Church While Traveling

We've been a FtF for 4 months now, and we were part-timing for 3 years before that. Church is very important to us and leaving our home church in NJ was one of the hardest things to do. That church was one of the only reasons we stayed in NJ as long as we did. I grew so much spiritually as a result of attending that church, many of my children became born again there, and three were baptized there. One of our favorite things to help with is their Living Nativity. God has since transformed this family from a family living in a chaotic, trauma-affected life of constant crisis to one dominated by peace. We have much to be thankful for!

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:15-16

Our first long-term destination was Florida. We were there 3 months, splitting the time between Peace River in Wauchula and Orlando. We found bible study groups and church services at both parks plus we participated in a local church near each, as studying the Word of God and getting to know Him and His will for our lives is very important to us.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8

The Holy Spirit led us to First Baptist Church of Bowling Green, FL and FCC Live in Clermont, FL. We loved both and participated in bible study and youth group, attended services, volunteered to help with ministries (pics below, which you can read about on the linked blog posts), and met many great brothers and sisters in Christ. It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of others and see how God is working in other people's lives. One pastor noticed the passion my children have for Christ and ministry and referred us to their spiritual gifts class ... another reason we stayed in FL as long as we did. I feared I'd feel lost and alone while full-timing but God has brought many people into our lives and I feel far from alone. God is faithful and an excellent provider and protector.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
For the Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. Psalm 33:4

A quick aside: I had prayed a lot before we left on our journey for God to let me know if traveling was something He approved of. I wasn't getting any strong answer either way but I continued to ask God for His guidance. A stranger approached us while we sat in our van one night after a meeting. He appeared nervous and had circled our van several times. The children started to wonder what he was up to. He finally came to my window and said, "I don't know if you'll believe this or not but God prompted me to come tell you all that there is a hedge of protection around this family," and he used his arms to encircle the entire van with the family in it. I knew that was God's blessing to travel and He has been faithful to protect this family, even though many, many things have gone wrong. You can read about our launch and all the problems we had. Many lessons learned.

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5
For great is Your love; higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:4
Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Psalm 150:2

We've been in travel mode for 1 month now, just driving toward a destination of Texas and boondocking at Walmart's or staying at free or cheap state and county parks. We spend much time driving but do not miss church service on Sundays. We made a detour off our planned route to attend bible study and services at White's Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, LA. We stayed for a week and attended for 2 weekends and Wednesday. We were able to worship with the Robertsons from Duck Dynasty and my teens attended bible study with Willie's teens. They were thrilled (my boys, not so much the Robertsons, lol). I understand Phil Robertson leads a bible study on Sunday mornings before service so tourists who seek him can attend his bible study and hear the Word of God but I didn't get to do that. Phil was shocked at how many children we had to squeeze into the picture. Willie was a gentleman and Silas was just as funny as ever. Nathan joked with him and gave him a hug. If you want to stay in the area and don't like living in the Walmart Wilderness, Lake Darbonne State Park is about an hour from the church. It has full hook-ups, Wi-Fi throughout the campground, FREE laundry facilities for campers, lake activities, a nature center, and trails.

 

We toured some Arkansas state parks (we were so close, why not?) then headed toward Texas again. I found a Walmart near Shreveport, LA (which also happens to have a gas station willing to let RVs refill their water tank ... a real treat when boondocking) and decided that would be our home for the night. I searched my GPS for local churches, and there were many, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to go to Central Baptist Church in Bossier City, LA just off I-20. Our intent was to attend service then continue driving into Texas. We've been here for a week. The pastor asked for volunteers to put furniture together for a yard sale so I offered my family's services. We have since put several pieces of furniture together, helped with their yard sale, attended bible study and services both weekends, Wednesday night service, a potluck, and met many more good friends. Pastor Tim also noticed my children's "thirst for Christ" and has been an encouragement to me and my children. He has renewed the passion in my children for ministry and allowed them to participate on the worship team. His passion and enthusiasm for Christ are contagious and God is using him well in his community. We will be helping with VBS. If you're near Shreveport, LA the week after July 4th, (after we finally visit family in Texas!) bring your children out! If you're not a boondocker, there's a park with RV sites nearby for only $12/night with hookups, and I hear there's a free spray park for the kiddos nearby, as well, but we haven't had time to visit it, yet.

