Okay, so I haven't posted anything on this blog in almost two years and I am amazed that it is still up and running. Facebook seems like such an easy way to share photos and connect with friends which is why I started this blog. But things have changed since my last blog and while Dave Ramsey is very much a force and man that I respect, there have been bumps in the road both by my own making and not by my choosing.
In 2012, I spent a great deal of time being sick and in and out of hospitals dealing with two pressure sores that became infected. One on my left hip required surgery and the removal of the femur head and part of the femur to get rid of the infection that had set into the bone. Wow! Six weeks in the hospital was not a pleasant time for our family. But we made it through and we saw God work in our lives like we never have and learned to trust in Him and as He says, "seek yea first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." I am still dealing with a sore on my right hip but it is slowly healing.
This time of sickness made me realize a few things. One is that life is precious and I've been wasting it searching for something that isn't there and not spending time with my family and making memories that will last. So I broke out of the hospital (got discharged) and spent the summer of 2013 remodeling an apartment that we had tore to the studs several years ago. I also got back to scuba diving and did something I always wanted to do, jump out of an aeroplane.
I also realized that our house and it's ten acre plot needs a lot of work that I wasn't able to do and haven't really caught up on since I was sick. I convinced my wife that we needed to look at downsizing and maybe moving to another house. Easier said then done when you need to renovate a bathroom or add a ramp to get into the house and facilitate ease of use. But then I went after a dream that I have had for most of my life; travel the fifty states. I wanted to do it on my motorcycle but now I have a family and we just need more room. So we went to look at camping trailers and settled on one to buy. A Cherokee Grey Wolf 25RR. Its a toy hauler so I can get up and down without installing a lift and we can tow it with the Tahoe and not buy another vehicle.
So here we are. We started cleaning out the house and clearing away the junk and the clutter that we have accumulated over our lifetime and making room for a new adventure. Sweeping out the old has been therapeutic for both my wife and I. Patrick still isn't sure because he can't take all his Legos with him and he wants to have a home base, a place to call home.
What is great about this is that we already home school and we want to get this underway before Patrick hits high school age and needs more attention with his classes and may even need to go to screul. Mainly because he needs to know stuff that we as parents may be incapable of teaching him and don't necessarily know all about.
Add that to the fact we aren't getting any younger and my shoulders might wear out and I might not be able to be as physically active as I am now. So we are planning the routes, activities, destinations, friends to visit and fighting off the sheer panic and terror of what we are about to do. I pray every day that God gives us what we need to see this dream live and so far we have been in His favor.
