Ensey Come, Ensey Go...

San Frantastic

2015-05-17T00:25:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since our last blog! We have been SO insanely busy here in California, sightseeing, visiting with family and friends, and having a blast with the kids, that blogging has been the last thing on my mind (although Jonathan has continually pestered me to get one written!)

When Jonathan finished our last post, we were in San Diego heading to meet our friends, the Sargents, for dinner (where we had insanely good pizza at a place called Urbn). They invited us to join their church the next day for an Easter egg hunt and picnic at a local park. The kids had so much fun, and Annie Jane & Jack both won a prize egg! They were thrilled! It was recommended we follow that with a local snow cone stand called Baltimore Snowball. Y'all, I'm a snow cone junkie, so I can say with some certainty that this was the best snow cone EVER! I had the piña colada which has a layer of marshmallow cream in the bottom of the cup, followed by shaved ice soaked in about half a gallon of piña colada flavoring, topped with a TON of sweetened, condensed milk, then topped with more marshmallow cream! I was in heaven for the ten minutes it took me to eat it all!

The next day was Easter Sunday. We woke up super early in order to get everyone all dolled up for church, open Easter baskets, have breakfast, then make the hour drive from our RV park across town to the Sargent's church in time for Jonathan to be there for the 9am music practice. The Easter service was beautiful; Jonathan and the praise team did an awesome job on their song, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time at The Point Church with the Sargent family.

After we got back to our RV park that evening, the kids asked if they could go play in front of the RV while I worked in the house. I let them go as long as they promised not to destroy anything (one of our children, who shall remain nameless, is prone to destroying valuable things when left to his own devices.) They all ran outside and I sat down to read a book. After about 20 min, I hard the front door slam open and Grey scream "MAMA!!! There's water EVERYWHERE!! HEEEEEELLLLLP!" He then slammed the door shut and ran to his room in a panic. I immediately heard Annie outside start to scream like you wouldn't believe, so I jumped up and ran to the door were I discovered our living room was completely soaked! I could hear water hitting our front door like it was being sprayed from a fire hose, and Annie Jane screaming her head off while banging on the door. I threw the door open and Annie and about a million gallons of water all flew through the door simultaneously! I screamed for Jonathan to come help, as I dragged Annie through the door and wrapped her in a towel. Luckily, Jonathan had his swimming clothes on already, and was able to run outside and figure out what was going on and where the torrential downpour of water was coming from. Come to find out – after a few minutes of interrogation – Grey admitted that he had tripped over the PVC pipe (poor planning on the park's part...most places have copper pipe) that housed the water supply to the site next to us, causing the pipe to snap off at the ground, and water to shoot fifteen feet in the air, soaking our site and blowing water against the door of our RV at a speed you wouldn't believe! Poor Annie had been standing on the stairs of the RV when the water started spraying, and Grey had locked her out, hence the terrified screaming. Haha Poor baby was traumatized!

Since this happened on a Sunday, there was no staff at the park to help us shut the water off, and they had no emergency number listed to call for help. Luckily some of the nice residents who live full time at the park came to our rescue and tried for over an hour to turn off the water while Jonathan had to stand and hold one of my cooking pots over the burst pipe to keep the water from soaking our RV further. After a very long soggy hour had passed, someone located the maintenance man, and someone else figured out how to turn off the water to the park. Another hour later and the deluge had subsided and the pipe was fixed thanks to the maintenance man and about 20 very helpful park residents!

The next morning we packed up and headed to Los Angeles. We had searched high and low and couldn't find a single RV park in the LA area that would work, either because they couldn't fit our RV, they didn't have availability, or they were too expensive. Fortunately, Jonathan's Uncle Joel and Aunt Jaime very kindly offered to let us stay at their home in Corona until we could find a park that could accommodate us. They even have a space for the RV beside the house, so it was perfect! We were so grateful for their hospitality during the week we were with them! We enjoyed spending time with them, and our kids fell in love with Aunt Jaime...letting them talk to her non-stop and making them food may have had something to do with it. ;) The kids were also able to swim in their beautiful pool every day, and were so sad to leave it when the time came! While there, we were able to hang out with Jonathan's other aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a wonderful day at Steve & Donna Luce's house, barbecuing and watching the kids swim and play. Afterward, Donna insisted that we had to try a local donut shop near their house, so we all loaded up and headed over to The Donut Man, where we got some of the prettiest and most delicious donuts ever! (Not quite on Shipley's level, but definitely very close! ;)

We were finally able to locate an RV park with availability and enough space for our rig. We packed up the RV and very carefully squeezed out of Joel and Jaime's driveway without destroying too much of their property. ;) The park we moved to was just outside of Riverside, in Rancho Jurupa. It was a gorgeous area and the park was pristine with tons of great amenities for the kids to enjoy. We spent a week in Riverside while Jonathan worked in the area. While we were there, my parents came into town, and while my dad and Jonathan worked, the kids and I spent a couple of days hanging out with my mom. The next week, Jonathan had a trade show in Huntington Beach, which my parents and I were helping with, so my wonderful mother-in-law flew in and stayed with the kids. Even though it was work, we were at a nice resort and a week away from the kids was heaven!

The show ended on Thursday, but we went ahead and spent Friday at the hotel, just decompressing from the week. We both got massages, and then headed to Laguna with my parents to eat at Las Brisas, one of their favorite little restaurants by the water. That Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to meet Jonathan's mom and get the kids in time for her to fly home. Then we met my parents for breakfast so they could see the kids before they flew out. When we got back to the RV park, Jonathan went to see if we could extend our stay, but he had accidentally only booked through that day, and they didn't have any available spaces, so what we thought was going to be a relaxing Saturday turned into a whirlwind as we quickly packed up the RV and headed out. Since we were having to move, we went ahead and headed toward the coast, stopping in Santa Clarita for a couple of days. While we were there, we found an amazing little burger place called Bricks. Yum!

From there, we headed straight to San Francisco. Our park was just north of the city, about 10 minutes beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, so Jonathan drove the RV straight through the city and across the bridge. We definitely got some odd looks! We didn't arrive until evening, so after we got the RV set up, we ran to grab a quick bite to eat. As we were finishing dinner, I started having contractions. By the time we made it back home, I was still having them, and they were getting closer together. For the next hour, I was sick a couple of times, and we debated whether or not we should wait to see if the contractions stopped or if we should go to the hospital. Then I started shaking to the point that I couldn't stop, and I think it freaked Jonathan out enough that he decided to take me to the Emergency Room. I was quickly admitted, and after a few routine checks and questions, they determined that I was severely dehydrated, and that was what caused the contractions. Thankfully, both Emery and I were fine and they sent us home after a couple of liters of fluid. By the time we got home, it was almost 2AM, and we were all exhausted. We spent the next few days seeing the sites: Muir Woods (redwoods), driving up the Pacific Coastal Highway, visiting Napa and Sonoma, and touring around the city. We went into the city several times, riding a cable car, seeing the Full House house, wandering through Chinatown, Little Italy, the Mission District, Japantown, and all along the wharf. This was our first time to visit San Francisco, but it definitely won't be our last...we are in love with the city and this area! We also visited the Winchester House (if you don't know, look it up!), and stopped by Apple's Headquarters, just to see where all the magic happens. ;)

This past Saturday, Jonathan and the kids surprised me with some wonderful Mother's Day gifts! Then on Sunday we attended church at Abounding Grace, pastored by Rev. Mark Morgan, and had a wonderful service. After a great week, we headed to Yosemite a couple of days ago. We spent yesterday touring Yosemite, seeing the sequoias, El Capitan, the Half Dome, and a couple of the beautiful waterfalls in Yosemite Valley. It feels a little like Thanksgiving...the weather has been in the forties, slightly overcast, with a little rain, but it's absolutely gorgeous here!

We have some news, but I'll let Jonathan announce that in our next blog. Until next time!

-M

Beauty and Pain

2015-04-03T18:29:00.003-05:00

It's been exactly three weeks since our last post, which is admittedly much too long, (we're sorry!) but it's been busy. We spent four wonderful days in Albuquerque and took a day trip over to Santa Fe. We wandered around old downtown in Santa Fe, enjoying the eclectic blend of local art. In Albuquerque, we visited the Petroglyph National Monument, a fantastic collection of Native American and Spanish art carved into rocks, most of which are around 700 years old. I had a few offices to visit in both cities, but we had plenty of down time to relax and enjoy the amazing weather. The temperature was in the high sixties each day and in the forties at night, but the kids did happen up a few holdover patches of snow to play in. They were in hog heaven.

On Saturday the 14th, we left New Mexico and headed to Williams, AZ, a small holdover town on old Route 66, about thirty minutes west of Flagstaff. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, which turned out to be the nicest RV park we've stayed at on our trip so far. Aside from being extremely well kept and centrally located in town, it had a shuttle service, an indoor pool, an outdoor playground, and a scenic train onsite that runs up to the Grand Canyon, which was about an hour north. On Monday the 16th, I had to visit a client in Prescott, which was about an hour south, so I loaded up the whole family and we made it a day trip. After finishing my appointment, we headed over to Jerome, a crazy town situated on the side of a mountain in the Black Hills. It looks like the town's main source of revenue is now tourism, but it has retained the look and feel from it's glory days when it drew thousands of people because of it's rich copper mines. After a quick visit there, we headed over to Sedona. The red rocks, canyons, and mountains in this whole area are truly amazing, and we were treated to a beautiful ride back "home."

The next day we went to Bearizona, a unique drive-through wildlife park. We got to see bighorn sheep, wolves, bison, bears, and an assortment of other animals. After driving through the park, you get to park and walk into a fort that they've fashioned to house an additional assortment of animals, many of which you can touch and see up close. The kids loved it...and so did we!

Since Wednesday was our last day in the area, we wanted to make sure we had the chance to visit the Grand Canyon. You have several different options for viewing the Grand Canyon, either on foot or by car. Because we wanted to see as much as we could in just a few hours, we opted to drive and park along the way. As we pulled up to the first stopping point, we all just sat in amazement. Pictures never do it justice, and it would be impossible for me to describe it in a way that would accurately portray just how awe-inspiring it is. Just the sheer size is breathtaking. As you sit and stare down into the canyon and across the expanse, you can't help but admire the handiwork of our incredible Creator. We drove the 25 mile trail, stopping numerous times along the way for pictures, and ended our tour at the South Rim's watchtower, which was built in 1932 to give an unmatched view of the canyon below.

On the 19th, we packed it up and headed south to Phoenix. Well, sort of. Let me first give you a little backstory about how I find parks for a location so that you can appreciate the craziness of what I'm about to tell you. Usually two to three days before we head to a new location, I start looking for an RV park where we can stay. We're members of several different RV clubs that offer discounts (Passport America, GoodSam, Escapees), so naturally I begin by looking for parks that participate with those clubs. Passport America provides a 50% discount on nightly rates, GoodSam provides 10% off, and Escapees provides 15%-50% (but doesn't have as many participating parks). Generally, I'll look at my Passport America app and see what parks participate, then GoodSam, and so on. As I started looking through the options in Phoenix, I began noticing that all of the parks I was finding were "age-qualified," meaning that you had to be 55+ to stay there. After exhausting all of my clubs without finding one single park that wasn't age-qualified, I visited my good friend Google. After a couple of hours of increasingly frantic searching and calling parks, I finally found two parks that were in relatively good locations that looked like they might work for us. The first one I called was completed full, and the second one didn't have space for an RV our size. However, I did learn an interesting piece of information from that first park: there are 128 large RV parks in Phoenix; of those parks, only 6 of them are not age-qualified. That blew me away! I knew Phoenix was a retirement and snowbird mecca, but still. Unfortunately for us, of the remaining 6, only 2 weren't completely full, and of those 2, one couldn't accommodate our size RV, and the other was astronomically expensive (think small apartment rent expensive...for only a week stay!). That forced me to start looking at alternatives, meaning suburb cities with parks. Needless to say, we finally found a park about 30 minutes west of Avondale, which is already a western suburb of Phoenix.

I've been to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area many times, and enjoy the town immensely, but I had forgotten how beautiful the countryside is between Flagstaff and Phoenix. About an hour and a half north of Phoenix, you'll find some of the most gorgeous valleys and mountains you've ever seen. We were pleasantly surprised with all the green, especially after spending a couple of weeks in the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. It was a welcome sight! The week we spent in Phoenix was fairly uneventful. We were able to attend service both Sunday and Wednesday at a great church in Peoria, and lucked out Sunday by finding a free RV show to attend (like we need one...). Most of the week, I spent visiting clients in Phoenix, and one day I drove down to Tucson to visit clients there as well. With me having to work quite a bit, Molly and the kids were able to knock out a bunch of schoolwork. We did manage to visit another Rudy's while there, probably our last chance to get some good Texas BBQ until we get back home.

After we got home from church last Wednesday, we were all cleaning up to make sure everything was ready so we could roll out the next day. As Molly and I were cleaning up the living room, we heard a horrible scream of pain coming from the kids bedroom. Jack soon emerged, blood quickly filling his mouth. As I grabbed him and took a look, I could see one of his teeth sticking very far forward. My first assumption was that it was a baby tooth that he had knocked loose, but after trying to move it and see if it was loose, the tooth didn't budge. It was lodged firmly in place; he had ripped the tooth forward, gum and all, with the roots still attached. At that moment, I had that surge of adrenaline hit when all is not well. He had been attempting to extend his toy lightsaber, and when it didn't come out, he had tried to use his teeth, which obviously didn't end well. We quickly debated about what to do, then all loaded up and headed toward the nearest ER (keep in mind, this was at 11:30pm or so, and the closest ER was 35 minutes away). As we drove, Molly and I talked through what to do, and it was my opinion that they would probably just give him some pain medication and tell us to visit a pediatric dentist the next day. When we got to the ER, I decided to see if I could gather some info before admitting him. I took Jack in by myself, and was fortunate to have a doctor walk up behind the counter in the ER, just as I was asking the staff at the front what they recommended. (Keep in mind that they can't give you any advice whatsoever for fear of legal repercussions, but that wasn't going to stop me from asking.) I showed the doctor his tooth, told her what happened, and asked if they would actually treat him or simply give him meds and refer him to a dentist. She told me that she couldn't tell me what to do, but that they don't have dentists on staff, and while they can pull a tooth and treat an infection, they couldn't do any type of oral surgery. I asked if she was recommending me to simply take him to a pediatric dentist the next day, and she coyly asked me what I thought. I told her I thought that was a "yes,", and was awarded with a smile that told me I was right. We exited and headed straight to a Walgreens to get Jack some children's pain medication. I also called two local pediatric dentists and left messages, asking them to please call me back if they could get him in first thing in the morning. By this point, his pain wasn't as intense; by the time we arrived back home (around 1:15am) and he had taken some medicine, he was feeling much better. After falling asleep a little after 2am, I was jarred awake at 6:45am by one of the offices calling to let me know they could see Jack if we could get there by 7:40 (remember we're about 35 minutes away). After taking a few minutes to wake myself up (the 4.5 hours weren't enough), I hurriedly dressed, snagged Jack of the couch, and away we went. Understandably, Jack was apprehensive, and knowing how skittish he is, I was a little apprehensive myself. I could not have been more blown away by the dentist's office. It was completely decorated with a jungle theme and had arcade games and tablet pads for the kids. By the time they were ready for Jack, he hadn't even been thinking about his tooth. The chair they put him in to check him out was positioned beneath a tv on the ceiling with cartoons, which held his attention while they looked at the damage. After a quick x-ray, they took us to a private room, and after a few minutes of nitrous (laughing gas) a little numbing gel, and a local shot to make sure he was numb, the dentist came in and removed the tooth in less than 45 seconds. The beautiful thing was that his tooth needed to come out anyway to make room for the adult tooth beside it, so even though it was a little traumatic, it was necessary! The whole experience was as easy as one could hope for in a trip to the dentist, and Jack was as good as new when we left. Kudos to Hilgers Pediatric Dentistry.

