A rediscovered passion: trash into treasure

 A rehabbed triple dresser

 I rediscovered an old hobby after moving into our new home. And that is the joy of making old things look new. Whether it’s a fresh coat of paint in a bedroom or finding the beauty in a junky old piece of furniture.

When we moved out of our RV and into a big house, we had no furniture. Everything we owned fit inside our RV or in storage (in my mom’s basement).

Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, we ended up with enough furniture to sparsely furnish our basic necessities. A place to sleep. A comfy couch to sit on (thanks, Mom!) and dining room table.

Birds Gotta Fly Vintage furniture store

But we lacked shelving and those bits and bobs to flush out the rest of the space. I went yard sale shopping with a vengeance. And had so much fun. But we resulted in some interesting cast-offs. Things that had seen better days and needed TLC.

Last summer, I found one of my top favorite shops in Elkhart, Indiana: Birds Gotta Fly Vintage. They sell Anne Sloan Chalk paint and refinish furniture. But it’s the whole atmosphere. Fresh inspiration at every turn.

Anne Sloan chalk paint: LemLem and Pure White

I snagged some fun chalk paint colors and found some left-over paint in our basement. Armed with a paint-brush, I went to town.

New in Elkhart, Indiana. Home to the RV Industry

Elkhart, Indiana

In January 2018, the Blackburn family officially moved to Elkhart, Indiana. After years of driving cross-country to visit my family, God dramatically opened the door for us to live here.

We moved into a cute little yellow farmhouse just south of downtown Bristol for three months. It needed some TLC, but we got it cleaned up and all the utilities turned on.

Little yellow farmhouse 

In April, we purchased a 1960s red-brick ranch and settled down in our new home. Within the last year, we found a home church. Joined a homeschool coop. And participated in several family events, thus cementing the best reason for being here. Family.

1960s red brick house

We also joined a robotics program and the younger two kids started up in a technical school –Elkhart Area Career Center. Liam is learning all about industrial automation and engineering. And Kyla excels in the Commercial Photography program.

This will be their second year doing robotics and the career center. Both of them finished their core academics and are now on a trajectory toward their future careers.

The kids with best friends at our new church

My oldest daughter, Jessica, opted to return to Colorado to be a camp counselor after graduating a year early. She interned at Camp Idrahaje for the last year and will be finishing up her incredible experience this month.

As for our RV adventures, we put them on hold. Like everything else in life, there is a time and a season. We plan to continue traveling in a couple years, but need time to stabilize and root.

There was a thing I had been missing, but I couldn’t describe. A restlessness. I think part of that contributed to my constant need to find “home.” Once we moved here, that restlessness left. I love being close to my family and can’t imagine ever living anywhere else.

Life isn’t perfect and we still have ups and downs. But my husband absolutely adores being home. And I adore having him home. Our relationship with God is stronger and we are closer than ever.

Overall, I would say if I had to do this journey again; I wouldn’t change a thing. Because it led us to where we are now.

Happy. Healthy. Rooted in community.

My sister and my mom. My best friends in the world.

Flying Saucer RV Park in Englewood, CO

There is a little place tucked along Bear Creek and the Platte River and squeezed in between Riverpoint shopping center and Hampden Ave in Englewood, CO called the Flying Saucer RV park. This seemingly innocuous RV park has been in existence since the 1950s (as a mobile home park) and converted to an RV park sometime in the late 80s.

Flying Saucer RV Park in Englewood, CO

We came to stay here in December 2016, as a semi-permanent landing pad. Our current RV is a 2012 5th Wheel Wildcat bunkhouse with an extra bathroom.

This is very similar to our layout, except the master bathroom is on the opposite side and the bed is angled. 

We've been in it for the last year, having spent last summer on a farm (more to come) and visiting family the rest of the time. Jessica turned 16 last September and got her driver's license . She works at Chick-fil-a and keeps her calendar filled with plenty of social events.

The cousins love hanging out!

