Pioneer life

Alison here...
Here I sit in Oregon. We have spent several days experiencing this wild state. If you haven't been here, I would highly recommend a visit. We didn't even make it to the coast as planned and yet I have been completely enchanted. We have been in the mountains, the pines, the vast open land with no trees, only sagebrush, the snow, the sun, and, oh, the sky! We have traveled alongside the Columbia and Snake Rivers that I lack words to describe.

It has a totally different feel from Idaho and Wyoming where bears and buffalo lurked everywhere, but what it has in common with those states is a vast feeling that reminds one of Conestoga wagons and Natives.
I have completely romanticized the pioneer days in my mind. If I could have lived at any other time in history, it would have been in a covered wagon headed west. I know, I know. I'm much too spoiled to really do well with it, and would have run screaming for the future the first time I had to use a chamber pot, but ever since I read Laura Ingalls, I've been in love with the clothes, the simplicity, the family life.
We visited the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Very, very cool for me. I got to picture myself in that wagon, read quotes from travelers of yesterday, and actually stood on the path that remains of the Oregon Trail. Of course, I bought the diary of a woman who made the trip once upon a time and read it immediately.

Kyrsten is studying this for school as we travel so we have learned much from sight as well as study! Also, we bought the Oregon Trail app for all our iPads and iPods so we are all lost in the mid-1800'; well, as much as it is possible to be lost in the 1800's on an iPad.
Kyrsten is also learning about Lewis and Clark and we have traveled to many of their stops. Can you imagine being the very first to see this land long before power lines and hotels dotted the landscape?
That is what is so fascinating about the West. You can still see it! So much of it looks like it must have then when it looked like God meant for it to instead of how man has developed it.

We do a lot of talking as a family. We laughed tonight at dinner about how it's amazing that we not only still have things to talk about with each other, but we still love to! We still laugh and tease and cry together.
We kind of feel like pioneers in a way. I don't know anyone else who has done what we are doing so that feels like a first. We packed our "wagon" with essentials (much less than seemed possible to live off of) and set off with no specific knowledge of our course, just an abiding faith that God would cover us. We have unique challenges to face as a family regarding our working together. We have certainly learned how to make do with less. We feel somewhat estranged from home. We keep a diary (you're reading it). Yes, I'm quite aware there are a million differences, but still the similarities fascinate me.
We left knowing that God has been preparing us for this journey for years, really. He birthed the dream in us many years ago and allowed us to see glimpses along the way as to how it might actually happen. Each step along the way toward our dream increased our faith and sometimes really stretched it! Like giving us the vehicle, but holding the date for months til we could leave. Of course, in retrospect, we see how much His plan and timing provided things we couldn't have planned in a million years. We had planned to be gone in the summer, but had we gone then, I can't imagine how we would have ever had availability at a campground to just drive in and choose whatever spot we want! We were concerned about winter holding off as we got delayed in the Virginias. Ha! We have had a bubble of beautiful weather surround us in every state! Can't tell you how many times we've heard, "You sure came at the right time! It's never this nice this time of year!" And as we leave, here comes the snow!
I just love living in His favor! He is so very, very good to me. How does one acquire favor that allows for your wildest dreams? Well, I don't claim to have all the answers and I know in my humanity I don't deserve one bit of it, but I can tell you what I do know.
First of all He is crazy about me. I don't have to do anything about that. It's just fact.
But from there it can only start with complete surrender. The trade-off is, God, You are King of my life and when I turn every single one of my plans over to You, I let go of all control. It doesn't matter if the things You ask me make me unpopular or set me apart from "normal." I will be obedient to whatever You ask of me because the box this world has made for me to live in just isn't big enough for all the goodness You have for me. I GIVE UP!
The minute Christian and I got to these places individually and in our marriage, and as each of our children have in turn, the sky opened up and favor rained down. Our faith shouldn't look typical! It shouldn't ever look average! We were meant to LIVE and ABUNDANTLY! We love what God is doing and long for others to jump out of the box and get a little crazy like we are! Come on in, the water's fine!!!

I can't think of a good title.

