This is the part where I take all those reasons why we are not on the road from my last post and I play devils advocate to dispel all those excuses. First up…

Family

Well of course we would miss our family but the thing about family is that they aren’t going away. They’re going to love us no matter where we lay our heads at night. Even if we go on the road…we’ll always come back home and our family will still be the tell each other everything type of family. We have survived the last 10ish years living 15 hours away from most of MY family so in retrospect it wouldn’t be that different. However, my in-laws are another story. I know the kids would miss being able to just hop over there or go out for an impromptu treat with them and there’s some guilt there. But, is that a deal breaker? I don’t think so.

Our family, as well as our friends, will always be a part of our lives. We have built this incredible home base that if we were picking up and moving far away, I would be heartbroken. But…we’re not! We are simply talking about travelling. We’d be back from time to time and chances are that we’d park for a while so we’d get plenty of quality time with friends and family. It would just be between trips instead of work weeks. Our relationship with our life group and other church involvement would take a hit since we wouldn’t be around as much. But our relationships with the individuals, I’m sure, would not necessarily weaken…just change. It would be difficult, but I think the support and love they would inevitably be giving us would make the sting a little less tough

School/Speech

This would be MY hardest challenge since it would be ME covering this topic. Being on the road would mean that I would be homeschooling and that is a bit scary to me. My sister home-schools her kids and I’ve watched her hop from curriculum to curriculum over and over to find the right fit. I’m not sure I am organized or patient enough to handle that or just the task at hand even. I am a planner…I LOVE to plan. But my execution skills are lacking. Do I think I could handle it? Honestly…I don’t know. I’m a stay at home mom now and both my kids are in speech and that is something that I have struggled with a lot. Truth Bomb: My confidence in my abilities as their mother has been shattered throughout the years about many topics but this is the hardest. I have so many plans to enrich their young minds but I let myself get swept away from it daily and then spend a good portion of my life feeling like a failure. Would things be different on the road?

In short, probably. I think that not having a huge house to maintain and being out in the world experimenting and exploring would definitely open my abilities to teach the kids. It would be a challenge and take some getting used to but I think with Jeremy and God on my side, we could cross that challenge easy peasy.

Jobs

This would have to be the first and most crucial part to us leading this gypsy life. I have faith that when the time comes, we will be open and willing to listen to where He is guiding us in this matter. Our biggest concern with this nomad lifestyle is healthcare and making enough to keep us all healthy. It’s the bulk of our expenses and after surguries, complicated pregnancies and never ending tests for the hubs’ blood pressure, we know we can’t afford to NOT have insurance. He could have gone freelance several times but the fear of not having insurance is too much to dive in head first.

I’m pretty confident Jeremy could work remotely in his field and it would support us enough to live. He needs that security of a ‘regular’ job and knowing where our money is coming from. If we won the lottery and were guaranteed a steady income flow…he’d be off and never look back. So, let’s pray he finds a work situation that will help us get used to the ‘Daddy’s at home” vibe. Like I said, I’m sure this is the least of our concerns.

Which brings us to the biggest holdback…

Debt…

Where do I begin?

No really, where do I begin??!! Hah!

Sometimes I feel like we pay off our credit cards just so we can use them again. I don’t think there’s much I can say except that this is something we need to get cracking on. We absolutely couldn’t take this leap with ANY credit card debt or loans and preferably no car payments. So, please, feel free to tell me what worked for you while I work on a plan. In the mean time…I’ll keep you POSTed! (See what I did there?) 😘