mobile HOLMES

My oldest daughter, Devon, came over today and we visited the storage room.  UGHHHHH.  We made a little progress.  We piled some things to through away and sorted through some items to go to her house, and some items to go to each of the other kid's houses. 

We toted the 2 big tubs full of 32 years worth of photos back to the house along with the box with all the baby books and memorabilia in it.  We made a small dent in sorting some of the pictures.  It was very overwhelming.   I have decided I need to purchase 5 containers to sort them all in.  One for each of my kids and one for me. 

We decided that we need to back the truck up to the storage room and load all of Kathryn and Hannah's stuff up and deliver them to their homes.  We already plan on taking Joel's to him when we go to Tulsa during Thanksgiving.  This should leave very little in the storage room.  At that point we should be able to get to the other stuff and decide what is trash and what needs to be stored in Devon's attic. (Then I need to go help Devon clean out her attic so she can store my stuff! LOL)

Anyway... this is one small step towards getting ready to launch on our full time travel adventure after Christams!

We sat down and made a list of the things that must be done and when they must be done by in order to hit the road after Christmas.  It is a little overwhelming, but if we break it down into small bits we can do it.  Our first trip will be to Florida for the month of January.  Then back to Arkansas for a 90th birthday party.  Mark really wants to be in Florida, but the distance of travel for one month is a killer fuel cost-wise.  But hopefully we can do some boondocking to offset some of the cost.  Passport America membership will help some, but a lot of parks in Florida do not accept it during the winter months... imagine that! LOL

Anyway... we are getting excited, But shhhhhhh... I still have to tell my boss I'm leaving! :)

Our son is working on a logo for our adventures.  Here is one of the choices.

Every week I get to see and meet more and more people that struggle to get a grip on hunger and the eonomy. The last two weeks were in counties with 400 plus people waiting in line for hours waiting to get food. On some of my days I am not handing out for USDA, I go to help at a food pantry here in Jonesboro, that hands out to the needing without judging. That is something I do not like. Judgement. That is a big reason I like to work at this one. The lady that heads this one, talks to individuals one on one, and will double up on food when she detects the need. I really believe she can decerne the difference in needs. Once when I was there, a Man came in with his daughter and granddaughter. He said my daughter ande her child were hungry and he was unable to help them today. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE AND DO THIS PEOPLE! Then, the other day a lady came in in tears, she said her husband had been laid off, there are very little jobs to be offered here, and her kids were starting to feel the hunger now. Sometimes, you have to know when to ask for help, and it can be the hardest part.

Enough of my soapbox. We did nearly 1000 people in two counties in the last 10 days. The further south in the Northeast part of Arkansas the more food for kids we gave out. I would think one of two things are happening here economically. Either the younger people are getting without jobs, or more and more grandparents are raising kids. In both cases the economy is worse there. And white, black, or hispanics have no bearing. They are pretty even accross the state.

After our setback from Mark's 3rd stroke, we are still planning on hitting the road full-time.  I went back to work at the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas as the Program Coordinator.  I am over the Commodity Distribution, the Sr. Pack Distribution, and the Backpack Distribution.  Mark is coming with me volunteering to give out food.  This has helped his recovery very much.  Although he has improved and has actually gained weight, his risk of another stroke is still pretty high.  He still has 2 completely blocked arteries that can not have anything done about them.  Hopefully his medicine will keep the other two main arteries to his brain clear. 

The job itself is a stressful one.  There is lots to do and deadlines to meet.  We have seen an increase in the hungry folks out there.  Not a good sign for our economy.  This has increased our desire to travel cross country helping wherever we can - volunteering at Food Banks, Soup Kitchens, and any where we can be of assistance and encourage people.  The plan now is to hit the road right after Christmas.  Of course our first stop will be in Florida, hopefully far away from the cold winter weather. 

We plan to go to Mountain View, AR in a couple of weeks to meet up with another couple on the road full-time.  I have been keeping up with several Families On The Road via the FOTR website, their blog sites, and on Facebook.  It keeps me motivated! 