After an exhausting night, we were on the move again. As soon as Jack and I got home, we were headed out to Lake Havasu, an interesting little town on the border of Arizona and California, about 150 miles south of Las Vegas. The town is located on the lake, which is fed by the Colorado River. Getting to the town requires a drive through a few windy canyons that follow the river, and it was a beautiful trek. After two quick days there, one of which included a client visit, and the other a bunch of laziness (recovery from the 4.5 hour sleep night), we headed into California.

And that leads us to this week! We arrived in San Diego this past Saturday. We attended church on Sunday at Northpoint Worship Center, pastored by our friends, Darin and Duana Sargent. I had texted him late Saturday evening to inquire about service times, and he reciprocated by texting me early Sunday morning to ask if I would sing. That led to a quick scramble to get there a little sooner than we were planning to, which is always fun when you're having to get three small children ready in addition to yourselves. After a wonderful service, we moseyed over to La Jolla for a tasty lunch at The Taco Stand. I couldn't fit in their streetside parking, and there weren't any other available spaces within a reasonable distance, so I decided to pull into the car detail place across the street and let the clean the truck while we ate. It needed it. I had to chuckle as I was walking back over, seeing my very large – and somewhat out-of-place looking truck – parked between a Bentley and a Maserati. I'm sure my truck caused a few horrified looks on some environmentally-conscience Californian faces. I didn't notice. :-)

I spent most of Monday and Tuesday visiting clients, and Molly and the kids have taken it easy, doing some schoolwork and visiting the pool. We were able to attend service last night at a church about half a mile from our RV park, and the gentleman currently pastoring preached a revival at our home church some 15 years ago. It really is a small world. We're about to walk out the door to have dinner with the Sargent's tonight, we have an Easter egg hunt with their church tomorrow, then we'll be back at their church on Sunday and I'll be singing again.

As we head into this Easter weekend, don't forget the reason why we celebrate: a risen Savior, and the hope that if the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, we too shall rise one day and throw off these mortal bodies for life eternal.

~J

Babies, Birthdays, Caverns, and Aliens

2015-03-13T20:37:00.001-05:00

We're officially on the road again and couldn't be happier about it! We had a wonderful four months at home and enjoyed some great quality time with family and friends. We also found out while we were home that I'm pregnant, and just last week we found out that it's a girl! We left on Monday, March 2nd headed toward Kerrville, TX, where Jonathan and the kids got to spend a couple of days with Jonathan's grandparents. Unfortunately, I was sick in bed the entire time we were in Kerrville and never got to leave the bed. But I was very fortunate to have Jonathan and his mom there to take the kids with them visiting family while I slept off the flu in peace and quiet.

We left Kerrville Wednesday morning and drove to El Paso where we got to spend more time with some of Jonathan's family who live in the area. There isn't a lot of sight seeing to be done in the El Paso area, but the kids were pretty amazed that you can drive down the freeway and see into Mexico! They were enthralled by the giant border fences, and kept trying to think of sneaky ways to get past them. Haha They saw a fun water park across the fence in Mexico, and from then on, in their minds Mexico was some sort of Mecca. A place worth climbing that electric fence for, surely!

After a couple of days in El Paso, we headed toward New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns and Roswell. The drive from Texas to New Mexico definitely could have gone more smoothly, to say the very least. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive through the desert, with a million photo ops along the way. We took these "million" photos ops every one of the million times our truck tried to break down while climbing thru the mountains and deserts of New Mexico. Now to preface, our truck had already been in the shop TWICE in our home town in the past couple of months, then once again after we puttered weakly into Kerrville, and now we knew for sure the problem we were assured had been fixed the last three times it was in the shop was DEFINITELY still a problem, and that our truck wasn't going to make it any further than Roswell – at least not pulling our 42' fifth wheel. Jonathan made a few frantic calls to dealerships in the area and found one in town that could see us that evening, so we very quickly (or as quickly as our dying, sputtering truck would allow) got ourselves to Roswell, dropped off our RV at the local RV park, and booked it to the local Ford dealership just minutes before they closed for the night. They arranged for us to have a loaner car for the next few days, and we were set. After the drama of the truck, we ended up having a wonderful time in the Roswell area! We celebrated Jack's 8th birthday this past Saturday with a pancake breakfast at IHOP, then an incredible tour of Carlsbad Caverns (which if you haven't been to, is definitely worth a visit...absolutely breathtaking!) and some fun climbing and hiking in the canyon on the way home. An 8 year old boy couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

This past Sunday we visited a small church there in town, and were pleased to learn that the pastor and his family are originally from a town close to our hometown in Texas, and are actually friends with several of my family members! It really is a small world.

On Monday we had a free day to explore the area, and the weather was perfect, so we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the Roswell UFO Museum and Research Center. The kids had a blast, and in spite of nearly fainting about 20 times (one of the common downsides of pregnancy for me), I absolutely loved it! From there we headed to the Roswell Zoo and park. If you're ever in the area on a day with nice weather, I highly recommend stopping by there! The admission is free to the zoo and park, and they have a lot of interesting animals (but to be fair, their enclosures could use some work and more shade). In the summertime they have a train that runs and concessions stands, as well as a very nice park and play area. We were some of the only people at the zoo and park, so we had wonderful time.

Early Tuesday morning we got the call that our truck was finished at the dealership and we could come pick it up. The part and service was almost $3,000, but it was covered under warranty and we didn't have to pay a penny! Jonathan headed to town to take care of that while I got the RV packed up and ready to move to our next destination. After numerous times getting the RV ready to go (the inside of it anyway) by myself and all of the slide-outs pulled in, I can do it pretty quickly and efficiently now. Don't ask me to do ANYTHING on the outside though. That's a different story and I let Jonathan have all of that fun by himself.

We arrived in Albuquerque, NM that evening. The weather has been really beautiful the whole time we've been here, and after four months of cold and rain in Texas, I couldn't be more excited to be headed toward sunshine and warmth! We had a lot of fun in Roswell, but I was happy to leave the ever present smell of cattle lots that speckle the town far behind us! So long cow poo, hello fresh desert air! ; )

- Molly

Growing on the Go!

2015-01-29T23:26:00.002-06:00

Wow! It's been seventy-seven days since we got back home from our last trip, and I can't even begin to tell you how ready I am to get back on the road. Let me first apologize for how sparse our posting has been; aside from the fact that we have been home and enjoyed some down time over the holidays with our families, as Molly very briefly mentioned in our last post, we were without our RV for nine weeks. Yes, you read that right - nine weeks! It all started when...

We had a few minor things that needed to be fixed on the trailer: a couple of loose seals, a switch that went out, a bent manual jack rod, etc. – all things that were covered under our manufacturer's warranty. I had called a couple of weeks before we returned home and made an appointment to drop it off the first day after we got back. We arrived on the night of November 12th, and I dropped it off on November 13th. After going over the list of needed repairs, I was told that it would take about two weeks to even get to the RV because they were backed up, then about a week for repairs.

After not hearing back at the four week mark, I stopped by because I was needing some things out of the RV; they hadn't even started on it yet. The following week I received a call from the service rep, but instead of letting me know that it was finished, he instead asked if there had been a gash on the back passenger panel when I dropped it off. (Let me just pause and say that he knew there wasn't because he and I had walked the whole trailer, rental-car style, and noted any mark or scratch – there weren't any.) I adamantly said no. He then let me know that he didn't think there had been, and that they were looking around the lot to see if there were any other RV's with damage.

The "gash".

I immediately showed up at the dealership and took pictures of my rig. It looked like someone had backed into it and then drug something down the side. I was pretty hot. In addition to now having to wait for them to repair the damage that they had done, they still hadn't started on the repairs, and we were six weeks in. Unfortunately, it was also the week of Christmas, so the repair manager told me they couldn't complete it until the following week. They did finish it up the following Friday, but of course, they were still waiting on parts for one of the initial repairs needed. I was promised that the parts had shipped and that they should be in that coming Monday. They weren't. Or the next day. Or the next.

You can ask anyone who knows me well, and they'll tell you that I'm one of the more even tempered people you'll ever meet. It takes a lot to get me angry, but at this point, I was completely fed up. It had been two full months and I still didn't have my home back. I emailed the service manager, operations manager, and general manager of the dealership, and with my best balance of infuriation while still trying to avoid coming off like a jerk, I let them have it. I *very nicely* shared with them that we lived in the RV full-time, meaning we were without a home, that we were promised a three week turn and were now at two full months, that we were having to stay with family, putting them out and putting us out of our own home during the holidays, and also delaying our plans to get back on the road. Amazingly enough, I received four calls from them within a couple of hours of sending that email, and the parts magically came in within four days. After nine long weeks, we finally had our house back! If you've never had to be "away" from home for that long, I don't recommend it. Needless to say, we were thrilled to be back in our own place.

Me with my parents and brothers.

While all that was transpiring, we were enjoying being home. We spent Thanksgiving with Molly's family, celebrated seven family birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, had Christmas with both families, and kicked off the new year. In addition to all of the "fun" things, I was busy working on wrapping up the year for my business and strategizing for this year.

We leave next Wednesday and head to Orlando for a yearly trade show for my biggest client. After the show we're headed to Miami to be at the Hattabaugh's church, then we'll head home and stay one more week before heading out to the west coast for the remainder of the spring and summer. I'm. So. Ready.

One last thing I'll mention: when Molly and I first seriously considered having kids, we discussed how many we would want. We settled on three or four. Over the past year, we've talked about whether or not we wanted to have one more baby, and if we did, when we would want to have it and how (if at all) it would work living on the road. We finally both arrived at the point where we were fairly certain we wanted one more, and unbeknownst to me, Molly prayed that if it was the right thing, it would just work out. Two weeks ago we found out that she's pregnant and is due the last week of July!

The LAST one.

I'm sure some of you are wondering how on earth we'll all fit in the RV, or the truck for that matter – or if we even plan on staying on the road after adding another kid. First, we're definitely staying on the road! We started this journey because we felt like it was right for us for right now, and we still feel that way. Second, the RV has plenty of space; honestly, that was one of the reasons we felt so comfortable having one more baby while still on the road. We're planning to remove our couch (which we rarely use), and replace it with a crib and the rocker Molly has used in all three of our other children's nurseries. While the baby is still a newborn, we'll use a co-sleeper. Third, our truck did pose a little issue – it only had five seats! However, after doing a little research, the large center console in-between the two captain's chairs in the front could be swapped for a jump seat that's also an option in this model truck. I was blessed to find a guy with my exact same year, make, and model truck who had the exact same color seats and was looking to trade for a console. We swapped this week and I installed the sixth seat yesterday. Fortunately, Jack is now tall enough to ride up front, so Molly and Jack will ride up front with me and Grey, Annie, and the yet-to-be-named-baby will ride in the back. It will be tight but we'll all fit!

We wanted to make our family a little more symmetrical...

Standing at the precipice of 2015, looking back over the progress of 2014 and ahead to what the new year will bring, my heart was, and is, full. Last year was a transition year for us; my business was steadily growing, we felt God calling us to "move" and made the crazy decision to start this journey, and Molly and I both grew personally. (Spending a lot of time together in small spaces tends to help you do that.) This year, I believe, will be a year of momentum, and I can't wait to look back as December 31st rolls around to see everything God did this year with my little family. That excites me.

~J

Merry Christmas!

2014-12-28T23:09:00.000-06:00

Some of you have been asking why we haven't been blogging recently, and the short answer is that we are back home in Texas, spending time with our families for the holidays. The RV is currently in the shop having a few minor touch ups and repairs done, so we have been staying with each of our parents on and off. We were promised a three week turn time on the RV, but we are currently going on week six and they still aren't quite ready to hand it back over to us. So needless to say, this mama is starting to feel a little antsy knowing that our house and 90% of our possessions are currently sitting in a semi-secure parking lot in a sketchy part of town. I had big hopes of spending Christmas in the RV this year, and even bought the perfect tree to fit in our tiny living room...only to have that entire idea shot down completely. I'm feeling a little bummed about that. I wasn't able to decorate our home for Christmas for the first time in ten years, and have been feeling pretty sad about it, but my wonderful mother-in-law, in who's house we are currently staying, set us up an adorable little Christmas tree upstairs in her game room, and even let me hang the kids super tacky stockings on her banister rail! It's not what I had envisioned for this Christmas, but we are so thankful for our families opening their homes to us during this holiday season!

I'm sure there are a million things I need to get the blog up to date on, seeing as we haven't blogged for the past 2 months, but for now we are just relaxing and enjoying our time with family and friends. We'll get back to blogging as soon as we hit the road again after Christmas! Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- M

Tennessee is the Second Best "T" State

2014-10-25T21:29:00.002-05:00

When we last left off telling you about this leg of our journey, we were on our way to Knoxville. Molly's parents were getting away for their anniversary and chose to spend it in and around the Knoxville area, so instead of making our way slowly across the state to the east, we instead drove all the way across the state and decided to work our way back west so that we could spend some time with them. To be close to her parents and to take a small reprieve from the trailer, we decided to stay in a hotel for a few days. Fortunately, the one we selected let us park our trailer in the parking lot, so we were set! We took full advantage of the week...

Our first stop was Pigeon Forge where we made a quick detour for food at the Old Mill House, then on to Gatlinburg where we rode the Ober Gatlinburg gondola to the top of Mt Harrison, taking in the beautiful countryside. In spite of all the "attractions" in that area, I repeatedly found myself more drawn to being outside, just enjoying the scenery.

