Thankful: Unexpected Blessings

    Today I'm thankful for the unexpected blessings that seem to be meeting us along the way. We've been in Mexico since Wednesday and I have yet to go grocery shopping. Our fruit basket was looking pathetically empty, and I made a plan to go to the market tomorrow. This evening there was a hello at the door, and there stood a cousin of my dad's with a box of fruit to share! Erik had run into him the last few mornings on his walks, but it's been over twenty years since I'd seen him. He filled our basket, and then some, with fresh oranges, limes, lemons, avocados, persimmons, pomegranate, tangerines, and even a dragon fruit. We now have plenty of fruit, both beautiful and delicious, thanks to his kindness. 

    There have been other unexpected blessings on this trip too. I got to reconnect with an old friend in Santa Cruz and our kids had a great time playing together. We've gotten to camp in beautiful places. My Aunt Cathie and Uncle Dan threw a birthday dinner for Peregrine when we stayed with them, surprising him with apple pie and homemade ice cream and presents not only for him but for all the kids. We've found kindness, hospitality, and friendship all along the way. The kids have had lots of friends to play with, and we're enjoying spending time with my cousins here. I'm thankful for all the many ways we're being blessed as we journey on. 

Thankful: Grandma

Grandma Jean 

    Today I'm thankful for my Grandma, my mom's mom, and for the time we've gotten to spend with her over the last several months. Grandma has always lived on the East Coast, too far away to see very often. Growing up we saw her every few years. Sometimes we flew from Alberta. (I was terrified of getting on that plane, and had a terrible stomach ache.)  Once we took the train. (Squished pennies on the tracks, the conductor whom we deemed "The Mustache Man", squeeze cheese, learning to count to 100, my four year old self walking around making sure that everyone else loved Jesus, and that family across from us who ate fried chicken the whole way.) At the end of the tracks, or the runway, or the long road, there was Grandma and Grandpa's house, a magical place full of televisions (so many!) and yummy food and lots of love and The Italian Aunts, whom we quickly learned were not to be messed with when it came to pignoli cookies. Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us, too. And during the long years between visits, there were packages full of gifts and homemade cookies and love.

    I've always felt a bit sad that I lived so far away from my grandparents, both sets of them. I know they loved me very much, and I love them too, but I felt I missed out on the really special, close relationships that are formed when you see someone more often. Up until this Spring, the last time I'd seen my Grandma was over ten years ago, when I'd spent a month in Pennsylvania. Then, in June, my mom flew back East and brought Grandma across the country with her. It was going to be for a month, but it soon became clear that she wasn't going back. Grandma is 93, has very little memory, and has deteriorated a lot in the last few months. I've been so, so thankful that my kids have gotten to know her and for the time we've all had with her. We spent four weeks camped out at my parents' while we wrapped up the sale of our home and Erik's job, and during that time we got to see a lot of Grandma. 

    She always greeted us with "hi" or "who is it?" when we walked in the door. She commented on how cute Pearl was. We practically had to shout to be heard, but the kids would get close and talk with her. Sometimes they exasperated her. Sometimes she exasperated us all. She threatened to punch them. She made us laugh with her spunky comments. She still sighed over how handsome Grandpa was. Sometimes she didn't seem to remember that he passed away a long time ago, and another day she said, "I wish my husband would call me, but he's pushing up daisies." Once, she remembered my name. She loves to look at old photos, and sometimes we'd sit and look through them together. She had a stack of cards, each lovingly written, and each day she'd read them as if for the first time. It was interesting what she could remember about long ago. My mom brought out a wedding photo one day, of her and Grandpa, young and beautiful, and she said, "That is the best picture in the whole wide world!" I asked her about her wedding, and her honeymoon, and loved hearing what little snippets she could recall. 

