A Day In Our Life

    Someone on one of my rv groups started a blog carnival :) This will actually be a series and the first assignment was to blog about a day in our life. So here I am! Today was not overly exciting but I decided to break in the new Android tablet Derrick bought me and keep notes.
     Today is Sunday and we usually go to church when we are not holding revival services. Since we move around all the time we go to many many different churches. Today we went with some very close friends of ours here in Emmett, Id. The thing is though, their church is in Nampa, Id (about 45 minutes away). It is a pretty country drive though :)
      So at 8:00 am my alarm is beeping. Anyone that knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. I am a night owl so my typical day starts around 10 am. Oh how I love my "retired" lifestyle!! Anyway I hot snooze once. Yep only once. I was so proud of myself. I was up at 8:10 and tearing the room apart looking for an outfit to match my new white sandals. Found the outfit (and woke Derrick up while searching) and jumped in the shower. Once out of the shower I threw my youngest daughter in to take hers. And yes I pretty much threw her in ... we now have about 45 minutes to departure. After showers and getting everyone dressed I tackled my oldest daughter's hair. And anyone that knows her, knows hat girl has some hair!!! Somewhere in all that chaos Derrick called our friends to remind them that we are following them to the church and not to leave without us.
       Uh Oh ... we have a furry member that I just realized needs to go out before we go. It is 9:30 and i take him for his walk. Good thing I rushed and was ready to go early :)
       We were told they leave at 10 am. Well at 10:10 we were loading up cars and stopping for fuel. And at 10:20 we are finally on our way to Nampa. They must be running late because the car we are following is passing one and two cars at a time. Maybe they forgot we are following. Just before service starts at 11 we pull into the parking lot. Everyone was friendly and helped me get the girls signed into children's church.
       Ok, about church service real quick .... We really enjoyed it. The worship was very uplifting (and loud). The pastor was very anointed and had an awesome message this morning. He talked about how close God is to us (he dwells in us). We always cry out to God or ask Him to come when we need Him, but He is already here with us, in us. Church service ended at 1:15 and I went to sign the girls out. To my surprise they were still having church. I peeked in the window and was taken aback. Never (and remember we visit MANY churches) have I seen the kids have actual church. This guy was preaching!!! No crafts, no snacks, no play time ... church!! I was VERY pleased!
       While in Nampa we had to make a Wal-Mart run. See, Emmett is very small and has pretty much nothing. Except Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Albertson's. Oh and Bi-Mart, but we are not members there. It was a quick in and out trip. We went in around 1:30 and were out by 1:50. That is very good for me and once again I was proud of myself. Got the batteries, bread, and card and ran for the register. By 2:39 we were home.
        We usually stop for lunch after church but we were just wanting to get home. We have a lot to get done today. So at 3:00 I made some sandwiches and we had a late lunch. At 3:20 I took some "me time" and jumped on facebook. The girls watched a movie and Derrick went to help a friend fuel up his vehicles for our road trip tomorrow. And speaking of road trip, I need to pack! So at 5:16 my me time was over and I began packing snacks, clothes, and car ride activities for the girls. I really despise packing. I never know what to bring. I am so spoiled with having my house go where I go. Packing took an hour, I really hope I did not forget anything. Derrick left for evening service at the church here in town, so checking facebook before feeding the girls.
       At 7:15 I decide it is too hot to cook so they are getting cereal. And I decided to catch the last 20 minutes of the Road Rebelles blog radio show. That was ... interesting. Those girls were definitely having fun over there :) Ok fun time is over and my girls need to get in bed. It is only 8:15 and they are having a hard time getting into bed. They normally get to stay up until 9:30 or 10, but we have to get up at 5 am!!!! And once again we all know how I just love mornings (NOT).
     It's 8:30 and the kids are in bed and I just walked the dog. And I am beginning this blog. Well technically it is now 9:14 and I am just finishing this blog. So there you have it .... 12 hours in the life of the Thomas family. Hope you enjoyed our day as much as we have.
    Stay tuned for more posts in this blog carnival/series.
     

A Little About Who We Are

I am creating this blog for my friends and family (or anyone interested) to follow us on our travels. I attempted this a couple year ago and let it go after about a year. This time I will try very hard to keep current. I will try to blog daily and share thoughts, memories, pictures, tips, and maybe even a recipe or two.

For those that do not know us personally let me introduce ourselves. We are a family of 4 (5 if you count my fur baby) that have been traveling full-time in an rv for the past 3+ years. We started out in the 5th wheel we used for camping trips. After a year we upgraded to a 2 bedroom 5th wheel. After another year we decided that we needed something more sturdy and that had more conveniences while traveling, so we converted an old charter bus.  It has been almost a year in the bus and we are loving it!! I will post pictures of our home another time.

