Beth Loecken A Family on the Move.

RV Life

I’m having an unexpected, but much needed evening alone.

Jay and Ben are at Covenant Church at their “Man to Man” night. They are leading worship together and Jay is sharing a life message.

Today has been a full day and I’m thankful for the chance to unwind. Come to think of it, life is always full with rarely ever a dull moment (which most of you can relate to) and I love the constant activity, but when I get a chance to relax … I’m all over it!

The kids and I worked diligently all morning to get our school done so that by 12:30 we could leave to serve at a local nursing home. The job they needed us to do was fill up helium balloons for a special send off.  The kids had fun! We also met a precious man who was almost 90 years old and was 6’6” and full of spit and vinegar! He was gentle and feisty all at the same time (kind of reminds me of myself … at least the feisty part). Talking to him was a hoot!

We left there and headed home because Ben still had a lot of school to do (yep – he’s a highschooler) and Bekah & I had to finish science, which is not our favorite subject – but we made it through! I then darted off to the grocery store to restock and thankfully got home just in time for the guys to leave.

So … here I am … back in the bedroom … ALONE! It’s wonderful … and at the same time I struggled on deciding what to do! I finally get alone time and I’m stuck!

Can anyone relate?

Do I write a blog, read, call a friend, journal …?

The kids are happily playing, so I decided to write and sip on some tea … and then I’ll read and relax!

It’s hard to believe that we have already been on the road for 2 years! Never in a million years did I think this would be the case … that all of us would be so excited about what we are doing and that living in 340 sq. feet would become “normal”! Are we crazy or what? Maybe you shouldn’t answer that!

I wanted to share with you some of the positives and some of the draw backs of traveling on the road full-time, because as wonderful as it is … it definitely comes with it’s share of challenges!

Positives:

• Meeting new people
• Variety & change – new areas to explore
• Experiencing different ministries, churches, families & communities
• Family togetherness
• Simplicity (no temptation to overspend at Target because it won’t fit in the RV!)
• Living by faith and trusting God to lead us

Drawbacks:

• Frequently shopping at stores I’ve never been in and it takes me 3x’s as long!
• Finding dentists / doctors / chiropractors
• Very little alone time
• Always feeling lost and clueless in a new area
• Leaving friends
• No deep freeze & a small fridge - so shopping at Costco is challenging … and yet we eat enough to NEED to shop at Costco – ugh – huge dilemma!

What do I miss? What am I thankful to live without?

I miss close friends, family, hot baths, watching movies on the flat screen, a yard and space.

I am thankful to live without a huge house & yard to upkeep, weeds to pull and dealing with “stuff” we’ve accumulated because we have the space to store it!

Hmmm … interesting … I miss space and yet I’m thankful to live without a huge house? What? Well, I miss “having” the space, but I don’t miss how much time it “took” from my life to maintain it! It’s a love / hate thing I guess.

These lists could probably go on and on … but for sake of time (my book is waiting) and potentially boring you to tears … I’ll stop there.

Well, tomorrow night Jay and I will begin teaching the Dignity Serves class to the leaders at Covenant Church. We will be fitting the 6-week curriculum into 4 weeks and this is our first time teaching it, so we are excited and nervous (well, Jay’s excited & I’m nervous)! We can’t wait to see what God does with it!  We constantly are reminded that we are NOT the story … that HE is. He is just gracious enough to let us be a part of it!  We are thankful for God's constant grace and how he loves to use average, ordinary, broken people … like us!

Thankful

Monday morning we woke up late and truly the last thing I wanted to do was get up and homeschool the kids. We were all exhausted after a full 10 ½ hr. day of driving from Georgia to Indiana, setting up the RV and then finally crawling into bed much later than I would have liked.

However, I was unbelievably thankful.  The tiredness and lack of motivation I felt upon waking quickly left me as we spread out into our new “home”.

Ahhh … the simple pleasures …

a yard to run and play in …

a tree to spread a blanket underneath to do our school …

concrete where we no longer track in dust, dirt and mud …

space to spread out  …

and a covered garage to park in so that we are not baking in the sun!

The simple pleasures that we used to take for granted when we owned a home are now huge blessings to us.  We each sailed through Monday … and every day since for that matter, with renewed hope.  Yes, we LOVE what we do and the kids will readily say they DO NOT want to own a home (which always surprises me), but at times we sure do miss the little things. I realize though that living without these simple pleasures has made us more thankful and able to enjoy them all the more!

We are being hosted in Lafayette, IN by Covenant Church. To give you the details of how we landed here, Brian & Jen Wiegers read the article that was done on our family in Ladies Home Journal several months ago. They saw on our website that we were parked in FL and while on vacation there, they contacted us. So, one Saturday afternoon in March, our families met. We had a fun afternoon at the RV getting to know each other and realized when it was over, that God may be doing something more. When Brian returned home to IN, he had several meetings with the pastors from his church to see if they were open to us partnering with them to help mobilize their congregation and within a couple of weeks everyone agreed that God was working and the timing was right to have us come.

Locating an RV park was the next task. After hours on the phone, with our only option falling through, Brian called us saying he contacted a former client of his, Jerry Brand, to see if he might know of a place for us to stay. Jerry generously offered his immaculate, 3 “RV” (not 3 car) garage that has full 50amp hook-up! It’s a great set-up and we are so grateful and excited to be here!

Change

We are on the road to Indiana and I am feeling mixed emotions as we leave Atlanta. I feel sad to leave our good friends, but also look forward to change. Thankfully, there is a large part of me that loves adventure and welcomes new experiences, but of course there is also the side that feels a little unsure about the unknown.

Change is normal for us now that we have been doing this for 2 yrs.  It seems the week before we leave; I start to emotionally prepare myself. I don’t really think much about it when I’m in the midst of it, but as I reach into my experience and put it into words – I guess I start to detach. I start to think more about where we are heading and less of where I am.

So … what’s on my mind today? What will life be like in Indiana? Who will we meet? What are the expectations of the church and the people there? Where will I grocery shop? Will my kids have friends their ages?

Another thing I think about is whether or not I will be able to hold up my newfound boundaries. I have struggled in the past with being a “yes” person and always making myself available to people no matter the cost. I have over-extended myself, pushed myself and said yes to too many things. During the last 4 months as we were re-building our ministry, I had time to reflect on this. I realized that my “job” is not to rescue other people, nor to solve all their problems. I can’t. When I say yes to the “right” things, I enjoy them much more and can fully be present and give myself completely without exhaustion and resentment.

Life is a journey! I am continually amazed at the fact that no matter how old we are, we continue to grow and change and learn more about others and ourselves.  I guess the day we stop learning is the day we no longer have a pulse!