September 20, 2021 – Monday
Some days can feel like we are barely surviving – like my first day of school post from September 7. And other days we are thriving. This past weekend we were thriving! The joy, peace and strength that comes from times like this is salve to our souls. We are just getting back from a camping trip in DeSmet, SD, on the land Pa Ingalls homesteaded in 1880. This is the beloved land where Laura Ingalls Wilder’s story, By the Shores of Silver Lake, begins.
This trip was many years in the making. We first read Little House in the Big Woods when the children were just four and five. A few years later, in the fall of 2019, we decided to revisit this timeless book, and began the Little House on the Prairie audio series, read by Cherri Jones. The timing was serendipitous as it flowed into the COVID quarantine of spring 2020. As we sat home, isolated from the world we knew, we walked alongside these well-known pioneers who knew isolation on a far deeper level than we could ever imagine.
With an average of a book a month, nine months later we turned the final page of the final book. Laura’s books end with a beginning – The First Four Years. The ending of our journey with Laura coincided with a new beginning of our own. We didn’t finish the Little House series in Colorado where it began, but rather in our new home in the Midwest.
Our last winter in Colorado we spent skiing Buttermilk Mountain. At the time we didn’t know it would be our last - I would probably prefer it that way. We found ourselves time and time again, riding up the mountain, our ski’s dangling, on the Midwest Express lift. Little did we know that our lives were indeed on the Midwest Express.
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Somewhere around book two, the idea to move to the Midwest was put on the table, and by book six we were confident it was where we were being called. As the nine month birthing season winded down, in June 2020, we triumphantly, yet regretfully, finished the series in our new home on the once prairie laden land.
I suppose it may have been easier if we could have fit all of our belongings into a covered wagon. But a mere 130 years later… we needed a moving van. Fortunately that meant that we didn’t have to leave behind sentimental items like the rocking chair we rocked babies in – unlike Ma who couldn’t fit hers in the wagon. We didn’t have to cross a frozen lake or a raging river. Our dog Jack had a cozy spot with us inside the van – we didn’t make him follow on foot like Pa did. But I image that no matter what century we live in, our emotions are unchanging. It is never easy letting go. We were being called out of the comfort of our nest. Our flight feathers were in, and it was time to soar. My pioneer heart understands this.
There are events in life that we coin as serendipitous or chalk up to coincidence, that are simply providence. These events are the divine hand of God orchestrating what the natural mind attempts to explain. The Midwest Express and a nine month birthing process accompanied by our favorite “Pioneer Girl”, are indeed too serendipitous to lack divine intervention.
The books led to the TV series. We did watch most of the episodes during the COVID quarantine, though I omitted some due to difficult content. I was thankful for the Little House on the Prairie Episode Guide that gave us a brief summary of each episode and allowed us to hand select the episodes that were appropriate for our family.
Since our first introduction to the Little House series I have dreamed of visiting the memorial sites with my children. This summer, we were deciding between Walnut Grove, MN and DeSmet, SD. As we were in the process of deciding I was reading the book Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge. In the book she mentioned that one of her all-time favorite places her family had adventured to was camping in a covered wagon on the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, SD. Her story inspired us to do the same. It was the perfect vacation! My little boy said he loved it more than the forest and the ocean. The prairie truly does have something that no other place does.
As we stood there, under the cottonwood trees that Pa planted over 100 years ago, we were in awe of the legacy of this family. A man who had no heirs to carry on his name somehow found himself written into the history of America - all because his courageous daughter shared her story with the world. It make we wonder how many of us have a story inside of us waiting to birthed. As Laura wrote she painted the most beautiful picture of Pa. What is our story that will leave the world in awe of our Pa? My hope is to paint the most beautiful picture of Him and to leave those who cross my path in awe of his goodness