We have been so blessed by these communities and we've been told we've also been a blessing to them. I believe we all have a place in the Kingdom of God, we've all been given spiritual gifts in order to serve God and each other with, and God puts us in each other's paths for a reason. He knows our needs before we do and is faithful to provide for them, even when we think He doesn't hear our prayers. Find your passion. Discover your gifts. Ask God how He wants you to use them and attend a bible-based church to help you build a relationship with your Creator. You'll never be sorry you did!

I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth (and my blog, and my facebook, ...) I will make Your faithfulness known through all generations. Psalm 89:1
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3

Why and How I Homeschool/Roadschool

I don't know when I first heard about homeschooling but I always wished I could homeschool. I loved public school growing up, so it's not that I had an aversion to public school. I also grew up to become a teacher. After teaching for 10 years in public schools, I REALLY wished I could homeschool my children; however, I was a single mom and had to bring home the bacon and needed an all-day babysitter while my children also needed an education.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3
All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

I started my oldest daughter in Catholic school, as religion was always important to me. Once I had three children, that became too expensive for me. My oldest two girls seemed to do well in public schools. Honor roll. Straight A's. Friendly. Involved in extracurricular activities. My third child, on the other hand, was on the autistic spectrum and had learning difficulties. Schools didn't meet his needs. He was suspended often. By default, I began homeschooling him when I could in order to make up for all the educational time he was missing. We moved and he was placed in a special education classroom with a few awesome teachers, although he struggled like crazy socially. He also had a sleep disorder and had a hard time waking on time for school, often arriving by noon most days! It was a nightmare. I tried homeschooling him at one point but his oppositional nature caused him to sit on the sofa, arms folded, refusing to do anything I asked of him! To give you an idea of the extent of his nature, I'll share a *now* funny story: Once this boy, as a young man, asked to borrow my GPS so he could get somewhere he'd never been. I lent it and, when he returned, I asked how he liked it, as I've always LOVED my GPS. He said, "I don't like it telling me what to do. It's too commanding." LOL. Do they make a GPS that mearly suggests which way a person should go? Or maybe gives two options to choose from at each turn? That boy cracks me up. He muddled through public schools,but  not without a lot of heartache. He was pushed through high school by the system then he blamed ME when his high school guidance counselor told him he'd never be accepted into any 4-year college with his math levels and grades even though he was the one who refused to put forth more effort.

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8

Once I began adopting older children from foster care, and you can read about part of that experience here and here, I realized they also had special needs the schools couldn't always address. No Child Left Behind didn't leave my children behind in grade but it sure left them behind academically and skill-wise. Common Core isn't any better for children who struggle already. Most of my 9 adopted and 2 fostered children joined my family unable to read or write. At. All. A few could read and write minimally but they were years behind the average academic levels of same-aged peers. Most of my adopted children were severely behind academically and socially due to the lack of education when they lived with their birth families, the effects of trauma on their early learning (which continues to affect them even after they are removed from traumatic experiences), the effects of grief after the loss of their birth families and others close to them, the effects of moving around in foster care and attachment issues, and the effects of pervasive disorders such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome which affect everything a child does. All. Day. Long. You can read about the effects of many different things on the development of foster children here. Given the low self-esteem, anger, depression, FAS/D, PTSD autistic spectrum disorders, and academic and developmental delays my adopted children dealt with daily, I knew public schools weren't going to do them any good and, even though they were attending public school, I was homeschooling them for hours each evening just so they had the basic skills to do the homework sent home with them each day. It was chaos and school work dominated so much of our time. We didn't have time for anything else. It was the main reason I got rid of all TV and video games. The children kept lying or skimping on school work to get the bare minimum done in order to get time on the TV or video games. Removing those was another blessing and it didn't take too long for the family to adjust to the loss.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

