The whole story

Okay since I have been asked several times how this came about I thought it was time to share the whole long story. It all started the summer of 2014 when we found out the house we lived in was going into foreclosure, through illness and circumstances beyond our control. No it was not our home in that we owned it but it was a family home and very hard to see it go. Well upon learning this information and the fact we would have to move we began looking for homes to rent.
Oh my goodness trying to find a rental home was so frustrating and scary. This was a challenge because at the time I was pregnant with my fifth child (someday I will blog about the joke of birth control but I wouldn't trade any of them). Well if the owner/manager was willing to rent to us the rent was almost what our monthly income was, obviously that wasn't going to work. I did find a six bedroom house in our price range however the street it was on had a murder the next day, it was a couple blocks away from the house I was thinking about but close enough to make me run the other way. So now we have way to expensive or unsafe to choose from, then I said to husband what about an RV.
I was half joking when I said it and completely expected a response along the lines of your nuts woman. He just sat there for about five minutes or so and says okay lets do it. I was in complete shock but immediately began researching. I have always wanted to live in an RV it just seemed like such an adventure and fun way to live. So we began planning and looking for an RV.
We ran into a problem here, remember when I said it wasn't our home, for eight years we had paid bills that weren't in our name. We had minimal credit since the only thing we every bought in our name was a used minivan. We had a perfect payment history but since RV is a luxury we could only get financing for half of what we paid for the van which gave us $3,000 to work with. What a joke this was and anyone that has looked into buying an RV is now laughing.
Oh we were discouraged, we had no idea what we were going to do but we both still felt it was the best choice for our family. We had been praying throughout all of this process and every time we hit a roadblock we felt more determined than before. We did eventually get our RV a salvaged 5th wheel for just five thousand dollars but the circumstances that let that happen are horribly sad and I don't want to share them currently.
Okay now we had a 5th wheel RV and now we just need a way to move it. The plan was to get a 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickup and I would follow in the minivan. We began to look and look and nothing really fit. Then husband was talking with someone that had done this lifestyle before, he had done some praying and soul searching, and decided we needed to all be together not in a convoy. Um, hello we already bought a 5th wheel we need a truck and I don't know about you but I never heard of a truck that would fit a family as big as ours. Well they do, custom made, but you can find 6 door pickup trucks sometimes. However could we find one in our time frame in our price range.
The truck hunt begins. We knew we needed at least a 1 ton pickup to be able to pull the 5th wheel and all the children, to the internet we went. We actually found several newer trucks but wow the owners were very proud of them. We found a gas powered one within 200 miles of us and it sold uber fast but it gave us hope. Then after weeks of searching we found one, the asking price was to high but they were willing to come down, so off we went to buy our truck. We love that truck even though it has been quite a bit of trouble.
We had the truck 8 days before our first no start issue with it and since we knew nothing about diesels off to the internet we went again. Frustration sets in as we get the first repair done and then the second and then it sets for two weeks at a friends house. We got a crash course in diesel motors over the next few months and nothing fixed the issue. Thankfully because we would feel really dumb if it was something easy the issue was something way over our head, injector o-rings. It took five mechanics, two tows, way to much time and money to find out that seven out of eight injector o-rings were split.
Okay truck is running, RV is ready to go, we are completely broke at this point and running on faith. I will be completely honest we struggled many times throughout this chaotic start. Why? Why? Why? was asked so many times. We never lost faith that this was the plan God had for us, we just didn't understand why was it so difficult to get started. The trials that came at the beginning have showed us we have a community around us and we are not alone. We also have a good mechanic now too.
So we finally got to begin our chaotic rolling adventures on May 5th 2015 after almost a year of planning and roadblocks. The whole way we were never alone God was blessing us every step of the way. He was lighting our path so once we did leave we were in the best possible place we could be. He was making sure we knew He was always there and would always provide. God is good!!
So now that we had a chaotic start and the rolling has finally happened, we get to keep having adventures together (because everything has been an adventure since I met my best friend, partner, husband, baby daddy). We can not wait to see what the coming months hold for us, hopefully the only chaos is caused by the kids and nothing else.
Thank you Jesus for all of our blessings.

Day one.

Oh my goodness it feels good to finally be here. The view is amazing and when I have time I will share photos. The kids are so happy they are running laps, hehe.
The first few days will be all about organizing and figuring out what we don't really need. We will also be enjoying the birds singing. This gets to be our reality and we are loving it.

Finally

Oh my goodness been forever since I have updated but so much has happened in the last few weeks to hold us up. However I am excited to finally be ready to roll.
So we have had quite the chaotic start with everything and everyone. The truck has been quite the pain. We went through 5 mechanics, 2 tows and way to much money to get it fixed. As it would turn out 7 out of the 8 injector o rings were busted. I just want to thank everyone that helped make it happen.
Well that wasn't the only drama afoot, the city was quite tired of us as well. That has been quite a chaotic headache as well. But alas all will be resolved tomorrow when we finally roll out.
Thank you Jesus for all your blessings and please keep blessing our adventures.

