Tag Archives: road trip

this is the year

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truck_family_hit_roadThis is going to be a BIG year. I know, everyone says that come January 1, but for us, this really is going to be a BIG year. We’ve been waiting for 2016 for a LONG time, though we didn’t always know it was 2016 we were waiting for. Now it’s here, and now we know!

I’d be lying if I said we weren’t scared. There’s a comfort in the familiar, but something deep inside us is not happy with staying there. We know life is more than the routine, than the familiar, than sitting at a desk day in and out while the kids grow up when we’re not looking – while we’re off at work and engrossed in the habits that so easily suck our time away from what really matters.

Just two years ago we had no idea 2016 was the year. It seemed like a distant dream of ‘one day’ that may never be attainable. Funny how God works when we don’t even know what is going on. I have found a passion in helping others discover ways to use natural options for better wellness that we never imagined would also become a lifestyle and calling for us. Circumstances beyond our control kept leading us to the next thing and the next thing, God has worked out all kinds of details that were in the way before, and now here we are!

There are SO many unknowns {that is where fear creeps in}, but we are trusting that the God who got us this far will light the path when needed. Ok, enough with the vagueness:: here are some of the things going down in 2016 and to say we are excited is an understatement!

  • E is retiring from a 20 year career in AUGUST and we will be free to move where we choose for the first time in our life together!
  • We are renovating a 1973 31′ airstream that will be our next home {yes, for all FIVE of us}, and have to have it ready by the time we leave!
  • We will finally escape the desert —-> destination unknown!
  • We will travel around seeing parts of the country we haven’t yet been able to explore, visit friends and family across the country, get to share our love of essential oils while we travel, and visit many of you who are a part of our amazing team!
  • We are homeschooling our oldest child and will take that to the road. No better way to learn than to get out and see the world!

The next 8 months are going to be the ‘prepare to launch’ phase for us. The ‘simple’ life we’ve been longing for does not come easily. We have a lot of STUFF to get rid of. Hard decisions to make. Time to put the action behind our dreams.FRESHSO many details to still work out, but we hope you guys follow along with our journey and adventures. Life with these 3 amazing littles is never boring, and mobilizing it to a 2 room camper will guarantee plenty of ‘adventure.’ Having my husband join us 24/7 is a blessing I could never have imagined, but for anyone who is married, you know that will come with a whole new round of challenges as we figure out new roles and hopefully master time management.

We know a lot of you have done similar things – thanks for the inspiration! We know it can be done, so we’ll see where the roads lead us! Here’s to a crazy ride in 2016!

Around the Bend

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When I go too long without posting I get about a million things going through my head that just want to explode on the page. I’ll spare you my chaos and try and organize my thoughts, but one thing that I am SUPER excited about is that we have some BIG changes coming up in this next year. More details to come, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with this article that gives you a peek into what we have in the works behind the scenes right now.

http://www.theplaidzebra.com/this-family-sold-everything-they-own-to-visit-400-national-parks-in-an-airstream-bus/road_curve

God has opened up doors and opportunities for us that I literally never would have asked for or imagined. It is not all flowers, sunshine and rainbows – we are working super hard and trying to refine ourselves daily to be where and who HE wants us to be. We fail at this daily. What I can say is that the process is starting to be enjoyable as we catch glimpses of an abundant and free life ahead that lies more in our attitude and our outlook vs our situations and circumstances. Can’t wait to see where it all goes…

airstream renovation:: part 2

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We arrived in the desert the end of May 2014 and soon realized renovating a camper in 110+ degree heat was not going to be an easy, enjoyable task. After we survived a summer and temps started to cool, we slowly started making plans and E started in on some of the critical framework. We figured it would come in handy by the time we had to PCS again (about 3 years down the road) so we weren’t in any hurry.

Once we finally got all the disease-ridden trash out of the thing and gutted everything that couldn’t be pressure washed or bleached off, Erin and a few guys started re-building this thing from the ground up. The frame had to be scraped to the bare metal, new parts had to be welded on, the entire thing was painted with POR-15, we went to a freshwater and grey water tank system only (going to use a composting toilet), and replaced the decking with a composite material from Nyloboard (marine board so it won’t rot….ever).


EARLY SUMMER 2015:: we took it in to get some electrical wiring set up. We worked long and hard trying to re-design the interior plans taking into account how we THINK we may use it (this is super hard since I am a visual person and can’t get a good idea of the feel of the space yet). With summer travel and crazy temps in the desert, not much happened with it until we finally picked it up from the electrician in November.