I felt God had been telling me to quit my teaching job and stay home with my adopted children for 2-3 years as we battled the special education system in public schools. It was an exhausting battle but I could not see quitting my job. I mean, we had to eat and have a place to live! I felt trapped. I had no idea what God had planned and had no faith or trust in Him at the time but I definitely knew that's what He was calling me to do, just as sure as I was that He had called me to each child placed in my home. Fear prevented obedience. God had His way, however, when I lost my job. I was anxious and fearful about living expenses, about destroying my children's lives with my inadequate homeschooling, but what a blessing that was!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5

My two middle schoolers at the time were beating the heck out of pretty much anyone who looked at them funny so, when my one boy was suspended in March, yet again, I asked if he wanted to be homeschooled. His answer was a resounding, "yes." About a month later, my youngest daughter, 8 years old at the time, was being sent home early from school, yet again, for her unmanageable raging tantrums. When I arrived at the school, I learned she was raging for an hour because she couldn't sit next to her friend in class. =/ She stopped immediately and, since she was manageable, I asked the teacher if he still wanted her to leave, or if he wanted me to stick around and be sure she'd continue on a more pleasant path. He said, "I don't think she should come back at all until she can control herself." Hmmm, ok, well, she controlled herself pretty well under my care so I pulled her out the very next day.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4

The older children were fearful of being homeschooled. They didn't trust that Mom, even though she was a teacher, could homeschool them. That was fine. I started off the end of that year with only two homeschooled students. When I pulled my youngest daughter out of second grade, she couldn't read. Not one word. Within a month, she was reading chapter books and the Bible. Have you ever read the Bible? It's no easy task at times. Once the older children saw that Mom does, in fact, know how to teach and can teach things the public schools were never able to teach, they were on board. I still had one issue left: the boy who was due to graduate elementary school was so psyched to go to the middle school, because the school had sold it well, that I didn't gave the heart to tell him he couldn't. I did let him, even though I felt like I was throwing a baby into a shark tank, but within a month we all knew it wasn't working and he was pulled out. Two of my boys are very thin and consistently lost weight while in school, no matter how much I fed them before and after school so, when my boy lost 2 pounds in the first 3 weeks of school, I pulled him right out. So, one by one, I pulled them out of public school and added them to my homeschool roster. My two oldest boys, who had just started high school, were the last to be pulled. Their grades were always so low that I told them they would not be homeschooled until they brought their grades up. I knew they could do it but their moods and behaviors got in the way. I didn't want to pull them out with bad grades. I felt that would make them look bad. It would seem like they weren't cutting it so I pulled them out. I wanted to pull them out with good grades. It took several months and a lot of work and frustration on their part but they were pulled out by Christmas break the same year I started pulling the first ones out.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

My first year of homeschooling, I didn't push any subject they struggled with and we went on field trips and watched educational TV programs on PBS because I wanted it to be relaxing. I wanted learning to be enjoyable. Fun, even. As I remodeled our home to put it on the market that first year, I unschooled. My only requirement was that they read. Every day. Learn something new and tell me about it. They did this for one year. My two nonreaders worked on letter sounds on Starfall. What I wanted to instill in them was a thirst for knowledge, a reason to read, and to be self-directed learners and thinkers. After being spoon fed in special education classes, they needed to learn how to think for themselves and find information. We did read together as a family each night: a chapter from the Bible and a chapter from some other book. They all enjoyed taking turns reading together, especially the Bible. In the chaos of life, we 'quit' life and spent more and more time reading the Bible. In that first year of unschooling, four children have taught themselves how to play several instruments, my nonreaders started reading, my other children learned how to ask questions and 'google' answers and developed a love of reading and learning, they all are more independent and self-directed, and my 10th graders, who barely passed each year of public school, even with extra tutoring in place, and who rarely passed a standardized test, passed almost all sections of the GED test.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. Psalm 37:5

