Hello all you beautiful people! I know I'm a tad bit late on embracing and welcoming the new year as we are halfway through our first month. We finally received our laptop back from getting repaired. We've been busy moving around Texas after all our sweet holiday celebrations. Alot of big steps have been taken in such a short period. We are currently in the South Texas area near Austin and San Antonio which has been an adjustment for all of us. A little more humidity and more sunnier days than West Texas. We've been having most of our temps in the 70's and 80's as we are mid-way through January. Very nice for this time of year. The park has a little playground the girls love to play at after school along with neighbors who have many horses who love our apples and carrots.
Now that we are caught up on our where abouts I'd like to talk about what we accomplished in 2021. For some reason I keep wanting to type 2020, that year was such a blurry I have a hard time recalling any of it. Anyhow, this year we discovered that Idaho isn't our place to settle and are now going to spend the 2022 summer exploring Missouri/Arkansas/Oklahoma area. We also started educating THREE children at home this year which we are still adjusting to daily. We just love the freedom homeschooling gives us, as it allows everyone to be flexible and go at their own pace. We had to tweak the curriculum just a tad and it is working out for the better.
Towards the end of the year Tyler started training to become a directional driller and now has that job title under his belt, WOOHOO! He had to leave his original company to pursue this new endeavor, but we are all elated with this opportunity. During this transition we have gotten two solid weeks with him home which has been so enjoyable. We were afraid he was going to have to go from one rig straight to another and not get anytime home before he has to grind away and prove himself to this new company. Thankfully we prayed for him to get to share some time with us and God delivered. His timing has been so perfect this year with everything we have lifted up to him. In March we will reach a new milestone of 3, yes THREE years full time RVing with a family of 5 and two dogs (now one sadly, RIP Charlie). We have been thoroughly enjoying this life on the road but the past two months we are realizing we are getting a bit burnt out on it. We will prevail and put our nose to the grindstone and get to our end goal. Winter months are usually a little tougher, we cant spend all day at the river or exploring the mountains.
This summer I had a few mishaps with the trailer. First, I let the black tank (sewage) overflow into the entire trailer. Several inches of black water, pouring into our heating ducts in the floor. So much water it was pour out, outside the trailer through the floor. Yea not fun, this happened when I left Idaho and had a two-day drive to Colorado. Then I had the trailer roll off the front tongue and bend several jacks. Thankfully we were in an area with friends, and they got it all fixed for us for the cost of two bolts and nuts. It was several tiny events that built up a lot of stress during those few months. So far nothing else too crazy has happened to the trailer. Fingers crossed.
Our main accomplishment we made in 2021 was paying off a tremendous amount of debt by putting in over 65% of our annual income. Doing so we paid off our trailer and truck in less than 12 months. An amazing accomplishment that took much sacrifice and discipline from each family member. We are just a few months away from being completely debt free and can soon start saving to purchase land!!!!
We want to share these personal things with you because our society is so use to the idea of debt and living outside our means. Being free of debt is doable when you meditate on the thought and dedicate yourself to the goal. It has been exhausting, we did spend days where we would loosen the purse strings a bit and enjoy ourselves here and there but mostly every extra dollar went to debt and our only purchases were vital things like rent, food and fuel. The biggest changes that helped us achieve this goal was not eating out and determining what is a need vs a want. Necessity vs Luxury. With all this in mind we are extremely blessed to have the income Tyler has and the ability for me to stay home with the girls. God has guided us though this journey from day one and still does every single day. We are so grateful to have been steered toward Dave Ramsey and his financial peace plan.
On to 2022 goals.....number one is to become completely debt free! We also aspire to become more involved within our Christian community wherever that may be. We hope to make a visit to Wisconsin this year as well since we haven't visited in several years. I'd also like to narrow down a location as to where we'd like to live but this is something that cannot be rushed, and God will let us know when we find it. My new year's resolution for 2022 is to be more conscious about plastic bag usage #savetheturtles LOL. So far I've been doing great, I did forget to bring in a reusable bag when I ran to the store to buy multiple flavors of ice cream...and without any shame I walked out that store holding 5 small pints all stacked up to my chin like the Fat Gus on Cinderella. It may not seem like much but its been a pretty big adjustment fo
This will be my 3rd rotation around the sun trying to read at least 10 books a year. Each year I read 8, for some reason I just can't seem to squeeze in those two extra books. My most favorite, and most enjoyed book I read this year was Matthew Mcconahay's autobiography Greenlights. Tyler and I both read the first three Dune books which was a nice change, I haven't read many Syfy books but they were enjoyable. I really hope the more the girls see us read the more they are encouraged to read as well. RaeLynn and Marlei enjoy the historical nonfiction books about iconic people throughout history such as Walt Disney, Annie Oakley and even historical events like the Titanic. We can't seem to get RaeLynn to read much else, but she loves learning about these special figures that helped build the history we have today, which is not a bad thing. I've been trying to make a habit of getting library cards at each town we visit. By the end of this travelling lifestyle thing, it will be interesting to see how many library cards we will have obtained!
As I get older, I understand more and more as a Christian what these so called "seasons" are. I think we've have been in one particular season for an extended amount of time. But now as we go through the motions of life, I see we are definitely within a new chapter. 2021 was a season of flooding for me. Shortly after my mom died, I tried to do everything on my own and God just continued to dish out more and more to me until I finally accepted the humanness of my flesh and gave him back the reins of my life and let go. I think I've cried more tears this year than ever before. God knows each and every one of my tears "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! Psalms 126:5" The Lord's grace is so much greater than anyone or anything this Earth could ever offer. He is so good to all of us.