Next step:: get all the old patches sealed up, clean out all the old peeling clear coat off the double paned windows (what a pain), patch a few doors and get this thing water tight and ready for insulation to go in.

the airstream:: in the beginning

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Some people have asked how we decided to randomly buy and renovate an airstream and travel the country. Short answer is….we didn’t. Now that we have been through counseling and I am hopeful that our marriage will no longer dissolve over this issue, I’ll post a bit of the back story…

Have you ever had one of those ‘maybe one day’ conversations with your spouse that you casually mention dreams or ideas that might be cool to do at some time in the way distant future, but isn’t even on your radar or in the scope of reasonable possibility at the time? So I thought we were having one of those the day Erin said, ‘Oh I saw an old airstream for sale on ebay.’ Fast forward (I’m omitting the part where I snapped back and said, HECK no) and by summer 2013 we were the new owners of a 1973 piece of rolling aluminum that came complete with the hantavirus.

Lesson here: not everything advertised on ebay is as it seems. picking it up

Fast forward a few more weeks and we were now the new owners of a Toyota Sequoia because our previous vehicle was not even able to tow the aforementioned ebay purchase. OH MY!!!!! Once we got the new ‘find’ home I was told I could actually not step foot in it for health and safety reasons (I was super preggo with baby 3) and even from a distance I knew why. GROSS {insert several weeks of marriage counseling over the disagreements on making this ‘investment’ at a time in our life where I was a frazzled mom with soon to be 3 kids 3 and under who was lucky if I got a shower once a week and CERTAINLY had no time or energy for a renovation project}.

So after much counseling and debate, I finally caught a glimpse of the vision that E had for a longer term dream he had for our family. With his love for adventure, activity and desire for our boys to grow up experiencing the outdoors as much as he did as a kid, he knew something like a camper could come in handy (not to mention we had to move 9 times in 5 years and this would have been super convenient in those transitions). I fully agreed, though the means by which we got to the end would have been very different if I’d had my way. But we were at where we were at, so we agreed to keep the crazy thing….rats and all.

Life threw many curves at us just a few short months later and we found ourselves in the midst of a lot of changes. Our 3rd child was born in October, we moved to a new house across the neighborhood in November, and by January learned we were making an unexpected move to the middle of nowhere, CA. Thing were a bit busy to say the least. 10 months after we had purchased it, once I was no longer carrying a little human inside me and could get away long enough to actually shower afterward, I was allowed to set foot inside our airstream (with hazmat gear, of course). April 2014 E and I ripped out all of the old ‘insides’ in about a day and it was NOT pretty. These are the first publicly released images of what we saw:

 

Road trip!!

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Ok, so I have a whole new level of appreciation for my oils thanks to the road trip we have embarked on today.

keychain
First of all….packing up toiletries/meds/first aid stuff was AWESOME! I grabbed my little 4ml spray bottles of our daily used oil blends, a few soft gels (just in case), and my little keychain of 8 oils I thought we might need. I put everything in a makeup bag, and it was still mostly empty! In the past it took 3 bags to bring along all the ‘stuff’ we thought we might need!

Simplifying is a beautiful thing!!

The biggest win has been having the oils on hand while on the road. They have saved the day FIVE times within the first 60 miles!!

  • Kids hungry and hadn’t washed hands….no problem! We have a powerful blend of oils like clove, cinnamon, melaleuca, rosemary, eucalyptus and orange to the rescue!
  • 2 year old started crying of a ‘really really bad tummy ache’ thanks to car motion…..a blend of awesome oils like peppermint, ginger, caraway, fennel, anise and coriander saves the day! I mean seriously. Handed the little vial to my toddler and he ‘sprinkled’ it on his tummy, rubbed it in, and within 2 minutes was back to laughing and not crying. The blend of oils I have that supports healthy digestive system is amazing. Didn’t even have to pull the car over!
  • baby starts screaming (this one usually sends me over)….instead pull out lavender oil and stick it under his nose! He gets distracted, relaxes and we’re all good!
  • pull off for a pit stop and above mentioned 2 year old wipes out while ‘racing’ down the sidewalk…all better (and disinfected) with owie spray!!
  • 4 year old removes shoes in front of the air vent….WHAT!?! How do 4 year old boys already have stinky shoes!?! Wishing I would have grabbed the disinfecting and odor-be-gone spray (it is now on my ‘to pack’ for any future trips), but instead whipped out a blend of spruce and woodsy oils and smelled fresh trees instead of stinky shoes

Not sure what I did before we had these, but we will certainly NOT be leaving home without them!

If you don’t have any of these oils yet, shoot me a message and I can give you more info about where to get them!
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