The next day we stopped at this fantastic little grocery/deli/shop and picked up some items for a picnic, then headed out to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They have a scenic drive you can take through the mountains, with numerous cabins and churches that are hundreds of years old. Attempting to describe how beautiful it is wouldn't do it justice. The first cabin you come to on the trail was built by John Oliver, and has a rich history associated with it. For those of you who don't know, my Grandma Ensey is an Oliver, so this place was of particular interest to me. The cabin is set back in a cleared cove of trees, against the base of a mountain, with a spectacular view out over a pasture, and beyond that, mountains all around. It was somewhat surreal, thinking about what they faced making a life in this place, but at the same time how rewarding that view had to be every morning, stepping onto the front porch. A little farther down the way was the church they attended, surround by a cemetery with the family's graves, including some that dated back to the 1700's. After driving the whole tour, we stopped at the small park they have up front and ate our picnic lunch. The park has a small creek that runs beside it, and the kids had a blast playing around it, climbing out on trees over the water, throwing acorns at each other, pretending to fall in, etc.

The next day I needed to go visit my client's offices in the area, so Galen and Mikki did their own thing and Molly and the kids chilled at the hotel while I worked. That evening my in-laws kept the kids so Molly and I could have dinner alone. Trust me, when you're without any form of babysitters for weeks at a time, you take advantage of every chance you get to have some alone time! The following day we went to this amazing little farmer's market they do every Saturday in downtown Knoxville. There were food trucks and vendors everywhere and we loved it! We made it out with a few more pounds and a little less cash. Saturday was actually Molly's parent's anniversary, so they went to dinner alone Saturday and we were perfectly content to order room service and do absolutely nothing in our hotel room.

The last day my in-laws were there we decided to go to Dollywood, one of Molly's favorite places. It's very similar to Silver Dollar City in Branson but a little bit nicer. The day started off rainy but got a little better as the afternoon progressed, and the temperature was fantastic. As a pleasant surprise, Gordon Mote was there in concert so we got to hear him! If you don't know who he is, it will be worth your time to check him and his story out. (You can click his name in the last sentence to do so.) After wandering around letting the kids ride rides and check out all the little shops and vendors, Molly and I wanted to ride a roller coaster while my in-laws were there to watch the kids, since we can't quite ride with them. We settled on riding the Wild Eagle, a crazy coaster that's already 21 stories up before you ever start riding, and you sit suspended out to the sides of the track, not in a car! It was wild but we had a blast. When we left the park, we said goodbye to "Mik-Mik" and "PapaG" and headed our separate ways.

After one more night in Knoxville, we headed to Chattanooga. Chattanooga isn't far and we made it to the park early afternoon on Columbus Day. The park we stayed in was on the grounds of an old Civil War battlefield, so it was a great teaching opportunity for the kids. RV living requires things of you that a traditional home doesn't, such as dumping your sewer on a regular basis, making sure your house is level, checking to ensure you have propane, etc. Since we're full time, we are constantly on the lookout for tools that make any of the consistent task that we do easier and more efficient. With that said, we were only about 5 minutes from a Camping World, so we headed over to restock on some things we needed and see what we could find. The hose on our sewer had sprung a small leak, so I ended up replacing it with a Sewer Solution, a system that uses high pressure water to liquefy waste and tissue and send it down a hose the size of a regular garden hose instead of those nasty 3" hoses. If you have an RV, I would definitely recommend it; dumping our sewer is now an easy, clean process. Bet you weren't expecting a plug for a sewer product in this post, but hey, this is an RV travel blog!

Tuesday morning I knocked out some busy work, then headed to visit the three offices in Chattanooga early afternoon. When I got home that evening, I wanted to take Molly and the kids to see how beautiful Chattanooga is, so we loaded up and headed into the city. After wandering around for a bit, we decided to stop at a little hole-in-the-wall taco place called Taconooga. I'm always a little skeptical of getting any type of Mexican food outside of Texas, but I have to say that this place was declicious! It had excellent tacos, both traditional and eclectic, reminiscent of a blend between authentic Mexican fare and Torchy's. Since we only had one more day in Chattanooga, we wanted to do something fun on Wednesday, such as Lookout Mountain or Ruby Fall's, but it was very overcast and we didn't want to spend the money if we couldn't get the full benefit of being up there. Instead, we just headed back to downtown and walked around, buying some macarons and chocolates at The Hot Chocolatier and eating lunch at The Terminal, which is in a cool old building built in 1909.

Last Thursday morning we packed up and headed to Nashville. We actually parked at the KOA in Goodlettsville, a suburb just to the northeast of the city. I needed to catch up on a lot of "busywork," so I spent all day Friday - from about 9am to 8pm - working while Molly and the kids played outside here at the park. That night we made a little fire in the fire pit and roasted some marshmallows. We took Saturday pretty easy, sleeping in and then making our way over to Perry's Smoking Pig just up the road to enjoy some good Tennessee BBQ. I've become very fond of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches smothered in sweet homemade coleslaw. Mmm-mmm.

Sunday we headed over to First Church Nashville where Bro Ron Becton pastors; the Becton's are long time family friends, and his dad, Bro C.M. Becton was one of the greatest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. They were having an "all-nations" service, that included the multiple nationalities of their three multicultural churches. Hearing other nationalities worship God in their own language, but all feelings the same Spirit - that was a cool experience. Not to mention that our kids loved hearing people speak and preach in different languages, something they hadn't experienced before. After service I drove them through the south-Nashville countryside, over to Brentwood and Franklin, one of my favorite places. We ended up eating at a place I had been before called Jonathan's Grille.

Monday, I headed out for a few client visits, then back home for some more work. That evening we tried out a place Molly had found called Chef's Market. When we pulled up, we were having second thoughts - it's in a shopping center and doesn't look very appealing from the outside; however, the crowd of people inside and out compelled us to stick around. I know we talk about food on here quite a bit, but to me, that's one of the best parts about visiting new places! The food in this place was phenomenal, and I'm not being hyperbolic.

Tuesday morning I headed over to Frothy Monkey in Franklin to meet my good friend, Matt Armstrong. Matt is a successful songwriter that I write with every chance I get, and he also produced our last EP (click here to listen) that we recorded the end of last year. We had a great time catching up. As soon as I got back to the house, Molly and the kids piled in and we headed over to Clarksville. The trip was twofold: I needed to visit an office there, but once I was done, we were meeting a couple of Molly's high school friends who had gotten married and have three kids of their own now. We had a wonderful time; the kids had a blast playing and I know Molly enjoyed catching up with them. On our way back through Nashville, we stopped in at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. The flavors I had were: sweet cream biscuits & peach jam, goat cheese & red cherries, and lime cardamom buttermilk. All I have to say is that they ship, people - order some.

After visiting the last of the Nashville offices on Wednesday, we got dressed and headed to church. The church in Goodlettsville that I had intended to go to wasn't having service that evening, so we had to scramble and find another church nearby. Fortunately, God knew what he was doing and we found another church about 10 minutes away; the message spoke to us, and the kids even got to go to children's church.

On recommendation from my dad, we went to the Loveless Cafe for dinner Thursday evening, and we weren't disappointed. The last couple of days have been pretty low key - I've been working and Molly and the kids have been doing school and playing here in the park. I've grilled outside a couple of times this week and the weather has just been absolutely perfect. During the day it's in the 60's and at night it's in the 40's. I've been impressed with how well our trailer has retained heat. It has a full heating system, but since it uses propane, I try not to overuse it, so we bought a couple of small fan heaters at Walmart and it's more than enough to keep us warm at night. As I said, each new climate and location you learn something new.

We have church tomorrow, then we'll be headed toward St. Louis to stay with my brother and sister-in-law. We've only been to their house once since they moved to St. Louis five years ago, so this is yet another benefit of us being on the road. We're loving it!

~J

Walking In Memphis

2014-10-14T01:33:00.001-05:00

I can already tell that this leg of our journey is going to be a favorite of mine. We've been on the road for a couple of weeks now since leaving Oil City, LA, where we celebrated the life of Jonathan's Pawpaw. After visiting with our family there for a few days, gathered in Mawmaw's home, laughing, remembering Pawpaw, and of course eating lots of good home-cooking, we finally hit the road again for our second "official" Ensey family RV adventure, this time to Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri! Our first stop was in Little Rock, Arkansas, which I have to say was surprisingly beautiful and not at all what I expected, especially with the first signs of autumn leaves and cooler weather arriving about the same time we did. Jonathan only had a couple of business meetings in Little Rock, so we were able to spend a lot of quality time together, exploring the area. We took one whole day to do some hiking in the hills around Little Rock, letting the kids just explore nature, and giving ourselves the chance to unplug and focus on our family. We hiked a 2 mile trail on some pretty rough and bumpy terrain, but the kids did incredibly well and never complained. Annie demanded to be carried for about the last mile, so Jonathan and I took turns hauling her like her own personal pack mules thru the hills of Arkansas. But all in all, we had a blast, saw some incredibly beautiful scenery, and burned a LOT of calories!

Since we were so close to Hot Springs, we decided to take a day trip over there since I had never been. Hot Springs is the neatest little town. If you've never been, I recommend visiting if you're ever in the area. We stopped at a little BBQ joint called Stubby's to grab a quick lunch before heading into the national park there. I would love to sing the praises of Stubby's and tell you all about what we had for lunch, but within five minutes of sitting down to our food, Jack took the lid off of his sweet tea and proceeded to dump the entire cup of ice cold sweet sticky tea all over me. So all I remember from that stop was taking off my hiking shoes and socks to try to wring the tea out of them and get them dry before our hike. Sigh...oh well. But I HEAR Stubby's has world famous BBQ. Haha.

Also, there's a great little cupcake shop in Little Rock called Fat Bottomed Girls that was featured on Cupcake Wars. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat a famous TV cupcake, so of course we stopped and bought a box of five! I had a lemon-lavender cupcake that was divine; it really helped turn my bad mood around after the sweet tea incident. And believe me, my mood needed some serious turning. There's nothing like cold, wet socks to make you good and mad.

Back in Little Rock, we had parked our RV at one of the most beautiful spots you could ever hope to stay. The back of our RV was only about ten feet from a twenty foot drop-off into the Arkansas river, so our view of the river was fabulous, as was our view of downtown across the water. The sun set directly over the river every evening, so we got some killer pictures! I did have a time keeping the kids from getting too close to the drop off into the water, though. I drew a literal line in the sand and told them not to DARE cross it. I can't even tell you how many times they crossed it. What is it about a line in the sand, both literal and figurative, that makes you just HAVE to cross it? Needless to say, we had a few serious "come to Jesus" meetings about crossing that line and getting too close to the water. There's a sermon in there somewhere! ; )

One evening as we were all getting ready for bed and relaxing, I heard what I thought at first was a barge on the river blowing it's horn. I ignored it for a minute, but once I realized it hadn't stopped blowing, I decided to step outside and check it out (and maybe throw rocks at the barge driver for bugging me). As soon as I opened the RV door, the siren was deafening, and I could tell it was turning in circles by the way the sound moved across the river. I had never heard anything like it before; it made the hairs stand up on my arms and I was immediately terrified because I knew it was a tornado siren, even though I had never heard one. At this point Jonathan had already joined me, and I told him I was afraid there was a tornado coming. Sure enough within a minute or two, a neighbor came running over to let us know a tornado was spotted just 10 miles from us. Now, I'm a pretty calm and collected girl. In Texas, I have sat thru massive hurricanes without batting an eye. But a tornado is just a different ball game in my opinion. I went into panic mode. Our RV was literally only feet from the huge drop off into the river. The RV park had zero places to take shelter. We have three children with us. I wasn't about to die in some RV park in Arkansas, I don't care HOW good the view is! So we grabbed the kids and a Bible and ran like mad for the truck. As soon as we stepped out of our front door, the storm hit. It rained like you wouldn't believe. The wind was blowing, the kids were bawling their eyes out because they were terrified, and quite frankly I was terrified myself. The only place we could find to hide was under a giant freeway. As soon as we pulled under the freeway, we couldn't help but laugh. Parked around us were five other F350's like ours that had fled the RV park looking for shelter. We were talking to my parents on the phone, and my dad let us know that the tornado was basically right over the road we were hiding under. We had some serious family prayer, and I read to the kids out of Psalms 91 about God being our protection in times of trouble. They were finally able to calm down, which took a lot of the stress out of the situation for me and Jonathan. We had a lot of friends and family praying for our safety, and thankfully, the tornado never touched down near us. After waiting out the rest of the storm and checking the weather about 10,000 times just to be sure, we finally made our way back to the RV and crashed for the night. RV-falling-into-river crisis averted!

One last thing that HAS to be mentioned about Little Rock is a little hole-in-the-wall BBQ/southern home-cooking type place that we stopped at called Burge's. Y'all, there just aren't words for the food we ate there. I looked online for recommendations, and saw a lot of people suggesting the turkey salad. Sounded pretty sketchy to me, so I asked the lady behind the counter for a taste test before I committed to anything. She brought out a spoonful of the most uninspiring, unappetizing cream colored mush that I had ever seen. I thought maybe the good folks of Little Rock were just really easy to please, having seen them rave over said mush online, but I gave it a try anyway. Y'all, words fail me. It was to die for! Like literally, if I died eating that turkey salad, I would regret nothing AND go out with a smile. I can't fathom how they got all the flavors I tasted into that mush. But it's kind of like Santa when you're a kid: you don't really know what he is, where he comes from, or what makes him work, you just accept that it's pure magic and go with it; same with the turkey salad from Burge's. Don't know what's in it, how it's made, or how they cram all of that flavor into something that looks so simple, and I really don't care. I just assumed it was magic and left there with a goofy grin on my face...and the top button of my skirt undone so I could breathe.

Our next destination was Memphis, Tennessee. Technically, we were parked right across the state line in Mississippi, so we've now covered the top and bottom of Mississippi without actually really visiting the state. Haha! We had a really great time in Memphis and saw some really incredible sites. Our first stop was Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. The tour of the home and grounds is done very well. Every person is given their own iPad and headphones and led on a personal tour of the property. Stepping into Graceland is like stepping back in time. It's such a strange experience to see inside of a home last updated in the early 70's. I absolutely loved the tour, and had to fight back tears every time I heard Elvis speak or sing thru my headphones. How sad to be so loved by millions and still feel so empty and alone. He was so talented, and had that familiar quality that makes you feel like you knew him personally. As the tour was coming to the end, I got that feeling you get when you're watching an old movie you've seen hundreds of times, and you know it ends badly, but still hold out hope that somehow the ending will be different this time around. But in the end, as we knew we would have to from the beginning, we filed past the grave of Elvis Presley, and paid our respects to a legend. We left feeling a little sad and empty, knowing that someone so talented and so loved by the world felt so alone at the end of his life. It made me even more thankful to have Jesus holding my hand, to know that even if the whole world was against me, I never have to feel alone and empty. I'm so thankful for joy and peace that passes understanding, no matter what the circumstances.