Our next RV trip will be to Tulsa to visit our son and other lifetime friends over Thanksgiving.  Then off to Branson for that weekend.  I have reservations at the Mingo RV Park in Tulsa and the Branson's Ozark Country Campground.  While in Branson we will be joining Passport America to save 50% on many of our camping ventures.  I can't wait to see Silver Dollar City in Christmas lights!  I have wanted to do this for YEARS!!  We will be sure to update our blog after visiting these two campgrounds. 

If we get to Tulsa in time the day before Thanksgiving, we may start on establishing our Oklahoma Domocile by getting OK tags and licenses.  Then we will get our insurance transfered to OK.    The main reason for this is the homeschool laws in OK.  The other reason is because our son lives there and can be our mail service. :)   But also Oklahoma is where we plan to settle once we decide we are done with RVing fulltime. 

I guess this is enough blogging for today.  We will definitely update again soon. :)

We took our first trip this past weeknd to Village Creek State Park.  It is just southeast of Wynne, AR.  It is a beautiful park with two lakes - Lake Dunn and Lake Austelle.  The park consists of three different rv parking areas with one being geared towards those with horses.  The visitors center has a nice gift shop and a theater room that shows films on "The Trail of Tears", and the history of the park as well as other state parks. 

This was a "learning" trip for us.  We couldn't get our stove, the hot water heater, or the antenna to work.  We believe this is mainly operator error - lol.  Also the microwave was a little flaky.  We realized that our sewer hose wasn't long enough so we just used the bathhouse across the road and let our grey water tank hold until we got ready to leave.  Then we just backed up and then let our tank drain with the short hose.  We have decided to take our rv to a dealer and let them go through it and show us how to use the gas appliances since we really didn't want to mess with it too much and blow ourselves up. 

In light of all the little "issues" we had, and the fact that it thunderstormed with tornado warnings all weekend, we felt it was an ok first trip.  Here are some pictures we took on Sunday morning after the rains stopped.

We did IT!

We got our starting RV! IT is older but in great shape. it is a 28 foot Jayco.

It measures over 30  feet long and is plenty big enough to stand in.

 

It hsa lots of storage as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part is Phyllis likes it!

Hi! I’m Blayke Elizabeth and my Grandpa syas it’s time to start Blogging. I’m only 6 months old but I am at my mommy’s laptop so here I go. He says it’s never too young to learn. I dunno, what do you think?  I would love to go with Grandpa and Grandmommy RVing, but my mommy will not let me go cause she would miss me. Silly mommy.

One of the hardest things in life to do is wait.  We are not naturally creatures of patience.  Especially in today's world of instant gratification - waiting is a hard thing to do.  The Bible tells us that if we "Wait upon the Lord" our strength will be renewed, we will mount on wings as eagles.  But once again the Lord has directed me to Lamentations 3.  You know it is God talking to you when he keeps you in a specific book or verse in the Bible.  Lamentations 3 has come at me in several different ways over the last couple of weeks. Today, as I was thinking about timing, I was remembering the above verse, but as I did an internet search on scriptures about waiting, guess what popped up!  Lamentations 3:25, 26, "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  It is good that one should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."  WOW!  Not just wait, but QUIETLY wait.  I take this to mean without grumbling! OUCH!

While in Tulsa this weekend visiting good friends, we thought how cool it would be to drive back in a new truck to pull our RV.  The truck we have will do the job, but it is getting old and needs a few things done to it.  So, we spent a lot of our time at dealerships looking and actually filling out paperwork for financing.  If we were to get it NOW, we could finance it and then pay it off when the house sells.  This really gave me a sick feeling, especially since this will be my last week at my job.  After praying about God's direction, we put our "excitement" emotions on the back burner and decided to not purchase a truck at this time.  Whewwwww.  What a relief.  No worries about how to make that payment!  BUT WE SURE DID SEE SOME PRETTY TRUCKS!

