I just love Januarys, the idea of a fresh new start fills me with hope and excitement each new year. I often find myself over-indulging during the holidays, and then acting like a bear getting ready for hybernation, eating everything in sight. At some point, every January, I find myself setting personal health and fitness goals, relationship goals, spiritual goals, and travel goals. I feel very excited about 2020 and I also find myself feeling reflective about life. This post is an update on our January and looking ahead into 2020.
This month we have been enjoying the lakehouse and also preparing for our travels to the southern States. Although Indiana has had a mild winter, we are still looking forward to the perfect 60-70 degree temps that are beckoning us south. The whole family has been looking forward to getting back on the road. The excitement has helped to keep us motivated for the many days of sorting, packing, and sorting some more. We aren’t exactly minimalists, but have found that we have to be pretty particular about the things we take in the RV with us, the things we store for later, and the things we donate.
For years now, our kids have been asking for a dog. Matt and I are not exactly dog-people and we are already at full capacity in the RV. But, just last week, we relented to the many requests of our kids and added Oliver the Traveling Dog to our family. He is a Cockapoo and he is totes adorbs. Right now we are in the midst of potty training and hoping that one day he will sleep through the night. We all love him and the girls have even made him his own Instagram account – he was pretty excited about it.
Change, it is a comin in 2020. I have found myself reflecting often about life and how we are no longer a family with a bunch of little kids. That stage just seems to last forever and also it seems like a blur. One day you’re carrying a carseat and a toddler and spending countless hours in the church nursery and the next thing you know, most of your kids are taller than you and you’re talking about college and future spouses and your kids are helping plan kid’s ministry! I am not saying that one stage is better than the other, both are wonderful and come with their own set of challenges. I just have been noticing it more lately and warning my dear husband that I might turn into an emotional wreck, longing for her babies.
So, this year we will have three teenagers in our family! Our oldest will be graduating. One of the challenges we have noticed this past year is the actual, physical size change in our kids and how that impacts our tiny living space. They have grown so much since the day we moved into the RV back in 2016. Along with the physical growth is the familiarity of this nomadic life, the kids are used to being on the move, and tend to prefer it. I love to see them curious about the world and grow in their sense of adventure. I can imagine that if we had waited and tried to move into an RV when we had 3 teenagers used to a stationary life and a regular house it would have been very difficult. I am thankful for God’s timing and that we made the move when we did.
So where will we travel in 2020? We plan on revisiting some familiar churches in 2020 and also visiting new places. The start of the year is taking us to Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Oklahoma. We hope to make a special senior trip to Washington D.C. and historic Jamestown for our history-loving oldest child in the spring. We will spend more time this summer in Indiana, our home state. This year we are also planning a trip to Hawaii for a month of ministry – yay! We are pretty excited about it (even though we will have to leave our beloved RV behind) and will be posting more details as we take that adventure.
Thank you for reading along as I rambled a bit about our life and travels. I hope your 2020 is filled with joy and adventure!
If you would like to find out more about our ministry, Kingdom Pursuit Ministries, go to www.kpministry.org