The Laundry

Recently, I asked my Facebook friends on the Rollin' with the Rowas page if there were any questions about how we live life now.  My sweet friend wanted to know how we do laundry and organize clothes in such a small space.  So, here ya go.  

We keep two tall laundry baskets in the shower so that they are out of the way.  They are easy to move for a shower and big enough to hold one load of laundry each.  

We are so very blessed to be parked at a friends house to save money and to be able to be closer to her until we travel this summer.  We are also amazingly blessed to be living close to my parents house, because that is also our shower house and laundromat. (since we are not at an RV park, which supplies both) 

When the laundry baskets are full, we just was over to "Gaga and Papa's" house to hang out, shower and wash clothes.  When we will be traveling, we will use the local laundromat or at the RV parks (laundromat) we will camp in along the way.

The more important part of doing laundry in an RV is how to store it.  Especially with 5 girls on the bus!  You might know that my hubby, Joey, is a bit of a handy man.  He rebuilt our bed frame (see a previous blog) to provide more storage for clothes and shoes.  He is brilliant!

You can see in the picture that Ivy's clothes are all in one laundry basket, each girl has one with about two weeks worth of clothes in it.  There is also a shoe shelf above the clothes but still under the bed. Mainly for Joey's shoes (LOL)

One of the big reasons I fell in love with this particular RV is the full sized closet in the master bedroom.  It holds all the hanging clothes for Joey on one side, while Lily, Daisy, and I share the other half.  

The two littles, Ivy and Sunny, share another hanging cabinet for their dresses.  

I think that covers it for laundry, but I am guessing that you are now curious about showers, being that we have one in the RV but I mentioned that we take showers at my mom's house... I will write about that next!  :)

The RV Description Post

HELLO!!!  I am back to the computer, and all the wireless and tech issues are hopefully figured out now!

There is so much to tell!!!  We got our RV!  It is a 34 ft Winnebago Adventurer, it has everything we NEED, and lots and lots of storage space.  It is a tight fit for our family of 6, but one of my favorite country songs says it best... "Love grows best in little houses, with little room to separate".   I have many reasons for deciding to become a "roadschool" family, but a big one is to make sure that I am working on what is most important, and that is the matters of the heart.  With a lot less space, I am much more on top of' my parenting with the girls, both literally and figuratively.  I won't lie, the move into the RV was way harder than your typical move, but I will talk more about that in another post... the reason I mention it now is because during the weeks it took to get this all figured out, my parenting went by the wayside.  I actually pretty much ignored the kids except for meeting their basic needs.  They had to fend for themselves for attention and entertainment.  Needless to say, things got bad fast!

I know all of you are dying to know what it's like living in such a small space with this many people.  First of all, I am loving it.  It is exactly what we need right now, nothing fancy, but it's perfect.  There are a few things to fix and rearrange as we are getting settled in, Joey already fixed the bed frame to allow for more storage space and the brakes need some work, but nothing major.  We decided to get a Class A, which means that the driver sits in the front like a bus, though ours has a driver's side door too.  We decided to get this instead of a travel trailer for many reasons, but mainly to have access to the bathroom while on the road. (with 4 girls that are potty trained, counting me, and one more on her way to being potty trained)  We hope to be traveling quite a bit, so this was the best choice for us right now.  

Alright, picture it... at least until I figure out how to add pictures to this little blog page.  In the front is the driver's seat, at the moment being used for storage for the toys and dolls.  Overhead in the center of the two front seats is a tv/dvd mounted with a very specific mounting bracket on it.  I tell you this because two of the ways we found out that this really was the perfect RV for us was after we had already bought it and started moving into it.  This mounting bracket has a very specific piece that goes on the back of the tv to hook and LOCK onto the mounting bracket so that it won't bounce off the wall while we are driving down the road.  It just so happens that when we sold our last RV (we spent 5 weeks in that one on vacation) we had the piece on the back of the tv, but didn't think to take the mounting bracket out of the RV when we sold it.  This is the exact same one we had in the old RV... we had the missing piece to attach to the bracken and we didn't even know it until after we purchased this.  

