Week 1: Amor & Airstream

Hello friends and family! It's Wednesday November 18th and it's been exactly one week today since we started our journey from Sioux Falls.
     It's funny... I thought that writing this blog was going to be easy but it has been anything but that. Hopefully the hardest part was just starting and not continuing. We had to decide what was going to be the content and direction of our blog. And we decided it was not going to be based on a good story, fun/bad travels, or an unrealistic view of living in 200 square feet. I want to read this blog in 10 years with my children, who won't remember what we experienced, and be able to read the life lessons and see the way that God changed our family.
 Phil & I have started out each morning with a daily devotional and French press coffee- Which is chalky grainy muddy and not really that good anyways. Today's mission is to find a regular coffee maker.
Along with the daily devotionals one of our top priorities is that every stop along the way is to find a unique way to serve the local people in whatever facet needed.  We are very open to ministry work and feel it's important to not narrow ourselves to one aspect of serving.  We hope that in the future God will give us direction and guidance in where we are best suited to do ministry work. Since it is turkey season we felt it fitting instead of making turkey for ourselves we will be serving turkey dinner at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving day. It would really help us understand commandment #2 which we have not so faithfully followed in the "suburbs of Sioux Falls"- where the lawns are beautifully manicured and the "quieter the better" mentality prevails. We need to love and serve our neighbors as we do ourselves.

Week 1 accomplishments:  adjusted the trailer, did 2 loads of laundry, bath time twice for the girls, twice for me, and I still don't think Phil has showered. Multiple Safeway grocery stops (best soup in the world). An adventure day, and that is literally it. Don't expect to accomplish much in the single wide Airstream life. Phil has made the comment "It feels like being a hunter and gatherer from decades ago". Each day we have had one simple goal and it has taken us a full day to finish it.... And that is totally ok with us. It has been a blessing to be able to do everything together as a family.

Week 1 realizations for us have been big. It has changed our view of living the complete opposite life of what we were used to. I'm thinking back to Saturday night and the lesson it taught me. We ran out of propane. Which means we ran out of heat. Which means I was one   Un-Happy camper! And in that moment I realized: Heat is not a privilege, heat is a luxury. Thankfully U-Haul was open Sunday.  The best experience this week though was at the local downtown laundromat in Rapid City. This was Phil and I's first ever laundromat. When we pulled up, we both decided to leave the girls in the car-lock our car- and peek our heads in first- just to see what was going on . We acted like we were gonna get mobbed attacked. Little did we know ten minutes later we'd all be in the lobby eating cookies, watching cartoons, and having the time of our lives. We both got home and said at the dinner table later that same day that the laundromat was the highlight of our week!
That's all for now!
Love you guys, miss you guys
Stay tuned, the journey is just beginning!