Where do we even begin? So much has transpired throughout this past month! We have been traveling around North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida back to the Carolinas, Tennessee and back to North Carolina. Whew! It’s been an interesting month of travel and new relationships. This post is going to be filled with pictures of our adventures! I’m so excited to show you :) God has been moving us forward and we feel like our only "job" is to stay in love with Jesus. When we are in that place of love and surrender, God just puts us on His rail car and transports us on the path of His glory covering the whole earth. We spent the first part of March enjoying camping-life with our kiddos. We had numerous bonfires, exploration times, hikes through the Georgia woods, and mini golf fun. It was honestly another time of puling back to refocus on the kids God has given us. We so long to raise up our children knowing that we love them and that they are important to us. It's so easy for kids to sorta come along for the ride and not get much attention. I believe God sets up these mini reprieves to let our family feel connected. Toward the middle of March, God began to speak to us about new beginnings. We received a random text from this guy named Jason. Him and his wife, Katie, were traveling with their 5-yr-old son, Dax and they were preaching the gospel and sharing the love of Jesus. They had checked out our website and felt that our stories were extremely similar. After our first video chat, we felt an instant bond. We actually felt an anointing on our relationship and Josh and I went to bed that night with our faith renewed and a great sense of expectation. We didn't know what the future would look like, but we new God was taking us into a new phase of His story for our lives... and, it would all be for His glory! There is nothing like family. Seriously. The last piece of the puzzle God gave us before we left was that it was all about family. Josh heard very clearly that we were supposed to share the gospel of Jesus by inviting ALL into family. We have seen this in unique ways as we have traveled, but nothing to the extent we believed we would see. Enter Jason, Katie and Dax. We met up with them for a face-to-face in Franklin, TN. In those 2 days, we knew that God was up to something big. They talked with us about committing to travel in family and join with us in ministering the gospel of Jesus. I cried. It was a beautiful moment. We have felt honored and loved in such profound ways this past week. There is a fresh anticipation for what the future holds and to see where God directs our families. It is also a very humbling experience to open our lives and our hearts up completely. Feelings of inadequacies and insecurities threaten to keep part of us protected and shut down. But, we strongly believe God is leading us to do family completely and wholly with others. With that being said, please pray for us. Pray that we would trust and be sensitive to where God is leading us as family. Here is an obvious question: what does it look like traveling with 2 buses and 9 people? Large parking lots, lots of noise and joy and laughing and eating and (a little) crying and awkward times figuring out how to divide up food stuff ;) and large party-like trips to Sam's club ... Totally worth it all!!! If this travel thing interests you or you feel like God is speaking something BIG to your heart, please contact us! We would love to chat and pray with you. Also, if you believe God has been asking you to invite people into your family, we would encourage you to take a step and pursue that... With Love,
3 Comments
Kari D Carlson
4/15/2019 05:32:20 pm
This is awesome Mary! Thanks for continuing to share your story. I've always believed that it will be the small house churches, home groups and organic "families" like you're talking about is the way the kingdom will grow here on earth. Blessings to you and yours. Kari
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Josh Hoeckle
4/21/2019 06:00:01 pm
thanks for the comment!! We definitely on the same page ?
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Hello!We're a family of six living full-time in a skoolie (aka a school bus converted into an RV). We are inviting you to join us as we live life to its fullest and empower others to do the same. Welcome to the family! Archives
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