More reflections on our 6-week Sabbatical (what I don’t love)

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So of course I don’t love everything about traveling across the country for 6 weeks, and I want to reflect on these briefly because it’s so easy to think that escaping ordinary life will bring some sort of euphoric experience. And it really has been great. I know we’re right where we’re supposed to be, and we’ve seen God’s hand of kindness on us all along the way. A few reflections:

We’re in an exhausting season of life no matter where we are … and you probably are too.

In some ways, this trip has been exhausting. Toting around two little ones plus two big ones for 10,000 miles is quite the adventure. But honestly–life with littles is exhausting no matter where you are.

At least for me, the jump from 2 kids to 4 kids was a lot. Having teens and toddlers at the same time? Totally awesome and totally exhausting. The bigs want to stay up late with us (which I love, Heidi & Dutch!) and the littles wake up early for us and that means zero free minutes to ourselves. So it’s just an exhausting season. (Side note: As a perspective on how tiring it is to have multiple children, check out this AMAZING story!)

But honestly? Aren’t most people in exhausting seasons of life? While I’m here I keep up with others who I love. My friend whose husband was almost killed in a car accident, and she now cares for him 24-7 as he lost his legs and cannot walk, talk … you get the idea. Talk about exhausting. Or my friend battling cancer with three little ones who spends every day in treatment. Or my other friend whose husband just finished 40 days of cancer treatment. Or my dear friend who has five littles and is covering loads of the work for our church back home so we can be here. Or my other friend who is taking care of her parents as her dad is in his final weeks of life. Or so many of you battling health crises, or just going through the incredibly difficult process of aging. It’s all exhausting.

I was talking to a friend who is in the process of adopting a 4th child. They planned to adopt two. Already at three their lives feel overflowing. Adding a 4th? Seems overwhelming. And yet, we were saying to each other: What else would we rather do with our lives?? Isn’t it WORTH IT?

It is. And yes, I’m hoping to get some naps in during July and August. 😉

It’s hard not having a home.

In 40 days we will be staying in 22 different places. That’s 22 different beds. Twenty-two times figuring out sleeping arrangements. Twenty-two times setting up the pack-n-play and getting Justice settled in and re-calibrating who will get up with which little one and you get the idea.

Switching homes 22 times in 40 days for six people is just really tiring. Just now I laid down for a quick rest during naptime, and my eyes filled with tears as I just found myself longing for home. And then I remembered … we don’t have a home. As you may know we’re living in a trailer, and while it is looking very promising that we’ll be able to build a house (yay!), it’ll likely be another year. I really really miss having a home.

When you’re not in your own home, at least with littles, you’re constantly a little on edge. I’m always afraid they’ll break something, or spill something, or make too much noise. Everything is unfamiliar. Even your body knows the steps around things in your own home. In unfamiliar settings your body is always re-familiarizing yourself with things. And don’t even get me started on figuring out each kitchen! Which knife is the best? Is there a vegetable peeler? Are there plastic dishes because no way am I giving breakable dishes to Ben. The joke with my family has been I’m in a constant state of trying to figure out the stove. Every oven and stove cooks differently and I’m always trying to figure it out. We’ve had a lot of burned food on this trip. 😉

This has made me ache with those who are displaced from their homes. My displacement is voluntary. I want to do this. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for those who are displaced from their homes, especially with littles ones, who don’t know if they’ll ever be able to return. Or who are fleeing in fear. Or in danger. This definitely has fueled my prayers.

Good water is a treasure.

Oh how I miss Oregon water! I’m sure I sound ridiculous but THERE IS NO WAY TO OVERSTATE HOW MUCH I MISS OREGON WATER. I’m so spoiled! I feel like I will do nothing but sit and drink and drink and drink as soon as I get home. I could cry I miss our water so much. Ok, I can’t talk about it anymore, moving on …

Traveling is expensive.

To be clear, we aren’t poor. We are paid generously, and we are so incredibly grateful to be able to own a home, cars, and have the financial freedom to do so many things. No complaints here! But man oh man, it’s hard to be frugal when you’re traveling right now. Gas is expensive, food is expensive, places to stay are expensive. We aren’t even doing amusement parks or other attractions. Angie spent $30 on bug spray in the Everglades just so we wouldn’t get eaten alive. I spent $27 on 9 bottles of Gatorade at the rocket launch so the kids wouldn’t die of dehydration. Crazy! Again, so glad we’re doing it, but I’ll also be happy when we can settle down on our little piece of earth and not in tourist-traps. 😉

Didn’t mean for this to be a complaining session, I really have loved this trip. Especially seeing God’s diverse creation and His wonderful people who are our friends and family. That’s been the best. And now naptime is about over so I’m signing off for some more exploring of Washington DC. Thanks for reading!

