I want to preface this post with the two links describing why and what we are doing in this season. They will help to better understand some of the things I bring up in this post if you have not already read them.
As of right now, excluding the miles driving around the cities we land in, we have driven 6,845 miles. We have approximately 2 more months of living in our current RV and fulfilling what the Lord shared with us while in Duluth. Within that time we will travel at least 2800 more miles depending on where the Lord leads us, seeing many more RV Parks and meeting many more people.
All that the Lord has done in us over the last 7000(+) miles is hard to put into words but I have tried at little open moments along the way through my blog (and will continue to). Time and routine have been extremely tough with constant transition, thus leaving “blogging” as a limited thing in my time management. Yet, we are trying our best to capture moments along the way. I wish we had more time to put it all into words but this lifestyle doesn’t give the luxury of that most the time.
For instance, I am currently at the laundry mat spending around $15 to get my clothes clean. Boy do I miss having my own washer and dryer. :) And this is one of the few moments where I can sit and type away.
I want to share something with you all.
One morning, around a month ago, when we were still in Portland, Oregon, I was talking to the Lord about our finances. It is a constant occurrence and I check-in often around that subject. This time there was a specific sense I felt the Lord nudging me with related to our income. It seemed like a simple statement but had significant “heat” behind it in my time of listening. It had to do with Him giving us a creative idea related to what we are doing for these few months on the road.
Well, I listened some more but did not hear any “creative idea” that He might have to give. I wasn’t discouraged by the lack of hearing anything but just continued on with my day. Later that day I got a phone call out of the blue from a friend that I do not get consistent calls from and he had no clue where we were at financially. He said that he had been praying for us as a family and that he had a creative idea he felt the Lord had possibly given him as he prayed related to us. I immediately knew that this was what the Lord had been nudging me about before I ever heard his idea. Our friend then proceeded to share it with me.
The basic gist of the idea had to do with asking people to financially sponsor our family for a day. To compile our basic costs for a month and then break it down to a daily cost in order for someone or a family to sponsor us for one day.
Now it was over a month ago (right before we left Portland) that we heard this from the Lord but have been asking Him as to when we should present it. During this crazy journey of traveling and learning as a family we have never asked for money. It was never our intention to do so but yet here we are feeling as though this is a simple way to be obedient to what the Lord shared with us over a month ago.
In some ways it has been a really tough process calculating our monthly costs because of the differing dynamics wherever we go. For example, in Portland and Texas we used a lot of propane to stay warm because of the cold weather that followed us (costing around $20 every 3 or 4 days). But now that we are in North Carolina, that cost has dropped significantly. However, there are new things that show up depending on where we land and what RV Park we are at. For example, when we started this journey, we were paying around $3.60 for a gallon of diesel gas. Here in North Carolina the cheapest I can find around me is $4.15 a gallon. However, diesel has still been the cheaper choice in the long run due to it’s gas mileage and the rise in unleaded gas as well.
With all that said, Grace and I have narrowed down that one day conservatively costs around $50. That DOES NOT include the massive gas cost when we travel over long distances. We factored in food ($300), rv park costs ($450), gas around town ($400), travel trailer rental ($100), propane ($50), laundry ($30) and other misc. costs like truck and travel trailer maintenance or repair.
So how can you give if you feel led? On the right column of my blog you can see a Paypal button where you can give in a secure way. Giving that way does come with a small fee for Grace and I. However, if you have a Paypal account you can give through your paypal straight to my email address with no fee. Also, you can send anything to our current snail mail address:
1129 Graceland Dr.
Aztec, NM 87410
At this point we have no way of providing tax deduction for any money that is given. We are working on this for the long run.
We also have posted a calendar on the right column of my blog to give you an idea of what days we have sponsored over the next few months and what days we don’t.