PBnJ5 Adventures

It has been a week since I posted last and it is not for lack of things happening that I didn’t post, it was quite the opposite actually. However, it has not necessarily been great things and I couldn’t seem to write my post without it sounding like I was whining the whole time. I KNOW you have better things to do with your time than read about my whining, but today was finally a better day and now I can share without being a little dark cloud.

Last Wednesday it all started. We were packing up from our last nutty windy campsite in Oklahoma and heading to Dallas for Thanksgiving. We were all packed and ready to go the last thing to do was put the slide in. And what do you know it won’t come in all the way. Now for those of you who are not as familiar with the RV world and all the lingo let me give you a brief overview. Our RV is a 36 foot Class A with one giant slide that is about 30 feet long. We only have the one unlike most that have multiple smaller slides. There are pluses and minuses for sure of having only one, but the biggest draw back would clearly be if it doesn’t work you are super screwed. The highway department frowns upon you driving down the road with a slide out for sure, and those sneaky little manufactures make it so that your engine won’t even start if the slide is not in, shocker. So we are high and dry and a little perplexed as to our situation. But I have said it once and I will say it again, I married an amazing man. It took about an hour and some manual overriding, but we finally got the slide in. Great! On to the next adventure.

We arrive at our next campsite in Hickory Creek Texas on Lake Lewisville. The temperature is dropping the winds are picking up and a rain storm is rolling into the area for the next two days. We made it just before dark, got everything unpacked, bikes unloaded, power and water hooked up, no sewer at this site 🙁 and we are ready to lower the bunk for the boys and put the slide out…nothing. Yep literally nothing. Stress goes up a few levels for sure. It is 5:00 the boys are starving, starting to loose their minds, and Luke is once again perplexed. Now what?! Something is messed up in the power somewhere, and that could potentially be multiple places in the RV. Ok, dinner is for sure not being made in the RV tonight so I load up the boys and what do you know, like manna from heaven, Chick-fil-a is 10 minutes away. God knew we would need this little oasis. We bring dinner back and find that Luke has had no luck getting anything to work so it is time to get a little creative. Both Max and Tucker sleep on the bunk that comes down over the drivers seat, and since I can’t flatten them, although I wish I could sometimes, we have to move them. The top bunk above Zac is the obvious place for Max because he actually sleeps at night. But for Tucker we had to change the table into a bed because the couch couldn’t fold out enough for him. That kid has not slept through the night since he hit his four month sleep regression as a baby, I am not kidding, so putting him somewhere that he does not disturb people is always a challenge. Next is our bed in the back. We have the luxury of having a king size bed in our “room” and brought our own mattress from home. Which is awesome, but also presents a couple challenges. Since most RVs create random sizes for RV mattresses, putting a normal size mattress in makes things a little extra tight. When the slide doesn’t come out, it makes things SUPER tight. If we pushed the mattress down hard enough and squished it against the closet it was flattish. Praise the Lord I am short and my feet were not elevated or pressing up against the mirrors of the closet. My bedmate on the other hand has not been so lucky.

So after a rough night of literally up every two hours to take care of somebody we woke to a very cloudy rainy and cranky Thanksgiving morning. Okay, so that is the sleeping arrangements, now what about the living. Well my friends if you are claustrophobic, living in a squished RV might not be for you. The hallway between the bunk and the bathroom is about 16 inches wide (which means you have to turn sideways to walk down it). The kitchen-table-couch area also has about 16 inches between them all. Now picture this if you will. 3 boys, 5 and under who have discovered how fun it is to mess with each other every chance they get. Hitting, punching, kicking, pushing, random spitting by one who will remain nameless, oh and don’t forget the sitting on each other, especially the head area. That sweet little two year old is a quick study. Now also add if you will, cold temperatures in the 30s with a brisk wind and wonderful misting/pouring rain. Oh wait, don’t forget the gravel/mud campsite. Now are you seeing why I was having a hard time writing this without just whining the whole time!!! You want to talk about trying to be thankful when I am literally loosing my ever loving mind. My goodness God has a sense of humor.

We were so blessed to be able to get out of the RV and go to my second cousin’s house for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner and see several extended family members that I haven’t seen in a long time, and even got to do some laundry! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we actually got all three boys to take a good power nap on the way to dinner, which NEVER happens to all of them at the same time. I really am so thankful that we were blessed to be with great family.

