At the beginning of December
we moved out of our house for good to make way for the county's road widening
plans. With only the possibility of renting in front of us, we decided to make
a bold decision. Pack up the family, load up a travel trailer and hit the road.
Without conventional school holding us down, we decided to turn our perceived
"misfortune" into an adventure!
The first step was getting a
trailer to pull behind our van. However despite our efforts, a costly mistake
and a family crisis later Sara and the kids finished their trip to Wisconsin
with no trailer. We hit the road heading back to CA just a week from needing a
place to call home. We scouted possibilities from the road, but the prospects
looked pretty bleak. We reached CA late Thursday night a little apprehensive.
But we had committed this process to the Lord, and we were resting on the faith
that He had it under control.
On Friday we began our
physical search of RV lots, but they yielded nothing that would fit all of us
that was in our price range. However, a couple of days before I left to pick up
the family and drive them back, I had called a possible trailer option in
Oceanside. He had called me back, but by the time I could look at it, it was
Friday and I had to leave. Over a week had passed now, and we couldn't find
this trailer available online anymore. But I still had his number on my phone
from when I had called to inquire. He had called me back, but we had never
spoken. It was a great deal but unlikely still available. Yet I felt this tug
to give him a call. From an RV lot in Simi Valley I called him and left him a
message. We hopped back into the van, not quite sure of our next step.
Minutes later he called
back. I pulled into the closest parking lot and held my breath. Unbelievably,
the trailer was still available! Not wanting to miss out, we decided to meet
him the next morning to look at it. Knowing that we were coming up to a holiday
weekend, I knew I had to make financial arrangements right away. As it turned
out, the parking lot I had pulled into was my bank. So I went right in and took
care if it.
The following morning Sara
and I met the man selling the trailer and his wife at Camp Pendleton, where it
was being stored. He is a Marine getting ready for deployment. As he showed us
the trailer, we found out that they are a Christian family with five kids like
us. They have three adopted kids and homeschool with the same curriculum as we
do. They spent over 90 minutes showing us everything about the trailer. It was
in amazing condition. They had pulled it originally with a van like ours, so we
knew it would work.
We bought it then and there
but we had no way to transport it because our van still needed some work done.
They agreed to pull it the next day to a campground in Oceanside. There they
spent another hour showing us how to hook it up. As they left they handed us a
card. In it they left a note of encouragement saying that they believed that
the Lord had orchestrated all of this and that they believed in what we were
doing. The card also contained $300 of our money back as a gift!
I know that many
uncertainties lie ahead for us, but isn't that the case for everyone? No matter
how secure we think we are or how well-planned out we think our lives are, none
of us know the changes that tomorrow will bring. Therefore our trust needs to
be DAILY on the Lord. He WILL provide.