Bottom line is this:  When the time is right, the right truck and the right RV will be there for us at the right price.  It will be in God's time and not ours.  We will wait upon the Lord. 

There are many clichés that could fit here like when life gives you lemons make
lemonade, but I’ll skip them. As we have mentioned in previous sessions,  I had a
stroke a year ago, and a smaller TIA a week or so ago, so my health is an issue for us.
But I am fortunate and have to say that there is a God and he has blessed me in
so many ways, not the least in letting me be alive today. What I want to say today is
that while I have lost a lot of my health and some abilities, He has allowed me to be in
the  “position of freedom”.  This means that while we are not wealthy people, we now
have the income through my disability, and since I can’t and don’t have to go to work,
we have the time to be free and adventure out on this journey. And again I will give all
of  the credit and my thanks to God. Hopefully while on the road we will be able to come
across opportunities to help other folks who are in need. I hope that everyone reading
our blogs know that we wish each of you were on the road with us, and to
remember that when life throws you a curveball, or lemons, make some lemonade
out of it.  Great things can come out of bad times.  I believe this stoke of mine was the
prelude to the best times of our lives.   Caution, Great things ahead!

I am a firm believer that everthing happens for a reason.  While we may not understand the purpose for a long time, "All things work to the good for those who love the Lord".  When Mark had a major stroke one year ago  this month, it turned our lives upside down.  It was TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.  But God took care of Mark by restoring most of his mobility.  And He took care of us during months of the loss of 3/4 of our income until the disability came through.  As we approached the 1 year marker of this event, we were counting our blessings and looking forward to what lies ahead as a result.  Even though Mark is disabled from being able to work, we now had the ability to break free from the daily grind, purchase an RV and travel for as long as we want. 

Two days ago Mark called me as I was leaving work to let me know that he thought he was ok, but that he had called an ambulance because his left side had gone numb and did not have control over it.  TOTALLY UNEXPECTED!  We thought all was well, he was faithful (most days) to take his medicine, and afterall, it had been a full year.

Several months ago we moved an hour from my job and our family to a run down double-wide mobile home that we were restoring  We did this because of the lack of income and we would not be burdened with a house payment.  Two days ago this hour drive from my work to home seemed like 10 hours. 

Thankfully everything turned out ok... it was only a TIA (mini-stroke).  I say ONLY because there were no residual affects from it.  But the fact that it happened has made us step back and re-evaluate our situation.  Besides another follow up with the neurologist to adjust some medicines and discuss a little habit of Mark's that he needed to let go of - smoking!  Anyway... Mark was in agreement and is embarking on his journey to be nicotine free. 

All that aside, there were still some "what ifs" that needed to be addressed.  In my earlier post "OPPOSITION"  I discussed that we can't live our lives in fear of the "what ifs".  But when something like this happens, you do have to stop and evaluate some things.  There are some "what ifs" that are simply fears and you just have to trust God with them - like "what if he was driving and this happened?"  and "what if it had happened at a time that he was alone with the grandbaby for an hour or so".  But what we needed to evaluate was what - if anything - needed to be done to possibly be in a better position if it happens again.
We saw three options: 

1.  Move closer to my job and rent a house for the next 4 months.  That way we could only take what we REALLY needed and then  could REALLY start getting prepared for our RV adventure by getting rid of stuff and the house would be more accessable to agents trying to show so it would sell.  

2.  Quit my job that I absolutely LOVE and is now providing the extra income so that we can possibly start saving again.  And this would allow me to be around Mark and ensure he was eating properly and getting some exercise and he wouldn't be by himself all day everyday.  This would free me up to actually finish what needed to be done for the house to sell and I would have more time to keep it clean for showings.   OR

3.  Do nothing different and hope for the best.  And continue to be overwhelmed with coming home from work after 6pm and hoping to get everthing accomplished that needed to be done in order for the house to sell.