Liam will be 15 in October. He relishes the fact that he's taller than me and frequently steps in to reach those out-of-reach objects! He is my right hand when it comes to fixing stuff around the RV. Like when we replaced the thermostat in the heater and switched out our hot water heater and did maintenance on the air conditioner. Whew!

Kyla turned 13 in December. She is most like me and LOVES good books. I often find her immersed in a page-turner and have a hard time pulling her out to do school and chores. Again. Just like me at that age.

We've spent many days this summer hanging out in hammocks and tubing down Clear Creek in Golden. One of our favorite things to do to beat the heat. Bear Valley Church has been our church home for the past few years. The kids attend every event they can and God's immersed us in an amazing community of believers. I even volunteer as a barista once a month at our most excellent coffee bar, making lattes and designer coffees.

Life continues to be an adventure full of laughter and tears. But in everything, God is faithful.

Where we are now

Due to job changes, our family decided to continue living in Denver, Colorado.  After a very brutal 2013 winter, we longed for more space and warmth.  After our rental property sold in summer 2014, we purchased a condo and put the RV up for sale.  With the intent of renting it out when we are ready to move.

Hello IKEA organizers!

We spent several days painting and replacing the appliances in the kitchen.  Plus, we had to replace some furniture.  I took the lessons on efficiency and wise use of space that we'd learned in the RV and applied to our new home.

We only purchased beds, a desk, a couch, and five heavy duty, wire commercial shelving units. Then stored all of our clothes and belongings in organizers tucked into closets.  The kids relish the indoor space, but miss the outdoor fun that waited right outside our RV front door.

Our condo is close to a favorite county park that enables us to swim in a lake, do some outdoor archery and some hiking, biking, and exploring.

My youngest has expanded her culinary skills. 

We joined an academic coop that is pushing the children and I to a whole new educational level.  Which can be painful sometimes.  On a whole, we are excited about our future and what God has planned for us.

My oldest, Jessica, attended a Civil War Ball with her best friend.
Her dad acted as escort!

Kyla has also taken up photography, like her father, and shown a prodigious talent!

Liam, my son, and Kyla also started a little paracord bracelet business.

Kyla's 11th birthday present. Sapphira likes to "help" with school work.  

Frozen water pipes and everything...

The magnitude and full impact of the flood created a domino affect that went on for weeks.

The sidewalks stayed frozen for days

Not only did we have to remove our skirting and relocate, but our water pipes froze one last time.  It was all our poor water filter housing could handle and it cracked in two pieces.

I ordered a replacement and that lasted all of a month before cracking again.  This time, I went to Home Depot determined to either rip the whole thing out or replace the housing with something cheaper.  I found it!  A household water filter that cost $20 with all the trimmings instead of $45 for just the bottom portion.

We also decided that when the weather went below 10 degrees, we would shut off the fresh water and empty the pipes so it wouldn't and bust something again.

Well, my mom came to visit and in my rush to get out the door, I couldn't figure which way to turn the bathroom sink off.   I hoped for the best and left.  When Bill and I got back that evening, water was gushing out from under our front door.  Literally pouring out by the gallons.  Evidently, I guessed wrong.


After shutting the water off (I couldn't figure out why someone hadn't spotted it and shut it off for us.  They had done so in the past over something very stupid...), we mopped up everything we could.  But the sub flooring was wet and mushy for days.  We were scared that there had been permanent damage.  Luckily, they dried out and became as solid as ever (though not as flat...).  Thankfully, we came out fine and survived that mishap.

Then, the water filter broke again, this time it cracked at the top where it's screwed into the lines.  I used the replacement I had and fixed it up good. 

Creek flooded right to our doorstep.

How I longed for growing green things and mild weather to replace the cold...

One last bit of impact we had from the extremely cold temperatures in February.  It got so cold that our fridge stopped working.  The coolant in the back couldn't function correctly. It took about a week of good weather before it started up again.

In the end though, spring came and brought new life and fresh hope!