Letters From Home: Little Tent

Dear Loved Ones,

A few weeks ago David and I set up our little two person tent in Addison's room as a surprise for her. We knew she would like it, but we had no idea just how excited she would be to have to have this special space! As she was helping me set it up again last night, it go me thinking about how much I treasure our little tent. If you know me well, you know that I am a very sentimental person. So as our family has grown we have thought about replacing it, but I can never do it because this little tent just holds too many wonderful memories!

This space has also been a place where God has worked on my heart. Now, we love making our adventures about sharing our love of God's creation with Addison and Dodson, but it has taken practice. Before we had kids, when David and I would go into the wilderness, or even to just a campground on our own, it would make me come alive. When we had Addison this fire in me had to battle being dampered out by fear, safety details, extra packing, and even my own selfish desires. It didn't come naturally to me initially, and even though there are still times where I forget essentials (like shoes🙄), God still uses the time to create precious moments for our family. I am learning to find the balance between nurturing the embers within our children, and feeding the fire within myself.

I look forward to a more spacious addition, but until then, here is a little look back on some Holcomb family adventures in our liitle tent:

Earlier this day we had found our tent with our best friends at an REI garage sell. We were all living up in Washington, which is where we fell in love with hiking and backpacking. We were so excited about all of our camping dreams, that we set it up for the first time in Joe and TiAnna's apartment living room and snapped this picture :)

Miss Addison Jane, three months old and happy to be Mama and Daddy's little camping guinea pig. We had no idea how to camp with a baby, so we chose Champoeg State Park. It was beautiful and only about 25 minutes from home in case we needed to make the quick drive in the middle of the night.

This is one of my very favorite backpacking memories! The beautiful Mirror Lake was the view that we woke up to with the peak of Mt. Hood close behind it. We had hiked in to the lake by the light of our head lamps and eaten fresh hot fajitas by our fire at 2:00 in the morning. This trip did not go as planned AT ALL, but I loved ever minute of it.

I do not recommend going camping on the coast when there is a fire ban. Thankfully we were there with my parents and brother's family so the fun we had with them made up for the lack of heat and ambiance. Plus, look how cute Addison was all snuggled in next to her Daddy. ;)

Do we look tired? We were! This is where we laughed at ourselves for the days when we thought camping with a baby was going to be tricky. As a baby we just had to keep her warm. Now we had to make sure our new little walker was warm and safe! As exhausted as I remember being, it was so worth the excitement in her face when she really saw her first fire, watching her nap out in the fresh air, seeing her laugh at Brody catching bubbles, hiking the days away, and the sweet scene of her tucked in between David and I with Brody at her feet.

This trip, our little collapsible home was a space of healing for our hearts. It is hard to see in the picture, but just a few days prior Addison had been bitten in the face by a dog that we love (not Brody). We has asked her urgent care doctor if we should cancel our trip to Cape Perpetual and he told us to go, but keep her face out of the sun. I am so glad we did!

I thought I was setting it up to make sure it was all clean, but she had a better idea. Addison is always teaching me to find the joy in the simple things.