Crossroads: The Adventure Begins

My school boys in the fall of 2012

In the fall of 2012, I was filling out some papers to register our home school with the state. Since North Carolina requires a home school to register as a private school, I had to decide on a name for our school. My husband, as usual, didn’t get caught up in the process and logically stated that it really didn’t matter since no one else would ever know what we called our school. I, as usual, belabored the point and wrote out a list of at least 20 potential names. I wanted our oldest son to have the opportunity to weigh in, and he got quite excited about being involved. As we discussed the purpose and heart of our school (including a mission statement that I wrote, of course), my son was adamant that the word “cross” be a part of the name. (He has been keenly aware of Jesus and the meaning of His cross from an early age.) I kept dwelling on the adventure and journey aspects of a home-school education. Naturally, I became too wordy and thought up some cumbersome names, but along the way I tossed out “crossroad.” I decided it was too simple or generic or something, but my son fixated on it and would not be moved. He even drew a picture of a cross that looked like a path and had a stick-figure man walking across it. Thus “Crossroad Academy” was born.

Me, working my biz

Fast forward: In November of 2014, a crazy dream came true. A business I had been building for about a year and a half had grown to the point that my husband could quit his mentally stressful, time-consuming job, retiring at the ripe old age of 36. I had just finished reading Jen Hatmaker’s books 7: An Experimental Mutiny on Excess and Interrupted, so I was feeling like God had turned my American/consumerism mind-set upside down for at least the tenth time in my life. Whereas several months earlier this dream-come-true would have meant a larger house with a big piece of land, I was feeling less comfortable with that idea by the day. Instead of thinking “more,” the themes of “LESS!” and “DECREASE!” were screaming in my head. That isn’t to say that we still may not have a larger home on a big piece of land one day or that anything is wrong with that, but God was testing my heart and motives and whispering to me that we were entering a season of “less IS more.” I just wasn’t sure what that meant.

My parents had planned a visit at the end of November, and we had a wonderful 10 days with them. My dad discussed retirement often since he was looking at entering that phase of life in less than a year. My Montana family has always loved camping and the outdoors, and my parents have owned a camper or fifth wheel for as long as I can remember. They have hoped to be able to take an RV around the country upon retirement, and we naturally hoped that would entail more frequent and longer trips to North Carolina. However, somewhere in my heart an idea started to form. I didn’t even dare to put it into words yet, but if I had it might have sounded like, “What if we go with them?” 

My parents near Bodie Lighthouse

December brought Christmas and a wonderful visit from my husband’s parents from Texas, so I didn’t dwell on these thoughts long. We even discussed with them the idea of land and finding or building a house. We had intended to keep Christmas gifts small and simple in keeping with “less is more,” but as is often the case, things got out of hand. At one point during the opening of gifts, I noted under my breath that we were “feeding the machine” (of consumerism). I didn’t think anyone except my husband could hear me, but my father-in-law looked shocked and kidded me that I wouldn’t live that down because it seemed so uncharacteristic. I couldn’t begin to explain the central themes of 7 and Interrupted during Christmas gift-opening time.

Christmas 2014

After the dust had settled from holidays and visitors and the new year rolled around, I began thinking more about what a simplified life would mean for our family. My husband was enjoying his newfound freedom but also seemed restless and unsettled. I knew he needed a goal, a plan, and a purpose outside of helping me with the house and the children so I could work my business more efficiently. I sympathized completely because I had wanted to find complete fulfillment in being a housewife and home-school mom but couldn’t shake the urge to help others and also have a purpose and plans outside my family. Thus my business had been born from a love for all things natural health, a desire to help others, and my goal-driven tendencies. Men tend to find their purpose in a career, and I could see that my husband needed to find some fulfilling work or projects very soon.

I had been praying about an answer but one was not readily apparent to me. Then one day in January, I blurted out very suddenly to my husband (with very little forethought, which is quite unlike me), “What if we got an RV and traveled around the country for a year?” 

As soon as I said it, I wondered, “Did I really just say that?”

My husband and I both love to travel and had discussed how wonderful it would be to take the boys to landmarks and museums related to their studies, but never before had an RV come into the picture. Looking back, I don’t think we ever really believed we would have the financial freedom required to live in such a way.

“You would do that?” my husband replied in partial disbelief. I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or be offended. Did he think his adventurous young wife who had traveled the world and loved new places had changed so very much in 17 years?

And that’s how it started. Once I affirmed my willingness to go forward and thought through how I could work my business remotely, my husband sprang to action, researching every RV option, reading blogs, and watching YouTube videos about RV families. Everything seemed to move quickly, and I can’t help but wonder if he intentionally worked fast because he knows my tendency to second-guess every decision and change my mind frequently. A little more than a month after the first mention of “RV,” we were purchasing one, and I have to admit a part of me wanted to wait longer, plan more, and think it through more thoroughly. I’m glad now that my husband forged ahead.

Our RV on our first trip

Somewhere along the way, it dawned on me that Crossroad Academy was about to become a “road school.” I had to smile. We had faced many crossroads during the previous few years, and we always sought God’s will. How very appropriate, and how very like my Creator who well knows my love for words and the rich meaning they give to life. He knew our school would hit the road three and a half years ago when I had a 6-year-old, 4-year-old, and 2-year-old and could no more have imagined living in an RV with them than I could have imagined that I would be teaching people how to use essential oils for a living in a matter of just a couple of years. 

A view from the campsite of our first RV trip

Today is Good Friday of 2015. I’m writing this on the patio of our RV, watching and listening to a mountain creek rushing and bubbling past while the sun slowly sets over my left shoulder. There’s a slight breeze, and I’m breathing crisp, clean mountain air mixed with the faint scent of campfire. My heart is so full that my eyes are welling up, and I have a deep sense that yes, we did the right thing. Soon we’ll be purging most of our belongings and storing the rest. Our house, which we’ve been working on diligently, will become a rental. We’ll be traveling all over the country, promoting my business and helping my team while also visiting family and friends, enjoying nature, and seeing landmarks my children have only heard of. We’ll still have a schedule since I will plan team events and classes regularly, but we will also have much flexibility. We originally thought this lifestyle would last a year, but we’re already considering that we may really need two years. We’ll have to see how we all adjust, but for now the timeframe remains open-ended. We’re ending our inaugural trial run in the RV, but the adventure is just beginning.

Embracing the adventure