Wednesday, May 6, 2015

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.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on having an RV and also for finding a truck for it. You've been through a great hassle, but I'm glad that you managed to have everything settled. I hope that everything is going well for you and your whole family now. I believe that you'll be able to move on from that chaotic start that you had. Good luck on your adventures, Susie! Have a great day!

    Rudy Swanson @ Haaker

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