How it all began

Three months in. It's only starting to feel like the life we imagined it would be. On the Friday before Memorial Day we watched the kids play with friends and lounged in the hammock. We also supervised their activity on the campground road closely, due to the large influx of guests coming in for the holiday weekend. One downside to this life is that I've traded our tame cul-de-sac for a busy camp resort with massive trailers and RV's coming down the steep little "street" we are parked on. Anyhow, with the weather FINALLY getting warm again...hot actually, we're thoroughly enjoying spending entire days outdoors. Sunblock, water fights, eating on the picnic table, playing in the dirt...oh and heading to the beach because we feel like it and there's a beachfront on the James River only 20 minutes away. If I could make a list of what I love about doing this, those things would be near the top.

We started this whole thing last summer. In the Spring we had done a trip across the country in our 26' travel trailer, complete with 4 bunks in the back. At the time it was quite an upgrade from the little hybrid pop-up that we purchased initially. (We actually started camping in tents, when the older two were an infant and preschooler. I know some of you think that's crazy and some of you are like "right on"...haha some good memories there!) We had jokingly talked about moving into the travel trailer and saving money. ALSO, we discussed selling the house and getting a place with some land. Enough room to have some chickens, a garden, maybe even a couple of dairy goats. (Mainly appealing to me because milk is expensive and I think goats are cute. Never mind that we'd all have to actually like goat milk.)

Slowly, the idea of living in an RV with our four young children solidified. We Googled and discovered there are many families out there doing this. Wow, really? I prayed. I'm always anxious about big decisions, specifically about whether I'm doing God's will. This isn't because I desire to follow His plans for my/my family's life (although I do), it's because if I can get instructions from God written in stone...then anything that happens after that is on Him. Everything falls apart and we end up in financial ruin? Well- it was God's idea anyway! Right? So it's a fail safe for me that I attempt to rely on. It usually doesn't work because God is not in the habit of giving out stone-written guarantees for your future. ("Wait, didn't He already do that? In THE BIBLE?" Yes, but stay with me here.) What I've come to learn through this experience and others is that He leads us as we move forward in faith. I have to trust that He will direct our hearts and our paths and there are no guarantees of success, only of His faithfulness. When I served in full time missionary work I saw that proven time and time again...yet it's still a lesson I'm learning.

Back to our crazy idea. Over the summer we began letting on to people that we were going to do this thing. I expected much more resistance than we encountered. Even from those who had a track record of anxiety-driven well-meaning advice. No, mostly once they got over the shock, people were supportive. There have a been just a few naysayers. We've had lots of people express envy or longing to do the same thing or something similar. To break out of the ordinary and focus on the things that matter. You can do it! (In the voice of Rob Schneider)  More on that in another post. So we told people about this idea of ours and in the Fall we had a yard sale. We needed to purge some of the massive amount of "stuff" we had filled our house with in the 5 years that we had occupied it with two, then three, then four children. The yard sale was sort of a flop. Ha! Yard sales are a PAIN. Ugh. Kudos if you've had a successful one and felt you earned enough money selling your stuff to justify the effort. In the end we were better off selling larger items on Craigslist and giving away the rest. We've also got a storage unit which is filled with heirloom furniture, hand-me-down clothes, Christmas decorations, etc.

So...to keep myself from rambling here's the general timeline:
-Spring 2015: We take a road trip across the country to CA with our 4 kids and a 26' bunkhouse travel trailer. We decide to upgrade to a 5th wheel bunkhouse. It's so spacious and the trip out west was such a crazy but fun adventure that we say to ourselves "We could almost LIVE in one of these".
-Summer 2015: We decide to do just that!
-Fall 2015: Yard sale failure
-Winter 2015/16: When not educating the kids and attempting to keep house, I work on purging, sorting, and more purging. Justin helps, and takes loads to Goodwill and storage. We decide we need to fix up the house some before putting it on the market but come to the realization that it's really difficult to do so while living in it.
-February 2016: Even though our bunkhouse 5th wheel is awesome, we are reading blogs by other full time families and seeing a lot of toy-haulers. This set-up seemed much more workable for our family, given that many of them have a loft area over the garage which would be perfect for Cade (who is 10 going on 15 and needs "space") among other reasons. We found a model we fell in love with...the Heartland Cyclone. Two weeks before our official move date we drove 2 hours or so to a dealership that had a good deal on a 2013. If you are curious about the interior here is a link it's been great for us! I will post a video tour soon eventually of our own so you can see what it looks like lived in (not quite as snazzy, more "homey" if you catch my drift).
-March 26th 2016: The Pfeifers have flown the coop!!