We're still here!

It's been quite a while since we have posted. A lot has been going on. When we got to Missoula, we met up with a church and worked for a week doing a missions trip. We were blessed with a "man shack"/cabin to stay in, and we got to meet a lot of really cool people. We shared our vision of the ranch and found a lot of support. There have been many leads to different ranches, and we have many people who have said they are willing to volunteer their time and resources once we have the ranch. It has been awesome. After the week of the mission trip, the church extended an invitation to us to stay for another couple of weeks, which was a huge blessing. We also took a trip to Kalispell, Whitefish, and Glacier National Park to look at the cities and sights and see what we might find. We saw some beautiful country, amazing actually, and really enjoyed our time together.

When we got back to Missoula, we began job searching and looking for a place to live. Recently, Meagan was hired on as an assistant volleyball coach at a local high school, which is great. We also began going to a life-group here that has been really good to go to. Of course, we do still miss our old life groups :-)

You know, stepping out on faith was hard, and while it has been an awesome experience, and we have learned quite a bit, it hasn't gotten much easier. I still struggle with trying to control our circumstances, but there's always a learning curve. At least I have a wonderful wife to support and love me!

This has been a great experience, and it is still going well. We are believing God for guidance, direction, and wisdom, and any prayers for that would be awesome!! (Also, for somewhere to live would be nice too lol).

Made it to Bozeman

Well it's been a while. We have done a ton of traveling this last week and a half. After the Badlands we went to Greybull, WY where we camped at a KOA. It was really nice there. From there we went to the Grand Tetons to stay for a while, where we called with a grizzly sow and her two cubs nearby. Never did get to see them. At night we'd hear the wolves howling which was pretty neat. There was only one trail accessible by foot at the time, because everything else was snow covered. As it was, I sank up to my hips in snow through the trail a time or two. It was gorgeous country though. Clear, fresh air. Bright blue skies. It was pretty spectacular. From the Tetons we headed to Yellowstone through the Teton pass, where we got caught in a snowstorm. I'm happy to report that everything was fine in the storm and God protected us through it. We got to Yellowstone around 1pm and Old Faithful was going off around 2pm, so we hurried up and got there about 5 min before it went off. It was cool to see. Then within 30 min we had rain change to sleet, sleet to snow, with snow ending up about 2 inches deep within the 30 min timeframe. Since it kept snowing and the park was clearing out, we decided to see the sights in the snow. A lot of the times we went to a place it was so steamed up you couldn't see much, but when you could, it was gorgeous. Picture deep blue and gold and purple against a white backdrop. Not something many people get to see in person. After getting thoroughly cold, and wet, we checked in to a locally owned hotel which turned out to be really nice. Again, God blessed us with a great rate for a couple of nights. We rests a day or so, then headed to north Yellowstone to camp and hike. All the southern trails were closed. We hiked around some trails and saw lots of different animals and some amazing views. After a couple of days, we headed out to see Bozeman, because it was recommended to us by a gentleman we met who owned a local laundromat. Now we are here and have met some really great people and are camping for the night! Follow us on G+ to see pics!

South Dakota

What a journey. In 5 days we have driven through 5 states, seen a couple big cities and a bunch of small ones. God has made some beautiful country for us to experience and we're just getting started.

When we left Kansas city we headed to the Badlands. The speed limit changed to 75mph, which was weird, and we had a 35mph crosswind, which on the plains is pretty good wind. Kinda made it feel like we were driving a kite.  Meagan was getting pretty depressed with 10 hours of plains, and Balto was getting bored. Then all of a sudden BAM! The prairie gave way to awesome formations of all different colors. It was truly spectacular.  It's hard to put into words how it hits you after seeing nothing by grass and prairie for hour after hour.
I couldn't imagine being one of the first settlers to see it. Pulling up in your wagon to a huge wall of rock and trying to figure a way across or around it. Gives us a lot of respect for those who had to deal with that.

We camped at Sage Creek Campground, which is a primitive campsite in the Badlands. The road to get to it was not paved, but it was pretty neat. We got to see a couple of prairie dog towns, and a bunch of bison. When we got camp set up and started cooking, a bison wandered into the camp, eating and staring at us. Balto wasn't sure what to think about it, and the bison wasn't sure to think about Balto. Both were eyeing each other, until we made Balto lay down. Then they each did their own thing. That night the coyotes were yipping and howling and the big sky was bright with stars and the moon.

The next morning we spent 4 hours repacking the car to make things fit more comfortably, hiked for a bit in the back country of the Badlands, then headed to Wall Drug South Dakota for donuts, ice cream, and coffee. After that we went on to rapid city where we got a really nice Comfort Suites for a really good deal. We are staying two nights here, then heading to either wind cave, the black hills, or wherever. The next place we will definitely be camping again, but we are going to try to find a site that you can have a campfire at. Stay tuned for more on this journey.

Kansas City

Well we made to KC last night. Got in about midnight and went to bed. We decided to stay all day Thursday and explore. It's actually a pretty neat city. We are staying at the Hotel Phillips (thanks an express deal), which is historical in itself. We visited the WW1 museum and then went to the top of the liberty memorial. Balto went up with us and loved being 21 stories above the city.

This is surreal. We can't believe that we are now on the way to Montana. We keep talking about how it seems like a dream. God has been really blessing us with good driving conditions, places to see, and we can't wait to be out in His country and beauty tomorrow.

