11/1/2006 to 3/1/2007

When we moved in with the Swansons we began attending a home church with them. It was there that we met Chris and Stacy. Shortly afterwards Chris had to move to Utah (they thought for only a short time) for work. When they discovered the work was going to last much longer than expected they decided Stacy and their two kids should move there, too, until his work allowed him to come back to the area. Stacy called me to see if we would house sit.

Wow! How can we question God’s sovereignty? We have met very few, if any people that have needed someone to house sit for four months. And as we had always hoped to leave around the first of the year. It seems ordained. They are planning to be gone into February and we will likely be needing that much time before being ready to go.

Speaking of being ready to go, we have a 15 passenger van and a 1997 Skyline Nomad trailer. I am doing some cleaning and sprucing and we have too many things we still need to purchase before we leave, but every step gets us a little bit closer.

It is nice to have our own space again, but it is hard to be spread out over a larger area. I just don’t want to keep up this much space anymore. It is good to want those things you will soon have and we will soon have much less space. We will see how long my feelings last.

6/28/2006 to 11/1/2006

It is hard to conceive of a family willing to give up half of their house, much of their privacy and control just because they see the opportunity to be of service to friends, expecting nothing in return. Jim and Charissa moved their kids (2 boys from one bedroom, 2 girls from the other), all the kid’s toys and furniture, into their upstairs family room and master bedroom (a few things went to the attic). They moved everything out of the downstairs bathroom drawers and cupboards. And we moved in.

They did everything to make us feel welcome and desired us to feel like it was our home. And although we heard them say that they enjoyed us being there, we had difficulty believing them. We more than doubled their household! We knew we were guests, but always they treated us as though they would love our living with them always.
For the kids it was like summer camp the whole time. The nine of them just fit around the table and that is where they ate. The adults sat nearby on the living room furniture. The amount of food to feed that crowd of 11 or 13 every meal was a real education for Charissa and me. It took several weeks for us to figure out how much to make so that everyone got enough. Every meal was a lot of work. When we moved in we had intended to buy and convert a bus. After a month the bus was bought and we had many difficult moments and decisions with it, deciding at last to sell it and look for a travel trailer. Jim and Charissa were patient with all our struggles, never knowing how long we would be invading their space, never pressuring us in our decisions.
Charissa is such a good friend, the best I’ve known. Living with her was a blessing I will never forget. I’m sure many were concerned about its effecting our friendship, and not every moment was easy, but nothing could reduce my love for her and her family. We will always be grateful for the opportunity they gave us to follow a different trail.

The Big Idea

It was spring or summer of 2004 when I, Marla, began to pray that God would give Greg a vision for our family. We were living what seemed a typical life: decent home in a decent neighborhood, maybe a few more kids than most and home schooled. Greg went to work every morning to a job he disliked to pay the bills and came home to find there was just enough time to see the family or go for a ride before trying to get enough sleep and start again the next day. Greg wanted to do more, and so did I. Life is so short and the kids grow up so fast. So I began to pray for more for us.

Maybe a week later Greg came home and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could travel around the country and ride trails in lots of different states?” “Yeah,” I replied, trying to sound like it could ever be possible. I didn’t expect it would ever get mentioned again. But, the next day when Greg came home, “Did you think any more about us traveling around the country?” Wow, I thought, he was serious. “No, but I will,” was my answer.

We wondered if we could rent the house out for enough money to pay the mortgage and support our travel, but it didn’t look like it. We began to think about selling the house, but that was a lot of security of which to let go. Still it seemed to be our only option. This is where our dear and generous friends, Jim and Charissa, come into the story. They offered to let us live on their property, even in their home while we prepared to leave. So the house went on the market early June 2006 and we had a full price offer in two days. In less than a month we were moving into two bedrooms and a 10x10 storage unit.