So, the passenger seat is pulled up close to the front of the RV right now, and that area is now our office space.  Our computer is set up and there is a little room on the dash board for my calender or a notepad.  Lily also likes to use it as her little reading nook.  She spends more time in a book than anything else she does.  I am pretty sure Gracsyn has had a lot of influence on that for her.  :)  Behind the passenger seat is a space where a fold out table used to be.  I took it out so there would be more room for the pack n play where the baby sleeps.  On the other side of the pack n play is another chair, this one swivels and reclines, but is still attached to the floor like the front seats.  It also has a seat belt.  Next to that chair is the two steps leading down to the door.  After that is the dinette area.  At the moment, Lily is asleep there, as it folds into a very roomy bed at night and is a 4 person (or 6 kid) table and booth seats during the day.  The fabric covering the booth seats/mattress pads seem like it was never touched, even though we purchased this used.  
Now, behind the driver's seat is a couch that "jack-knife's" down into another bed, enough room for Daisy and Ivy to sleep comfortably.  Next to that is the kitchen counter and sink... of course it is higher than the couch and there is a little ledge keeping the water on the kitchen counter and not on the couch/bed.    Next to the sink, which has covers you can put over it that are made out of the same stuff as the counter top (for more counter space), is about 12" of counter space and then the edge of the stove/oven.  There is a 3 burner liquid propane stove and a very small oven, neither of which I have used yet, because frankly, I am a little scared too, the stove top has this handy metal cover that is hinged to move out of the way to cook, but covers the burners for more counter space when you aren't using the stove top.  Above the stove is the little microwave.  That was the second way that we knew this RV was the right one after we started moving in... the microwave had this little glass, scalloped looking salad plate in where the big, heavy glass plate should go that works to make the food spin while cooking.  Randomly, I remembered that I had somehow along the many moves we have moved, I acquired an extra glass plate with the same description.  I went in the house and grabbed it.  It also fit perfectly in this little microwave oven.  It is such a small thing, but it was a huge moment when even the little, tiny details were covered ahead of time.  God is so cool!!!  

Next to the stove is the refrigerator/freezer, which is a decent size for an older RV, and keeps the food cold, so that's good.  After the kitchen, things get a little different.  In our other RVs, the bathroom was split between the two sides of the bus by a hallway, meaning the shower was on one side, and the toilet and sink were on the other, or some sort of configuration like that.  In this one, next to the fridge is a bathroom with a door opening out to an angled hallway.  It is all on the one side of the bus, the shower with a shallow tub, the toilet, and the sink.  Diagonally across from the bathroom door is a corner cabinet with a small, triangle counter top and an above corner cabinet over it.  To us, that means storage for coffee, tea, and such needed supplies, as well as most of the kitchen appliances that I use often, like the coffee maker, the blender, and the hot plate.  (yes, I said hot plate)  So if you are still picturing this... the hallway is a little zig zag and to the passenger side of the bus, instead of through the center.  This makes for a nice entryway into the "master bedroom".  

As you walk into our bedroom, you look directly back to a wall to wall closet with cabinets and drawers on either side.  This was the first thing I fell in love with when we saw it for the first time. Having 5 girls and a husband with a wardrobe like a girl, we need closet space!!!  There is even a second cabinet to the right of the bed with more hanging storage,  that is where Ivy and Sunny's little dresses fit.  So all our clothes fit snugly, and thanks to Joey rebuilding the bed frame, there is room for all our shoes and folded clothes as well.  The bed is turned sideways, with the head of the bed on the driver's side of the bus.  If you were standing on the side of the bed, and looked toward the front of the bus... you would see the second thing that made me fall in love with this RV.  There is a second door to the bathroom, a pocket door that slides back and forth.  This is the best design I have seen so far!!!  It makes it easier to pass each other going from one end of the "house" to the other, it is fantastic not to have to go through the main living space to get to the bathroom from the bedroom, and the kids don't have to open our door to get to the bathroom either.  Oh, and a side note... we have two tall laundry baskets in the shower/tub.  One for the all the girl's laundry, and one for Joey's.  (his work clothes are gross)

So that is basically the RV floor plan.  There is cabinets just about everywhere, above the tables, chairs, couch, bed, everywhere.  There is storage underneath the dinette booths, under the couch, and pass-through storage under the house almost the whole length of the 34' bus.  We have a generator that can give us complete power to everything we need while living where plug-in power isn't available.  We are hooked up at our friend's house right now, she is sharing her water with us by way of hose, and she already had the 30 amp breaker and plug for us to plug into... God had even thought of that.  Now we won't blow fuses in her house, or ours by just plugging into a regular wall outlet.  