After much agonizing prayer and soul searching and seeking counsel, we came to the conclusion that moving was not pratical since we would only be there hopefully 4 months.  The stress and expense of a move wasn't worth it.  Doing nothing different really wasn't an option either... I just can't work and come home to take of everything myself.  So.... we calculated that quitting my job would save me a HUGE amount of money in fuel each month, and that considering moving and paying rent, quitting would be a wash financially. 

So with my heart racing and trying to jump out my throat, my stomach turning flip-flops,  and tears streaming down my face, I turned in my two week notice.  I KNEW this was what God wanted  me to do... even though I didn't want to.

So this UNEXPECTED event actually was a blessing in disquise.  I really believe that Mark is going to be fine.... for him I believe this was a reminder to do what he knew he needed to do.  And for me.... a push to do what I really had felt God telling it was time to do several weeks back. 

The PEACE you experience after doing what you KNOW God wants you to do is one of the most amazing things you can experience.  I am really excited that I can now really focus (after the next 2 weeks) on totally finishing my work here in this house and pushing to get buyers in here! 

THEN LOOK OUT AMERICA, BECAUSE THE MOBILE HOLMES' ARE ON THEIR WAY!

Well, here I am again. I thought this part of my life was over when my son, Joel, graduated from homeschool and my youngest daughter, Hannah, went back to public school. I never expected to be raising another school-aged child - non-the-less HOMESCHOOLING! But here I am AGAIN!

Since we will be on the road with a 2nd grader, I have to figure out what will be the best curriculum choice for her. She is very bright, and very much a hands-on learner. It is also important to us to use a curriculum that teaches Christian values as well as high quality academics. Years ago I did so much research on curriculum I could tell you just about anything you wanted to know about any homeschool curriculum out there. As I do my research now, I am finding that not much has changed, except the price! Wow! Who knew curriculum could go up so much in 10 years? I did come across a new curriculum for math that I am very impressed with! However, I have to say that my old favorite publisher is probably still my favorite publisher. It is very traditional in teaching values and very solid in teaching core subjects. I like the way it makes a child think and allows for creativity. The only problem is that there are more books involved than the other "popular" curriculum, and space is an issue in an RV. But I don't think that will deter me. I just feel that the other "popular" curriculum is too much rote (repeat) memory and teaches children "what" to think as opposed to my favorite publisher that tends to teach a child "how" to think.

We will be traveling to Tulsa soon and I will have the opportunity to go to a used homeschool curriculum store that is owned by a friend of mine. I can't wait to see up close all the things I have been looking at online, and checking out the USED prices! LOL And of course there is Mardel's that carries tons of new curriculum as well a huge selection of Christian books and music. The only problem is that I really only have 2 days in Tulsa to do anything and if I am not careful, I will spend ALL my time in these two stores! :)

It is always nice to hear from an old friend that haven't spoken to in a while. But it is especially nice to hear from her when she has had you on her heart.

A couple of days ago my good friend called me because she was worried that my opposition had discouraged me into backing out of traveling full time. She wanted to lift my spirit and tell me how much Mark and I deserved to be able to do this and how blessed we are to have the opportunity. And what a traggic shame it would be if we did not take advantage of it.

Thank you, Sherry! And we will be sure to send you postcards! :)

The short part. I am going to get my truck looking better before we hit the road, that way we won't get laughed at so much, and won't look so much like the beverly hillbillies. So I got the first portion done at the body shop this week. Now Phyllis' door will open all the way. This is where KAthryn had bumped into a pole at the bank a few months ago, it pushed the fender back just enough to keep the door from opening very far. Also had the rear bumper replaced, that was my deal.

We are planning to see a lot of the national forrests where there are parking spots for little or no costs, they do not have hookups. So We will use inverters that run off the batteries and then a UPS or Filtered power strips. Well, it turns out that some newer appliances like TV's DVDplayers and such don't always work when plugged into these or generators. So, I have been doing some testing. I have been running my tv and stuff plugged into the battery backup unit that I had for my computer. It all works great. I think later this week I will hook up my Inverter in my truck , run an extension cord in the house to plug in my ups unit and test it. I would like to not have any unexpected problems when we leave. so the more testing the better.

