one that was in downtown Houston. From there, I tried to find another place in Texas and even made reservations at three of them, but they all fell through. So we started looking elsewhere. Gary showed me a cabin in Tennessee, and I suddenly knew! We were supposed to go to the state that I really want to live in. That is, Tennessee or North Carolina. So I started checking out Airbnb’s in Tennessee, and I found a beautiful cabin that I just had to have! So a friend helped us, and we were able to rent this amazing, fabulous cabin that was like a dream. The view from the deck was breathtaking. I sat out there every day and did my tutoring and my praying and listening to the Lord. We were living in luxury.

After that, we went to one in North Carolina. We had to drive through the Smokies to get there. What a beautiful drive! I have been getting my love tank filled up with nature. We ended up on a mountain with some real mountain people, many of whom have lived there all their lives and their families have lived there for generations. We had to drive past several shacks and impoverished houses. It was quite a culture shock for our kids. But the house we stayed in was nice. Once again, I had a deck with a fabulous view to do my tutoring and praying, and listening. Our second Airbnb had 2 really nice gazebos. I spent every day out in a gazebo doing my daily tasks. I have become an outside girl! I didn’t realize how much I had missed nature. Now I just can’t get enough of it. As soon as I get up, I head outside. 

Now we’re in a beautiful mountain house and cabin. The kids have the house, and Gary and I have the cabin. And guess what – there’s a deck! This one is built further down the mountain from the house. So I’m getting some exercise walking down the stairs (and back up) to do my tutoring, praying, and listening on a beautiful deck in the middle of the forest!

When we started in March, we didn’t have any money. We couldn’t leave the house, even though the landlord was insisting and we ourselves wanted to get out of that house. We couldn’t afford to move anything or to put it in storage. A series of very fortunate events started happening so that now we have been able to afford to stay in some beautiful houses worth a small fortune! The Lord provided abundantly above all that we could ask or think. We didn’t have any idea that we were going to stay in one Airbnb after another. We couldn’t see how we could do that. We only knew that we would stay in a hotel for a week. After that, we had no plan, no idea. Possibly going to stay with family who didn’t really have room for us. But that didn’t work out. So the Lord said, “Look for an Airbnb.” And the rest is history! And probably an Airbnb record!

We’re still waiting for our time to settle in our own home. We feel like pilgrims wandering from place to place. But good things are being accomplished during this time. I met a couple of friends in person that I have been friends with online for quite a while. We are checking out the area that we think we want to settle in and finding out what we want and what we don’t want in a house. 

Our hearts are set on pilgrimage. We must be some kind of pioneers.

Psalm 84:5-7 says, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”  

Or, as The Passion Translation puts it:

“How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord; within their hearts are the highways of holiness!”

Psalm 84:5 TPT

“Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears…”

Psalm 84:6 TPT

“They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward, and the God of all gods will appear before them in Zion.”

Psalm 84:7 TPT

Doug Addison wrote a very good post about 3 Keys from Psalm 84 here

that gives us great encouragement and outlines a blueprint for how to walk through the dark days that we are in. 

I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on Jesus as you hear about food shortages, wars, rumors of wars, and economic meltdown. Keep trusting Jesus to take care of you and your family.

As the song goes, “I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor, to the ground. My hope and firm foundation. He’ll never let me down.”

Promises (feat. Joe L Barnes & Naomi Raine) | Maverick City Music | TRIBL

“Great is Your faithfulness to me. From the rising sun to the setting same, I will praise Your name.”

And I’ll end this newsletter with another song from Maverick City.

A “Million Little Miracles” is what we have seen, especially during the month of April. I wrote a caption on one of the pictures I posted on Facebook of me and Gary standing on the deck of the house in Tennessee that said, “Pinch us, we must be dreaming.” That’s how I feel. God has been doing miracle after miracle for us. We are so grateful.

You can find “Million Little Miracles” here:

Million Little Miracles | Elevation Worship & Maverick City

I pray that this little letter encourages you all.

~ Homeschool Corner ~

If you are a homeschooler, I hope that you can see that homeschooling does not have to be perfectly planned and executed. We are amazed to see the plan that God had for us, but we sure didn’t plan any of this. My husband always says we’re strapped into the seat of a roller coaster and we can’t control where it goes or how fast or what curves are coming up or anything else. Our faith is in Jesus as far as taking care of our family, but also in our homeschooling. I could be worried and fearful about the lack of consistent “schooling” I’m able to do right now, but I’m not. I know that the kids are learning important life skills through all of this, including trusting God for everything. And that’s really the most important life skill of all!

The kids are a little tired of having to move so often, but they are real troopers. Morgan has become our chef. He fixes delicious, nutritious dinners for us every night, and sometimes makes crepes for us in the morning. He is constantly searching out inexpensive recipes that stretch really far and taste good. He makes the grocery list and tries to keep the bill as low as possible. The girls pitch in and help him cook, and they are learning some new recipes too. Gary fixed pancakes for everybody the last couple of mornings. We’re so thankful to be in Airbnb’s instead of hotels.

It almost feels like we’re camping. We had a bonfire last night and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Fiona made smores for us. 

And we pray together, asking the Lord, “Where to next?” And we pray for God’s will to be done in our lives and in our nation.

We’ve seen parts of the country we’ve never seen before. It’s a great geography lesson for all of us!

So I’m not concerned about book learning that isn’t happening. We’ll do some more of that when we get settled. Right now it’s all about finding God’s will for our lives and learning how to live by faith.  

The theme for this season is Trust and Obey. With a lot of waiting, endurance, and perseverance thrown in for good measure.

What is your theme for this season?

If you need some new curriculum to change things up a little here at the end of the year, check out my Charlotte Mason-style journals here.

Oh yeah! Happy Mother’s Day! 

I have a great idea! Tell your husband and your kids that you NEED  Short, Powerful Prayers for Busy Homeschool Moms for Mother’s Day. You can get it and my other books here. 🙂

Have a blessed Mother’s Day and a blessed May!

Penney Douglas, B. S. in Ed.

Safe Haven Homeschooling

Linktr.ee/penneydouglas

Changed By Love blog – my homeschool and personal blog

Safe Haven Homeschooling Curriculum