It’s official!

Our house is on the market for rent! I am super excited! We’re praying and believing that the perfect family for our home is on the way! Great things are happening!

You know what this means? Now I have to keep it clean all the time...

Come on renters, come quickly! PLEASE!  

 

Our house, soon to be our rented house.

Our plans, His hands.

Why are we doing this, really?

Sun and fun to everyone!

As my husband and I continue to talk, we realize we are just plain tired of the same old way of living. Simply put, we feel there’s something else out there to discover, and see.

In order to embrace this, we work to free our minds. You see, society, if you let it, can dictate how you should live. Society says, everyone should, go to college, get married, buy a house, have 2.5 children, get a dog, work for someone your whole life, retire and then, well you know the rest.

And there’s the American dream…home ownership. Really it’s home “borrowship”. Pay your house off and then decide NOT to pay your taxes, you’ll see who owns “your” house! Let me be clear on this. I’m all for real estate investing, for business purposes. Back to my point about the alleged American dream.

Sure it’s a dream, for the corporate, money hungry banks. For those of us who have purchased a home, we understand this. Let’s say you purchase a home for three hundred thousand dollars. When you begin signing all the papers, like you’re signing your life away, you get to sign a very important document, towards the end.

This document tells you that after you finish paying the bank for loaning you the money, you will have paid about nine hundred thousand dollars. So you borrow $300,000, but you pay back roughly, $900,000, after 30 years. Usually I would type out number words, but I want you to see the zeros. Is this really a dream or a nightmare?

Either way, most people do this because having a “home” or “deed of trust” represents security, of some sort. I get that. But is it really security, if it can be taken?

I’m saying all of this to make this point. We are rethinking all the things we thought we knew and wanted out of life.

Lately, I have been reading about people and even families who are "location independent". This means, they don’t own a home anywhere in particular, but they live in different parts of the country or world at different times. They have the freedom to come and go as they please, because they are not tied down to a mortgage.

My husband and I are wrapping our minds around this concept. To us, it sounds like real freedom. Imagine seeing all the states, the different countries, and being able to live one place or the other, at any given point.

The more we discuss this, the more we know we are doing the right thing by traveling for the next year or so. Ultimately, we’ll have to ask ourselves if we want security or freedom.

In the meantime, enjoy the journey with us!

Our plans, His hands.

I'll miss my front yard

Sun and fun to everyone!

Today was a warmer day, so I decided to sit on my porch. I walked out of the front door, like I always do. There was no swing, I forgot the swing is not there anymore. We have been downsizing and the swing and bench are both gone.

As I looked around, I realized that my roses, purchased by my husband are blooming for the first time. My yard is coming alive with the signs of spring, and we are on our way out.

 

These double knock-out roses were on clearance last year.

 

 

While I am excited about going, I felt a little sad about leaving all this beauty behind, as it’s just starting to blossom. So I got my camera out and started snapping pictures.

 

 

I felt better knowing that I had pictures to take with me. It’s also a good feeling knowing that all this beauty won’t go to waste. Another family will enjoy it while we’re away.

We spent many evenings watching humming birds feed.

After taking some pictures, and walking around just enjoying the beauty, and being thankful, I got excited again. How much more will we have to look forward to out there?

My friend gave me these  last year. Thanks Em!

Our porch plant.

My home is just a fraction of what’s out there. A whole world is about to open up to me, with a lot more to see! There’s so much beauty all around, and I’m about to see more of it!

Our plans, His hands.

The Simpler Life

Sun and fun to everyone!

The more my house empties, the more excited I get about leaving it. I see that all the stuff I had all over the place, is not missed by any of us!

My empty office!



My empty office library!

 

 

I am looking forward to a simpler life, packed with new places to see and new things to do.

I’m already thinking about how nice it will be to clean only one bathroom, instead of three. No more ironing clothes! We can go when we want and go where we want. I am loving the lack of clutter in my house right now.

As I continue to pack up my office, I see all the papers all over the place. Piled up notes and writings. Books piled sky high. I LOVE my books, they will not be given away, just stored for a while.

My office has now been reduced to a laptop, printer, tablet, and a few extras to store my notes.

My office now, minus the electronics.

There is a certain amount of liberation felt when you know you can live without so much stuff and be just as happy, if not happier. Life is so much more than the things we can buy with money.

For us, life is freedom! Freedom to be on the road and go where ever we want. Freedom to explore and see what’s out there. Freedom to educate our children, instead of them being indoctrinated. Freedom to teach our children how to learn, instead of what to learn.

Living a simpler life, does not mean it will be easy, there will always be challenges.

Living the simpler life is the freedom to live, and not just exist!

 

Our plans, His hands.

Swift Walker Tour and Giveaway!

Sun and fun to everyone!

On my last post I talked about the reasons we’ve decided to hit the road and see the states. There’s another reason for our bodacious move! Some of you may be aware that I’m a published author and blogger. I’m on a mission to see that at least one child, in every state has a copy of my book.

My first book in the series, “Swift Walker a Continental Journey”, is about a little boy who travels everywhere. But get this, he walks everywhere he goes, and he walks really, really fast! Did I mention he walks really fast?



Swift Walker is headed your way!

In my ideal world, I want every child to read and have a copy of my book. It’s full of fun, geography and it sends a positive message to children about traveling and adventure. Reading is very important and books are the building blocks for vocabulary and communication skills. 

One of the things I’ll be doing on this tour is giving a FREE, signed copy of my book to one child in every state we visit. That’s right, I said FREE! This way Swift Walker will be in every state in the USA, and at least fifty children will have an opportunity to take part in his adventure, through reading. Two more books will be available this month and in June! Swift is on the move!

Available late June!

 

Available the end of this month!

 

If you would like the opportunity to support this mission, contact me and purchase a copy for someone you love. Or you can pre-purchase a copy for one of the fifty children I’ll be blessing through this giveaway. Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll respond.

With written permission from each child’s guardian, I’ll post pictures, so you can take part in this journey with us. Isn’t this fabulous! A book giveaway! What better gift than a book for a child!

We’re super excited about the Swift Walker Tour and Giveaway! Thank you for joining us and thank you for your prayers, and support.

Our plans, His hands.   

Why in the world are we doing this?

Sun and fun to everyone!

We have been asked this question a couple of times. I can understand why. We have a great home, in a great community. We love our church and our family. But sometimes there comes a point in life when you just have to do something new, different, and exciting.  

We are making this move, not to escape the old, but to embrace something new. When we were talking about doing this, we asked ourselves, why not? Sometimes you just have to go for it!

So, instead of continuing to put everything into a house and more stuff, we decided to put everything into life experiences, and making memories.

I mean, how many clothes and shoes can one person wear? Do we need more décor to hang on the walls?

Would we rather have more clothes, shoes, stuff and more stuff? Or would we rather have life experiences and see different places and things, meet new people? The more we think about it, the more excited we get. We can’t wait to get rid of all this stuff and start living!

As the house empties, we are more aware of just how much “stuff” we don’t need. We are more aware that we crave freedom, and being able to live life in a different way. We realize, God has blessed us with this opportunity, and we are so very thankful. 

Stay tuned for the next post as we introduce part 2 of this adventure. Join us!

Open road, here we come!  

Our plans, His hands.