I know, that sounds like a song.but it is tough waiting. The house is coming along real good. It's pretty close to finished. AND we have looked at soooo many RVs. We did find a dealer that we are real confortable with though. He is one that has done quite a bit of rving himself. and has done the boondocking or drycamping as well, so he is familiar with what it takes to be as close to self contained as you can get in an RV. He is the first one that didn't stutter when we asked him about adding solar panels to an RV. In fact he knew quite a bit about it. His dad had the dealership for many years, so he grew up around them and has no problem customizing them such as adding an extra water tank if you are concerned about having plenty of fresh water like Phyllis is. When we walked past my truck he looked in the bed and saw the gooseneck ball and quickly mentioned the adaptor to go from a fifth wheel to a goosneck hitch, which just so happens could save me $700 or more. I've taken the truck to the body shop to get the front fender fixed so the passenger door can open all the way. (this is where Kathryn, my middle daughter bumped a post at the bank one day) and they are replacing the rear bumper. This will make it not look so much like an old drunk driver's truck.:-) Maybe once the snow melts and stays away for a while, the house will be shown and some wonderful family will decide they want it more than we do. Then we can acquire our new home on wheels and get ready to rumble.

Our blog is supposed to be and will become our journal for our full time RVing, however it will be a few months before we begin our travels, so we are posting our journey to get to our goal of full timing. After my stroke in last year we knew that my income and ability to work was gone, so like many times before we had to plan a new part of our life. We had a house in Jonesboro but did not want to reside there for multiple reasons. We had been renting it out but the renters moved out. A couple of options were to rent it, sell it, or put money in it to make it large enough to fit us with Kathryn and Blayke. We decided to try to sell it, and lo and behold we got an acceptable offer within 10 days of listing it. (God does come through if you let him) Once we had a done deal on the house, we thought we would buy a cheap house for a rental property. We found one in Rector that was solid as far as structure, it just needed some non-major repairs, paint carpet etc.. As timing has it, it turned out better for us to move into it rather than rent it out and find another place to live. It was wiser financially as well. We have done 85 to 95% of the work now, most of what is left is cosmetic. I need to take a little bit here to recognize my son-in-law Larry who did most of the work. Larry has been fantastic. he not only has the skills but was willing to work his behind off to help us get this place livable. Thank you so much Larry. Here is an idea of what we have done. First of all this is a double wide mobile home built in 1987. It had been empty for over two years. The first task was to replace almost all of the siding. Larry also helped me save a few hundred dollars on the material. We replace it and the eaves and facia boards on the outside of the house painted tiled and carpeted the inside, replaced all of the light fixtures, replaced the gas stove we did not know was broken, put in a dishwasher, used dozens and dozens of tubes of caulk, said some words and had to ask forgiveness for them. only had to patch a bundles worth of shingles, but the place it taking nice shape. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath house and we have stayed warm this winter despite the central unit being shot, the duct work underneath had been ripped out. We put a good size window unit heatpump and electric space heaters. While replacing the outside panels I saw it was insulated well. and with the caulking we did the house does really well. we have about 14 more feet of tile in the utility hallway and 1 bath room to complete and all of the flooring will be new. Then we can finsh the outside paint and the house will be ready to have a new owner.

In order to leave we have lots of "stuff" to get rid of. As I've learned this is the hardest part. We have already sold a bunch( mere pennies on the dollar) at an auction. As well as sold and continue to load up a flea market booth. Our house is the 'big ticket' item, so today we have a friend who is a handyman from our church working on some repairs to our place. It started out raining pretty hard today so I had given up on today for a work day, but the rain stopped and the sun is out so David is on the roof working now. Yay!! The sooner the repairs and upgrades are complete the sooner we get it on the market, get it sold and hit the road! I have some body repairs to do on my truck as well. nothing major. it should be only a few hundred bucks worth.