While in Memphis, Jonathan wanted to try a BBQ place near downtown that is rated one of the best in Memphis, so we made a stop at Central BBQ, and ate some crazy good ribs, BBQ nachos, baked beans, pulled pork sandwiches, etc.! As we were leaving, we looked across the street and realized we were only steps away from the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was shot and killed. I was excited to have randomly stumbled across this piece of history, so we made our way over and spent some time at his memorial that they have set up at the hotel. It was such a unique opportunity to see in person the place I've seen in pictures my whole life, and also so heartbreaking to have to explain to my kids the reason behind this man's death, to have to explain a hate and a concept that they can't even fathom. Heartbreaking, but also such a great opportunity to teach my children what Martin Luther King, Jr stood for, fought for, and in the end, died for. We had a wonderful time in Memphis and I look forward to going back sometime soon to explore the cities' amazing history a little further.

Last Monday morning we left Memphis and headed toward Knoxville. Since it was about a seven hour drive, we stopped overnight at a gorgeous KOA park along the way. Right across from the RV was a massive hill, so while Jonathan and I were setting up the "house" for the night, the kids were rolling like crazy people down the hill, screaming like they were being chased by bears. Haha. I'm sure all of the old, grumpy neighbors loved that! Something about children brings out the not-so-nice side of elderly RV folk! ; ) The next morning we were packing up to head out when our next door neighbor came by to say hello. He was a very nice guy, and didn't treat our children like they have the plague, so we enjoyed talking to him while we worked on getting the RV ready to leave. After we had chatted for a while and playing with his two dogs, he asked where we were from. I told him we were from Texas, and he said he was too. (It's so nice to come across other Texans on the road.) So Jonathan asked where in Texas they were from, and to our utter shock, he responded "Conroe"! Haha! What are the odds?! And they only live a few miles away from us! Neither of us could believe the random coincidence! We talked a little longer, exchanged information, said our goodbyes to our new hometown friend, and hit the road to Knoxville!

I know this post has been a LOOOONG one, and I'm sorry to bore you with all the detail, but this blog acts not only to keep our friends and family informed of our whereabouts and the fun we're having, it also acts as my memory! I have a horrifically terrible memory, so I'm hoping that having all of the details written out will help me not lose whole chunks of this adventure. Haha. Here's hoping!

Until later,

- Molly

Wake Me Up When September Ends

2014-10-05T00:06:00.001-05:00

September was a very full month. Full of good, and unfortunately, full of bad too. We made it home just in time for Labor Day weekend, and it felt so good to be in our home church, and then to celebrate Labor Day with our family and friends. Looking back over the month, it was actually a nice respite. Starting that next day, we hit the ground running and haven't slowed down yet.

The first week back was full tilt for me, catching up on some administrative things in the office and getting ready for a client trade show we attend every September. Each evening we tried (and usually succeeded) to have dinner with family or friends, and sometimes both. When you're only in town a short period of time, you tend to create as many opportunities as you can to spend quality time with the people you care about, and that's what we did.

On Saturday the 6th, I got to do something so amazingly cool that it has to be included in this post: I got to play cops and robbers, but for real! Let me explain. My good friend, Micah, has a buddy who is a member of a local area SWAT team. They were doing some training exercises and needed a couple of "bad guys" willing to shoot at them and get shot at. Each drill used Simunition, which are live, plastic-like rounds fired from real weapons, howbeit at reduced velocities from a normal bullet. They still fly anywhere from 400-600 feet per second, and are designed to leave a colored mark wherever they impact. We took along our Glocks, the SWAT team had pistols and M4's, and we ran through several designed scenarios where we, as the bad guys, had to attack or hold off the police officers, and they had to follow procedure to effectively neutralize us. To keep from going on and on, let's just say we both came home with quite a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises from being shot multiple times, but we gave plenty of our own. Matter of fact, we shot so well that they invited both of us back to reprise our roles the next time they train. That was a pretty solid endorsement if you ask me.

In early August, my PawPaw Rathbun had been diagnosed with lung cancer and only given a few months to live. After my mom spent some time with him during the first week of September, she shared with me that he wasn't doing well. We had already planned to visit my grandparents as the first stop on our next trip, but I didn't want to regret not getting up there soon enough, so Molly and I cleared our schedules and headed to Oil City, LA on Monday the 8th after I finished working. We didn't get there until late that evening and PawPaw was already asleep. Early the next morning I got up and sat with PawPaw and we talked for almost three hours, just me and him. Molly and I spent two full days sitting around with family, talking to MawMaw and PawPaw, just enjoying each other's company. On Wednesday we had to head back to finish getting ready for my trade show.

On Saturday the 13th, Molly and I headed over to Austin so that we could get to the convention center early the next morning to start setting up our booth for my trade show. Sunday was filled with a lot of manual labor - setting up a 10'x30' booth filled with displays and merchandise takes time - so nearly 11 hours later we wrapped up a few last minute things and left the convention center. A couple of my team members had come over from Houston to help us set up the booth, so before they headed back I wanted to treat them to a nice meal. Moonshine, one of our favorite places, is directly behind the convention center and we told them to meet us there. I didn't have any cash on me to valet, so we parked on the side street beside the restaurant, which connects to the feeder road of I35. I've eaten at Moonshine numerous times, and parked in that location many of those times without any issue, but I had a bad feeling about parking my truck there. I hadn't kept my concealed carry on me since we had been working all day, but when we got out of my truck, I opened my back door and got it out of my backpack, which was in the backseat, and put it on. I tucked the backpack down behind my seat and laid a travel pillow over it. With my tinted windows, you couldn't see anything in the backseat, much less my bag. When we had walked almost all the way to the restaurant, I asked Molly if I had locked the truck, and since neither of us could remember, I trotted back down and made sure it was locked and the alarm set. After a wonderful dinner, I headed back to get the truck; halfway down the street I saw that my rear driver's side window was shattered. I immediately knew my bag was gone. Sure enough, it was. As I immediately scanned the area, I noticed a man sitting in his truck across the street. I asked him if he had seen anyone by the truck. He exclaimed loudly, "Man, less than 10 minutes ago a guy with a backpack walked from over there and got in a white Mazda and drove off! I didn't notice your window was broken, so I just thought he was leaving his car and catching a ride with someone else!" I missed that joker by less than 10 minutes. God probably had a hand in that, because I might be waiting on a trial right now if I had caught him in the act. Anyhow, my backpack is essentially what I live out of: my MacBook, two iPads, wireless router, Mophie juice pack, numerous charges, adapters, and cables, credit card readers, an HD camcorder, a Mont Blanc pen I received as a graduation present that I use for important meetings, plus two business journals, several documents, and quite a few business cards that I've collected over the previous month - I had over $6,000 worth of items in there. The digital information was all backed up, but much of what was in there I can't recover. I was sick. That is absolutely one of the worst ways you can start an out of town business trip. I was up until 1:30am on the phone with the police and then the insurance company, trying to make sure I had all of the bases covered to document and hopefully recoup what was taken. At some point that evening, I do remember consciously saying "Thank you God for your many blessings." I wanted to make sure that in my anger and frustration I didn't lose perspective of how blessed I truly am, even when something bad like this happens.

After a fairly sleepless night, we were up at 6am and headed to work the show. What followed was five days of complete craziness, in a good way. We were swamped the whole time, and had a record week for the business. At some point that day, I got more bad news: my insurance agent called to let me know that auto insurance would cover the window (which was good news, and expected), but that it doesn't cover the contents of a vehicle; homeowners insurance covers that. Since you're reading this blog...about our lives full time on the road...you may already see where this is going. When we sold our house in May, we no longer needed homeowners insurance, and therefore were not covered. I asked if our fifth wheel insurance would cover the loss, but apparently that only covers the contents of the trailer itself. We were up a creek. That evening we went and purchased a new MacBook since I have to have one to run the business. Even though it's a company paid expense, spending money for such an unnecessary purpose as theft replacement was painful. By Friday evening, we were exhausted. After cleaning up, we ran to Fogo de Chao to celebrate the success of the week, then happily headed to my in-laws farm a couple of hours away and promptly crashed.

The next week began in an amazing way. During an incredible church service on Sunday, our people gave an offering of over $105,000 for Sheaves for Christ, a missions-based program of the UPCI. If you're reading this and aren't familiar with our church, this is a pretty incredible feat because have about 200 saints, which means that the average per capita was over $500! I'm so excited because God always blesses sacrificial giving and I can't wait to see what He does in our church.

Our friends Chris and Danielle Green were in town since he was preaching Sunday and Wednesday for our church. Molly and I left the kids with my mom on Tuesday evening and took Chris and Danielle to our favorite Thai spot in The Woodlands, then for coffee and ice cream. It was nice to chill with good company. Wednesday night followed the same vein that Sunday left off in, and we had one of the most powerful services I've ever been a part of. God spoke some things directly to me that I needed to hear; He always knows exactly what we need. We spent Thursday evening with Aubrey, one of our close family friends, and Friday night we celebrated my friend Micah's birthday.

On Friday the 26th at about 2:30 in the morning, Mom called to let me know that PawPaw had passed away. Instead of leaving after service on Sunday as was our plan, we had to get everything packed and the whole trailer ready to go by Saturday morning so we could be there for the viewing Saturday night and the funeral on Sunday. We rolled into Oil City around 6:30, just in time to visit with everyone at the viewing. It was wonderful seeing the faces of so many old family friends, many of whom I hadn't seen since I was a kid. MawMaw had asked me to sing at PawPaw's funeral, and she wanted me to sing whatever was on my heart. As long as I can remember, MawMaw and PawPaw have lived in the same log cabin on Ferry Lake Road, but it struck me that the next time I see PawPaw, he'll be living at a new address, so I sang Address Change Notification. It only seemed fitting. Watching my MawMaw begin to worship as I started that chorus is something I'll never forget. Both of my brothers spoke, and both did a fabulous job. I think PawPaw would have been proud.

Since we already had our trailer at the local RV park, we decided to spend the rest of Sunday and Monday there with family before heading out. We've now been on the road again for a week, and it's already been incredibly eventful...but this is already the longest post I think I've written, so I'll let Molly tell you about that in our next post.

Looking back over September, I have a few takeaways:

• It takes some effort to fit everything in, but you'll never regret the time spent with family and friends.

• Thanking God for what you do have helps you keep perspective when bad things happen.

• You can't out-give God. Two days after we gave in that offering for our church, I found out that our business insurance would cover the theft, paying for the replacement of my stolen items.

~J

Double Header

2014-09-29T23:41:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer This post is a month late! We had most of it written, but because of how busy we have been while at home, we are just now getting the chance to post it...as we're leaving town again.**

Part 1

Well, after 8 weeks on the road exploring some incredibly beautiful places, we made it back home! We left Jacksonville, Florida - our last official stop on the trip - on August 26th. We drove several hours and stopped for the night at a little RV park in Bonifay, Florida. We didn't level anything or slide the slide-outs out; matter of fact, we even left the truck hooked up to the RV, plugged in the power and water and climbed into our un-level, tilted beds, and went fast to sleep. We were all totally exhausted after a long day of travel. We woke up early the next morning, unhooked the electricity and water, packed the kids back into the truck, and off we went! I have never been so excited to be headed back to Texas!

The excitement however did not transfer over to the kids. They literally fist-fought, cried, blamed, tattled, pinched, poked, and sobbed for 12 hours straight! I, in turn, screamed, threatened, growled, swatted blindly into the backseat, put my fingers in my ears and hummed "ommmmm" to myself for about 20 minutes at one point, and nearly cried several times! It was a long, LONG day. We had originally planned to stop in Baton Rouge for the night, then finish the drive the next day, but after being in the car for two days with the kids already, we just couldn't face another day. One more day in the truck would have pushed me right to my breaking point. I'm sure of it.

So we rolled right on through Baton Rouge, and eventually we passed the BEAUTIFUL "Welcome to Texas" sign! Never has that Texas flag looked better. I would have shed a happy tear to be home, but I was just too exhausted and emotionally drained to work up any tears at that point. Around 11pm, all of the kids had finally dozed off, and Jonathan and I drove in almost complete silence the rest of the way home. Silence is golden after all!

- M

Part 2

As Molly said, the drive home was less than desirable. I had to get onto her as much as I had to get onto the kids. :-) The plan all along was to stop around Baton Rouge because I wanted to make one last client visit before heading home, but spending hours on end in a truck cab with three very resultless children strongly persuaded me that we needed to get home and out of that truck as soon as was humanly possible. We ended up getting back to Conroe around 12:20am on August 28th. By the time we dropped the trailer at the church and headed over to my parents to crash for the night, it was after 1am, but of course Mimi and Papa were still up, waiting to see those grandkids! I think we finally fell into bed around 3am and crashed.

The 28th was my grandpa Ensey's birthday, and it just so happened that my parents had planned lunch at Vernon's, our favorite local mom-n-pop restaurant. While we were celebrating Grandpa's 76th, it might as well have been my birthday when they brought out my pork tenderloin, mashed new potatoes, green beans, and the best sweet iced tea in the world!

It was nice to be home...

~J

Roadschooling

2014-08-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

When people hear about what we are doing, they pretty much all have the same questions: How can you all live in such a small space? How do you and your husband have ANY alone time? Your traveling with a pet WHAT?!, etc. But the one I tend to hear most often is about how we school on the road full time. Well, aside from enrolling my children in a new school once every week or so as we move around, the only sensible option is homeschooling. Or as we full-time, RV-dwelling homeschool moms refer to it, "roadschooling."

Roadschooling is fundamentally the same as homeschooling, only with the added bonus of seeing the entire country from the comfort of your home, visiting all of the major landmarks, and going on some of the most amazing field trips you can imagine! For example, this month we have been in Florida, and my kids have gone on an airboat tour of the Everglades and were able to pet live alligators, we've been in some incredible museums, been shelling on Sanibel Island, visited the Tampa Aquarium, explored the Tampa Zoo, seen dozens of historic homes and buildings, climbed the wall of a fort from the 1800's, and this past weekend we took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. Not to mention the adventures we went on last month, including touring the Alamo, The Natural Bridge Caverns, the city of Austin (the capital of our home state, Texas), etc. Then on to Louisiana, where we explored historic New Orleans and introduced the kids to Cajun food and culture, and even got to eat in a restaurant that once was a favorite of my favorite author, Tennessee Williams. Yes, I did have a minor fan-girl moment. ; )

Through our travel, our kids are gaining a sense of the world outside of our little Texas community, and are learning so much along the way.