   Grandma is old. She is tired, and her body is failing her. She spends much of the day sleeping, and in so many ways is like a little child. She is neither lamenting her past nor worrying about her future. She lives in the moment. I'm glad for all the moments we had with her this summer and fall, glad that I got to spend some precious time getting to know her a little more. I'm happy that my kids, at least the older ones, will remember her. I'm thankful that she is spending her last days in the company of many people who love her, grandchildren and great grandchildren weaving in and through this season of her life. I'm glad she's now woven into the tapestry of theirs too. One day Peregrine said to me, "Mom, when I'm grown up, I'll take care of you if you need me to. Even if you don't remember things, I'll still love you. But I hope you'll remember." I'm grateful that my kids have seen my parents lovingly caring for my Grandma, that they got to help care for her too. I'm so thankful for my Grandma, for her life, and that I got to be part of it. 

   

Thankful: Memories

This is a journal my parents "made" me keep the summer I turned nine We drove from our home in Alberta all the way down to Baja in Mexico. I have more memories from this trip than some others, and I think it's because of writing them down and reading it over the years.  

My ninth birthday was spent in the home of some family friends in British Columbia. It was a very special day that included a boat ride, s'mores, and a pretty cool cake with a sparkler in the middle! 

    Today I'm thankful for a lifetime of memories and the ability to record them so easily. When we were packing up our house a few months ago I came across this old notebook from a road trip my family took the summer I turned nine. It was so fun to look at my childish handwriting and see a record of some of the things we did. Over the last week I've been able to see much of my extended family and there have been many recollections of times shared in the past. We are currently in Baja California, Mexico, where there are decades of family history kept alive both by the prolific writings of those who have gone before as well as those who remember them. I'm grateful to have been born into a family with such a rich and fascinating history. I'm thankful for all the experiences my parents gave us as children, and for our ability to ex;ore this world with our kids. When I was a single gal, on my own, I ended each day with pen and paper, laborously recording the day's happenings and my thoughts and feelings about them. Now, I turn to my keyboard, which is so much faster! I'm thankful for the ease of recording our own family's history, of putting down these adventures for our kids to read some day. (And yes, they have blank books to fill with their own memories of this adventure.) So today I give thanks for both distant memories and those still in the making. 

Thankful: Erik

 

 I love how so many friends are intentionally choosing gratitude this month. Reading what others are thankful for is a good reminder for me to give thanks too. I really enjoyed taking part last November in a daily offering of thanks and am happy to do it again this year. I don't know that I'll have daily internet access this time around, but we are going to do our family Tree of Thanks again, so with or without a "connection" we'll be cultivating gratitude together.

    Today I'm thankful for this time we have together as a family, for my husband Erik who was willing to take a risk in order to spend more time with us. I'm thankful that he is responsible and hard working, and didn't take it lightly. This evening I came to bed while he washed the dishes. I haven't been feeling well and he brought me a hot cup of tea. He does so many little things like that, takes such good care of us all. I'm excited that we all get to be together during this season of our life, and for the gift that he is. 

Home is Wherever We Are

    When we first thought about traveling around the country we considered buying an older motorhome. As we thought it through, we realized it would be more practical to buy a trailer so we could drive around without having the big rig with us all the time. As we happened to live in the heart of RV country, we had plenty of lots full of nothing but RVs. We looked at many different trailers and got a good idea of what we wanted. We ended up finding this one through Craigslist and paying less than it would have cost from a dealer. It's 4 years old and was only used about 10 times, so it's in excellent condition. It had almost all the little features I wanted, and I felt so blessed that we found it. It's 28 feet long and 8 feet wide, so we've downsized a bit from our 1440 SF house. You know what, though? We are just as happy in this as we were in our "sticks and bricks" home. I like to say that our home is smaller, but we have a much larger yard! Right now I'm sitting on the couch overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the yard of the home my great grandparents built in San Miguel, Mexico. (You can read about what makes this place so special to me here and here.) And, at the request of many, here is finally a tour of our new home: 

This is our bedroom. We have an RV sized queen bed, which is slightly shorter than a regular one.  It's a good thing we're not tall people! Pearl has her little bed on the floor right next to me, and when she wakes in the morning she crawls up and "finds" me. One of the things I was happy about is that we have a real wall that separates our bedroom, not just a pull across curtain like many RVs. We keep our clothing and jackets, as well as the kids' hang up clothes, in the "closets" and Erik and I each have one of the overhead cabinets. There is also storage underneath the bed. 