Reflections (so far) on our 6-week Sabbatical

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We just said goodbye to our friends, they’re flying back to Oregon after spending 6 days with us here in Florida. We are on Day 25 of our 40-day road-trip Sabbatical, we’ve driven more than 5,000 miles so far, and we’ve only had three days so far that are just our family (and those were just all-day drive days across the south). Of course, it’s been awesome seeing so many wonderful friends and family. But I can feel myself exhale and slip into what my soul has been craving: Sabbath rest.

Of course Ben will wake up in 30 minutes so it’s a short rest. 😉 But of course as you know there’s a different energy when it’s just your family, and we’ve had some sort of housemates (which we love!) for the last 10+ years. It’s weird to think of building a house that will only be our family, but I’m excited about the possibility of being a host family for Safe Families, and Lord willing, our new space will allow us to do just that. And of course Dad’s next door so that’s the best of both worlds.

It’s been so good to be with so many different people and see so many different parts of this country, different cultures and family-cultures. I love that! I feel like I’m learning so much just by seeing different things and different people. Here are a few thoughts so far:

Hospitality is huge.

I’m usually the one on the hosting-end of hospitality, and it’s easy to just kind of get in a rut of serving dinners and having people over and not really thinking much about it. But being in so many people’s homes, and especially staying the night in so many people’s homes has been so incredibly impacting.

It is such a powerful thing to have someone prepare space for you. Call ahead and find out what you like in your coffee. Check in to see what kind of sleeping arrangements works best for your littles. See what your favorite drinks are. When you’ve been driving for 8 hours and you’re hot, sweaty, exhausted, and you have four tired kids with you, it’s AMAZING to walk into a home and see a delicious dinner on the table, a glass of cold water in your hand, clean beds all ready … I mean, maybe it’s just me. But this is incredible! Who wants a musty motel when you can have a HOME?

And to experience the kindness of other people setting aside their whole life for a day or two (or three–some of you!) to just be with you. To cook for you and show you around their town. It’s incredible. Our culture is so different now because we have hotels, but I’m really hoping in our new home to set it up in such a way that people will come stay. I think we should ditch friend sleepovers and start having family sleepovers!

I love having less stuff.

We each brought one carry-on sized suitcase for our 6 weeks. This needed to include beach clothes, swimsuits, hiking stuff, Washington DC clothes, church clothes, etc. It forced us to keep it REALLY simple, and I’ve been loving it!

When you only have running shoes, flip-flops, or Birkenstocks, it doesn’t take long to choose your shoes. So much less decision fatigue and time spend on figuring out clothing. We have our one travel mug, our water bottle, our snack cup. It’s just been so nice to have less stuff. It feels like a rest for my brain! It’s definitely make me want to even further declutter our lives and only keep what we actually love and use.

It’s good to get some distance from my daily life.

When we’re in the thick of it, the stuff our lives can be so all-consuming. It can feel like the whole world is all about whatever you’re concerned about. Everything revolves around your concerns or fears or issues or whatever. Oh man, it’s so good just to GET AWAY FROM YOUR LIFE. To get a little distance and see OTHER PEOPLE’s lives and concerns and stresses and worries and joys. Turns out, we are really small!

There’s another whole world out here, and it just helps so much to gain perspective, especially by spending time with people whose lives are very different from our own. I enjoy this about all three of my sisters-in-law. Our lives are very different, and it’s so helpful to spend time with them and realize how drastically different their stresses and fears and joys and sorrows may be.

I remember how much I love our life.

I’m sure this is true for everyone: Being away reminds me how much I love Oregon. I mean the Florida sun is great, Tennessee homes are gorgeous, Georgia peaches are like nothing else in the world, BUT…I love Oregon. The water alone is reason to love it there! 😉 The rain is rough, but the beauty is breath-taking, and the fresh, clean air, the oceans and mountains within a couple hours of each other, plus rivers and lakes and creeks and farms and OREGON IS AMAZING! And the same is true with our church and family and friends. Of course I know that our state and our community aren’t superior to others, but God has placed us there and given us a love for it. It’s HOME. There’s no place like it, right?? Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it’s been great to get away and appreciate how much we love our life.

3 ways to make family vacations worthwhile

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As I type these words we’re one-third the way through a 6-week, cross-country family road-trip, crossing 20 states and nearly 9,000 miles.

Our 15-, 13-, 3-, and 1-year-old kids are loving the adventure so far, and it’s brought us some clarity about the mission and vision for our family along the way.

Any type of vacation or excursion is costly, both in time and resources, so how do we decide what’s worth our time and money?

3 ways to make family vacations worthwhile

These are the three priorities we used to plan our course: (Read the rest over at Simple Homeschool…)