Aside from field trips, I use a curriculum I have pieced together specifically geared to each kid's abilities and interests. This is our third year homeschooling, so I have learned which types of curriculums and learning styles work best for our family, and for me as a teacher. Our boys are in Kindergarten and Second grade this year. After doing tons of research, I decided on the following for our curriculum this year:

Abeka for Language Arts, Reading, Phonics, & Spelling.
Apologia for Animal Science
Horizons for Math and Penmanship
The Light & The Glory for US History
I've also added several other store-bought workbooks I pull from occasionally to supplement anything we may need extra practice on.

Our daughter is in preschool, so she occasionally colors a work sheet or practices her letters and numbers while the boys and I work on book work, but she generally sits quietly on my bed and watches an educational video or plays with her dolls during school time.

We start our day with Bible and a devotion at the breakfast table, followed by prayer and the pledge to the flag. Next we do "circle time", which isn't much of a circle since there are only three of us in it. But both of my boys are used to circle time from preschool, and insist on having it. During this time we discuss that day's weather, the weather patterns of the month, the calendar, days of the week, months of the year, etc.

After circle time, I generally sit Annie Jane down in the bedroom to watch her "school video" as she calls it, or on the kitchen floor with a sensory bin, then I get started on bookwork at the table with the boys. I'm still learning how to balance both of their work and needs for one-on-one teaching, so there are times when I have to send one of them to play for a minute while I focus my attention on teaching the other their subject at hand at the appropriate grade level.

We generally spread our school day out throughout the whole day. Most of the time I let the boys do their read-aloud time right before bed. And we usually take a long break during the middle of the day to spend time in the pool or riding bikes together to burn off some energy, then we pick back up in the evening after dinner. After trying for a year to force the whole school day to happen in the morning, like I was used to with "real school", even with the promise of the whole rest of the day off, I've learned that is not what works for us! A little work here and there throughout the day is how my oldest works best and happiest, and I prefer it as well. I don't necessarily recommend working this way, but I do recommend finding what works for your family, and doing that. If you aren't a morning person, don't start school until after lunch! If you hate staying up late, get all of your school work done early in the day! If neither of those options sounds like the right fit for you and your kids, make up your own option. Do half after breakfast and half after dinner. Whatever works! All I'm saying is please don't feel the pressure to have a public school schedule at home. You aren't teaching in a public school! You chose to school at home for a reason: freedom to do what works best for you and your children. Even if it seems crazy from the outside looking in, find what works for you. When we first started homeschooling, I would have told you that you had lost your mind if you suggested schooling all day long, all the way up to bed time. Fast forward three years and we don't think a thing of it! It's just how school flows most smoothly for us.

Another thing we have discovered lately that works wonderfully for us is having the boys do school work while we are on the road. Closed in the truck and bored out of their minds, they are suddenly a captive audience and are just happy to be given something to do. Haha! I'm also a HUGE fan of Time4Learning.com. On days when we go on a field trip and don't have time or energy to sit down and do bookwork, I'm able to pull up this incredible website, and my children have an entire years worth of grade-appropriate lessons at their finger tips, complete with quizzes and tests to make sure they are mastering the subjects. I can't say enough good things about Time4Learning.com. They provide lessons in History, Science, Math, Language Arts, etc., and provide printable reports for parents on your child's progress. So if you are a homeschool parent, looking for a great online curriculum or a supplement for your current curriculum, check out Time4Learning.com!

I'm sure I've left a lot of roadschooling questions unanswered, so if I've left anything out, hopefully I'll get around to it in another post down the road. But for now, I hope I've made the concept of roadschooling and how it works for our family a little more clear. God bless!

- M

The Keys to Happiness

2014-08-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

It's been a full two weeks! I honestly didn't even realize how much we've done until I just now sat down to think about it. On the 4th, Molly, the kids, and her mom headed down to Sanibel Island for the night to stay in a little beach cottage and go shelling the next day, while I stayed in Tampa to get some much needed "busy work" done. After wrapping up a couple of conference calls, I toyed with the idea of going to play golf since I was surrounded by beautiful courses and the family wasn't around, but my responsibilities won out and I made the wise choice of finishing up some work I had been putting off. While it was nice to have some peace and quiet in the RV, I found myself missing the sound of the kids playing in their room, and I was ready to head toward Ft. Myers the next morning.

I arrived around 1pm, just in time for Mikki (my MIL) to offload Molly and the kids at the RV and head out. It was nice having her here to give Molly and I some much needed time away from the kids, not to mention chauffeuring the family around while I was out working. The kids were excited to show me all of the amazing shells they found, and they found quite a few. Sanibel definitely lived up to it's name as a world class shelling beach.

After spending Wednesday meeting with clients, we planned to visit a local church for service that evening. Not knowing anyone in the area, I googled local UPCI churches. The church we found was small, and as expected, we didn't know anyone. As is typical, they had us fill out a visitor's form when we arrived. When the pastor stepped into the pulpit I could tell he was probably reviewing the visitor's card. He promptly looked up and said "I see you're from Texas; I just have one question - are you related to J.R. Ensey?" (If you don't know, that's my grandfather.) Come to find out, he had attended Texas Bible College during the time that my grandpa was the President. It's cliche but true, it really is a small world.

After I finished working Thursday, we went and looked at motorhomes. (Now, I'll pause because most of you reading this are probably thinking we're crazy since we just got a fifth wheel! While it's highly unlikely we would upgrade anytime soon, we actually have a few good reasons to look at them. We love our fifth wheel and have no complaints about the size and space, the only downside is when I need to make a quick stop by an office, I either have to find a place to drop the trailer and unhitch or park the trailer and then take a cab. While that scenario doesn't happen often, it would be nice to have a tow vehicle to unhitch and drive while Molly and the kids stayed in the motorhome. It's also much easier to boondock (park overnight without hooking up) in a motorhome since they have an onboard generator. And the best perk would be that Molly and the kids could be "in the house" doing whatever they wanted or needed while I drove us to our next destination instead of all of us being cooped up in the truck.) So, we went and browsed, and ended up finding one we really liked that would work! Now to figure out how to upgrade... :-)

Friday morning we pulled out and headed to Ft. Lauderdale. One thing we've discovered is that moving days are really draining, both physically and mentally. Something about packing up your whole house, going through the process of loading up, hitching up, then rolling down the road at more than 25,000lbs and 60' long through urban areas in tight traffic, then resetting everything up is exhausting. With that said, we pretty much did nothing Saturday.

On Sunday we were able to visit The Pentecostals of Cooper City pastored by Mark Hattabaugh. Although we hadn't met personally, he knew my family and I was aware of who he was. As he was making his way to the platform, he stopped to introduce himself (you get good pastoring points for doing things like this). He and his wife ended up taking us to a local hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant after service, and the food was only topped by the company. The Hattabaugh's are fantastic, genuine people, and it's easy to see why their church is thriving.

Most of this week was fairly mundane - me working during the day while Molly and the kids did schoolwork and then went to the pool. (Yes, I failed to mention that Molly started the kids back to school last week). We forayed out to eat Cuban food on Thursday evening, and it was very tasty.

Something else we've discovered is that living in a 450sq ft space and only having one vehicle means that we all need breaks. Molly and the kids need a break from the RV and RV-parks since they're stuck during the day when I'm not there, and I need mental break after spending several days in a row on the road visiting clients during the day then often continuing with my weekly workload in the evening. Since we were this close to the Keys, we headed out around noon on Friday and made the trek down to Key West. I had booked us a room at a small resort there, and we arrived around 5pm. It was a beautiful little place, covered in tropical foliage. We took the kids down to one of the four pools on site and let them swim for a bit while we lounged poolside in the shade. We had a little bit of excitement when Annie, who normally wears floaties but didn't have them, stepped a little bit too far into the pool. I had just told her less than a minute before to come back closer to the steps, but in-between the time when I said that and the time she stepped off, I had gotten a little distracted by Jack dunking Grey under the water. Sure enough, she went up to her eyeballs in the water; fortunately Molly saw her immediately and jumped up to snag her. Annie was fine, just a little shaken up. And hey, a little healthy fear is good. We wandered around Key West for a while, grabbed some food, then went back to the hotel to relax. We didn't want to waste any time since we weren't staying long, so we headed straight to the beach when we got up yesterday. After letting the kids play for a while, we packed up and headed to Bahia Honda, a beautiful state park. Our next stop was the Islamorada Fish Company. We ate out on the patio overlooking the ocean - alligator, conch, crab, grouper, and clam chowder - it was fantastic.

As we drove back home yesterday, I was drawn to the fact that in-between the work and play and church services and fun excursions, memories are being made, experiences are being had, and lessons are being learned - we're all growing. The kids are growing literally, both physically and mentally as every child does, but they're also learning some things locationally that they probably wouldn't have if we weren't traveling. Molly and I are truly learning patience (you try dealing with three kids under 7 for hours on end in the cab of a truck!) We're also learning how to depend on each other more than we ever have before; being "alone" forces you to do that. I'm also getting to spend some amazing quality time with my kids. Yes, I would still have spent time with them at home, but we had many obligations there that took our time; this journey is breeding a sense of closeness in our little family I doubt we would have otherwise. They say travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer; I would add that traveling with the ones you love makes you a wealthy man indeed.

~J

There's No Place Like Home...

2014-08-04T12:15:00.000-05:00

We've had a wonderful time in Tampa, Florida this past week. The 7 hour drive here from Destin almost made us all rip our hair out (because that would have been more fun than the fighting in the backseat and the grumpiness in the front seat..just being real y'all!). But once we got here and got settled, we discovered that the park we are staying at is gorgeous, with sprawling live oaks dripping in Spanish moss covering the whole place. If you know me, you know that trees, especially huge old oak trees with hanging moss, are my favorite thing ever - that or a good sunset; the combination of the two every night here at this park has been amazing. Unfortunately 10 jillion mosquitos also wanted to enjoy the view of the sun setting behind the trees, so I had to do nightly battle with them from my folding chair on the porch.

My parents were able to drive to Tampa this week to spend some time with us, and we've had a great time. My mom surprised the kids with a mini Christmas in July the first day she arrived and has continued to surprise them with goodies while she's been here: shoes, bikes, toys, and field trips to all the best places in Tampa! We've had a lot of fun exploring the area with my parents and will be sad to see them go. It's been nice to see familiar faces! And so SO nice to get a few date nights alone with my husband while my parents kept the kids! You don't realize how wonderful quiet, alone time is until it's not an option.

Today - in just a few minutes - my mom and I will head to Sanibel Island with the kids while Jonathan stays here in Tampa to finish up some work. There are supposedly really amazing shelling beaches where we're going, so the kids are really excited to go explore them. We'll miss Jonathan, but I'm sure he'll appreciate a couple of quiet, uninterrupted days to get some work done.

The last few days have been a little tough, homesickness-wise. I think knowing once my mom leaves this week it will be another few weeks before I get to see any of our family and friends again has made it a little harder. We are having such a good time, and I'm really enjoying just spending the one-on-one time with my kids, but I do find myself lately missing our home church each Sunday and Wednesday, and missing my family and in-laws more than I have so far on this trip. I thought it would take longer for homesickness to set in, but it looks like it's found me and the kids on week four. They have all asked to stop by their aunt Amber's house, to please go to their Sunday school class, or to just "go to our regular old Target" this week, clearly not understanding the distance factor at play here. I will be beyond ready to head back home once this trip is over. It's been an amazing adventure, and I know we're having the experience of a lifetime, but at the same time, it would be wonderful to sit down to dinner with friends and laugh at all the same nonsense we've laughed at a thousand times, in the same restaurants we've been to over and over, where the waitress knows my kids and knows exactly what we want to order. Or to walk into "my" Target, and have the lady at the counter say "Hi Mrs. Ensey! Where are the kids today?!" (Yes, I know that means I go WAY too often! : ) Haha) In all seriousness though, there's really no place like home. And cue the theme song to Cheers....

Keep us in your prayers!

- M

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

2014-07-28T01:17:00.003-05:00

After getting to Mobile on Saturday, the following day we visited a church plant pastored by Mark Harrelson, which was pretty cool since he attended Bible College with my brother, Michael, and had preached at our church during that time. Because it's a new work, our family made up a third of the people in attendance and it made me appreciate just how far our own home church has come - I remember when we were that size. I was able to complete my client visits on Monday, so Tuesday we took the kids to the Exploreum Science Center, a cool museum/science lab. I'm not sure if they learned anything, but we all had fun!

The next day we headed to Miramar Beach, just past Destin. I had found a great little RV park just two blocks from the beach. This worked out perfectly; I was on the road working the next two days, so Molly and the kids were able to walk down to the beach while I was away. I love the Destin area, and the beaches are hard to beat here in the U.S., but the traffic was hideous and any short drive turned into an hour-long ordeal.

On Sunday, we made the considerable drive over to Pensacola to attend service at Bro. Brian Kinsey's church. Aside from knowing the Kinsey's and having been to service there before, I also wanted to see David Geri, my Dean of Music when I attended Bible College. who has been the music director at their church for the past seven years. The service was fantastic - great worship, the presence of God moved, good preaching, and an even better response. We ended up grabbing dinner with the Geri's afterward, followed by yogurt after, and although we stayed far too late (we had a 1.5 hour drive back home), we enjoyed getting to catch up and reminisce. Seeing friends who don't live near us is one of the many reasons we're on this journey.

Fortunately I didn't have to go anywhere Monday or Tuesday, so both days we went to the beach as soon as I finished working. Wednesday morning we packed everything away and headed to Tampa by way of Tallahassee because I needed to make a quick stop there. The trip went fine until we were about twenty miles outside of Tallahassee. I had noticed we were getting low on fuel and would need to get gas soon, but once we started looking, we didn't see any convenient places to fill up. As the gauge hit empty we still weren't to our destination and I still hadn't spotted a gas station that our rig would fit into. At this point, it also started pouring down rain. After running on empty for a few miles, I finally took an exit out of desperation. I knew it had gas stations but I didn't know if we could fit into them. We could not. Unfortunately, after discovering that we couldn't fit into either station we saw, there was also no place for us to turn around and get back on the freeway. I finally spotted a parking lot I could pull into that would allow me to turn back across traffic when I exited. As I carefully made the right and then left turn into the parking lot, up a slight incline, my truck just came to a stop. I was going very slowly, so at first I thought that I had simply butted up against a curb that was causing some resistance. After giving it some gas, I could clearly tell that wasn't the case because we didn't budge. My next thought was that we were high centered, which brought along terrible thoughts of tow trucks, high bills, and a messed up schedule. When I hopped out to observe what was going on, I realized that we weren't high centered, but rather the back bumper of my trailer was sitting on the asphalt. This was caused by the incline of the parking lot and my lack of room to angle my turn. I couldn't back up, so the only thing to do was go forward. Keep in mind that it's pouring down rain, so by this point I'm soaked. I hop back in the truck, throw it in drive, hit the gas, and...nothing. The tires spin. It's wet, I'm on an incline, my 42' trailer behind me is sitting on the ground, and for a moment I had to swallow the panicky flush of thoughts that careened through my mind. After four-wheel high did nothing, I put that bad boy in four-wheel low and around 4500rpm's it lurched and we broke free. Thanking God for my decision to buy a truck with four-wheel drive, I jumped out to inspect the damage. Surprisingly, the bumper was only slightly bent upwards in the back and had a few scratches underneath, but aside from that everything else was fine.

