We're moving in!!!.... Kinda

    Monday we went and picked up the trailer from the guys house who sold it to us. We were super nervous but everything turned out fine. Our  truck didn't so much as burb while towing that 28 footer. Also we were worried about the trailer itself being hard to maneuver as neither of us had ever towed anything that big. I knew everything would be fine when we were on the way to pick it up and there was a faint rainbow as we go on the highway. However as we got off on our exit and approached the house, the rainbow seemed to be right above the house where the trailer was parked as if a divine reminder of The Most Highs promises. We had a time getting it hooked up for the first time. But that too should come with more practice.
   
 So we are moving this week and my internet access is limited so I am sorry I haven't updated. My classes also started this week. I spent the day today repairing the front wall paneling. I filled the gaps with foam sealant and then laid the insulation, and screwed on the panels. I am so tired and sore but I love the turnout. it's not pretty but it is solid. I will be hanging curtains anyway so I wasn't to worried about it. The foam spray I got was awesome I was able to find all the leaks and get them filled. I was also able to get on of the support beams replaced. The rest of the water damage we will fix tomorrow.

    The kids got to pack some of their things in the trailer. They also helped bring things from the house and put them in their new place in the trailer. Almost my whole kitchen is relocated already along with the kids' personal items. Seems  like it's really gonna happen y'all, lol!!!

Is It Monday Already? Weekend Whirlwind We Went to See the Land!!!

     I have missed a few days blogging but It was for good reason. We got to go see the land on Thursday!! We are feeling so blessed and grateful for how everything is falling together. So On Thursday we decided to go ahead and take the trip that day so We wouldn't risk missing the Sabbath with our kids. So around 9 am we jumped in the work truck we borrowed and took off on the 6hour trip to check out the Property. AS soon as we got in the truck though I was pleasantly surprised to find a winner in a stack of discarded scratch offs that someone had tossed. (I have a habit or rechecking other folks tickets) and sure enough it was a $20 winner. so we already had a head start on out gas money.
      So we had great travel weather and the truck was solid on the road and we made it to the town to meet the property managers at their office around 4. They were super nice and had someone come out and show us exactly where our land was and how to get there. We were tired and hot by the time were done and told them we were thinking about getting a room for the night and driving home in the morning, They informed us that there was a guesthouse for customers located 2 houses down from their office and we could just stay there instead of paying for a hotel. This saved us tons of money and was totally unexpected.
All Praises for The Most High and his provision!!

Guesthouse

      Everyone in this little town of like 1200 people was super nice to us, even the guy who owns the liquor store where we bought some wine for the evening. It's a small town but we are far enough out that it has what we need to come in town for and not be close enough to make a difference to us.
     Getting to the land was amazing!! At first we went to the wrong part of the property, because its so hidden It was kind hard to find at first, but we figured it out. We had to cut down some brush to get to the well and there was a hornet or wasp nest under it. But we took care of that and got some of our well water to bring home and have tested.

Hubby and our building site

Our Private well

We were also able to check out the stream that makes up one of our borders. It also runs along a corner of the property. It is very pretty and the sound of the water is peaceful. Overall we are feeling overwhelmed with blessings and look forward to our new start!!

The stream

 

 

When the spirit moves...

     So today has been a roller coaster of surprises. I thought that I would spend the day fixing on the camper and possibly getting the cabinets finished.

The kids ended up going to my mother in laws so without the extra hands I really wasn't feeling it. So I told hubby to take the truck to work and instead figured I would focus on selling everything in the house that's not nailed down.

     After about 5 postings on craigslist I decided to check on my admission status at the university we applied to. They informed me that I had been admitted yesterday and would be getting a welcome packet soon. YAY!! I figured I would now be able to schedule an orientation and advising appointment. Mind you The university as well as our new land location is about 5 1/2 hours away from where we currently live. Having to coordinate our trip to view the property with one of those orientation dates has held up the process of making the trip down there. As I could not attend orientation until my admission was complete and there was really no way of knowing when that would be since we applying so late.

     So when she told me I was admitted as a transfer student I would not be required to make a trip at all I was geeked. She transferred me to advising where I spoke with a lovely lady who walked me through registration and I am now ready for the semester to begin as a Agriculture Major....Nice huh :)

     As if that wasn't enough good news, my hubby got permission for the owner of the cab company we work for to take one of the cabs to make the trip to check out the property. That means we don't have to put pressure on either one of our cars or pay for a rental. That is a huge relief and savings.