Why we live this lifestyle:
In April of 2008 God spoke to my husband and I and said we needed to sell what we have and go on the road full-time in the evangelistic field. We were moving in this direction anyway. Within 2 weeks we packed what we thought we needed (key word being thought) into the 5th wheel and sold or gave away the rest. We spent the next 5 weeks at a friend's house sorting through the stuff we thought we needed. Purged half of it (but still had way too much).  We hit the road and headed north to Idaho where we spent the next 3 months. In that time we purged half the stuff once again.
3+ years later and we are settled into this lifestyle. Actually we were settled into it by the time we got to Idaho.
Since January of 2009 we have been involved in tent ministry. For those that do not know what that is, we do tent revivals.  We are currently a ministry of helps to a very good friend (and spiritual father) of ours. We someday hope that God will bless us with our own tent.

In another post I will introduce us all individually.
Until then I look forward to you getting to know who we are and what we are about.

The Thomas Family

In my previous post I explained what we do and why we do it. In this post I will introduce each one of us individually.
We are:
Michelle (aka Chelley) - Mom

She roadschools/unschools our two daughters, we do a lot of life learning. She enjoys baking and cooking (which can at times be a challenge in such a small kitchen). She loves our lifestyle and experiencing new places and wonders with kids. Loves crafting of all kinds. Some of her favorites are quilting, sewing, and beading. She also likes to read the Bible and Christian fiction (especially Amish fiction).

Derrick - Dad

He is the chauffeur of our 40 ft home on wheels. He is a missionary evangelist and enjoys his calling. He is a "Jack of all trades" and can fix just about anything. He is the one that did the conversion to our bus. You can see pictures of the bus and the conversion process by clicking on "The Bus" on the menu bar or on the right sidebar under categories. He enjoys reading the Bible.


Michaela - Daughter (age 10)

She was diagnosed with Autism. God has miraculously healed her. She has never been on any meds, vitamins, special diets, etc. and has never been in any special therapies; yet she has improved and come so far. We know that God is not through with her and are believing in a complete "healing". She is a very special little girl and loves everyone she meets with her whole heart. She enjoys coloring and putting puzzles together.

Riona - Daughter (age 5)

She is our little diva! She is definitely a "girlie girl" and loves to have her clothes match her shoes and her hair done just perfect. She is our prayer warrior. If anyone has an ailment of any kind she is the first to suggest prayer or pray herself. She enjoys coloring and playing with her Barbies.

The Bus

The bus is a 1977 MCI MC-8. We bought it in Kentucky in June 2010. It was converted by us in Oklahoma that same summer.

We owned 2 different 5th wheels before the bus. We love the layout and space a 5th wheel provides, but the convenience and sturdiness of the bus is far better.

The Bus: The Conversion

It took Derrick 2 weeks to gut and strip the interior of the bus. Another month and a half to do the conversion. We are not completely done with it.

 

Before we took the seats out.

 

Completely stripping the interior.

 

It took 2 weeks to get to this point.

 

The new laminate flooring.

 

Building the wall frames.

 

The wall frames.

 

The beginning of all the wiring. It is ran in the ceiling and in the walls.

 

Electrical panel.

 

Putting the pine ceiling in.

 

The ceiling. There are 3 of those ac units. And the square where you can see the metal was cut out and a Fantastic Fan put in.

 

Building the queen bed in the master room.

 

Storage under master bed.

 

Storage above master bed and framing for side wardrobes.

Building the bunks.

 

The bunks.

 

Door leading from bunk area to bathroom. There is another door just like this leading from bathroom into master room.

 

Closet and drawers in bunk area.

 

Linen closet in bathroom. Shower is to the right.

 

Building the kitchen cabinets.

 

Bookshelf and passenger seat area.

 

Another picture of the passenger seat area. It also serves as Derrick's desk.

 

Installing the couch. We also installed 3 seatbelts here.

 

The tanks before plumbing. The fresh and grey are each 120 gallons. The black is 66 gallons. There is also a fuel tank on the bus that will hold 178 gallons.

 

This is where the bus's ac unit was. It now houses our huge generator.

The Bus: After

Here are a few pictures of what the bus looks like after the conversion. The pictures truly do not do it justice, but will give you a good idea of what a great job Derrick did converting it.

 

Passenger seat ... also doubles as Derrick's desk. In the background you can see the bookshelf.

 

Cabinets above couch and dining room table.

 

Kitchen. The cabinet just to the left of the drawers is where we keep the garbage can.

 

View of the microwave (which very rarely gets used for anything more than a bread box) and upper kitchen cabinets.

 

Pantry and blue flame heater (the ac units also double as heat when he are hooked up to power).

The dining room table.

The fridge. Above the fridge is the electrical panel.

 

The bunks (not looking their best).

 

Ahhh .. A better view of the bunks.

 

Not a very good picture, but this is the closet in the hall/girls' room. There are 6 large drawers below.

 

Each girl has a dvd player with headphones in their bunk.

 

The shower.

 

The vanity in the bathroom. Toilet is just to the left of this (and shower and linen closet are across from it).

 

The queen size bed in master room. The head board is made from the same pine as the ceiling. There are small wardrobes and night stands on either side and storage above.

 

There are two of these large wardrobes in the master room. Each one has 2 large drawers on the bottom.

 

The outside. We covered the middle section windows with aluminum. There is a flood light on either side. Eventually we will paint the outside.

On top of the bus we have our internet satellite, 3 ac units, and 2 solar panels.