Church on the Road, Our First Month

We are almost 3 weeks in from our launch. We were tired, cranky, & biting each other's heads off. We didn't give ourselves enough time to adjust before the FTF rally began so, even tho I referred a fellow single mom with a teen who wants to leave the road to my sons, who I thought were on board with me 100% ... by the time they finished talking with said teenager wanting to leave the road, my boys were argumentative, complaining whiners who wanted to leave the road & wanted to be abandoned at the campground to become homeless wanderers in a strange town in a strange state with absolutely no plan, or at least be dropped off at the s&b house back in Jersey. Yeah, ok ... My one boy dislikes rallies immensely anyway, even on a good day. People want to talk to him. Apparently, that's annoying. He takes 'shy introvert' to all new levels. I had to grade him in socialization just to get him to talk to people. lol. Since we just threw last minute stuff into the van & RV, we've been sorting, purging & organizing the RV (and by 'we' I mean 'I). I also made a trip to IKEA (yay, there's one in Tampa!) & Walmart for storage solutions. It's helping us feel more comfortable.

2014 FTF rally kids

At any rate, we're at our second campground. At present, we are enjoying the NBA all-star game in the Peace River lodge. My boy is in heaven on earth. We haven't done much traditional homeschooling, what with lack of reliable Internet, the inability for my teens to educate themselves at the lodge without a parent present, & noisy elderly people in the lodge: the only place we get reliable Internet. However, we did get a few days' worth of easy peasy homeschooling in and we've been reading books together in the RV. We are reading thru Gulliver's Travels, since the older kids said they didn't understand the language of it, on my free Gulliver's Travels audio book phone app. I upgraded my phone to an Android for Christmas & JUST taught myself how to use it recently. I must admit, as a technological illiterate, I LOVE it. We also read the bible each day, working thru a one-year plan of reading it chronologically. Actually, my phone app also reads that to us, too. lol. For writing, I have the kids write summaries of church sermons we hear & how the sermon applies to their life personally. They also write summaries of what they learn as we road school and write questions they have about it, too. Sometimes they research those questions online later, or we just google things on my phone while we are learning. Did I mention I love my phone?

baby gator & baby gator (& bird/turtle/fish/,,) watching

We spent a day in the Everglades taking ranger-led tours & doing junior ranger booklet activities. I'd love to go back and take the river of grass 'strenuous' ranger-led hike and visit the shark exhibit. You definitely need to plan several days in the Everglades. We just made a day trip from Peace River but hope to go back once my Thousand Trails membership upgrade kicks in and gives me more parks to stay in, which will include a stay in the Keys, as my newest adopted children have never been there.

Nike missile site & Cold War history ... yes, she ALWAYS looks that happy lol



 

Interesting biology tidbit for the day: unlike other diving birds, the Anhinga doesn't have oils to prevent him from getting wet so, when he dives for fish, he comes up WET. He must fan his feathers to dry & get warm.



We found a church we like near Peace River: First Baptist Church of Bowling Green. God usually chooses good church communities for us to connect with wherever we are. The music isn't what we're used to but we all participated in bible study and services and we warmly welcomed, included, and invited back ... and we did, and will, go back. There's a dinner this Wed. with bible studies for all ages. We had also joined bible studies (one for families, one for women) at Thousand Trails Orlando and met some great people.
There were other guests at the church this Sunday. We were all invited to give a testimony of how God is working in our lives and what opportunities we had for sharing the gospel and a man stood up to share that he is hiking the U.S. spreading the gospel, totally relying on God to provide for his needs as he brings nothing with him but a backpack and a bag everywhere he goes. We talked with him for quite some time after the service. He is an artist (painter/carver) & is drafting a book about how God is working on his journey. He is an interesting man and we will keep him in our prayers forever more.

Nomad Mark

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16