We are no longer "Showing Mom America"
Kitty has decided that full-timing in an Airstream is not for her. Six days into our trip, she let it be known to us that she was not liking it and understandably so. It's not easy to fit three adults and a 4-year-old in an Airstream. That said, I know God works everything out for a reason and I would like to share in detail how He is working.
1. When we first thought of this trip, we knew that there was no way we could leave Kitty in Nashville for a year, with no friends or family there. So we started playing around with the idea of bringing her with us. I can honestly say that there is no way we could have taken this trip without her. She had agreed to pay for groceries and food along the way, and that was a huge help with our monthly budget!
2. Even in those first 6 days, Kitty got to see some dear friends that she hadn't seen in years. People she may have never seen again if she stayed in Nashville. It was after seeing her friends in south Georgia, that she told us she couldn't do the trip any more. What immediately seemed like a train wreck coming, turned into a blessing in many different ways. I'm not going to lie; I was scared out of my mind that the whole thing was going to fall apart, because we sold our house and most of our belongings in Nashville. I called my Dad the night this all happened, broke down in tears and he let me talk the whole thing through. I'm so grateful for him listening to me.
3. Kitty lived in Tallahassee for years, where she had a great church, good memories and her best friend, Linda, still lives there! She told us she wanted to find an assisted living community there, so we made a detour and took a few days to find her a great place to live. The night we got there, she went to church and loved it all over again! Her friend Linda is the most amazing person, who had extra furniture for Kitty to use in assisted living and has been a huge help in making the transition. Within 2 days, Kitty found a place she liked, and we got her all moved in the next day! If we didn't bring Kitty with us on this trip, she would still be in Nashville, with no friends, in a place she didn't enjoy. Now, she is in Tallahassee, surrounded by lifelong friends, and living closer to the beach (which is never a bad thing).
4. We are now on the road by ourselves and I have to say, it's pretty nice. I didn't realize how much of our attention was being focused on Kitty. We love her so much, but I have to focus on making a living for my family and it just wasn't happening. I do know however, that we would never be on this adventure if she hadn't agreed to come with us.
I am so grateful that she was willing to give it a try. That she trusted us to take care of her and I would have never imagined it would have worked out so great, but that's why we live on faith. What do we have to fear if God is on our side? I know that He has some amazing things to show us, and I hope we do a good job of sharing it with all of you. We are still struggling to get it all together, but we are at the very beginning of this journey. I will follow wherever He leads this family. I can't believe all the things we have been through in just a couple weeks, but it's all working out. It's pretty awesome to sit back, look at it all in be in awe of how it has all come together so far.
We will miss Kitty, but we know that we will be able to do much more knowing she is happy in sunny Florida. We are no longer "Showing Mom America" personally, but we will be through photos.
Thank you for following our adventure.
Joe