Other than that no new news on the camper, or land expect we talked to the power guys to get a better idea of what we need to buy to get everything hooked up after they do their part.

I Used to Like Painting... Trailer Restoration

        I am all painted out. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I don't want to see another brush or can for a while. I made probably at least double work for myself by buying the wrong primer. I just grabbed the primer off the shelf without tinting it. So I was using a lighter coverage product and making it take longer to cover the area. AND I didn't even get a full can because, as I found out later, the paint cans leave room for the tint so they are not full. So we were running out of paint prematurely. The grey I bought was way lighter than I thought it would be against the white for the cabinets. So the kids keep mistaking the grey for white and you can't really tell until it's dry.
      

     Overall though, I am very pleased with the turn out. We still have the cabinets to put on and give one more coat. I also bought some really cute handles, they are shiny silver. They cost like 30 cents at the local hardware resale store. I am really excited to see them go on. I would like to get the doors on and all repair work finished by Monday. That's my goal, to lay the flooring by Tuesday. We have two different designs of peel and stick floor tiles from Home Depot. I was going to go with used donated or resale shop tiles, but I wanted to be able to get exact replacements when they started to get raggedy.

I still have to pick a color for the bathroom too, something like turquoise I'm thinking. I'm running a grey theme through the whole trailer though. Other than that, I think we are making good time as far as preparation goes. I will update tomorrow if we get the doors and hardware on. Take care family, Shalom!

This Land is My Land

So, where are we planning to accomplish all of this homesteading and living free? Well, let's take a quick step back in time. Since around 2010 we have wanted to relocate from our midwest hometown and find somewhere nice and secure to raise our kids. We also wanted to save money and live on less for less. We have been looking into all sorts of places to move and even considered Costa Rica at one point. After looking on and off for years we'd basically resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably never move out of the state let alone the country. We happened to be looking around on ebay, not really shopping but just poking around. I somehow ended up looking at plots of land that was for sale, but the auction wasn't for the entire purchase price but instead was for the down payment price only. It was explained in the ad that the down payment would be due at the end of the auction and the rest of the purchase price would be spread out over 15-30 years depending on the seller. This land was being sold with no credit check and in some cases with less than 300 down payment. I assumed there had to be a catch but after many hours over the next few days I quickly realized that there was an opportunity here we couldn't pass up. We found many of the companies doing business on ebay had websites with many other options not listed on the auction site.We first decided which land company we wanted to go with as each land company had it's pros and cons. We then decided what states we were going to look at based on the homeschooling laws and proximity to our home state as well as propensity to natural disasters. So we settled on a state and set about prioritizing what we looking for in a piece of land. How much were we willing to spend per acre? How many acres were we looking for? We narrowed it down to three properties. The next morning we called the property agent and she let us know that our favorite lot of the three was sold. She also let me know there was a 5 acre plot that was not yet on the market and it had everything we were looking for including a well. We completed the sale that day. The 5 acres has a stream that runs along the western border, a private well and electric hook ups. We will need to develop our our solution for waste disposal and pay to get all utilities ready for use in the camper, but they are there!! We are very excited to finally own a piece of property. We bought the property sight unseen, which I guess sounds crazy to some people but we are kinda crazy like that. We will be going to see the land next week and moving there full time in about 2 weeks. We will share all the excitement here!

What Does Freedom Look Like To You?

        Shalom!!! This is the blog of a family of 6 and our move to the country to start a farm and live a self sufficient lifestyle. We are moving to our new 5 acre property. We plan on having 2 trailers to live in until we complete construction on our earthbag home. We will be plant a garden and grow our own produce. We also plan to have chicken and quail for poultry meat and eggs, goats for meat milk, and other dairy products as well as soap. We will also have a pond built for tilapia. We will be homeschooling our 4 children. We will be moving onto our land in the coming weeks. Until then we will be keeping the blog up to date with updates pictures and videos.

       Some of our current projects include restoring our 28 foot travel trailer. There's water damage we are going to have to repair in the rear bedroom area. We also are selling all our possessions that won't fit in the camper or our Suburban. We have a car and another SUV we are fixing up to sell. My Husband will be doing the repairs himself and may do a few videos on those repairs.

We are really glad you decided to join us on our adventure!