Vacation or School??

Is this a vacation or a long school field trip, that is the question?  Vacation is all about relaxing, eating, laughing, and enjoying your family.  School trips are about learning in an exciting, hands-on way.  I guess this trip is a mixture of both, minus the relaxation.  We will be on the move constantly seeing numerous cities, historical sites, museums, national parks, and beautiful countries while passing through 35 of the 50 states that make of what we call the United States of America.  But if you have the type of personality that I do in which you love adventure, learning, and exploring, which is a form relaxing for you when you are on vacation, then this truly is a vacation.

Although, we have made it quite clear to our kids that this is a school trip and not a vacation.  To make it truly a learning experience Shelley and I decided that we needed to make some kind of journal book for them.  Shelley thought that we should make flapbooks for some of the places that we go to, but I took it to the next level and decided that they needed to make one book with flaps all through it.  We found hard bound art sketch books and we are turning them into their entire school project for the trip.  Basically it consists of a time line of American history, starting with the very first explorers, moving all the way through the 20^th century.   It has the famous people, events, wars, presidents, states, and growth that has shaped this country.  It will be an incredible keepsake full of their writings, art, pictures, thoughts, and information that they gather throughout the trip.  Here is a glimpse of us putting together the book:

Great job students!  You were amazing today working so diligently all on your own!!

Cleaning

Today we dressed in our grubby clothes, grabbed the cleaning supplies, and climbed all over the RV to clean it thoroughly. 

We scrubbed the moss off the outside and the cobwebs and dust on the inside.  The kids did an incredible job scrubbing intensely and enthusiastically as they kept saying “I am so excited about our the trip . . . I can’t wait”.  It really made it real today as we all worked together.  Brooke said “I can’t wait to sleep in the RV” and I replied “I’ll remind you that you said that when in the middle of the trip when you might be tired of sleeping in the RV”.  She laughed, but it will be interesting to see if they get tired of traveling for that long, or if they will be enthusiastic the entire time!!  Only God knows, but the key to it all is “Thankfulness” that we even have the opportunity to do this.  

Now that the RV is clean we need to stock it with food, toiletries, and traveling supplies. We still have a lot to do! 

Countdown

Exactly 30 days from today on March 18th, 2012, we will embark on our long thought out trip across America.  Shelley Gillette and I have been planning and talking about this trip, homeschooling US History across the country,  for two years and here we are on the countdown to our disembarkment.  Hard to believe.   We spent a good portion of our vacation at Tahoe in September planning this trip.

Although, it is amazing how we have our plans usually all layed out but God sometimes has different plans.  Proverbs 19:21 says "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails".  Our human nature is to plan things out, but we also need to except that the Lord's plans may not be our plans.  I've been praying incredibly hard that this trip is the Lord's plan because there have been many obsticles to hurdle; such as our husbands not too sure about the whole thing, Brandon's objections to going,  breaking my foot 4 months and 1 week before we leave, and finally mechanical difficulties with the RV.  

But Psalm 20:4 says "May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed."   Our plans are the desires of our hearts, which means that if our hearts are completely focused on the Lord,  our hearts desires will be His plans.  I am trusting in the fact that this trip has been the desire of both Shelley's and my heart from the beginning, and we desire to show our kids God's providential plan of our country through actually seeing it.   We are giving them the opportunity of a life time and that is truly what homeschooling is all about . . . taking the opportunities to learn "hands on" rather than just reading it in a book.  

Because of all these hurdles, it's been challenging to believe that this trip is actually going to happen.  Yet God has taken care of the details of these challenges, even though it hasn't be easy.   We are persevering because it has been laid on our hearts so strongly.  Our husbands finally agreed to the trip; I've come to some reconciliation that Brandon is not going on the trip (and I will explain details of this conflict later); my foot is still healing and even though it's been a slow process, I had 4 months before we left; and the mechanical issues on the RV have been fixed plus Gramps helped pay for them as an investment into our trip.  God is good!  Now, I can finally get excited.  Today is an exciting day to begin our countdown and even though we have a lot to do, I can really start believing that this trip is part of God's plans for us.  One of my life's verses is Jeremiah 29:11 which says "For I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to five you hope and a future."  I believe that the Lord laid this trip on our hearts and that He will allow it to prosper.  Praise the Lord.  Now I take a big sigh of relief and start the daily countdown!!