Hey it’s Addie ☺
We are on the road again; 369 miles today to cover, on our way to Oregon.
We have been gone for 9 weeks exactly. WHOA!! That is a super long time to be living this kind of life style. For me, I remind myself everyday what an amazing opportunity this is, because its very easy to get homesick when you’re far away from everybody you love for so long! I am so happy to be here, doing this, but let me tell ya, I am going to be very content to settle in back at home for a good long time (:

There are so many things about this trip that make it unique. The time we’ve been gone is a big thing; if you think about going for this long of time without seeing people you know, it’s a weird thing. You don’t just bump into somebody familiar at Meijer…sometimes that’s a good thing, but it can get kind of lonely. Another thing that’s totally crazy about this, is just all the different lifestyles, cultures, and ways of life that are completely different than ours, but we are, in a way, forced to live in for days, or weeks at a time. An example…Jackson, Wyoming is one of the coolest places I’ve been. Everything you eat came from all organic, whole food stores, and every restaurant had a big city chef who prepared everything. How cool is that? Another thing that caught my attention was that it seemed like the people there really didn’t give a care about what other people thought about them. If they wanted to go out in sweatpants that were several sizes too small, and not even bother to brush their hair; they didn’t think twice about it. There was an art gallery on every corner. Free thought and expression was just a way of life. Some of the things about it were very appealing…heck, who wouldn’t prefer an all-natural pure beef burger to a mystery meat?? But it seemed to me, that there was a complete lack of God in the whole city. We didn't see one church for 600 miles! I want to be careful here, because I’m honestly not trying to ruffle feathers, and I know that it is not my place to judge people. I’m not trying to do that, I am simply sharing an observation…It seemed like…people had it figured out how they wanted to live their lives, and they just did it, regardless of what other people were going to think about it. In our family, that kind of thinking is the opposite of what we do. I believe, through and through, that selflessness is what Christ wants for us. We were not created to look out for ourselves, and our interests, and what suits us, and live for what we feel we want. God has called us to love Him first, but the second most important thing we were called for, was to love other people. To be selfless, and consider other people around us before we just act. It didn’t feel like that was everyone’s first concern there. The more I’ve travelled, the more I see that America has got to be one of the most difficult mission fields in the world. I know that must sound funny, but honestly, what is so dangerous about America, is that mostly everyone has heard about Christ. People know deep down what is right and wrong, but instead of choosing the kind of lifestyle where you have to make an effort on a daily basis to do what is right before doing what you want to do, a lot of Americans would rather do what feels good in the moment than give that type of immediate enjoyment up for something they can’t see with their eyes. That kind of thought process has made people so stubborn, and set in their ways—set in rebelling, really, that it is so hard to convince people to embrace what they’re living against. It is so intimidating to look somebody in the face who has convinced themselves that they are content with their lifestyle, and that they have convinced themselves that they are complete with doing what they want to do, and to imagine asking them to give that all up…. they would think we are absolutely bonkers.
I have been out of the whole church setting for a while due to all of our travels, so I have turned to podcasts from New Life Church, and Hillsong Church for “spiritual food”. I recently heard one from New Life Church, and the Pastor was talking about how he and a team of youth had just gotten back from Europe. It wasn’t a missions trip, the purpose of the their trip was to go to all the places that have seen a complete revival for Christ, and pray for that same type of revival to happen again today, in those same places. He talked about how in the 1800’s, a 12-year-old boy in some city in Germany, felt God prompting him to pray daily for a revival in his city. He prayed every day for eleven years for that to happen, and when he was 23 years old, a complete unexplainable revival happened to his city. Every bar in his city went out of business. The crime rate didn’t just go down, it disappeared. The police in the town weren’t even needed anymore, and they wore white gloves symbolizing the purity and wholeness in their town. People were coming to Christ on their way to church. Who is to say that that kind of revival cannot happen again today in America?? We still serve the same God! He hasn’t changed. People have always been lost. Who are we to box Him in and believe that these people who we meet every day, who are so lost, cannot find Him in that same huge way again? It is so easy to take for granted the power and the opportunities that we have all been given, through Jesus Christ. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same Spirit that we have in us today. So I pray daily for Holy Spirit boldness, and a complete Jesus Christ revival in all of these cities where the people are so lost. I know that He can do it again.
Just a thought...

Ahhhh...

Alison again...