A week left

Today is m Monday and we leave Friday. there is still so very much to do in cleaning out the house and garage. The trailer is loaded and ready to go it's just the house to be cleaned out that is left. Once we get gone and I have a few moments to share the adventures of the past couple weeks changing you to eat her bowl on the truck to girls lunch out with Grandma. We have already had several adventures just sitting in the drive and I have pictures and stories galore to share already just no time to do it yet. Stay tuned for the chaos to begin.

Not much going on

There has not been going on as mama is sick and that always seem to put a halt to things. The last week keeping up with daily stuff has been difficult no way I could do anything else. We did manage to buy a few things we will need yet, hoses and such. The hitch should be put in next week and we pull out soon now. We'll back to bed with me now.

First night in rv lessons

1. Bedding explodes everywhere
2. Bedtime is none existent
3. Back jacks are very important
4. Footie jammies are awesome
5. Kids still whine about cleaning up
6. Organization will be the make or break of this adventure.

First truck problem

Well we made it to the other side of the first truck problem. The truck decided not to start less than a week after we got it. Oh yea fun. It only took an air filter, fuel filter, fuel bowl heater, a new tool and lots of online forum reading on F350 trucks. Lol. It drives like a whole new truck now and we were able to do all the work ourselves, well the boys did it. Will keep praying that the truck treats us well and we will baby her (both of us feel the truck is definitely a her).
The next thing will be installing the hitch, we have it just need the rails installed.

Clothes clothes clothes

The never ending cycle of clothes is overwhelming in a stick and brick house and it is my one concern with the move. I hate laundry. With limited space we have to downsize and have decided on 12 hangers plus pj's. I am about 1/2 way done with this adventure. Although I am loving the wardrobe cart I got from a not so quick trip to a fun to store. The laundry adventure continues tomorrow.

Tags & Hitch

Well the adventures continued today as we got tags for the truck, it's legal!!!! We are so excited by this and although there have been a few naysayers they will not be joy stealers. We also got the hitch ordered and should have it installed by next week. Things are moving rather fast now and I am beyond excited, just a few more weeks. We are hoping to have a mini adventure sometime this month after we get the trailer tagged and hitch installed.

Lighting adventure

With no time to waste we have begun our first adventure and so far it has not been fun. So we bought a used truck and it has a few things that we need to fix, no surprise. Well so far we can't figure out how to fix this. It is the license plate light, very important to night driving to be legal. We thought it was a bulb, oh no not that simple. The entire housing was all rusted out so we changed those out, rewiring in new ones. Nope. So we have ended day one of adventure one with no fix yet. I am researching some fixes that don't require rewiring anything, just yet. Oh and the puzzling thing of the day was the light we found mounted under the bed of the truck that has no apparent purpose. Hopefully we can figure it out tomorrow after talking with a few friends that are more mechanically smart than we are.
Oh and I also got to go to lunch with my oldest today, just us two. It was the first time we have done sure a thing and loved it. She has grown into a sweet young lady and I hope this was just the start of a long tradition. Have a blessed day as I am off to crochet.

Big things have happened.

Well I have not posted in a bit because I have been busy with cleaning, sorting and nothing of much adventure has happened. Well that has changed as of this week and God has sent us a huge blessing to start the new year. Lets start by explaining where this week started, hubs is laidoff and the bills don't stop coming in during these time. On Monday we were unsure of how the bills were to get paid and groceries were going to get bought. We have always believed the God provides for all of our needs, not wants, so something would happen and it did. God provided in a huge way. We have been looking for a truck, a truck with 6 doors that seats 7, not so easy to find. I found one on craigslist and was praying for God to provide it knowing we have no way to pay for it but still I prayed daily for this one specific truck. Well an amazing gift let us have the money to get a truck but it was less than they were asking for this truck. We took a chance and called anyways an boldly asked if they would meet our price point, without hesitation she did. So a quick recap Monday unsure of how to buy groceries and Friday owners of a new 6 door truck to pull our home around, my goodness is God big.

So everything was arranged we were off to look at the truck 4 hour drive one way with 5 kids in the minivan, lol. I was not thrilled with this because it would mean I was driving back 4 hours and I am not a fan of driving, night driving, long trip driving, hence the reason we wanted a 6 door truck.

 We had a great time the kids didn't fight at all. The family had some laughs along the way and it was a rather uneventful trip with some great memories made. We did have someone ask to take pictures of our new truck on the way home when we stopped for snacks. I am left in awe of how amazing our God is and how He blesses us.