At this point, you might be thinking that it can only get better from here, but you would be wrong. As we get to the other end of the parking lot, I realize that we can't, in fact, turn back toward the direction we had come, so we had to continue going the wrong direction, which was further into the city (not good when your total length is almost 56'), and away from where we needed to be. By the time I was able to turn onto a side street that would allow us to head back toward where we needed to go, the onboard computer told me we had four miles to empty. As we approached the freeway again I was looking expectantly for a gas station, but in addition to not finding one, we also discovered that there was no on-ramp! Wet, frustrated, driving in a downpour, and on empty, we were now having to cut through a subdivision to get back to a point we think will allow us back on the freeway. This area of Florida has many beautiful trees - trees that like to hang across roadways. After dodging myriad branches and praying to not run out of gas, we finally made it back to the freeway, only to find that again, there is no on-ramp. At this point we were only about five miles away from the office I needed to visit, so we circled to the nearest on-ramp and headed there, hoping a gas station would be nearby. Knowing I wouldn't be able to park at the office, I had previously mapped a route to a Hobby Lobby about a block away since they would have a lot I could park in. As we pull up to the intersection just shy of Hobby Lobby, there are three gas stations surrounding us...and we couldn't fit in any of them. Having already wasted a fair amount of time and losing an hour crossing over time zones, I didn't want to miss my meeting so I headed straight for Hobby Lobby and parked. It was still raining hard enough that the parking lot had rivers of water a couple of inches deep running through it. I grabbed my umbrella and made the trek over to my clients office, looking like a wet puppy dog when I walked in. Molly and the kids wandered through Hobby Lobby while waiting for me, which I'm pretty sure was a nice reprieve from the tension-filled truck ride. After leaving the meeting, I walked across the road to a gas station, bought a gas can, filled it up with diesel, and away we went.

Again, you may be thinking that this horrendous travel experience was over, but sadly you would be wrong again. We were finally back on the freeway headed toward Tampa, and typically truck stops or large service stations are in abundance, but on this day, they were not. After traveling for another twenty miles, we were again on empty and needing to find somewhere to stop quickly. I pulled off at an exit that indicated it had gas, still not knowing if it would be large enough to fit us. It was - barely - so we pulled in and straight up to the pump. Only the pump I pulled up to had no computer. It had the pump but was completely unusable. Because of space confinements, I had to pull through and circle the station to get back around to another pump. As I pulled back around, none of the pumps are on the side that I need them, so around we went again, but this time the opposite direction. Just know that this circling business isn't as easy as it sounds in a crowded gas station. Finally filled up, we were again on the road. Thankfully the rest of the drive was fine. It's a fairly long haul from Tallahassee to Tampa, but aside from that, the trip went smoothly. We arrived around 11:30 Wednesday night. Setting up the trailer went quickly, and exhausted, we all climbed into bed.

The RV park we're at is beautiful; it sits right on Bay Bayou, and is covered in large sprawling trees. Thursday and Friday I worked while Molly and the kids hung out and went to the pool. Yesterday I let Molly take the truck and get out of the house for a while. She showed back up a few hours later with Starbucks and Target bags...can't say I was too surprised. :-)

Today we attended service at Victory Tabernacle, just ten minute up the road from us. Their worship service was phenomenal and it felt good to be in the house of God, feeling His presence. We were fortunate to have become acquainted with the pastor, Rashidi Collins, a few years ago when he preached at one of our youth conferences. He preached a fantastic message today and God moved. For the first time since we left it felt a little bit like home.

My in-laws drove in today to visit us (really just to see the grandkids) for a few days, so after quick lunch we headed back to the trailer and I spent an hour detailing my truck since my FIL always gives me grief about it. Our one stipulation of their visit was that they book a room large enough for the kids to stay with them, and that they would be keeping the kids a few nights. They agreed and we were probably far more elated than we should be. They made it in a little while ago and we grabbed dinner before coming back to the RV for some quality time. Molly and I will actually get our first kid-free break since we left home. *Here, hold my computer while I shout*

As I reflected on the tough travel day we had, I made sure to thank God for keeping us and our house safe, and that our "misfortune" was so minimal. In an attempt to make me feel better about the whole ordeal, Molly said, "Maybe it was a test to see how you reacted and how patient you were!" While I'm not sure that's what it was, it did give me pause. Maybe it's days like those that will produce the best results from this journey and not necessarily all of the wonderful days we will experience. Invariably we always learn more - about life and ourselves - when things aren't going the way we planned for them to. Those times stretch us - our understanding, our patience, our strength - and in stretching we grow. And this journey is about growth...

~J

Pig Out

2014-07-13T12:41:00.003-05:00

This past week was very low key and relaxing (for me and the kids anyway). Poor Jonathan spent the entire week hard at work, visiting clients and answering calls and emails. But the kids and I had a wonderful time at the RV park pool and playground. When Jonathan told me where we were staying, I was expecting a little backwoods dump of a park, but we rolled into a wonderfully kept park surrounding a pretty little lake with swans swimming in it! They had a very nice pool area, store, game room, fishing lake, and our space was directly across from the water with beautiful views. If you're ever in the Livingston, La area, check out the Lakeside RV Park - very nice management and clean facilities.

ANYWAY, enough about that! After spending the first few days in and out of the pool, dodging never-ending rainstorms, the kids and I were ready for a change of scenery, so Thursday morning we all piled into the truck and went to work with Jonathan. We drove for several hours in the small towns in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans visiting Jonathan's clients. The kids did great on the long car trip, and didn't start getting antsy until the last hour when we rolled into NOLA and I started describing Cajun food and beignets to them! Haha. Then they were beyond ready to get out of the truck. After visiting his last client of the day, Jonathan treated us to a delicious dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans, The Gumbo Shop. We all got seated while Jonathan went and bought a bag of chips for a homeless man who helped us get our GIANT truck wedged into a TINY parallel spot in the itty bitty streets of the French quarter. We don't carry cash on us, and Jonathan wanted to help the guy out, so they made the trek to the corner grocery store for chips and apple juice while the kids and I got a table. Jonathan makes me proud by his willingness to help out anyone who asks him, any time. He's a pretty great guy, even if I do say so myself. But back to the Gumbo Shop! I had a plate of the most delicious crawfish étouffée and red beans and rice I think I've ever eaten. Granted, Jack stole all of my crawfish, so I was really only left with a crawfish flavored soup, but it was crazy good, nonetheless! And the red beans were slap your momma amazing. Whew! We left there stuffed and happy and headed straight to Cafe du Monde to introduce the kids to beignets. From their looks of sheer joy, and the half inch thick layer of powered sugar on their faces afterward, I'd say the introduction went well.

In the same area, we came across a Sucré, and Jonathan bought us an insanely amazing box of macarons! No, not macaroons...and yes, there's a difference. ; ) They were deadly, in the best way possible. I'm really glad the things cost $2 a piece, because otherwise I could eat my weight in them, and might end up looking like a macaron...round and mushy. But seriously,YUM!

While in Livingston, we had the chance to visit a church in Denham Springs for their Wednesday evening service. The pastor taught a wonderful message, and it was nice to see an old friend I hadn't seen in years. But at the same time, it made me miss our home church just a little. Ok, maybe a lot. One of the major trade-offs of this crazy adventure we're on is missing our family, friends, and home church. So if you know us and we'll be passing through your area, or you'll be passing by us at any point, PLEASE stop and visit us and give us a big hug! Seeing friends along the way helps chase away the homesickness.

We wanted to get the kids out of the house Friday morning, so I found a really cool looking alligator farm up the road in Hammond, La. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so I got us ready, got the kids all excited to see alligators, and we headed off down the road...into a giant rain storm. Sigh. So with a truck full of disappointed kids (and why lie, I was pretty bummed myself) we headed toward town to see if there was anything interesting to do in the town of Hammond. There was not.
So I found myself wandering through the local Target with two sad little boys who could only talk about how badly they had wanted to see the alligators. So guess who left the store with new Legos to make up for their disappointment? When will I ever learn to stop telling them ahead of time that we are going to do something fun?! If I would keep my mouth shut, I could save myself tons of money in guilt-Legos!

We left Louisiana yesterday afternoon and headed toward Alabama. The kids did really well on the car trip, in spite of our new DVD player deciding to bite the dust about 20 minutes into the trip. They made do, and about 3 hours later we rolled into Mobile, Alabama. The park we booked isn't the nicest or most luxurious, and I was a little leery about staying here. But once I met the incredibly sweet owner and her husband and a few of their friends this evening, I have to say I actually really like it. There's no pool, no fancy anything really, but the kind people make up for anything that's lacking. It's a possibility that I am so fond of this couple because they told me there was no way I was 30, and that they thought I was 17! Oh and did I mention they have 5 dogs and about a jillion cats wandering around? Yep, these are my kind of folks. And when they told me I could pick a kitten to have, that just sealed the deal! We are now besties. No doubt about it.

Oh, one last thing: a Junebug update! Ms Junebug is adjusting well to RV life and seems to really enjoy her time hanging out with the kids, begging non-stop for food, snuggling up with anybody who will sit still long enough for her to crawl into their lap, and lounging in the sun like a tiny little slob. She's definitely a handful, and she insists on only pottying outdoors. She will hold it until she's about to pop, then squeal for you to take her to the grass instead of using her conveniently located potty pads. So her potty pad training isn't working out too well so far. That being said, anyone with piggy potty training tips, give a girl a hand here!

Well, we're about to visit a new church today here in Mobile, so I better go get ready!

- Molly

Launch!

2014-07-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

Disingenuous. That's how I usually feel about people who say "I didn't know it would be so...(insert whatever comes next)." Maybe it's because my brain never stops running ninety miles an hour and it plays out every scenario that could ever possibly happen, or at least that's how it feels. Whether that's the case or not, rarely have I ever followed through with a big decision and felt like, man, I really didn't know it would be like this, or feel like this. But standing in my home church on Sunday after my dad (our pastor, for those of you who don't know) asked me to come up and say a few words since that was our last service (at least for a while), it hit me. That moment of clarity in knowing that I wouldn't be around every service like I had been for almost twenty-four years now. For you to understand, I have to start at the beginning...

(If you're only interested in hearing an update on our travels, feel free to skip the next three paragraphs as I reminisce.)

Growing up, my parents taught and worked at Texas Bible College in Houston. When I was six years old, my parents felt the call of God to start a church in the Lake Conroe area. When God provides direction like that, faith filled action is always required on our part, and so without a job or any kind of steady income, my parents and my two brothers and I moved out to Montgomery to start a church. We ended up in a subdivision named Walden, mainly because at the time it was where we could find the most affordable house. Just getting a loan was a miracle in itself - when was the last time you financed a home with no current (paying) job, no income, and no money for a down payment? That just doesn't happen, but God wanted a church there, so He worked it out. We had services in the living room of our home for a whole year. The second service we had, our very first saints attended, and throughout that year, God drew people to our little church. As you can imagine, pastoring a church of ten or twenty people, five of which are you own family, isn't very lucrative, so Dad worked tirelessly in different ways to make ends meet. One such job brought him into contact with a local business owner, who graciously offered to lease us a space in his shopping center for three years rent free if we would just complete the build out. The next three years we worshipped in our shopping center building, proud that we had a place to call our own. But when the three years was up, rent was too high and we were headed back to the house. That lasted for a year, until we were fortunate to start sharing a building with another church whose service schedule was different than ours. For the next four years, we shared that space, until one of our saints found a mostly unused old church building on Longmire in Conroe, our current location. After renting for five years and doing a whole host of improvements, we were eventually able to buy that and have continued improving it into the beautiful building that it is today.

But why tell you all of that? Well, when you're involved in something like planting a church, it doesn't leave you. I could never separate the burden that I have for my church from who I am; it's ingrained in me. Watching the sacrifices my parents had to make throughout the years but seeing their faith and faithfulness, and watching God provide again and again and again, it bred an innate knowing that I could trust God, and a love for the work that my parents fostered and built. Over the past twenty-three years, I think I've probably attended more Sunday services at our church than even my parents have. Even through college, I drove home most Sundays to be in service (and to see Molly, of course!) I've done everything from greeter, usher, sound man, church cleaner, Sunday School teacher, bus driver, youth leader, worship leader, musician, praise singer, organizer, and probably many other things I'm forgetting. I've not only grown up in, but also with this church. Sure I've had my own spiritual ups and downs, but this church body has rejoiced with me through the victories and cried with me and for me in the defeats. I've been blessed with lifelong friendships here, with meeting my wife here, with dedicating my children to God here. So you can understand why saying goodbye was a little tough.

In that moment, standing in front of some of the most amazing people I know, many of those memories ran through my mind, and I thought...man, I didn't know it would be quite this hard to say goodbye. But even in saying goodbye, I knew this was right. There comes a time in each of our lives where we make definitive choices that ultimately shape who and what we become. I can't tell you that I know what God has in store for me and my family, but I do know that when He opens a door, you walk through it with your head down and hands ready to work.

So enough of that! Needless to say, Sunday was tough, but exciting at the same time. The last two weeks have felt like holding your breath, just waiting to exhale; knowing that we were finally starting our journey was a welcome relief, even though we didn't enjoy the leaving home part. After church we had one final dinner with Molly's parents since we had spend the past week with mine, then we headed up to their farm where we were keeping the RV. Since we had to pull out early, we went ahead and packed the whole trailer and hooked up to the truck. We rolled out about 8am on Monday morning headed for Lake Charles. We arrived there around 1:30pm. I needed to stop at a client's office, so fortunately the Treece's were kind enough to let me offload the trailer in their church parking lot for a couple of hours so I could maneuver through the city unencumbered. After a quick lunch, Molly and the kids dropped me off at the office and while they ran to Target (of course), I met with my client. Once she picked me back up, we were able to run over to Starbucks and grab some coffee with our friend Lauren Beckham before pulling back out. After re-hitching, we were back on the road headed to Livingston, LA, just outside of Baton Rouge. This was our first official stop! The last four days have been hectic, at least for me. I've been visiting clients around Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and Molly and the kids have been hecticly...visiting the pool. :-)

We attended church in Denham Springs last night, and it was refreshing hearing Bro Johnson preach and feeling the same Spirit of God that we feel in our home church. Today I took Molly and the kids with me and after I made a few client visits, we drove over to the French Quarter and had dinner at the Gumbo Shop, then beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde, then some macarons at Sucre. Afterwards we drove the kids around some of the tamer parts of the city and looked at the beautiful architecture here, probably my favorite thing about NOLA, second only to the food.