It's a beautiful thing to sit still once in a while. On this trip, it happens every few weeks and just feels like a treat. When we are on the move, a typical day goes like this. Wake up pretty early, the girls head to the showers and then when we get back, the boys. Someone has to wait in the rv with Lily so she doesn't howl in here and get us in trouble. Then the girls get ready while the boys are gone (more space) and then we all start packing up. No small project, let me tell you. All unsecured items find homes,much sewage finds a new home, and sweeping, and stashing...the list goes on. Around here the phrase "a place for everything and everything in its place" has a whole new meaning. During all of this, Christian has been up much earlier than us and working as well. Then we drive. And on this leg of the trip where chain restaurants rarely exist, we find whatever sounds edible to eat or stop long enough to heat something up on the stove. When each gas stop every 150 miles costs around $80, we try to be extremely cost-conscious. Each gas stop entails about 15 minutes of work for the boys as they jack up the back of the rv to get gas in. Christian uses stops to get work done and also has to balance driving with answering calls. The girls are working faithfully on their school during the drive as long as we aren't on crazy mountain roads because stomachs, school, and rv's on curves are not a terrific combination. After most of a day, we begin to solidify our destination and start looking for campgrounds with good reviews. We finally arrive, perhaps make dinner, clean up dinner (an hour project), probably use the campground's laundry facilities, charge all our rectangles (iPods, computers, ipads, phones), and start tearing down our living space to sleep. Then, one at a time we begin getting ready for bed. In this space, that takes about an hour. There, that's probably way more than you wanted to know, but gives perhaps a glimpse.
We are currently in Idaho and loving every minute of it; well, almost every minute. Christian is away from us at a business convention in Atlanta so we feel a little off having been five so tightly joined for all this time. We are super happy to be here of all places so far. We are just a Teton Pass away from Jackson Hole, Wyoming which is the first place that really feels like the Old West, somehow. It's tucked down between the Tetons and Yellowstone and very eclectic and cool. Our teeny town of Victor has 800 people and some AMAZING food. No chain anything. Only markets for food and real chefs at the few restaurants that are still open past September. No one believes us that God is giving them this weather because we asked Him for it. It's in the 60's during the day and 20's at night. Space heaters and long johns are two of my favorite things.
Today we climbed a mountain. I try so hard to be a good sport and keep up with these people, but I really should have conditioned with them before we left. :o[ They keep trying to tell me the altitude is to blame. "Don't feel bad, Momma!" they say, as I pant like an elderly person. But, in my defense, we went almost four miles (two of which were severely uphill) and we were at 9750 feet! And I do smile periodically!

By the end of the week we will be back on the road. Five states left!!! We will be looking for a Walmart pretty quick-like since Momma needs a new pillow. Somehow, I can't find it within myself to clean and use the one Lily POOPED on! There is great debate over whether or not that was intentional or not.

Tomorrow is Justin's nineteenth birthday. Wow! I really don't have words about that. This trip is so bittersweet in that this has been a dream of ours for almost 20 years and we are really doing it, yet when it is over and we go home, we say goodbye to life as we have known it and send our son off to the real world. Was it wise to have gotten as close as we are? I know it was beyond the best thing, but even now to write about it takes me to a place I really can't go...deep breath...
Maybe tomorrow we'll go feed some baby bears! We shall see what my son cooks up for a birthday wish! For now, I will go start the bedtime process...

Hello again!
There is soooooo much to talk about.
The Badlands were epic, for real.

When we first got out, we saw some huge goats, and they walked right up by us, it was crazy! Kyrsten and I wanted to like walk up and pet them, but everyone was shouting at us "NOOO THESE GOATS ARE DANGEROUS!" So we didn't. I think Kyrsten and I were forgetting that we weren't at the petting farm (:

We also got to see prairie dogs, they were the cutest little guys ever and they were everywhere! They were yelling at us, a whole bunch though because Kyrsten and I charged them. I just wanted to hold them, they're so adorable.
It is hard to even explain the badlands without pictures because it is so different from anywhere I've ever been! There were wild buffaloes just crossing the road and coyotes were just running around everywhere around. We got right up next to the buffaloes (safely inside Mable). They are SO big in person! Seriously, their heads are like way huge. They look kind of like wild things. It was crazy.

And then on Thursday we were supposed to be on our way to Yellowstone. But the brakes on the RV started acting kind of funny. We decided that that was something we definitely wanted to get checked out before we started going several hundred miles. So we did, and apparently our brake pads were almost gone they were so worn through and the guy said it'd take him several hours to get the brake pads changed. We were right by Wall Drug, and we had Lily, so we did everything that Wall Drug had to offer. We went shopping for Justin's birthday present, and he ended up with some pretty hardcore cowboy boots! They are super awesome, and he wears them 24/7...This morning, he even went to the shower in the boots haha :)

We ended up sitting for hours in an arcade at Wall Drug, which was fine with us kids :) We were at Wall Drug about 7 hours, it was surprisingly nice to get a break from the RV for a bit though.

