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.  

Wintering at Clear Creek in 2013

 Going into the winter, we knew deep in our gut that it would be brutal.  We had planned (or hoped that it would happen) on being in Houston for the winter.  But, alas it was was not to be due to internal politics (that never happens...). 

 With much trepidation and faith that we would survive, Clear Creek RV Park became our semi-permanent abode until May 2014.

Right away, we knew it would different from any other winter we'd ever experienced.  The flooding that occurred in September (while the kids and I were in Indiana) only happened once in a century. 

Notwithstanding the very small space we now inhabited as an active family of five (~250 square feet), the outside temperatures fluctuated into the very cold rapidly.  We combated that by creating red-neck skirting using inch-thick styrofoam and white duct tape.  I regretted the ghetto look, but was grateful for the ten degree increase internally.  We first connected to an electric only spot and then were able to move to a full hook-up.  That meant removing and re taping the skirting.  Very tedious.

 Our spot backed right up to the creek.  It was a beautiful spot.   And not much foot traffic behind us due to the cold temperatures. 

We figured that we could handle November, December and probably January.  But getting through February would be our challenge.

The skirting and a heat lamp underneath helped keep the floor warm.  We properly winterized our water hose and kept two electric heaters running at all times. One in the front and one near our bedroom.  We maintained an ambient internal temperature of 65 degrees during the day and about 55 to 60 at night.  With layers of blankets and bundled up in warm pjs, our family did just fine. We frequented the rec center next door and tried to get the kids outside playing with the rv neighbor kids as often as possible.  We made several good friends!

Bill wearing his X Wing costume in the Golden parade!

The creek froze over by Thanksgiving and we settled into surviving (and hopefully thriving) through the winter.  We had the kids involved with Awanas and by December, Bill had started a pilot program creating training videos and other digital media related stuff for his work.  This was his big chance to create a position within the governmental department he worked for doing the stuff he was most passionate about.  We were very excited about this opportunity and about the places (hint, hint) that it could take us.

Little did we know about the extreme challenges that were ahead...

House-less; not homeless...

There are upsides and downsides to living in an RV. Besides the obvious lack of space and privacy and ability to stock up on groceries when they are on sale, there are...shall I say..."legal challenges.”
Such as:

Easy answer unless you live in an RV.

Time to vote? Oh, yes. You can't use your mailing address as a legal residence, but we can use the temporary space that we occupy (Clear Creek RV park in the winter/Jefferson County Fairgrounds in the summer).

The most recent challenge is...school.

My husband and I agreed that the kids should get more online schooling and with my oldest going into 7th grade, we decided to try the online public school route. It sounded like a good idea. All the materials we needed for free. Outside motivation for deadlines and still able to enjoy traipsing about the country...

Step #1:

Verify your residence. Where do you reside? What is the place that you and your family occupy on a daily basis?

Ok. I am optimistic by nature, but this first step proved to be a doozy that I can't overcome. They accept utility bills, but not cell phone bills or tax returns. What about the fact that I pay state taxes, including school taxes. I own a home in Colorado, but I rent it out. I could use the property tax statement to show proof of residency, but I don't live there. I wanted to be up front and honest with the admissions folks for both K12 and Connections Academy, so as to not cause problems later on.

They could do a shipping addendum which would route all materials to the UPS store that we use as our contact address for mailing purposes. But to prove that I "reside" in Colorado (besides paying state taxes, registering my vehicle (which cost $1200 --yowza), and having a Colorado drivers license isn't good enough.), is beyond my current capabilities.

I could get funding. Only if I pretend to be homeless. But I'm house-less, not homeless...

Second problem: Testing. They require our physical presence between February and April. Who knows exactly when. It depends on the teacher you are assigned, which you won't know until you sign up and are part way through the year. We have to ask permission in order to travel extensively...

That ain't happening. I don't need to ask "Mother, may I?" to do what I want to do.
So, public online schools are out for us. They are good schools that offer a valuable service. But not for my family.

And to be perfectly frank, I'm relieved. I prefer homeschooling anyway and am excited about the wonderful opportunities for science and history learning on the road. We'll see what lies ahead for this roadschooling family!

House again, Home again.

Leaving Indiana was bittersweet. 

When I left Colorado in May, I didn’t know what would happen with our Keenesburg house.  I hoped against hope that it would sell. At the very least I was glad to be done with it for the summer. 

But alas, we’d had no offers and only a couple lookers.  The hardest part for my husband was the separation of our family.  He missed us terribly.  With no dog, cats, kids or wife to greet him and no furniture except for the bedroom; it made for a very lonely summer.  He filled the time with Star Wars troops and family events.  He would often stay over at friends’ houses. Geo-baching is hard when you are used to controlled chaos.

Some of our conversations were tense, packed with unresolved emotions and underlying disagreements.  But I pushed it aside and enjoyed the journey.

Our first stop was Naperville, Illinois to visit with his cousin Sherrill Niemann and her family.   I will give the man props for navigating through Chicago traffic with a trailer for the first time in his life.  We dry camped in a neighbor’s driveway for the night and shared a couple meals.  We saw her son, Cale, off to school.  This is his first time on the bus. 

The kids relished the fact that we homeschool and don’t have to worry about getting up so early…

Kids in front of a wagon that sat juxtaposed with the lab.

After a few cups of coffee, we packed up and headed down the road to the Ferme lab –where they experiment with neutrons and electrons.  Quite heady stuff and further reason to marvel at God’s creation.  