As I sit here typing this, I know that not every week will be this good. I know we'll have some challenges along the way, get on each others nerves at some point, and probably run into some difficulties. But I'm reminded of the verse that simply says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified...for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."

~Jonathan

The Final Countdown

2014-07-05T16:14:00.001-05:00

We've been home (well, technically my parents' and my in-law's homes) for the past two weeks, and took a short break from RVing and blogging. It's been a wonderful couple of weeks, and we've had such a nice time being with our friends and families before we head off on our first BIG adventure this coming Sunday! After our trip to Austin, we packed up and headed to my parents' farm outside of Brenham, Tx. My dad has RV hook-ups, so we were able to get it all set up and leave it at their place.

After dropping off the RV in Brenham around midnight Saturday night, we drove into Conroe so we could be at church the next morning with our families. We spent the night with Jonathan's parents and got to spend the day with them Sunday. We spent Sunday night with my parents at their new house by the lake. It was beautiful and the kids had a blast exploring the house, and they were thrilled with the cute little room my mom has set up just for them! Monday evening my parents threw me a birthday dinner at their house, and Jonathan invited all of our closest friends. Turning 30 has been really hard for me for some reason, but having all of our friends and family around to celebrate with me made it a LITTLE bit easier.

Jonathan had meetings scheduled at the conference center at my parents farm, so we made our way back there and stayed through Thursday while he worked. Friday morning we dropped the kids off in Conroe with my mother-in-law, and Jonathan took me on an amazing date to celebrate my birthday yet again! We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Houston, ate a delicious dinner at Adair Kitchen, and then headed downtown to see the broadway production of The Little Mermaid! So much fun! I may be 30, but for those 2 hours I was 8 years old again. I sang along to every song, and made a total fool of myself, but I had a blast!

We got to spend all day Saturday relaxing by ourselves, which is not something that we will get to do often once we hit the road, so we made the most of it. We ate lunch at one of our favorite spots, Tiny Boxwoods, then headed over to Rice Village for a while. Saturday evening Jonathan had to go to the church for music practice, so he took Jack while I stayed at my in-laws with the little kids. We were waiting up for them, but when they hadn't turned up by 10:30, I started to get worried. They finally pulled in around 11, and I was ready to give them a good griping for being so late, when Jack came in and asked me to come help daddy get a few things out of the car. Grumpy and slightly annoyed, I huffed out to the truck to help him unload. I reached into the truck to grab a box when I heard a grunting sound...followed by an oink! I was totally shocked! Jonathan had brought me a teeny tiny baby mini pig for my birthday!! I almost had a heart attack right there...oh my goodness, she is the CUTEST piglet you've ever seen! I've spent the last week now researching pigs and pig care, learning how to deal with her temper tantrums, and picking out a cute name for her. I finally settled on "Junebug" for her name, but as for calming her temper tantrums, I'm still doing my research. ; )

We were able to be at our home church again Sunday, and my in-laws and their family treated me to dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant for yet another birthday lunch after church. In case you aren't getting the picture, I like to make my birthdays into a month long celebration. Haha! You only get one a year so you've gotta make it count!

I spent the next few days up at my parents farm hanging out with my kids, my sister-in-law Stacey, her kids, my mother-in-law, and my sister Amber, and her kids. Needless to say, we were well outnumbered by children. They had a blast in the pool for 3 straight days, and us moms had a nice time just laying around getting some sun and relaxing.

We're now back in Conroe, finishing up a few last minute things we need to get done before we leave for our first big trip tomorrow evening! I got to meet my good friend and "ex-neighbor" Colleen for lunch Thursday, and Grey and her little boy Caleb were so thrilled to see each other. They've been best friends since they were itty bitty and have played outside together nearly every week of their lives, so they have really been missing each other these past few weeks. Yesterday we had a great time celebrating July 4th with Jonathan's family and some of our best friends. My in-laws threw a wonderful party, grilled burgers and hot dogs, and made sure we all had a really great time. Then we all headed to Lake Conroe to watch the annual fireworks display at Walden. It was beautiful and the kids were in awe. I love hearing their "ooooo's" and "ahhhhh's" after each one. Annie would say "That one is my FAVORITE!" Then the next one would explode and she would say "THAT one is my VERY favorite!" Having kids makes everything so much more fun. : )

Well, we leave tomorrow to start our trek toward Florida. This trip will take up the majority of our summer, covering 4 or 5 states, and I'm super excited! At the same time, I'm also really nervous. It's been a long time since I've been away from home for more than a couple of weeks, and the kids have never been away for more than a few days here and there, so it will definitely be a learning experience for all of us. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we take off tomorrow and officially begin our adventure! Can't wait to see some of you along the way!

- Molly

Buy Some Memories

2014-06-20T03:50:00.002-05:00

If I had to describe this week in one word: hectic! The "hectic-ness" started Sunday when we had to wake up early, prep the whole trailer for moving, all get dressed for church, get locked and loaded, and make it from Onalaska to Conroe in time for the Father's Day service at church! As a side note - I wouldn't ever advise readying an RV for transport in your dress clothes, especially not when it's sweltering outside. Needless to say, I was sweated down after twenty minutes, and of course didn't have the luxury of re-showering or changing, not to mention that I also didn't have time. Since we weren't staying in Conroe, we ended up simply parking the truck and trailer in the Lowe's parking lot and having Molly's sister come pick us up for church. After an amazing service and dinner with family, my mother dropped us back off at Lowe's and we were off to Austin!

We finally rolled into our new RV park around 10 that evening. Although it was already dark, we all pitched in and were completely set up by 10:45. This park is a wonderful little place with lots of trees. It's also gated, which is great since we can let the kids ride their bikes and scooters without worrying about them. Best of all, it's only about eight minutes south of downtown Austin, which was convenient for me since I had business meetings to attend. After getting settled in, I can't tell you how happy I was to crawl into bed after that long day.

Monday morning I had to be at my client's office at 8:30 and was scheduled to be there until 5:30. That's important info because when we're on the road, we only have one vehicle. Fortunately, the park has a pool and nice play area, so the kids were just fine. Unfortunately, we hadn't had time to buy groceries Sunday evening, so Molly had to scrounge our very tiny pantry to keep the kid's hunger quelled until I got back home. Since groceries were at the top of the to-do list, we immediately went to the grocery store and stocked up, then came back to the trailer so Molly could fix dinner, which we ate outside because the weather was perfect. The next morning, I had to be at my client's office early again, and was there until 4pm. Even though the park is nice (and there was now plenty of food), by this time, just the thought of not being able to go anywhere was stressing Molly out, so we decided to get out for the evening. Over the past few years, I've come to love Moonshine, a great little restaurant at the corner of 3rd and Red River, so we went there for dinner. (Get the Green Chile Macaroni if you ever get to go!) Afterwards we drove around and showed the kids the capitol, then ended up at the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the Mexico free-tailed bats come out for the night. It was almost impossible to get a picture of them, but it was definitely fascinating.

On the way home, we just happened to pass by a Krispy Kreme that just happened to have the light on, so of course I had to stop! The picture below only shows four in the box because two never made it past the checkout line...

Wednesday I wrapped up the last of our meetings at noon. However, a couple of months ago I had committed to helping our praise team for the Wednesday night service at Texas District Campmeeting, so as soon as I left the office, I was headed straight to Lufkin for our 5PM soundcheck, and barely made it with 5 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, this left Molly without a vehicle for yet another full day, but I think she managed to keep her sanity. After a fantastic service, I grabbed a quad-shot Americano from Starbucks to stay awake, a quick dinner to go at Whataburger, filled up at the gas station, then I headed back to Austin. Four hours later, around 2:45am, I finally made it home. Needless to say, I slept in this morning.

After not being able to go anywhere for the whole first half of the week, I wanted to make sure Molly and the kids got out of the trailer today and did something fun, so after I got some work done, we headed out to the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio. If you've never been, it truly is pretty amazing. The walk through the caverns is about half a mile long and takes you roughly 180 feet below ground.

After spending a couple of hours here, we were off to catch the Alamo before it closed. Fighting San Antonio rush hour traffic felt like my own personal Alamo for a while there (and just in case you don't know me, I absolutely mean no disrespect to those who actually fought). We finally made it and ended up having to squeeze our giant truck into a very small parking garage. I have to tell you, I was a little nervous there for a bit. Not only was it narrow, but the ceiling almost touched my running lights on the roof. After squinching my way through five levels, we finally found a spot and raced down to the Alamo, thirty minutes before it closed. Being able to walk our kids through this historic site, something I'm proud of as a Texan, made me realize just how awesome this journey is going to be for our kids. They won't only be able to see historic Texas landmarks, but they'll be able to experience places similar to this all across America. In a time where freedoms are in question and history seems set on repeating itself, I'm glad I'll be able to share memorials like this with my kids, places I can point to and tell them of men who sacrificed for a cause they believed in, who gave their lives so that we could live ours freely.

Since we had such a hard time finding a parking spot, we went ahead and walked down to the Riverwalk to grab some dinner. On the way to San Antonio, Grey had seen a Buc-ee's, so of course we had to stop on the way back. I've seen big Buc-ee's before, but this one was massive. It had sixty gas pumps and the same square footage as some small supermarkets. With that last pit stop, we finally made our way back to the house. As I laid down this evening, my fatherly frugality reared it's head, thinking about how much money I had spent on our excursion today with the attractions, souvenirs, lunch and dinner, gas, and snacks. But then I looked over all the pictures we had taken and remembered a quote I read recently: "Memories are priceless so you should buy them." Today was a good investment.

~Jonathan

A First In the Third

2014-06-11T23:25:00.003-05:00

We are currently at a beautiful RV park on Lake Livingston, in Onalaska, Tx. We arrived Sunday evening, in time to set up before it got too dark. My sister and her husband and kids were already here, so she watched the kids for us while Jonathan, my brother-in-law and I got the RV set up. My kids were super excited to see their cousins, so we decided to let all of the boys have a sleep over in our "house", and the girls went to my sisters trailer for some "girl time," as Annie Jane called it.

Monday morning, my niece and nephew had to leave for camp, so we were all pretty bummed to see them go. To get my kids over it, I had them in swim suits down at the beach by 9:30 in the morning! Ha! You do what you gotta do to keep them happy. The rest of our day was spent with the kids making trips in and out of the pool, at the splash pad, back at the beach a couple more times, and around and around the park on their razor scooters and bikes. Oh, and did I mention that our 7 year old learned how to ride his bike this past week?! Eeeeek! So happy. He's not super "outdoorsy," but since he learned to ride his bike, he's been outside most of the day, zipping all over the parks, which makes this momma super happy! That evening my sister fixed us some delicious slow-cooked pulled pork for dinner, so we all sat outside and devoured some tacos, laughed until we couldn't breathe, and swatted a swam of mosquitos while we watched the kids play, then we headed down to the lake one more time to watch the sun set. Not a bad way to end a wonderful day.

On a not so cheerful note, our cat, Hiccup, who we love dearly, decided to make a run for it last night. We looked for her today, but to no avail, so we are all pretty bummed. :( I'm hoping she's just hiding out here somewhere in the park and will make her way back home. But say a prayer for our kids...if we have to leave here without her at the end of the week, it'll be really hard on us all.

Some time around midnight on Monday night, a MASSIVE storm blew in. I was wide awake until around 3am listening to the wind howl, and the rain splat like rocks against the roof of our little tin can of a house. Somehow the kids slept through all of the lightening and thunder and the house rocking like crazy, like nothing was happening. I, on the other hand, laid awake all night just to be sure we weren't being blown off the slab and into the lake! That's what moms are for, right?! Being irrationally terrified and staying awake all night to "protect" their family from scary storms! Not sure what I planned to do if we did get blown away, but you better believe I was wide awake and ready with my flashlight!
We found out the next day that a tornado had come thru the area and thrown trees through houses and caused all kinds of destruction! YIKES! guess we got lucky we didn't actually get blown off the slab into the lake after all!

This morning, Jonathan and I decided to take the kids to visit the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin. Jonathan had work to get done, so I got to drive the new truck for the first time while he worked on his computer. Y'all, that truck is a beast! It's HUGE! Luckily Jonathan was looking down working the whole drive, because I'm pretty sure I nearly wiped a few small cars off the road making wide turns. Whoops! We finally made it safely to the zoo, which is great by the way! If you're ever in the area and looking for something to do, go check out the Ellen Trout Zoo. It's small but beautiful and shady, and has a lot of cool animals that you can see really close up! They also have about 100 peacocks that roam freely through the zoo and get close enough to touch. They are gorgeous (and loud!). All in all, we had a wonderful day and really enjoyed the zoo.

We ended our day back at the RV park. As the sun was setting I made us some sandwiches and we headed down to the beach to let the kids play before dark. They splashed and ran, swam, and even (tried) to ride their bikes into the lake. When I asked why Jack was riding his bike (which is falling apart, by the way) into the lake, he replied "Why not?! This bike is rubbish anyway!" He cracks me up. What 7 year old American kid uses the word "rubbish?" But alas, the bike is indeed rubbish, so I guess it's time to talk Dad into a new one! ; )

We're having a fantastic week here at the lake and I'll hate to leave once Sunday rolls around. My only consolation is knowing that leaving just begins our next adventure!

- Molly

Two Weeks Down

2014-06-06T02:11:00.004-05:00

I would love to say that the past two weeks have gone by without any hitches, hiccups, or hardship, but if I said that, it would be a complete lie. Let me start from where we last left off...

Our first three days in the RV it rained. And rained. And rained some more. Enough so that our kids had a new "pond" to play in just outside our doorstep. And while this put a major kink in our move from the house to the RV, it provided them with a source of endless entertainment, so I guess it balanced out.

In spite of the rain, we only had until the end of the week to be out of the house, so we moved what we could when we could. You would be surprised at the amount of "stuff" we have accumulated over nine years of marriage! We had three garage sales, made at least 8 trips to Goodwill, donated several truckloads full to our church garage sale, gave items to a needy family who's house had just burned down, loaned out items to family and friends to use until we return, stored most of the clothing we aren't taking with us at my parent's house, and filled up our storage completely (at right), along with half of a storage that my in-laws graciously allowed us to use, and we still had items that needed to go. Needless to say, last week was a little stressful. But, after countless trips, we finally had everything we needed at the RV and everything was out of the house - we were officially moved into the RV!
This past Sunday, June 1st, was our first official day of being completely moved in. While getting ready for church, the hanging rack in our closet, which was apparently overloaded, completely pulled away from its mount and promptly dumped all of our clothes on the floor in the process. While I was pretty bummed that this happened right out of the gate, I was also a little excited at the opportunity to prove that I could in fact handle any repairs that would be needed. One trip to Home Depot, two early Father's Day gifts to myself (new drill and screw gun), and several packages of appropriate screws and nuts later, I had that bad boy securely mounted back in place.

