Hands and house

Hands and house

Monday, November 4, 2013

Well Hello There....

Wow! Have I ever dropped off the planet for awhile! I guess somewhere amongst the campfires and starlit nights I just took a break from writing....but I feel an urge bubbling up within me again to put words on a page....idellible detail to the beauty of the life God has given us. How in the world do I begin to catch up?

....when I last wrote we were madly packing up for our summer adventure of living in 'Rosie' our 20 foot vintage camper trailer, an adventure that was truly life changing right down to the marrow of our souls and we are still unfurling the things that we learned while packed like adventurous clowns into that tiny space but I can say, it is probably one of the best things we have ever done in our married life.

     I think in many cases, my words will fail but maybe pictures will give a small taste of what it was like


This was our home for 3 months!!!

Looking back, it holds some of the happiest memories of our life
This crazy crew THRIVED with all of the close family time and time outdoors

Doug and I quickly learned (through trial and not so pretty error) that living in such a small space was a like living in a pressure cooker! We had to slow down and manage our stress or things would explode...and you know what, that has been an incredible life lesson that has changed the very fiber of the way we live our lives.

we learned that toys are over rated...


We packed a bunch to begin with but after a few weeks, either put them in storage or gave them away because the kids just weren't interested in them


Our friendships grew! We lived farther from most of our community but we had more significant conversations and experiences around at our sticky table and around our far too smoky campfire than in the year of living close to people and being very intentional....


The friendship between our kids grew like crazy! They were constantly making up games. They spent an entire week convinced they were 'Brits' and that they were fight invisible Nazi armies with pinecone grenades!


When they said they were bored, it took very little to get them playing again....


a few hand me down chairs, a cardboard box with a piece of fabric, something to put flowers in and somewhere to stir dirt = endless fun

 Oh yes....we even did part of the summer with a cast!

We learned how to truly notice and treasure each other



We also learned that the things we missed were far smaller than the precious time we gained together...we may have been stinky but we had fun!

Digging in the dirt never grows old! We made castles, prayer gardens, ladybugs homes and sleeping potions to name a few...


Even cleaning up can be fun when you have so much time!


far more children than you think can fit on a slackline at one time....we had over 20 once!

it is the little things that matter most


Sometimes on a hot afternoon, there is nothing so great as filling your pockets with dirt and pretending you are a bunny...

well maybe except hitting the river to clean off!

or spending entire days pretending you are Native Americans with names like "hoopshwa"and "Treelily"and 'trading'with the white man (your parents) for any non natural items you need!

Watermelon makes everyday exciting



and sitting by a river is good for anyone regardless of age

conquering fears made our children strong in ways I could not have imagined

and spending days building homes in the woods brought them joy beyond anything I could have dreamed.

...there is SO much more and hundreds of pictures to still go through. I want to spend these next days/ weeks capturing it for our family and you are welcome to tag along if you like!

We swam upstream, tried a grand experiment and cannot wait to do it again!

    Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
    James 1:17



5 comments:

Renee said...

How great to see your post pop up! Can't wait to hear more about your great adventure. We just hot home from our own.....two weeks on the road. A first for me since 1988. Life is good and God is great...so fun to see you back adpgain and hear all about your time together.

Adrianne in Portland said...

Wow - how wonderful. I've been waiting to see how your summer went.
I was grateful to be able to spend an hour with my dog by a river in September - how fun to spend the whole summer by one with your kids. The rewards of a life lived courageously!
Thanks for sharing.

Renee said...

How fun to catch up with you guys!

Korry and Sarah said...

I was just thinking about your blog the other day and wondering how your summer away experiment went. Glad to see you all had a great time as a family. :)

Anonymous said...

more more more!((: thank you for posting!! love the photos!! where are you now???! (: (: love!! CL (aka LK)

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