Why we did it

Some people might ask,
“Why on earth would you want to live in a camper with five kids?”

People shake their head and think we are crazy. Or maybe they are one of many people that look wistfully at us and say,

“Oh, I have always wanted to do that. You are so lucky.”

Many people have dreamed of doing this, selling and storing our belongings and hitting the open road. It was a big decision for us.

It started October, 2007. We were at a church camp out. We had such a wonderful time, we had a great camp site. We stayed a lot longer than everyone else.

Shae looked at me and said, “I could do this full time.”

I was extremely shocked. He loved our home. I had brought up this idea years earlier, when he worked on the road, but he said he likes a home to come back to. We began talking about the idea of selling the house and being debt free. We talked about spending more time as a family. We discussed the benefits and negatives of actually doing a trip like this. We prayed a lot. We really sought God on His will. We did hours and hours of research to find out what kind of camper to get, the best truck to pull it, how much campgrounds would cost, where we might travel, affects on the kids, our marriage, family, the kids education, when we would settle back down, and many more topics.

After weeks of this, we thought we would like to do this.

We then turned to some people we felt could advise us on this decision. The bible says there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. We went to our Grandmother. She has traveled extensively, raised her children, and has been a constant encourager with home schooling. She told us her thoughts and concerns. We went to our pastor and sought his wisdom. We felt strongly after all of this that this was the right thing for us to do.

Then, the work began!
Yikes!

Doing this kind of trip is not easy. It was very difficult to get things done. I am so thankful we did, though.

Now that it has been a while, people wonder if we regret it...
not a chance...

To read my thoughts on this after almost one year of travel, scroll down:)

1. We truly feel that this is best for our family.
2. We want to take more time as a family to know God better and have a deeper relationship with Him.
3. We want to have more time for each other. It seemed like the things of the world were demanding more and more of our time, and we had less and less for each other.
4. Teach our children to love God, each other, and other people. We hope to reach out to lots of people and show them an unconditional love. So many people are hurting and in need of a friend.
5. It is great to be debt free! We felt very strongly that we needed to get out of debt. Shae lost his job one month after we sold our house! Thank goodness the house sold when it did. It would have been very hard to make it those three months with little income. Shae is back working now, and even got a pay increase!
6. We need a bigger home. We have six kids, the old house was not set up for that. We are hoping to make some money while traveling and then buy a large piece of land, 80 - 200 acres. We want enough land so our children can ranch it and also build homes on it. Of course, I would love to do this debt free, so pray for the Lord to show us what to do as a business to make some big money this year.
7. What a great education! Instead of reading about history and geography, we are actually seeing, touching, walking, hiking, kayaking, four wheeling, smelling, tasting, hearing, feeling these things. What a great opportunity for our children’s education!

There are more reasons, for now, this is all I have time to put. It was a huge sacrifice to do this trip. It was very hard to get ready and finally leave. We have had many hard times while we have traveled, but the good times out weigh the hard. The good things are worth the cost. It has been wonderful, exhilarating, incredible, wild, fun, sweet, emotional. We are so thankful we did this and are excited for our next adventure!

Sheri