Black Friday…it took on a new meaning this year. It had absolutely nothing to do with shopping. It was more of a black mental state and pure survival. Most mornings in the RV start at about 5am with somebody waking up, usually Zac, and then trying to keep him quiet for as along as possible. Friday was no different we were up way too early, so let the games begin. Things got pretty crazy pretty quick, so in order to survive we had to leave the RV. So we head to our chicken oasis once again, this time for breakfast, an indoor play ground, and free wifi. Yep, we spent over 4 hours in Chick-fil-a on Black Friday. We stayed so long we got free food and decided to have some mac and cheese for lunch, good grief. I had the BLESSING of getting to go to a baby shower with my extended family that afternoon, which left Luke 3 on 1 during the lunch rush. Upon returning back to the RV after a lovely afternoon out, I found my poor sweet husband, who is an incredible dad and more than capable of handing his children, in a very alarming state of mind. Blank stares and very few words other than “they broke me” was what I got, along with a glistening tear. I have seen Luke cry less than 5 times since I have met him, most of those upon the death of a loved one, so we have crossed over into a very dark place. I quickly told him to take the Jeep for a drive and come back whenever he feels ready. After guilting my sweet children into feeling awful for breaking their dad, and being so mean to him that he had to leave, they were calm enough to get them dinner without tossing them out into the rain. The affects of a squished RV know no bounds. It was a very black Friday indeed.

Saturday the sun finally poked through and we got in a walk to the lake, digging in the dirt, and a quick bike ride. Sunday we had the privilege of getting to hear a friend who used to work for Dad preach at his church. We enjoyed relaxing and having real adult conversation with him and his wife while the kids played in a house where they could actually lay on the floor. It was so wonderful. Monday the boys and I spent the day with a dear friend of mine from college and her kids. Playing, talking, sitting on a big couch and folding laundry together. It was such a good day for my soul to catch up with her, and the boys had the best time playing. Luke spent the entire day working on the RV, because yes, it is Monday and the slide STILL ISN’T OUT! The holiday weekend killed us with being able to make calls to the manufacturer and get the info that he needed to trouble shoot the problems. He made some progress and got the bunk down and fixed other things that needed attention, but still no slide. He thinks he might be able to get it to work, but doesn’t want to get it out and then have it stuck again. Tuesday we move to a new campsite that is super nice, so if we are gonna get stuck, let’s get stuck there. Also, mentally he was much better after spending the day by himself, who wouldn’t be.

Tuesday, the sun is finally nice and warm. We have a wonderful little picnic at Max’s suggestion and get packed up and ready to roll. We only have to go about 30 minutes to drive as we decided to stay in Dallas longer and do more things that we didn’t get to yet. Our new site is absolutely beautiful. We have a concrete pad to park on, full hook ups with sewer, an incredible view of the lake, and WIFI! We have been out of cell data for a few days, it makes a huge difference. We get parked and set up – moment of truth. A few attempts with very little movement, wait for it, Luke does something else in the bowels of the RV, push the button, out it goes!! We have a giant tiny house again!!! I cannot tell you what a different person I am than I was 24 hours ago. The RV is clean, the laundry is organized and put away, I can reach all of my clothes, I can get in the bathroom without turning sideways, all of the children are sleeping where they feel the most comfortable, and the one of best things – Luke can now get out of his side of the bed so he can get up with the kids at night!! Hallelujah! I finally made a great dinner in my RV kitchen and got to listen to some great worship music streaming on Pandora, thank you WIFI. What a difference it makes in my overall attitude. Praise the Lord, literally.

I am for sure one of those people who wants to figure out the lesson I am supposed to be learning so that I can cross it off and move on. I don’t like to linger in the learning process. I have seriously written things down during hard times in life, so that I wouldn’t forget the lesson I had learned, and so that I wouldn’t have to do it again. I am sure that it works that way, right? As I was in the middle of 6 super hard and frustrating days and wondering what the crap we were doing in this RV, I was trying to figure out the lesson I was supposed to be learning. So far I have come up with thankfulness and trust. I cannot even tell you how much an extra 18 inches does for your psyche and overall state of mind after it has been taken away and your parade has literally been rained on. Being thankful in all things, even the hard, find the good, be thankful for those that God puts in your life at just the right moment to get you through the next hurdle. Even if the next hurdle is a giant bag of laundry and a lonely heart. God sees and knows all the parts of me and knows what I need even before I do. I am learning to trust that he will provide and to be thankful in all things. I think I might need to write that down so I don’t have to learn in again. I am just sure that is how it works.

So the adventure continues, we are loving our new place and excited to experience some more of Dallas/Ft. Worth. We will see what Saturday brings when we head to Waco and if the slide comes back in. But for now, let’s just enjoy the moment and the space.

Live your Adventure,

Julie

PS – Wouldn’t you know, we were parked under another Oak tree with more acorn bombs dropping on our heads for the past 6 days. Now any noise on the roof Zac is quick to announce “atorn!” – people we are making memories.