There is also a large fresh water tank to hold water while we travel, a 50 gal 'grey water' tank, which holds what waste water goes down the sinks and shower drain, and a 50 gal 'black water' tank that holds the stuff they just want to call black water.  You don't want to accidentally let that one get to full... just sayin'.  Oh, and I didn't mention the couch has 3 seat belts as well, for when we are traveling and seat belts are needed. The laws for seat belts in RVs are very loose, if there are any.   So we have our own rules for them for our family.  

I should probably stop there, I hope this satisfies your curiosity until I can figure out how to get pictures from my phone to this blog... it has taken me days to finish this post, I keep falling asleep when the rest of the family does, and there is just no way to get enough time or peace and quiet to be able to blog during the day. 

Thanks again for hanging on for so long between posts.  I will do my very best to learn more about blogging and keep posting more regularly... but life with kids is never predictable!  

Random Song Lyrics

Today we went to Ocala right after church, even packed up the dog, to go look for RV's.  It was another disappointing day... the RV's we liked were overpriced, and the rest seem to all smell bad.  One smelled like it had been a vet's office RV.  Horrible.

As you can imagine, I am feeling completely defeated, exhausted, and a little hopeless.  What, Heather?  How could you feel hopeless when God has called you to this?  Well, I know I can "hear" God's voice, and I know only He can change my heart the way it has been changed.  I know that all the events leading to this very moment have all been for a reason.  However, I cannot read God's mind.  (wouldn't that be crazy if I could)  So, we are still just waiting, waiting on the world to change... oh, no, sorry, song lyrics.  Seriously, we are moving out of this house tomorrow completely.  We are moving the rest of our stuff into a second storage locker, handing over the keys, and staying with our friends until we finally find the RV that is perfect for us.  I can't be in this house for another minute.  I need to move out and move on, even if we don't know where we are going to be next.

Yes, I know how crazy we are... but, think about the friends who just took our family in, all 6 of us, and the dog too.  They are really crazy.  Or they will be soon.  LOL!  I was crying out to God again tonight, feeling like I am somehow letting my family down, almost like I am failing them, and He showed me the amazing life change in these friends who are opening their home to us.  How because of us, they are showing Jesus's love to us with no questions asked.  He showed me how He can make anything beautiful, and that even if we don't have an RV to move into yet, we still have a roof over our heads and we are still together as a healthy family.  What more do we need?  Really, nothing.

I can't imagine how jumbled the last few posts I have written might seem, and I don't really go back and re-read or proof read before I push the publish button... I don't want to change what I am writing from my heart, just because my head says that it could be written better, or with bigger words, or more description.  I want you all to know what my heart is feeling through all of this.

OH!  Random thought, but important to this... so I was crying earlier, like I said... and after the kids were finally in bed, I laid down and turned on the TV for a few minutes.  Joel Olsten was just coming on, and I was about to change it, since I am just not really into TV evangelism, but I stopped to hear a sermon from him, since he is under the microscope with a lot of Christians over his "feel good, prosperity" messages.  Guess what, they are right.  He is a feel good, prosperity preacher.  But today, I needed to hear that.  He was talking about faith, choosing to believe in something even though the facts say it just can't happen.  He brought up the same points over and over, about sick having faith to be healed, about finances and how we can have faith to come through the struggles and come out on top, and faith to improve other parts of life.  But he kept saying "faith, faith, you gotta have faith"  And he is right.  Above all, that is what my life is all about.  Choosing to have faith, even though the facts don't add up.  And why should I stop believing now?  Everything I have put my faith in God for up to this point, has come out for the very best.  Starting with my precious first born child, and down to every little detail of this new adventure we are trying to start.  And I am going to choose to keep having faith.

I am so tired right now, that I am hoping that I said enough tonight, but I can't even keep my eye lids open to try to write anymore.  Please don't stop praying, and thank you so much for reading my blog.  I hope it will bless you, like writing it is a blessing to me.  Sweet dreams.