I think (according to my wife Phyllis) we will take the grandkids to the Arkansas diamond mines as a first trip for a couple of days.

January 14, 2010 OPPOSITION

Yesterday I was confronted with my first real opposition to our endeavor to RV full time. My mom looked hard at me and said she really hated that we were going to take that trip and wished we would change our minds. She wished she knew what she could say that would talk us out of it. I asked her what her main problem with it was. She looked sternly at me and said, "You have too many kids here to have to help take care of. You have one new grandbaby here and one on the way, and you have Maralyn and Alton (my in-laws) and me! Mark is not in good health and I'm afraid your old truck won't last long and break down on the road." I told her that first, the daughter that has the baby here with us is going back to Tulsa. My oldest daughter can take care of her own family just fine, and the other daughter that is pregnant will be fine as well. And we can always be here when we are needed. She then said we might be too far off to come when needed. I told her that all our kids are supportive of what we are doing. As a matter-of-fact, my in-laws are too. Well, I left there heart sick. I called my oldest daughter and told her what happened. I had already asked her when we first started this idea of rv-ing if we were being selfish. She encouraged me to go for it and that NO, she did not feel it was selfish of us. That we needed to take advantage of the opportunity that God had given us to recover from our stress, enhance our marriage, and be better parents to the 6 year old we are raising. So, once again I was asking my daughter if we were selfish in doing this. She gave me the same answer as before. This morning I realized that it is fear that is driving mom's feelings. All the concerns she mentions comes out of "WHAT IF?" fear. God impressed upon me 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind." It is interesting that is also the verse that was used in the last couple days of email devotions I receive. I view this opportunity as a blessing, or even a reward from God. An opportunity to seek him more, to minister more, and yet to be able to experience the beauty of our great nation that we are so blessed to live in. I also feel God impressing on me the scripture in Luke 9 where the Jesus asked the man to follow him, but he replied, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Luke 9 - 59 Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." 61 And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." 62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."Realizing this is not exactly the same situation, but yet I believe that our decision to RV full-time is a God-ordained opportunity. And it is our responsibility to follow His leading. If this is not a God-ordained opportunity, and we are not to take this direction, then it is our prayer that He will shut the door. But as for now, we are following it will our whole heart.

The first weekend of the new year we wanted to go somewhere, and with the bad weather we chose to stay close. We went to Memphis and took Tatianna to the Childrens Museum and the Pink Palace Museum. It just so happened that my football team, the Razorbacks were playing in the Liberty Bowl the next day, and the Childrens Museum was right next to the Stadium! So we just had to go talk to the tailgaters in the RV's and Motorhomes since we were not going to go to the game itself. Thus we made some new friends that were both Rvers and Razorback fans. It was pretty cool.... The next morning our motel's free hot breakfast was really not working well, too many people, not enough food made and not enough staff to support it. So, I recalled a Shoney's not to far away and we went to the breakfast bar there. To our suprise, While Phyllis was in line, she ran into some old friends we have known since in '80's. Michael is an evangelist that has spend nearly 40 years traveling eastern Europe, Russia and the middle east. He and his wife Jan are based out of Texas and were on there way to East Tennessee for a Revival. They had a similar experience with their motel breakfast. It was so amazing to see them in Memphis of all places. The last time we saw them was in Tulsa before we moved awayin 2004.

Now in Other news---------------

Liquidation and house preperation. We have moved a substantial amount of our 'stuff' in storage and around the house to a flea marked and have already sold a lot from there. My son-in-law and daughter came up and helped us repair a damaged floor section and we are now re-tiling the floor in the kitchen and dining room as well as replacing the ceiling lights througout the house.
I haven't discussed a lot about this house, but basically we bought it originally to be a rent house but timing worked out to make it better for us to move into it. So we have made major improvements and repairs and will have it on the market in the next 30 days, And of course the faster it sells the faster we get the RV and possibly a newer truck. But we will see what happens.