Our list of 6

Today marks 6 months since we moved into our 31 foot home on wheels. 6 months since we pulled out of the "normal" American dream to own your house and accumulate nice things. 6 months of growing in patience and love for each other. 6 months of learning more about each other then we ever thought was possible. 6 months of being together nearly every single minute.

So on this day, our 6 month nomadversary, I bring to you a list of 6 things we love about full-timing and a list of 6 things we don't love about this life.

6 things that we love about living on the road.

         (In no particular order)

 1. How active we've become.

 When you live in a small house and stay at amazing places with lots of hiking trails near, well, it's hard not to go exploring! Lately we've been hiking around 4-10 miles a week. We also find ourselves doing more swimming and even just walking. The children use their bikes an awful lot as well.

2. How much closer we've become as a family.

While we realize that our children are still very young, we have seen a significant change in their attitude towards each other and us as parents. It's been good for us as marriage partners too. If an issue comes up, with us or the children, it has to be dealt with right away.

3. Lack of work.

Just being honest here. It's SO nice to not have a several bathrooms and bedrooms to keep up plus all the outside work of maintaining your own property. Not having much "stuff" has cut down on more stress, both physical and emotional, then we ever realized it would.

4. Time to smell the roses.

Not having so much stuff to maintain has given us many extra hours each week. It is amazing to go, as a family, to town and dawdle around for hours at the library and grocery store just because we can. We can (mostly) take the time to answer our children's questions instead of giving a hurried answer. We can sit outside or play with the children in the evening instead of rushing off to an activity or working until dark. Basically, it feels like we can devote time to what's most important, our relationship with God and raising our children for him.

5. Meeting new people and exploring new places.

It is exhilarating to go to a new area and learn as much as we can about it. We love to check out library's, parks, and farmer's markets. With Eldon working at a local hospital, he gets awesome tips about local places. Learning the history of an area has become a family favorite. Living in campgrounds has given many opportunity's to meet people from all walks of life. An added bonus to this lifestyle is that our children make new friends super fast-with children of all ages!

6. Less drama.

It's pretty self explanatory, but when you're only in an area for several months you can easily remove yourself from the drama in the workplace, community, family, and church.

6 things that we don't love about being a full-time family.

1. Lack of involvement.

While we don't miss the drama, we do miss being involved in a local church and community. There's just nothing like walking into a church Sunday morning and knowing all the members and knowing they know your history as well.

2. Not owning property.

We do actually own our house but are hoping it sells soon. It's a vulnerable feeling to have everything that matters to you driving down the road and knowing that it wouldn't take much at all to destroy it.

3. Not having animals.

The children and Eldon miss this most. We could have a dog or cat but it would also be a pain with as many day trips we take away from the camper.

4. Not having a yard.

Most places it's perfectly fine but some days I just want to send the children out to play alone. Ethan especially is at a hard age since he loves to roam and cannot be trusted for 30 seconds.

5. Travel days.

It's a love/hate relationship with them. As soon as Ethan is a little older it will be wonderful but for now it's just hard. It takes longer to get anywhere when we tow and it gets depressing when the gps adds time.

6. The "Where are you from?" question.

It's funny really, for a few months we'd stutter around and Eldon would say Arkansas and I would say Texas. Or we would explain our whole long speel and then realize they didn't even care. Lately we've just been answering Arkansas and if the need comes up for more we say that Eldon is a travel nurse and we live in our RV and move for work.

Whew, that was much harder then we thought, especially finding 6 things that we don't love! It's definitely not all roses though and I don't want to portray it like it is.We want to say a huge thank-you to our family and friends who have prayed for us and accepted us making this decision even though you think we're a little crazy :) . Thanks to for taking the time to read our blog and keep up with us.