WHY ARE WE MOVING TO AN RV?

 

We are planning on listing our home NEXT WEEK!

I am slightly (a lot) overwhelmed by all the things that need done prior to listing but my husband is confident we can get it all done by then.  

This past weekend we made our first trip to a storage unit and dropped off things we will need in the RV but are able to do without for a few weeks while we wait for the house to sell.  We also took things that we want to keep for when we eventually build a home but can not fit into the RV.

It was one more step taking us closer to our goal or getting our home sold and beginning our RV adventure.

I have seen the inside of RVs before and know they are not huge.  I have tried to be careful of what I'm planning on taking into the RV but I am 100% positive I will be going back through all the RV boxes, plus what we still have in our house and downsizing even more. 

This is not an easy process but I am excited about what this all means for us. 

I've had a lot of questions from people about our transitioning to an RV, so I thought I would answer the first question I get most often today...

 "Why are you moving to an RV"?

We want land and to eventually build our dream home.  

We currently have a small yard and we're just not happy with having so little land and being so close to neighbors.  We want animals, space for our kids to roam, woods, pastures, lots of space to garden, etc.  

A lot of people in our neighborhood consider the yard we have to be large ( .25 aces) however, we lived on 2 acres for several years and then our last home had 1.5 acres.  Going from that to where we are now really confirmed in our minds that we are not meant to be in neighborhoods close to other homes, with so little space for our children to explore.

The reason we moved to the home we are at now was to put us in our oldest son's school district.  I also thought that I needed a bigger home BUT this particular home we bought never ended up feeling like home to any of us. 

Doubling our home space actually proved to be much harder to deal with than having a smaller home. We went from 1050sq feet to 2094 sq feet.  I prefer the smaller space as it is less to clean, and it feels cozier.  But I also think that it's not so much that the small space is what's needed but the right layout needs to be different than what we have now. When we build, I am sure I will build around the size we have now, but the layout will be very open so that we don't feel closed off from each other.  I am so excited about what it will be like to design a home that fits our needs perfectly.

We had only been here a short time when my son's school went virtual in 2020 and he ended up being at home for a year. Then shortly after returning to school in 2021, he moved in with his dad full time.  After that, he was never with me during the school week but on weekends. 

This major life change left my husband and I in a place where we could move if we wanted to.  

Last summer we started making plans to get an RV and begin looking for land.  It's been a long process as 2021 was one of the hardest years for us in many ways.

But after nearly a year of planning, taking a lot of things into consideration, praying, etc... we are SO close to selling and finally getting our RV.

Other questions I plan to answer soon...

What type of RV are you getting?

Are you going to stay local or travel full time?

Where will you park your RV?

Are you buying land right away?

How long do you plan on living in the RV before building a home?

If you have another question, please let me know so I can add it to this list :) 

That's all for now! Back to cleaning and packing!

xo, 

Lauren 

FINDING OUT WE ARE EXPECTING OUR SECOND SET OF TWINS

 

I wasn't able to schedule my first appointment and ultrasound until I was 12 weeks pregnant.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to have a home birth or use the hospital.  Because of that, I waited to make an appointment.  I ultimately decided I wanted to use a hospital as I had with all my other births. 

I had developed a rash on my arms around week 8 of my pregnancy which was consistent with the rash I had with the twin girls.  At first I thought the rash was a reaction to the soap I was using or something like that.  But then it hit me...."I bet this is the same rash I had with the girls and I'm pregnant with TWINS AGAIN!!!"

I told Nathan I felt it was twins but he was convinced it wasn't. 

When I got to my ultrasound appointment, I told the midwife about my thoughts and facetimed my husband and kids so that they could hear and see what was happening. 

And sure enough!!!  It was TWINS!!!....AGAIN. 

I was shocked but also not shocked.  I think I honestly would have been more shocked if it hadn't been twins.  Having the rash, and the extremely high odds of having twins again just really made me believe it was.  

I had spent weeks trying to figure out how on earth I would manage twin babies again while having twin toddlers plus homeschooling three grades but once I saw the twins on the ultrasound all my worries really just melted away.

For weeks up until the ultrasound, I had actually been struggling pretty hard.  It was the first time in any of my pregnancies that I felt worried, nervous, an emotional wreck like....how am I going to handle this/what if it's twins again/I am exhausted etc. 

I was really in a mentally difficult spot and hadn't talked to anyone about it other than one other twin mother who has 7 children.  She totally understood and really reassured and encouraged me. I had never dealt with feelings/emotions like that after getting pregnant so it was all very strange to me. 

But once I saw them...all of that just was gone and I have been so at peace about it all since. 

Will it be a wild adventure having four children (2 sets of twins) UNDER 2 years old for a few weeks and then it will be four children ages 2 and under once the girls have their birthday in August???....Yes, yes it will be!

But it will also be wonderful and amazing and it's what God wanted for our family so I have total peace about it all. 

We are so thankful for these babies!!! 

And I am still trying to get used to saying "I am a mother to EIGHT children!"

xo, 

Lauren