This is the kids' bunk area. When I learned that some trailers had a triple bunk, I knew that was what I wanted. I'm so glad the kids each have their own space and we don't have to make the couch and table down into beds each night. Because our kids are still smaller, they each have a set of plastic drawers that hold their clothing and toys. They've decorated their spaces and made them their own. Peregrine is on top, Poppy in the middle, and Raphael on the bottom. 

Here's our bathroom. We have everything we need and no room to spare! There is even a tiny tub, although so far we've mostly been bathing in the homes of friends or family where we're staying. The tub is just the right size for the laundry basket, and I've got hooks for towels on the back of the door.

From the front of the trailer: the bunks are in the back to the left of the bathroom, and you can see the kitchen and table. We're realizing that having a slide or two would make things feel a lot more spacious, but it's really fine for now. 

Each child has a hook for their jacket, and the little cube shelf holds the shoes of the smaller ones as well as diapers and Pearl's books. 

We can all sit at the table, although it's rather tight. There's a hook for bananas and a hanging fruit basket. As I have virtually no counter space I had to get creative about where to put anything! There is storage under both bench seats, and that's where I keep most of my food items. 

This is the view as you enter the trailer. Erik installed an extra board that I can flip up to extend the counter a little. In an attempt to brighten things up I bought some repositionable wallpaper border and put it over the original border, which was similar to the valance thingies over the windows. I also cut cardboard and covered it with bright fabrics, then fitted them into the recessed areas around the cupboards. I have a little more fabric and plan to cover the valances at some point. I covered the couch with a fitted sheet I got at a thrift store. I liked the pattern better than that of the couch, and considering how grubby my kids get, it will protect the upholstery too! There is storage under the couch.

Here's a close-up of my teeny tiny kitchen, complete with dirty dishes! There is really no counter space, so my big cutting board can rest either on the stove if I'm not using it, or on the big sink if I'm cooking. I can also turn around and use the table if I need more space. Erik put up magnetic knife racks for my knives to the left of the stove and for my spice containers above the sink. I also have magnetic containers on the range hood for little things like pins, paper clips, rubber bands, etc. 

To the left of the door is a larger cube shelf that holds most of the kids' books as well as a basket for shoes. The rest of our homeschool supplies and crafty stuff is in other cupboards. On top of the shelf is our Berkey water filter and a valet for notepads, paperwork, envelopes, etc. Pearl's tiny potty sits on the floor right by the couch, tucked behind the bedroom door when it's open.

Home is wherever we are! 

    It certainly has it's challenges, living in a space this size. I often have to move several things to get to the one thing I need. It can get pretty tight when I'm trying to cook and anyone else is walking through the "kitchen". Sometimes I trip on the kids. Sometimes I would like to be alone. It can get awfully loud, and if the kids are talking it's really hard for Erik and I to hear each other. I wouldn't want to live in it full time in a climate where there couldn't be lots of outdoor time. But for this time in our life, it's perfect. We've been in it about six weeks now, and on the move for two of those. I was pretty concerned about how the sleeping would go, as my kids were used to having their own rooms, but it's actually been very smooth. We're learning to live together in a closer way than was possible when we could all sprawl out and retreat to our own corners of the house when we wanted to. (Or when sent there!) We still all have our own little "space" and I've been pleased that the kids love to invite friends in and show off their areas. I love being a homemaker, but I'm also a gyspy at heart, and in this little trailer I can wander and still have a place to keep home. For us, for now, it's just right. It's home, and it's wherever we are.