The Edge [of all] Journeys

In about a month or so, we will be leaving our 5 bedroom house in Virginia behind for good. We will be driving away in a blue diesel Suburban and pulling our 32 foot travel trailer.

Since before we were married, my husband and I talked about living on the road in a trailer or a sailboat. Well, it looks like that dream is finally going to happen. We sure didn’t imagine doing this with 5 kids though. We’ve done some test runs (a short vacation and sleep-overs in the trailer in our driveway!). There will definitely be some adjustments. Okay, a lot of adjustments. But the kids are excited and have actually been very cooperative and helpful about selling and giving away many of their clothes and toys that won’t fit in the trailer. I seem to be the one that wants to hold onto things. Especially their homeschooling books and games. I have 5 file bins full of books, activities and crafts that we might need.

I have all my crafts and paints and paintbrushes that I just can’t seem to part with. It’s interesting to see what’s most important to me. My jeans, my art supplies. And of course, my Mac. I had a hard time parting with my shower curtains, but, I got over it. My dishes (breakable) and coffee maker (too big) can always be replaced if we decide to settle down in a house again. For my oldest son Bennah, it is his sketch pads, Legos and nature encyclopedia. My oldest daughter Reayah has her Treasure box. It’s a collection of jewelery, hair paraphernalia, movie stubs saved from family dates, unique stones found on walks, and other beautiful and shiny treasures she has found or bought. She loves her books and tea set too. Zach will be happy with just his toy cars and Duplo blocks. Jaiden will be happy as long as he has what everyone else has. Joy, who is only 4 months, will be content to have a toy that she can chew on and that makes a crinkly noise. And maybe I’ll keep a few board books like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” and “Good-Night Moon”.

We are all looking forward to this adventure. It will hopefully be a simpler life full of opportunities to minister to whoever Father puts in our path along the way. We just want to walk in YHWH’s purposes wherever he leads.

I hope to stay in touch with many of you. Don’t forget us!

We came across a most curious sight on our drive up to / through Pennsylvania this past weekend. Right along 104 there were these immense mountains of mulch steaming from the decomposing process and a front-end loader taking smaller piles and putting them onto bigger piles. It was truly amazing… perhaps all the more interesting because there was still some stubborn patches of snow clinging to the surface in spots. I didn’t really have the time that I would have liked – such as 8 days or so 🙂 – to truly document the spectacle properly, but in the few short minutes I had while my family waited in the truck, I jumped out and fired off a few quick rounds. It was hard to decide which one to post, but this captures the essence. Sadly, none of the shots I grabbed captured the enormity of these mulch piles, nor the precarious position the loader was being driven into. The pilot literally drove this thing up the steep side of these piles to drop a new deposit on top. It was expertly accomplished, but I thought for sure the giant machine was going to tip and come rolling down the mulch mountain right at me.