LIVE YOUR LIFE

Adults, Married Folks,

I've come here to remind you to Live your Life. There is not a single soul here on earth who knows the plans God has for you, except for Him, and eventually, you.

Often while traveling the country full-time, we were asked, “But how?” followed by, “My family would never be okay with that…”, with their facial expressions reflecting pure confusion.

The simplest response I have is to LIVE your life. Stay prayerful and aligned with Christ.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” — Psalm 37:4

During our little over a year stay in Colorado, I didn’t exactly enjoy the way things were going or the direction they were headed. God created us as a family unit. How else can we spend these valuable years together learning together, growing together if we’re giving our best to the world and our family gets the rest?

I first became very drawn to the idea of living small. Watching documentaries about it.

Falling in love with the concept of “Less is more.” Desiring change, I prayed often and began to brainstorm: How could we simplify life? How could we have less stuff and instead invest our resources into time and experiences spent together?

I thought about our desire to travel and all of our favorite activities, most of which were outdoors. How could we combine the two and make that a reality for our family?

Long story short, my husband wasn’t exactly fond of the idea at first. It actually took him a while to get on board. But then a series of life-changing events occurred, leading us to a simpler life before we even visually seen things begin to line up to make the fulltime traveling dream/idea a reality.

Before we knew it, we were staying in Central Louisiana with my elderly grandmother, looking after her and supporting one another as we got back on our feet. My husband stayed faithful to the process and worked a virtual teaching job. Not making much of anything, but enough.

In February 2020, we received our federal tax refund check. By March 1, 2020, we were able to purchase our Four Winds quad bunkhouse trailer in cash, making the dream a reality.

Ten days later, a state of emergency was declared. Covid-19 was characterized as a pandemic. Shortly after, schools began to close, qualifying my husband for unemployment. Looking, applying, and interviewing for jobs became his full-time job as our rig began to accumulate more miles, exploring the states of America.

Can’t make this stuff up!

The news was fear mongering everyone; issuing stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, quarantines, “wear your mask” mandates. Grocery store shelves were empty from state to state.

But yet, enough. We never stocked up on anything but wanted for nothing during Covid. We traveled and had the highways to ourselves the beaches, exhibits, national parks all to ourselves.

We could have been stuck in the house, fear mongered by the news.

“For we live by faith, not by sight.” — 2 Corinthians 5:7

Yet again, another time proven better to walk by faith and not by sight. We were ready. The Lord made a way, and we were launched into an experience of a lifetime. Two and a half solid years of endless adventuring. You could catch us outside, living our life.

There were quite a few naysayers in our family who didn’t support the idea. And you know what? They didn’t have to. God did. That was the only support we needed. He swung that door wide open, and we launched!

Traveling full-time and camping just makes me feel good. As you travel from one park to the next filled with other transients, you realize you’re mostly all there for the same reason, to escape the “real world.” And it feels like it. Everyone is so free and happy in our little safe space. It also encourages being out in nature more, packing in a load of benefits.

I will never regret the time we invested in our family to learn, grow, and see the country together. Or living in and sharing a 32-foot-long space with our little family. We visited family and friends around the country that we hadn’t seen in years. We met other like-minded families and lived it up with them.

Our road-trips took on a whole different meaning when we started to notice how folks saw my husband as a safe space to talk about race, unity, faith, the world we live in. They had the right one.

So lastly, I will never regret the open and honest conversations that were held, mostly around a campfire, with unbiased thoughts and open hearts, often with people who didn’t resemble ourselves. And the minds we changed along the way.

Every conversation, lesson, step of faith, and moment of freedom became part of a story only God could write.

When you truly walk in faith and live your life, you understand that His plans for you were never meant to make sense to anyone else.