Since we knew we would need the experience of breaking down and setting up, we had only planned to stay in the park we were at for a week, so Monday morning we starting prepping for our first move. While Molly was inside packing and making sure everything loose was stowed properly, I was outside draining tanks and making sure all of our hatches were shut and locked. Then we rolled in our slide-outs, hooked up the truck, raised jacks, retrieved parking blocks, and we were off! Ten minutes later we rolled into RV park number two. (Hey, I said we needed practice breaking down and setting up, not driving!)

While our first parking spot had been a pull-through, I purposely booked a back-in this time so I could gain the experience. Communicating over speakerphone with Molly helping in the blind spots, it went smoothly. Forty-five minutes after arriving we were completely unhooked from the truck, set up, leveled, hooked up, and slid out.

While Molly worked on getting the house set back up inside, the kids immediately set about exploring their surroundings. The park is located right on Lake Conroe, and it has a small island that you cross a little bridge to get to, which the kids thought was pretty cool.

Here they are, just hanging around...

Our cat, Hiccup, on the other hand, was not thrilled with the change - I think she was confused, because the house was the same, but this was not the same place!

The rest of this week has gone by pretty smoothly; Molly has been working to get everything in it's place, and I've been in the office trying to wrap up loose ends before we hit the road permanently. Tuesday night Molly cooked our first dinner in the RV, chicken stir fry, and it was fantastic. I'm sure getting used to a tiny stove wasn't quite as fantastic, but she rocked it nonetheless. Our only other issue (so far) this week happened today, when Molly let me know that the lights in the kid's bedroom weren't coming on. After checking the breaker and fuse box, I discovered a fuse had blown. Off to the store I went. With the new fuse installed, everything was back to working order.

While nothing major has gone wrong, the minor things we've had to deal with have served as a good confidence boost that we'll be able to handle whatever happens along the way on this journey. A little patience and hard work solves most things, in RVing and in life. :-)

~Jonathan

The Inside Edition

2014-05-26T21:48:00.000-05:00

For everybody that has asked for a tour of the RV, this is for you. I apologize in advance for my awkward emceeing.

This past week has been both exciting and stressful. I picked up the truck on Wednesday, had the hitch installed Friday morning and picked up the trailer in Houston on Friday afternoon. Just in time to catch rush hour traffic. Talk about a good initiation for hauling a 42' monster! In all honesty though, the truck's setup and the trailer's lighter construction made towing it pretty seamless, and I felt very comfortable with it.

After parking in our church parking lot overnight, I moved it to it's first official parking spot, a little RV park just north of Conroe. It was my first time setting up on my own, so Molly graciously kept the kids away until I was finished. I have to say, this also went without a...hitch (well, there was a hitch, but...okay, I know, terrible pun). But seriously, actually parking the trailer was a breeze. We had a pull-through spot, the pad was relatively level and called for minimal adjustments, and all the slide-outs and hook-ups performed as expected.

After church on Sunday, we had several visitors come by who couldn't wait any longer to tour our new house. Having thirteen people in here at one time made me realize that even though it will sleep nine, we probably won't attempt that very often. After everyone left, we made a couple of trips hauling stuff over to the RV from the house, then settled down for our first night staying here!

In keeping with how things have been going lately, we were awakened extremely early with one very sick little girl. Then a storm moved in, bringing with it tornado warnings and rain all day. That kind of shot some of our moving plans in the foot, but we were still able to bring over quite a bit to furnish the trailer. So, in spite of all of that, today ended up just fine because our new little "house" is starting to feel more like home.

~Jonathan

Week One

2014-05-26T02:21:00.001-05:00

This week has been insanely busy. As I type this, I'm pretty much a drooling, nearly-snoring zombie. We brought home our brand new (to us anyway), absolutely beautiful truck a few days ago. In the process, we had to say goodbye to our van. Somehow in the moments as we traded him in, he went from "the lame mom-mobile" to what suddenly seemed like a member of the family that I couldn't possibly part with. Funny how attached we get to vehicles, isn't it? It was tough on the kids leaving the van sitting there and driving away in our new truck. And I would be lying if I said I didn't have to choke back a tear or two myself as we pulled out of the dealership. In all fairness, it has been the only vehicle my kids have ever known. We've made a lot of memories in that ugly thing! It was definitely a tough goodbye.

But upward and onward, right?! On Friday, my awesome husband made the trek down to Houston to finally pick up the RV and bring it back to Conroe! The kids and I waiting so impatiently all day while he had the new hitch installed in the truck, then headed over to the RV dealership to finish signing papers, did the final walk through, and got the basic info we will need to survive in this thing.

Around 5:00 Friday evening, after never having pulled an RV before (which left me completely terrified), Jonathan pulled into our church parking lot in Conroe carrying the most beautiful 5th wheel in the whole world behind him! Jonathan and I, all three kids,my dad, and father-in-law spent the rest of the evening figuring out all of the buttons and levers, hoses and tanks (ewww by the way!) etc., then sat around for hours commenting on how cool it all was. My mother promptly decided she needed a matching 5th wheel, in which to follow us around the country. She's pretty good at talking my dad into getting what she wants...I wouldn't be in the least surprised if she showed up at a campground along our route somewhere, in her very own Salem Hemisphere 356 QBQ! ; )

Saturday morning we loaded the trucks up with all of the RV gear we've been putting aside for months, picked up the RV from the church, and headed to our first official camp site! Jonathan set the thing up like he's been doing it for ages. I'm so impressed! I would have made a huge mess of the thing, but my husband,the super genius, had it up and running in no time, without a single problem. Swoon!!! My hero...

We spent the rest of the day organizing everything and unpacking as much as we could. Then the kids and I got a chance to explore the RV park for a while before dark. I have to admit, I've had this idealistic picture in my head of what our RVing days with the kids will look like, and I've been afraid I was totally building it up in my head and would be really let down in real life. Well today I think God just brought my mental picture to life to bring me a sense of peace about this crazy decision we've made. As the kids and I walked down to a beautiful little pond and had a picnic, the kids threw a few French fries into the water, which in turn attracted a jillion little fish, turtles, and minnows! The kids were in awe, lying on their bellies on the pier, watching the fish, and oooo-ing and aaahhhh-ing at tadpoles and minnows. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and the kids were so happy. And there wasn't an electronic gadget in any of their little hands. It was like my goofy perfect mental picture came to life right there on that rickety old pier. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of them, living my little dream.

Dinner with Mom and Dad in the RV, all crammed around our tiny little table was a wonderful end to an already wonderful day. Day 1: DONE!

- Molly

We Got the RV!

2014-05-19T16:18:00.003-05:00

After officially deciding to embark on this journey, we had to figure out what kind of RV we needed. Initially, we thought about just snagging a mid-level travel trailer; if we decided it wasn't working out, we could get out of it pretty easily, and if we wanted to continue but increase the size or type of trailer, we could upgrade at any time. A few conversations with some experienced RVers, plus the lack of space ended up pushing us away from going with a travel trailer. We next considered going with a motorhome, especially after touring several of them. No doubt about it, a motorhome is the way to go for comfort on the road, and the idea of living and driving in the same unit appealed to me. Unfortunately, motorhomes aren't really designed for families our size, and especially not for full time use. The kid's "room" would simply be bunks in the hallway, and we would be stuck with only one bathroom. Not to mention, we would have to spend quadruple the price or more to get anywhere close to the same amount of space we would have in a trailer.

That led us to fifth wheels! The stability when towing, extra space that really worked for us, and the reasonable pricing all lined up to funnel us toward purchasing a fifth wheel. Over the last three months we've researched, searched, and studied on different manufacturers, dealerships, makes, types, styles, and options. Because of the space we knew we would need, plus knowing we were looking for a bunk house RV (a fifth wheel designed with a bunk room in the back to accommodate several children), it helped us to narrow down the field, giving us fewer options to sort through. After finding a couple of models we liked and touring them at a few different dealerships, we finally settled on the Forest River Salem Hemisphere 356QBQ, a 42' long monster with a master bedroom and a bunk room, two full baths, and several nice amenities that we knew we'd appreciate while on the road, including an outdoor kitchen.

After a lot of research, haggling, finagling, playing hard ball, and working the system as best I could, I ended up getting the trailer for almost 40% off of the MSRP! Now we have one full week to get everything loaded into the RV and remaining items out of our house. We'll let you know how the week goes and post pictures of the trailer soon. Stay tuned...

~Jonathan

It's Coming Along...

2014-05-14T23:50:00.000-05:00

Well, the last few weeks have been interesting to say the least. As mom of this crazy crew, I've had the unenviable task of downsizing our 2500 square foot home, (which is packed to the gills with 10 years of hand-me-downs, toys, mountains upon mountains of clothing, keepsakes, decor for every holiday imaginable, and the byproducts of my very sad twice-weekly love affair with Target) to a more manageable 400 square feet. It's truly appalling how much "stuff" you can cram into one house. There have been moments in the last few weeks where I could have earned myself my very own episode of Hoarders...well, minus the Hoarder's cliche 68 cats, and canned foods that have gone all puffy.

In all seriousness, I never imagined when we said "let's sell everything we own and travel the country!" that it would be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Both physically and emotionally. We have worked harder in the last few months, packing, garage selling, moving things to storage, organizing, etc. than I ever imagined we would have to in order to get this whole process underway, but the hardest part is the emotional side of it all. For example, a few nights ago I found the baby Boppy pillow I used for all of our babies, and made the mistake of smelling the stupid thing. You moms all know what happened next - it smelled like baby lotion still (or at least my emotions told me it did) and I had a good long ugly-face cry in my kids bedroom, hugging a stupid $19.99 baby sleep-positioning pillow from Babies R Us that should probably hold zero sentimental value to me, but boy, did I dig some up!

But, in spite of all that, it's only made me more ready to get this show on the road. It's taken an insane amount of work but now almost everything is in storage or has been sold, and we are almost ready to begin our crazy adventure! I'm starting to get seriously excited. Let's go already!! ; D

- Molly

Here We Go!

2014-04-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

Dear family, friends, fellow travelers, and random internet passersby,

Many of you are already aware, but for those who aren't (I'm looking at you, random internet visitor), we are selling {almost} everything we own and traveling the United States in an RV for the next couple of years. While it's always been assumed we were crazy, we've officially confirmed that status in the mind of most. While this has been a topic of discussion in our house for a few years, we had never really considered it as a viable option until recently. Anytime someone finds out what we're doing, they have a myriad of questions, so I'm going to attempt to answer a few for you before I go any further.

Who? (For those who don't personally know us)

Jonathan (29), Molly (29), Jack (7), Grey (5), and Annie (3).

What?

We're buying a 42' fifth wheel and hitting the road full time.

Why?

First: experience! They say a man is made up of everything that he has seen, done, heard, encountered, experienced, lived, felt, and dreamed. While we've learned much where we are, we are looking forward to learning and experiencing from other churches, locales, and people. Second: business growth! I (Jonathan) am fortunate to manage an online business that only requires a phone and internet connection for me to get my work done. My primary client has offices across the US, and I'll be utilizing this journey to visit these offices and grow my business. Third: seeing the beautiful country that we live in! While Molly and I have both done a fair amount of travel, there are so many places we've never visited, and might never get the opportunity to otherwise. Not only are we excited to see new places for ourselves, but we plan to make this a trip of a lifetime for our kids as well, giving them the unique opportunity to see more places than most people do in their whole lifetime. Fourth: visiting family and friends! We have family and friends scattered all over the country, and this will give us the opportunity to visit many of them. Fifth: Why not? Most people talk about doing things like this their whole life, but sadly, most don't, or they wait until they are unable to enjoy it as they once could have. We didn't want to fall into that category.

When?

To give you the whole timeline, we listed our house for sale on March 29th, 2014. Two weeks later on April 13th we accepted a cash offer for not much less than we listed for! Since that time we've been working to sell, give away, or store everything in our house. We close on the house April 28th but will be renting it back for the month of May to have time to purchase the RV and transition into it. We will stay close to home for most of June, getting comfortable driving and parking the RV, as well as adjusting to the 2100 square feet downgrade in living space. We expect to pull out for "the long haul" soon after July the 4th.

Where?

Our goal is to visit every continental state at least once, but we definitely have certain areas we want to make sure we see: the Pacific northwest, Yosemite and Yellowstone, the beautiful terrains in Montana and Wyoming, and the eastern seaboard just to name a few. However, we plan to start off heading east first, staying mainly in the South.

How long?

While this is dependent on several factors, such as how long we can stand living with three kids under seven years of age in less than 450 square feet, how much we enjoy life on the road, how effectively I can manage the business remotely, the answer right now is two years. After a few months on the road, we'll have a better grasp of how long we'll stay on this journey.

How?

As much as I would love to be, we aren't independently wealthy, so I'll continue to work full time just as if I were home to support us on the road. Fortunately, all I require is a solid internet connection to get everything I need to done. To accomplish this, I'll be traveling with a Millenicom Hotspot, and of course, I'll be utilizing any free wireless networks we come across. In regard to school, Molly will be homeschooling the kids through a combination of books and online courses, and we'll use our destinations as learning opportunities as well.

Why Now?

For us, it was really a now or never moment. Our kids are at the age where they aren't too big for us all to fit in the RV, but they're all old enough that they should each have some good memories from this journey. I'm currently capable of managing my business remotely, but just a few short years down the road if it continues to grow (God willing), I may not have the freedom to travel full time. Molly and I are both still young enough to do things that we might not be able to if we waited the additional 18 years until the kids are out of the house. It just made sense.

This blog will serve to document the process for us and will hopefully give you the chance to keep up with our adventure. We still have quite a bit to do before we hit the road full time, but feel free to check back for updates!

~Jonathan

Ensey Come, Ensey Go...

San Frantastic

Beauty and Pain

Babies, Birthdays, Caverns, and Aliens

Growing on the Go!

Merry Christmas!

Tennessee is the Second Best "T" State

Walking In Memphis

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Double Header

**Disclaimer** This post is a month late! We had most of it written, but because of how busy we have been while at home, we are just now getting the chance to post it...as we're leaving town again.**

Part 1

Part 2

Roadschooling

The Keys to Happiness

There's No Place Like Home...

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

Pig Out

Launch!

The Final Countdown

Buy Some Memories

A First In the Third

Two Weeks Down

The Inside Edition

Week One

We Got the RV!

It's Coming Along...

Here We Go!

Disclaimer This post is a month late! We had most of it written, but because of how busy we have been while at home, we are just now getting the chance to post it...as we're leaving town again.**