Traveling Along God's Path

As many of you are aware, our lives are undergoing some major changes.

 

In December, Jay lost his job. We are grateful that he no longer has to endure the stress and chaos of 70+ hour work weeks, 24/7 ringing cell phones, equipment failures, and dare I say, a bat-crap crazy boss. We are also learning that Forestry jobs are few and far between in the West. The major jobs available in our area are Temp Fire Fighting jobs. Jay did that gig when he was in his early 20's, however, now in his 40's, it's less than ideal. Finding the right job in the right location will require a lot of time, patience and trust that God will supply.

 

Living with advanced stage cancer has taught us that, for the most part, our lives have been lived in 4 to 6 month increments. This is the time span  between chemo treatments, scans, labs and oncology visits. How you live and what you do in those four to six months is crucial.

In March, I was given another 4-month chemo break. We had some choices to make.

We could choose to spend the next four months with our butts stuck to the couch, binging on Netflix marathons while Jay searches for jobs, OR, we could choose to LIVE for the next four months....while Jay searches for a job.

 

We chose to LIVE!

 

Our first step was to give our 30-day notice to end our lease early. We did, and our lease end date is April 1.

 

Step two: DOWNSIZE! For our 20th anniversary, we purchased a 21' travel trailer for weekend camping trips. We went to Bryce Canyon, Utah for a long weekend, and fell in love with RV camping. So, our plan has become to spend the next four months traveling the Western US in our camper.

There were several items either sentimental or too costly to replace easily, so for these things, we rented a 5x15 storage unit. This unit is about the size of a large walk-in closet with 9-foot ceilings. That is NOT a lot of room. Luckily, I am married to a man with mad packing skills and we will have our storage unit filled to capacity. This is no easy feat when you have a wife asking you to store anything from a Kitchen-Aid mixer to a windmill (yep - an actual windmill that my Dad made for me). We have completed the sorting, selling and donating process and are now nearing the end of our lease. We will have everything moved into storage or the camper by the middle of next week, with an official ship-off date of March 30.

 

Our plans are to begin in Utah, make our way up to Montana, then meet my family in Northern New Mexico in early July. We plan to hike in every National Park possible along the way and play in the big beautiful world God has made. Who knows if we will reach the finish line - if Jay is offered a job along the way, we may have to cut the trip short. We do, however, intend on soaking up every ounce of goodness and joy God plants along our path in the meantime.

 

Join us along our journey. I hope that together, we can experience God's love and grace along the way.

 

 

 Blessings,

 Mandy