The Lost Virtue Part 2

I know in my heart that God's timing is always perfect.  I just wish I could see the clock too.  Patience is something that most people think I have a lot of... but that is not so true, and that is showing through right now.  We are living in a house with almost no furniture, no beds at all, with landlords that (rightfully) want us out... not one of us knows what to expect tomorrow, and it has been very emotionally draining living this way.

As I am pouring out my heart to God, asking for answers, for help, for protection from the evil one, I want the answers.  How would I find answers from God?  Well, the Bible is a good place to look.   I have been trying to remember to start every day with a little truth, and I just simply look for the verse of the day on my Bible app and then read that chapter in the Bible.  It has been working well, and today was especially enlightening for me.

Today, the verse of the day is Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ~ The whole chapter talks about living in faith, and names many of the people that were written about in the Bible that had faith.  God has reminded me of so many of these "characters" over the last few weeks and months.  Noah keeps coming up, and so does Mary.  Abraham has been brought up from a friend.  Sarah, and her faith gave her a baby WAY past her years of child bearing, and so many more stories, all in one chapter, reminding me that if they could do it in their much bigger, crazier circumstances, than I can make it through, faithfully waiting for our little RV.

Christmas is two weeks from today.  We have not talked about gifts, or about shopping.  We have been focusing on our family, on giving our things to others, to bless them the way we have been blessed.  We are focusing on making memories, spending quality time together, and not trying to keep up with the Jones's anymore.  I challenge you to look at your "holiday season".  Look at what you're focused on, and if it will really matter tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.

As we sit in an empty, 3000 sq ft house, hearing our voices echo against the walls where our STUFF used to be, you'd think my children would be complaining about what they don't have, or what they had to pack away and store... I am so amazed at them, and how happy they are to just be.  To just be.  No matter what happens next, we will still have our healthy family, our friends, and our faith to get us to the next place we need to be.  Blessed doesn't begin to explain the feeling I am feeling, through the fear and the struggle.  We are so very blessed.

They said Yes!

Hey guys!!!  The place in Tampa that we had purchased an RV from before are willing to finance us for whatever we need left to cover the cost of whatever RV we pick out!  Now the hard part (apparently) is going to be finding the house we need at a price that is reasonable and affordable.  The search continues.  They want us to try to find one at a dealership, for ease of transaction and also better protection from bad titles etc., so that limits us and our options.  Please pray with us that we will find the perfect RV in the next day or two, and that God will make it very obvious and easy to get through the process.  Please also pray for the land lords of this house.  That they will continue to be understanding and that God will just speak to their hearts through this as well.  Thanks!  I will keep the updates coming!  

December 3rd

I am sitting at an old microwave cabinet, I think that is what they call them, because both the desks in our office sold today.  It is so strangely exhilarating to look around this house, as things are being picked up for purchase, and truly not know what is going to happen next.  Today, Joey called on the RV we would love to buy.  It has the things that would make living in an RV full time possible and comfortable.  It seems like it was well taken care of so far.  Joey is going to go test drive it tomorrow.  Also, Joey went back to the dealership in Tampa, and the woman promised to have an answer as to whether or not they would help us finance the rest of what we don't have saved, but she did not call back today, nor did she specify when she would call back by.  It has been a very exciting day for me, and the suspense is killing me.  I will wait upon the Lord, and trust in Him with all my heart, my soul, and my mind.  I will wait upon the Lord.....

I know that this moment, these last few days and weeks, and all of what is about to happen means so much more that what I can see or understand right now in front of me.  I am the most excited to know that God is using me, ME, to show Himself, and Jesus.  That what the Bible says is true, that we can trust in Him with all our needs, and that that trust can be as small as a mustard seed, but change lives and move mountains with that tiny amount of faith.  I know that God can give me back my teenage daughter, the one I had given to Him, and her adoptive mom.  I know that God can forgive for anything, I mean anything.  So I know that He can provide our family with what we need right now.  And I know that I can't wait to see how He will continue to use us in this RV on this crazy adventure with no beginning and no end.  

