After 8 wonderful years in Nashville, we’ve decided to take a leap into the unknown (cue the Frozen song).
Hi all.
It’s always sweet to come back to this space. It’s a little different this time around, and I’ve cleaned house a bit, but it’s still the same “home” I’ve had online for years.
For those that might be new (or ones who haven’t seen me online lately), here’s a reintroduction:
Tom and I are going on 13 wonderful years of marriage this spring. Still so in love. Still laughing every day. I still sass him as much as possible. He loves his career and has continued to provide so well for our family.
Silas is in 2nd grade and loves learning all the things. He is curious, careful, and sensitive. He has become our walking fact-book on all sorts of things and it’s been a joy to watch him grow and be in his world.
Ike will start kindergarten this fall. He is imaginative and sassy, and makes us all laugh daily. He is in his own little world most of the time but we are invited in if we’re prepared to play a needed character - ha!
After 8 wonderful years in Nashville, we’ve decided to take a leap into the unknown (cue the Frozen song).
We are selling our home, most of our possessions and our cars, and trading them in for a 46’ fifth wheel and F450 truck. None of this decision came from a disdain of Nashville - quite the contrary! It’s going to be extremely difficult to leave a place and people we love so dearly. We are leaving on a high point here, and though that’s hard, it will leave us with much fondness thinking of our time in Nashville. This city healed us in so many ways after a difficult season in Georgia, and I’ll never forget it. It’s truly a place that will always feel like home.
How did we come to this decision? Well. Let me break it down for you, because it truly was a domino effect that led to this.
It sounds odd to start with, but when our Hondo-boy (our beloved dog, for those that didn’t know him) died last January, our ability to travel opened up. We didn’t need to have care for him or try and bring him along and find dog-friendly stays, etc… we could just… go.
Fast forward to a tent-camping trip with family in Iowa. We had a great time and funny memories over the course of a few days, but it led to some conversations on the way home about how our family could camp more often in the future. We thought of all the ways: tenting, pop-up campers, pull-behind trailers, etc… and finally agreed (FINALLY! I’d been wanting it for years) to try a travel trailer.
We didn’t know how this would go. Tom never having towed something like this before, working together for set-ups and tear downs, etc… but to everyone’s surprise, it was easy. Tom and I were a great team, our kids explored more and had more freedom and space, Tom was a secret pro at towing and backing up, and I was the version of myself my family had never really seen - outdoorsy! Over the course of about three months, we took it out five times. Which is a lot for most owners of a camper. Tom was surprised to see how un-fussed I was over bugs and messes and he had never seen me enjoy nature so much. I told him it was because of the creature comforts - ha - putting up with those things was easy when, at the end of the day, I had my own cozy bed, a nice bathroom, a safe place for the boys, and our own coffee in some AC.
Then the next domino.
Silas started going to a 2 day/week homeschool tutorial. It has been wonderful and worth the 40+ minute drive one-way, but… for the next 6 years? Conversations started cropping up. Should we move across town to be closer to the school and our church community? We want some land. Can we afford it? Would we have to move far away from the places in Nashville we love? If we are starting over in a new community, why wouldn’t we just do that near family? Who would we live by, though? I can’t picture having teens in Nashville. Where would we move?? What can we afford?
These questions led to all sorts of things. Tom started looking for a higher paying job to afford a potential move. We started looking at the places where our family lived and tried to narrow down if any of those places matched our family’s culture.
The closest match? Rapid City, South Dakota.
Why? Well. It hit the most pros. Near my sister and her family. Near one of Tom’s closest college friends (who are friends to both of us!). Near my parents, my brother nearest in age to me whose kids are the same ages as ours, and with access to the places out West we haven’t visited together.
So, we took the camper out over fall break and “lived” there for 2 weeks. We spent time with family and friends, we explored the area towns and forests and hills, and really prayed and considered how this would be for us.
During the drive home, as we discussed all our thoughts and how much we enjoyed our time there, Tom blurted out, “Maybe we aren’t in love with Rapid City. Maybe… it was the camping. What if we… full-timed?”
We sat with that for a while. It had caught me off-guard. Not because I couldn’t imagine that, or even that I hadn’t had the thought too, but that we both thought it. And it made sense. Tom works from home. I stay home. We homeschool our kids. If anyone could do it, we could, right?
For a few weeks, we continued to mull it over. More than ever, Nashville started feeling louder. More crowded. We’d come back from our camping trips and feel like part of us didn’t belong anymore. Why did it it suddenly feel like we had an overwhelming amount of stuff? Have our priorities gotten out of whack? We got a taste of the simpler, small-town versions of ourselves that have always been there, but that city-living has buried. And we started to really long for it, now.
So. We decided to leap. We prayed about it, talked to family that have full-timed before, and started to feel like there was nothing to lose. When we finally landed on the decision, we even booked a trip to Tampa for the RV Supershow to help us narrow down our next “home.” Now that we’ve decided on that (more on our RV later!!), the rest of the dominoes have begun to fall. We are talking to realtors, fixing up things around our house, donating, selling, planning routes, while also still trying to balance daily life and keeping up with school, work, and a house.
The goal is to finish out the school year here in Nashville, and hit the road in May. We’ll travel for a year (or more) and end up around Rapid City, SD on some land in the hills (we hope!). There is a TON to do between now and then, but I want to keep the lines of communication open with the people in our lives. So many of the people we’ve told have come at us with so much excitment and a desire to help connect us with some of their favorite people and places around the country - and we are here for it! Tell us who to meet and what we should see (click the button below)!
send me a note!We are so excited for a year+ of adventure, learning, and connecting with people from all over. We hope to be a blessing to the churches we visit, the campgrounds we stay at, and be a light for Jesus to all we meet. There will absolutely be some high highs and low lows, but God is with us through it all and we will take it all as it comes. Keep us in your prayers and please never hesitate to reach out to chat, share some knowledge, ask a question, or just say hey.
And if you want to buy a house in Nashville, truck, travel trailer, or Tesla… you know who to call ;)