Bill unhitched the trailer in the Ferme lab so he could gas up the truck, as most of our driving was on back roads and there were no truck stops available.  It is too nerve wracking with the trailer otherwise.   

We went on to Madison, Wisconsin and stayed overnight in a state-owned camping park.  It was nice to have electricity again to combat the heat.  We rode bikes around and grilled.  So therapeutic after driving through Illinois and the numerous toll roads.  

The next day, we drove through Madison to admire the scenery and sample cheese.  Quite a beautiful town. 

Before leaving out, we used their dump station to flush out the system.  It was Bill’s first real experience emptying the black and gray water tanks.  Not pleasant, but necessary.

Next on the list was a stop over to visit Bill's aunt Peggy in Michigan. 

She loved our trailer!

Next stop: Lake City, Michigan to visit Dave and Joyce Janes: Bill’s surrogate parents, where he spent numerous hours with his best friends.  It is right off of Lake Pepin and home to Laura Ingalls Wilder during her early childhood. 

Sometimes things happen to alter your plans. This something happened a block away from their house.  The steering pump seal blew on the truck.  We were able to limp the truck and park the trailer in their lush backyard; a verdant assimilation of flowers in an incredible array of colors.  The garden in the back overflowed with an assortment of berries, squash and tomatoes.

Dave and Joyce live in a late 1800s house that oozes character out of every pore.  For two days, we enjoyed their wonderful hospitality and the view of Lake Pepin. 

After an expensive fix, we drove over to Pepin to see where Laura lived, after having listened to “Little House in the Big Woods” during our drive.  All the woods are gone and corn fields are now there.  A small cabin sits where her house sat and plaques try to explain what life was like. We took lots of pictures and imagined life back then.  It took about 30 minutes.

We had a quick bite to eat in a local hamburger joint and finished off with big cones of homemade icecream.  Then toured the town where “Grumpy Old Men” was filmed: cute, quaint, and small. 

The thing that surprised me the most was that Lake Pepin is actually a wide spot in the Missisissippi River.   

We said goodbye to our new old friends and trundled down the road.  The unexpected second day in Lake City meant that we couldn’t go on to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  Our finances had been overly taxed and Bill decided it was safer to head home.   

We did make a brief stop in Walnut Grove, Minnesota for another Laura Ingalls Wilder museum.  

We drove from Michigan to Nebraska in one long haul. Straight to his grandmother's, June "Gigi" Blackburn, house in Grand Island.  

She opened her heart and home up to me during the first years of my marriage to Bill.  Used to wear me out while shopping.  Gigi designed her home using legos as a base.  It is heavily decorated with oriental themed furniture and knick-knacks. Her sunk-in green tub is a favorite among the grand and great-grand kids. Bill remembers visiting her unique home as a kid.  

We stayed for two days before heading back to Colorado.

I dreaded our return because I didn't know how long I would be "stuck" in the Keenesburg house.  We pulled up to the house in the late afternoon.  While the kids burst out of the truck and into the house, I sat in the front seat -not able to put my foot on the sidewalk.  

I wrestled for several moments with pent up emotions until Bill came out and held out his hand.  With a heavy sigh and uncertain heart, I stepped out into the next season of my life.  

A beautiful sunset, on the way to Nebraska,

Downsizing

Ahh.  The dreaded downsizing has begun.  Since last September, my family has been in getting-ready-to-move mode.  We felt God preparing us for the next stage in our lives.  I’d lived in our house less than a year and had managed to accumulate an incredible amount of stuff. 

                But in his gracious wisdom, God walked me through the journey step by step.  So every day, from September to December, the kids and I would pack a bag for charity or put books in boxes after completing school for the day.  We sold some things and gave other stuff away.  Lots of homeschooling books, curriculum and related materials, that I’d been clinging on to for years, went to someone else.  Where hopefully it got used!

                December rolled around and we were packed, waiting for the signal that God wanted us to move.  Yes, we still owned our house and wasn’t sure how that would be resolved.  But after all, God is God and has his plans.  We said our goodbyes to the homeschooling group, finished Awanas scriptures, and took down pictures. 

                January melted into February, which drifted into March.  Here we were.  All ready with no place to go.  After months of doubting his direction and questioning our sanity, he stirred us up.  Whispering that all our planning, preparing, packing and purging weren’t in vain, it was time to get the house ready for the market. 

                I am sooo glad I took the time to purge last fall!  It makes the job easier.  I started the process by having the kids help me clean and organize the entire house!  Then, I started in the school room and go through all my books again.  This time with a prejudiced eye toward what was keep-worthy (going into the storage unit) and what could be purged. I culled more homeschooling materials, including some things that could be sold on eBay. 

                The garage was a big, scary place full of packed boxes and unorganized piles.  So that became my first priority.  Because Bill was still fighting sinusitis and the kids were sick, coughing and feverish –it took me awhile to get the job done.  At least a week. 

                We decided to keep most of our non-fiction books (all geared toward homesteading) and hand-crank tools.  One day, we’ll own some land and have a farm.  But not today…  I’m taking all the books and stuff to my sister in Indiana, who is getting ready to purchase a farm.  She and I have the same interests and I know she’ll get more use out of my precious books than I will right now. 

                So all the long-term keep boxes go in the basement.  Anything getting sold or donated to charity gets pulled to the garage.  Other things that we think we’ll use are going to the RV, tucked away in a cabinet.  I figure that once we’re moved out completely, I can rearrange and settle in.  But at least it’s safely out of the house.