What's next?  Great question!  Tomorrow, I have two friends blessing me with their time, we are going to set up for the "everything in the house and the garage" sale that we are going to have Saturday.  I need to start taking pictures of what is left and posting it on the local sites tomorrow.  If you need stuff, we have it, so come to our house on Saturday and buy our stuff to help us raise the rest of the money we will need to buy this new house (on wheels)!  I am also going to help the girls decide on what clothing to bring "on the bus".  It will be a very easy task for Lily, I think she only has about 5 shirts that fit her that she will wear, and probably less shorts.  She does her laundry a lot.  Daisy, however, will be a different story.  I think she has more clothes than Barbie, thanks to a wonderful friend who blesses us often with lots of fabulous clothes.  Daisy is my little fashionista.  She is always wanting to pick out the little girl's outfits, and tries to offer advice for my wardrobe as well.  The things I didn't know I needed.  Ivy's clothes are already in a laundry basket, ready to go.  (The Master bed has storage under the mattress and mattress platform, a perfect size to hold laundry baskets with neatly folded clothes)  Her dresser sold last week.  The bunk beds will be taken down tomorrow as well.  How strange it is to even type those words.  Maybe I am a little anxious...

I really need to make myself go to sleep now, I should probably get up earlier than the kids and try to get more work done before the interruptions begin.  At least I will have another adult to help field the "child needs" that arise tomorrow.  Thank you for still reading along.  I am glad that I will have this all documented for us to look back on and remember, and I am glad that it is blessing some of you, as you have shared with me.  Thank you also, for the continued prayers.  I KNOW I couldn't be doing all this right now without the prayers!

Things You Should Know

This is hard.  This is very hard.  Another mom, a fellow roadschooler, who I have never met in person, warned me.  She said I need to know that the closer "it" gets, the harder it will get.  I get it now.  (See what I did there hehe)  She was right, and I am glad that after a few days of spiritual warfare, I was able to look up and see the forest for the trees, so to speak.  Joey and I have been arguing for days.  Blame, guilt, stress, fear, the devil has been using them all.  The kids are doing their best to stay out of the way and hang onto the faith they have grasped onto.  (There, I said it)

But there is faith, at least I still have that.  I have had more than one person lately ask me if I have had any second thoughts, any doubts in what I feel like the Lord has been telling me.  My answer is a firm NO.  The few moments in the beginning where I wavered in my faith, God showed me (and I  blogged about it) other people, my brothers and sisters in Christ, who had faith that didn't make sense, and where He took them.  Especially at this time of year, Mary really comes to mind.  She didn't really have a choice but to have faith, did she?  I mean she was already kinda pregnant.  People probably thought she was crazy.  SHE probably thought she was crazy!  But a baby was born, and we celebrate His birthday soon.  And if God can do that, He can do anything.  I believe!  

As we come into this Christmas season, the season of celebration, but also of giving, our family will be buying an RV.  Every penny we have will be towards the BEST Christmas present that the world could produce for our family right now.  Our home until further notice.  Our kids won't be disappointed in how few boxes might be under the tree, though the devil might try to sneak the lies through their joy.  Our kids will be with us, and we will be with them.  We will be spending time together, with our family and friends.  We won't worry about what presents to buy, or how many decorations to put up in our RV (but that will be fun!).  Our family will be celebrating the birth of our Savior, the start of something completely new, and the time and resources we will now have to use so much more wisely.  That is all we need.  

It is such a challenge to find words to type right now.  My mind is almost numb with all the thoughts that are running through it.  I know God wants me to be sharing all the bits and pieces of this adventure (I can't think of a better word), but even thinking about the past few days right now is making me tired.  I am going to apologize now for any run-on sentences or horrible grammar mistakes that be in this post.  I am going to sum it up in as few words as possible.  Phone, with all pics of everything being sold, decided to dive into my protein shake.  Next day, kitchen faucet decides to start squirting water everywhere... and then not doing anything at all.  Now I am using a phone that is barely working because the technology has surpassed it ten-fold.  But, I am so thankful for my indestructible phone!  Even if I can't Facebook half the time :).  (At least I have a phone)  And I am thankful for clean water in my garden hose and a window in my kitchen, so I can still wash dishes in the kitchen, and not in the bath tub (that doesn't drain).  (At least I have dishes to wash) New houses have crappy plumbing.  That is today's service announcement.  

I think I need to go to bed now, I am starting to see double.  I knew I needed to at least write something. Please continue to pray for protection from the devil for our whole family.  Please pray for the perfect RV with no problems that we are not able to fix.  Thank you!