This is our third school year of homeschooling/unschooling/roadschooling. We do a little of each, depending on our situation. When I have Internet access and we're stationary, we still follow the same curriculum we used in our sticks and bricks house, although I try to incorporate more Charlotte Mason into the curriculum. When we are in travel mode, homeschooling looks more like this, this, or this and this, or even like this and this ... and sometimes we unschool ... and sometimes we do volunteer work. I have no doubt in my mind God led me, kicking and screaming at first, to the decision to homeschool and I have no doubt it has been a huge benefit to my particular children with the needs they have. God is good, He is faithful, and He takes excellent care of His children. Not everyone may feel called to homeschool, and that's OK. I definitely saw a huge opportunity for my children to spread the Good News at school, at sports events, etc. We are all blessed with different gifts and called to do different things in advancing the Kingdom of God. If there's anything I've learned in these past three years is to ask God for wisdom and guidance, listen to what He says, and obey with complete faith that He has everything under control and will do what's best for us, even when things look pretty desperate or bleak

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

If you feel God has placed the plight of orphans on your heart, you might be interested in these statistics. It is not an easy job but it can be quite rewarding and you can save a life and lead someone to Jesus. In my experience, foster children either don't believe God exists or they believe He does but that He is not good or that they are unworthy of His love.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

Palestine Gardens, MS

Palestine Gardens is a hidden gem in Lucedale, MS. It is a folk art replica of the Holy Land, complete with a furry, four-legged greeter named BooBoo, a tour guide, and bible stories as you pass through each section. Mr. Don is an excellent, inspirational tour guide and his story, and the story of the gardens, is a testimony to how God is alive and working in people's lives this very day.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world ... so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David ... Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord ... Luke 2

They brought Him the coin and He asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. Mark 12:16

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

Luke 2:41

(Do you know what Jesus did there?)

So the people shouted and the trumpets were blown. Joshua 6

(Do you know what happened next?)

"Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away." ... But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19

(Pillar of salt in from of the pond in center of picture.)

Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing their flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them." "Very well," he replied. Genesis 37

(Do you know what happened to Joseph next?)

Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." (far left in the photo) ... Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. Matthew 26 ...

 

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus called the Messiah?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify Him!" ... Two rebels were crucified with Him, one on His right and one on His left ... And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. Matthew 27

"He is not here; He is risen, just as He said." Matthew 28

Mr. Don is in need of volunteers to help in the gardens. If you have any interest, check his website and see what projects he is working on now and inquire as to how you may help advance the Kingdom of God in this ministry.

Florida Winters at Orlando TT

We spent our first few months of full-timing in Florida. We split the time between Peace River and Orlando Thousand Trails, alternating two weeks in each. Even though I like the Peace River park better, Orlando has it's perks. The main perk is that FtF are there more. I wanted to check out Three Flags, but we never did get to. We decided to leave FL on a whim and didn't have time to stop there.

One of my sons loves turtles and we enjoy watching the tortoises at the park. We also enjoyed watching the Sandhill Crane family raise their baby this year.

We did plenty of swimming here this year, which included water volleyball, and the littles played in the playground while the bigs played volleyball on the sand court.

Since we left our s&b home in a hurry, I still had much to do in the RV as far as renovations go. I buy wood and supplies and continue to add storage space. Since the Internet was down a lot this year, the boys did more work in their Life of Fred series. This year, they're working on algebra. They also have taught themselves various instruments, such as guitar and ukulele. Some nights, they got together with other teens and practiced together. I was a bit surprised to hear them practicing worship songs. It was such a blessing.

We stayed in Orlando through Easter. We took a month-long series of classes on discipleship and spiritual gifts at FCC Live, the church the Holy Spirit led us to in the area. We also helped with the Easter egg hunt by stuffing eggs with candy and handing out invitations to the event. We had great fun doing that.

We deemed Nathan the egg man, coo-coo-cu-choo.

FCC Live also allows children to jump for free at SkyZone, in the back of the church, for free for a half hour after each service. The kids really loved that!

There is a large park just about 2 miles south of TTO on Route 27 that we love to spend time at after we homeschool at the equally awesome library across from the Walmart near TTO. This park has basketball courts, a huge playground, pavilions with picnic tables, and electricity.

With the Internet being unreliable this year, we went to the local library daily to do our homeschooling. When we homeschool this way, we use xtramath.com to practice math facts, k12reader.com for reading comprehension, easy peasy all in one free online homeschool for general grade level learning, and Khan Academy online for math learning.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. Deuteronomy 26:11

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6