People we have met along the way

There is the guy out in Nampa who is selling a bus that he doesn't have the key too. Because he needs to make money for Christmas.

The Nice guy who bought our jeep. we went out to look at his motor home and found the coolest shop that he works in. Restoring old cars with his son that he is trying to keep out of trouble. It is his hobby and his passion.

The nice guy who found Jesus later on in his life after years of his sweet mother praying for him. Who took us too his ranch in Marsing. He had a really cool business and it was fun to get to talk to him on the drive to Marsing to see his motor home for sale. He just hopped in our car and talked to us like he had known us for years.

The sweet family who bought are tent trailer. It makes me so happy that it's going to a family who is going to love it as we did.

The so so sweet older man who takes bikes from thrift stores, fixes them up and sells them. And tells us how much he loves making people happy with bikes.

And the great family that sold us our new home on wheels! They have taken such good care of this motor home and have had so many wonderful memories in it. We are so glad to continue the tradition.

The Road schooling Ryans: A family that did this very thing and was a great source of strength and encouragement through some of our rough spots. Because of sharing there blog.

I love seeing the way the human race lives it is so humbling and inspiring.

Are you going to be a challenge or a blessing?

Keep it coming! Keep the judgement and the negativity coming! Well not really I don't want negativity and judgement to keep coming. But if it does we can handle it. It actually only makes our resolve that much stronger. I am pretty irritated tonight which is an improvement from earlier today. Let me explain why. Through this experience we have been faced with many different blessings and many different challenges. Today was one of those challenges. We have been accused of being selfish. And I quote" now are you doing this for yourselves? Because it's not fair to the kids." We have been accused of being naive. Quote" It's not what you think it's going to be. I saw this very thing on Oprah and it was a nightmare for them." We have been accused of being Quitters! quote " What is your intention? Are you trying to run away from your responsibilities?" Because you don't want to teach your kids to be Quitters. Quote" It's going to be really hard are your sure you can handle it." Quote" what are you going to do about the boys school are you going to teach them? I hate to say it but your not the most studious of people.

Now after reading the above statements can you tell me any good that comes from thinking negative?

It's natural to believe that everyone in your circle will wish you well in your new endeavor. Be prepared: Not all of them will. The best way to handle the situation is to let your success speak for itself. Proving the skeptics wrong can be a compelling motivation to continue on.

I thought I would respond to each response, but then I thought No! We know who we are, we know why we are doing this and we know how we are doing this. And the reality is there will always be people who will be skeptical, judgemental and critical of everything we do. For whatever there reasons are. Two of those comments come from loving parents who are afraid. One is afraid for our safety. The other is afraid to be away from the boys for along time because their his life. And one in my opinion comes from jealousy. It's all the more reason to continue on. Don't allow others to paint you in a box and put limits on you. Regardless of why they want to put limits on you.

Now I know I have been one of these skeptics in the past as well. We all have had are bad moments. I don't want to dwell on negativity. I am learning, and this is one of the many strong lessons to come from this experience. I feel I am by nature a positive person but I know that we can easily get dragged down by others. If were not careful we can fall into the trap of being judgemental, gossipy, critical and skeptical. I choose to not be that way! I choose to teach my children to not be that way. And I avoid certain people who are that way.

Now on a more positive note. The majority of the responses have been very supportive and positive. One comment to me was," your doing what most of us dream of doing but never dare to do." Lots have said I am so excited for all of you. Many have given us ideas of where to go on our trip. And many have said you will never regret it!

Well I suppose I can get off my soap box now. Our family is so very blessed and know matter what others wonder or think, it does not matter because we are a family and we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants only the best for us.

Much Love the Christensen's who are daring enough to do!

Renting our home

We had a neat experience with renting our home. In one of our other posts I talked about finding a renter. Well that renter fell through. When it did I was so sad. The day after I found out I felt so discouraged then after that day was done. I realized that we still needed to have faith. So I snapped out of it and believed that Heavenly Father would provide and He did. Of course we had to put faith into action. We put it on Craigslist, Corey talked to the Bishop, and I sent out an anonymous email. I got some ?s about the email which I was afraid of. But it turned out o.k. We needed to keep it on the down low to make sure that it was going to really happen before we started blabbing it to everyone. Well this is one of the times I was glad that there was rumor(truth) going around about us. I was late to church as which has been my record for the year of 8:30 church.! I walked into church with Addy made eye contact with a couple of friends from a different ward. My one friend said I hear you and your family are heading on a trip I was kind of shocked that she knew but started to tell her and my other friend more about it. They were both very supportive and excited for us. Then one of the gals said I know who you can call for a renter. She told me a little bit about them then gave me there number. I was so excited but tried to remain calm because of our earlier renting experience. Went in to Sacrament and told Corey. Then later that day The gal called me about renting our home. I told her what was going on with us and she shared her situation with me. I told her wow this seems like a perfect fit I hope it works out.

The fit is even a better fit then the renters before for both families. There doing there residency here until July and plan to move back to where there from when there done. The house they were renting was sold and they only needed a home for 6 months the exact timing of our home. The price was the same as they were already paying. I can see now why the other situation did not work out. I am so grateful for all of these different experiences we are already going through.

Really coming together

Well everything is really coming together. We have found a family to rent our home. And on Saturday we finally found our home on wheels. We are leaving January first and will be in the redwoods by Monday the 3 to begin our journey. We are so excited! Lots to do, I had a friend say to me when I was explaining of all the things we needed to get in order for this to happen. He said it makes me tired listening to all you have to do. And usually in other circumstances he would be right. It's so funny how when you are excited about something it doesn't seem like work at all. Another thing that is a reminder to me. When we let go and turn it over to Heavenly Father it makes the work load so much lighter. Well there you have it this is really happening. We are really going to do this. Ready or not here we come.