Author: Carol

New Week New Month

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

Life, it’s changing so fast! Daniel and I have both exited our jobs at VUMC. We’re preparing for our transition to full time RV life. That will happen later this summer.

I decided in April to stop making excuses and get my, ahem, stuff together. So I’m getting fit and healthy. I’m getting rid of clutter, physical and mental clutter. I’m dedicated to personal development.

In short, I choose to be unstoppable!

Goal setting. Working out. Healthy food choices. Learning new ways to think about life. Deeper relationship with GOD.

My new motto: Never miss a Monday. Yes, most apply this to working out. And, I do. But for me it’s so much more. Every Monday starts a new week, a new opportunity to be better, to grow, to learn, to encourage, to inspire, to lead.

Welcome to June!

It’s Monday, let’s go!

Church in a pandemic

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

I’ll be honest, we’ve been away from organized church for five years. We listen to podcasts. We do devotionals together. But we just don’t get up on Sunday morning and go to church.

Right now, no one does.

But we’ve started to listen to some local church services as they are live streaming.

I admit I miss church. I really felt that this morning as we listened and Daniel sang along with the worship music.

It will be hard, as we transition to full time RV life and travel this summer, to find a church. But I really want to attend church again. Even if it’s a different church every couple of weeks.

I honestly never thought I would crave corporate worship. But I do.

Lists

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

Do you make lists?

Lately I have become the list queen. I have notebooks with hand written lists. I have apps on my phone for electronic lists.

Perhaps I have a problem.

Like, oh, everyone on the planet, since the pandemic hit we’ve had to put all our major life plans on hold. We should have been hitting the road for our full time RV life about now. But since COVID-19 has changed the way we all live life, we’ve put our RV plans on hold. Well, not really on hold, but we’re at a stand still until the shelter at home orders are no longer necessary.

This means I’m doing endless research. Endless online RV shopping. And, yes, making endless lists.

Lists of things we will need before we drive the RV off the dealer’s lot.

Lists of things we will need before we hit the road.

Lists of things I think we will eventually want to have.

Lists of what I hope our timeline will be. This one is subject to change without notice.

Honestly, I started making these lists as a way to feel like I was making progress toward our RV goals. But now, after all these weeks, it’s becoming a monster.

Is there a (internet based only-I honor social distancing recs) group for maniac list makers?

I get that making lists is a tool, a good one. Very helpful most of the time. But when list-making gets out of control it’s ugly y’all. Seriously.

Happy Easter

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

I pray you all have a blessed Easter.

It’s raining and stormy in Middle Tennessee today. Seems fitting in light of how strange and surreal this spring has been so far. Praying for better days ahead.

Stay safe.

Sabbath Rest

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know about anyone else, but over the past few weeks my state of mind waffles about every three seconds from anxiety, to faith, to fear, to peace, to some emotions I don’t even have words for. At this point, I’m just exhausted.

Today, on Palm Sunday, I declare for myself a day of Sabbath Rest. Not just laying around doing nothing, but meditating on God’s Word, sitting in His love and grace. Just being in Him.

I pray His PEACE, which passes all understanding, fill us all as we navigate the days ahead.

Changes

~ Carol ~ Leave a comment

To say life changed in the past two months and five days since my last post is beyond understatement. From changes in our personal plans to global upheaval in a fight against a novel virus, nothing seems the same.

The third week of February one of our three dogs had to be humanely euthanized. We’re not talking about details. That’s enough to know.

Another of our dogs required extensive veterinary care which took a great deal of money and time to complete. He is almost completely healed.

We cancelled our Elkhart trip in February due to a predicted snowstorm in that area. We also finally admitted to each other that van life might not be the best RV life option for us, so we started exploring Class C RVs that would give a little more room for the two of us and our two dogs.

Then the novel coronavirus hit our area.

Our retirement savings took a huge hit just like everyone else’s. We began to realize that might be the most minor of changes in our lives for the next few months.

But we decided not to give up on our dream of RV life. We prayed, soul-searched, talked. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve cried a lot over the past couple of months at the sorrow and fear and inability to know what to do and when to do it.

We took to heart the thought that it’s the RV lifestyle we truly want. The vehicle is less important. With that mindset we decided to go the least expensive route to get us on the road.

Truck and travel trailer.

We’ve narrowed our choices by shopping online. We had toured a few travel trailers during our RV search you know, when we could still go out to shop in person. We’ve done enough research to know we want and what we think we’ll need.

Late last fall we had thought to leave our jobs maybe at the end of March. Now it’s looking to be a bit later. We both work in healthcare, so the timing stinks. But, honestly, now may be as good a time as any to get out of healthcare. Praying about that too.

Regardless of when we leave our jobs, when we buy our truck and trailer, when we sell our house, we are moving forward with our dream and the vision God has given us. Neither of us knows what this is going to look like, but we know who does, and we trust Him.