Then on Friday we drove and drove and drove. I think we ended up being in the RV like 13 hours, or some craziness like that. It got a little monotonous. At night we were driving in North Dakota, and we were seriously out in the middle of nowhere without any cities nearby, or streetlights or anything, we didn't have phone service for like 4 hours, and we just prayed and prayed that nothing would go wrong with the RV because we'd be out there awhile before anyone found us.
But all of that was worth it to get to Yellowstone, which was where we were at all day today! It was crazy there, we saw Old Faithful and about a billion other geysers. We also saw more buffaloes and we also got to see elk right up close! We are going again tomorrow because we are going to do more hiking and whatnot. It will be pretty awesome, I bet.
I will blog some more stuff later!! Kbye!

Yeeeeehaaawwww!!!!

Howdy!
(For everyone who doesn't speak cowboy, I believe that means "Hello") :)
I think my mom updated this last when we were in Mississippi. It has been about 6 days, and a whole bunch has happened because...WE ARE FINALLY OUT WEST!!
Last week while we were in Mississippi, I came down with a chest cold. That was a bummer, and a couple family members were extremely scared of catching it.

They were crazy, like before they'd sit on the couch, "Mom, Addie sat here 3 days ago, do you think I'm going to catch her cold?" or, "Mom, Addie touched the faucet in the bathroom, do you think I'm gonna get sick?" They were like that for days. My goodness, you'd think I had the black plague! And even after all that, Kyrsten caught it, but hers only lasted a day. So we are all back to 100%-- thank you, Jesus!

Last Wednesday and Thursday we were in Arkansas. We were hoping to just spend one night, Wednesday, and jet in the morning, but something was wrong with our refrigerator. So we went to an RV store, and the guy didn't have the part in, so he ordered the part to come in the next day. We had all of Wednesday to hang out in Arkansas. I think we just like went to Walmart and stuff, nothing super exciting.

On Friday, we got our refrigerator all taken care of. So we took off towards Oklahoma. We got through Oklahoma and half of Kansas in a day.

The campground we stayed at in Kansas was so lame! There aren't exactly a ton of options out there :) The campground people told us to park right out in their front yard. Literally. That was awkward. In their bathrooms the hot water ran out mid-shower, and they had a window right in front of the showers, and there was an RV parked right next to that window. There wasn't even an area to get dressed, except in front of that dumb window. Whoever designed that has some issues, I believe. Haha.

On Saturday, we were driving through Kansas when all of the sudden...Dorothy ran out of the field!! Haha I'm just kidding, that would've been awesome though. Anyway, all the sudden, a chunk of the RV goes flying off into the wind!! We were on the Highway so we couldn't even go back and get it. So we pulled off the road and saw that a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of the paneling on the outside of the RV was just gone. We found the nearest Home Depot, and us ladies sat in the RV for the day while the boys fixed it up. They bought some fancy sheet metal and a new drill, and cut a piece to fit the bare spot. What bright young men. It looks lovely.

We decided to keep on heading towards Colorado that night, because we really wanted to go to New Life Church in Colorado Springs the next morning!
So dad, being the good sport that he is, drove and drove until we got to Colorado Springs! I went to sleep about 2 hours before we got there the night before, so the next morning I woke up in the Rocky Mountains, it was beautiful. We had to get up very early and quickly pack up so we could get to church on time, but it was so worth it! The worship was great and the sermon was great, I would love to go back there.

Right after church we hopped back in the RV and started driving some more. We stopped for a little bit to go to Cabelas...are you aware of how awesome Cabelas is?? I wasn't, but I love that place now! It is like a zoo, except that everything is dead! There's guns and meat and animals...does it get any better than that? Nope, I don't think so. :) we didn't sleep at a campground last night, we stayed at Walmart in their parking lot. That is called dry camping, and when you dry camp, you don't have any electricity or shower. So we only do it when absolutely necessary. We all wore thermal underwear to sleep last night because we didn't have heat and it was in the 40's. We all looked like superheros gone bad or something, I can only imagine what people would've thought if they would've seen us all of us like that.
I have some more stuff to write about, but I am gonna have to wait until another day. So I will talk at you all later, thanks for the comments and stuff, we love you all!