We took some pics and posted them to the G+ account, since I couldn't get them to load onto this blog. If you're not following us be sure to! Even better pics to come!

On the way!

Well it's been an emotionally charged last few days. From saying our "See ya's", to packing, to fixing the car, and to getting a song I wrote sung for Meagan at Tootsies Orchid Lounge, we have had our highs and lows. But we are finally done. We made it to Nashville tonight, repacked the Subaru, and are headed to bed. We are excited and nervous at the same time. When people ask is what our plans are, we give a general itinerary, but truth be told we will just go where God leads us. We are excited about this ranch in Montana. We have no idea how or when it's going to happen, but God has been confirming this trip and direction for us for a while now. We want our friends and families to know we love them and we thank them for their support. We'll keep you folks posted as we go. If we can figure out how to share pics we'll do that too. In the mean time, ponder this:

" What's your spectacular look like?"

21 days and counting

Time is getting closer. 21 days left until we head out. I (Andrew) just have to say how blessed we have been lately and how God is confirming this decision. Couple of examples:

I was at Steve's Auto and Truck repair (fantastic place to get your car worked on btw) getting the Subaru looked at and found out that we had a bad wheel bearing. Well long story short, there was a lady in there who was also getting her car fixed, and we struck up a conversation, and when my bill came, she paid for the whole thing. Said she was happy to help a brother in Christ and she also said it was a thank you for serving our country. I tell you it was a great blessing. Saved us a few hundred dollars.

We had a friend of ours invite us to put some of our stuff in a yard-sale he was having. Well we ended up selling almost everything that was in the sale, including Meagan's car, which was fantastic. It's really cool to see how God is working, bringing the right people into our path at the exact moment we need them. One of the reasons that we wanted to share this with everyone is that I have been really stressed with not knowing what is going to happen once we get out to Montana. Remember...no job prospects, no place to live, etc. If you know me personally, you know that I am a planner...I like to have a very good idea of what the outcome is before I travel or enact a plan. So the not knowing is killing me.

On the other hand, I have had some encouraging messages come my way. One of them was: Which takes more faith? Working like crazy to save up as much money as possible before leaving; or is it being like the disciples when Jesus said "follow me", and they laid down their fishing nets (their job), walked away from family and friends, and followed Jesus. I was encouraged when I given this message. If I wasn't sure that this was God's will we wouldn't be doing it, so we are going out there on faith knowing that since this is where God is calling us we will be taken care of.

The other message I got was: Don't worry about the "how". That's a big one for me since I like to plan. This is also a good place to tell everyone the gist of what we feel led to do.

We would like to start a ranch in Montana for wounded veterans, and we would like to pair them up with wounded animals. It would last a few weeks per cycle, and would allow healing for both the veterans and the animals. We would like to be non-profit, which means living on donations, and the start-up costs are in the high six-figure range to the low-to-mid seven figure range.

So the "how" is the biggest factor of all. Lucky for me, my God is bigger than money, Montana, or anything else this crazy world has in store. We know where we are at, and where we feel led to be, but what we don't know is how we're gonna get there, or how long it is going to take. It's all in God's hands. One thing about God that I have come to realize is that while He is never early with His blessings, He is also never late. He is always right on time.

If God is calling you to do something, I would suggest that you listen.

1 John 4:1-6 says,"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God:every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Take your own leap of faith and be ready to witness the Spectacular.

What's going on so far...

Well here is our second post. If you didn't know by now, we don't plan to fill this blog with a bunch of useless day by day stuff...mainly because our day by day is pretty much the same for now. Andrew is still working 50-60 hours per week, Meagan is teaching swim lessons part-time, and Balto is just loving being a dog.

So we are excited to report that we have started packing and are preparing things for a big sell off in April. We have thought about buying a new car (bigger one), but have decided against it because we are trying to be debt free. As of this post, we have paid off almost $2000 worth of credit card debt and are on track to pay off more by the time we leave (hopefully all of it).

As each day passes we find ourselves talking to more and more people about this "escape". We tell them what our plans our, and how we are going about doing it. It's amazing to watch people's reactions. They get this far-away look in their eyes and they tell us how envious they are that we are doing something like this, and that they wish they could do it. Well I'm here to tell you folks, you can do it if you put your mind to it. If it is something that you are passionate about, you will find time to do it. I understand that many people have kids and families that they don't want to uproot, but I ask you, "What are you teaching your kids?". Are you teaching them that it is okay to dream, but not to act upon your dreams? I'm not saying that you should quit your job with thousands of dollars of debt, and move to Bora-Bora or whatever, but you should try to responsibly prepare to follow your dreams (God-centered, debt-free, savings to fall back on, etc). Involve the kids in your dream and definitely be on the same page as your spouse is.

You might be saying, "You don't have kids, you don't know what it is like." I'll say, "You're right, I don't have kids, but listen to our new friends who are doing something similar..."

So let's call them John and Jane. Not their real names of course. I want to protect their identities in case someone they know happen upon this blog.  John works a good job according to other people's standard. He makes decent money and he and his wife have a side business that is starting to earn them some money. Jane is now a stay at home mom. They have 4 kids ranging from young to teenager. When we shared what we are about to do, John told me what he was about to do. Apparently he is unhappy with his job and is not getting fulfillment out of it. He also says he feels that God is calling him and his family to another city. So, with 4 kids and a wife to take care of, he is planning on moving to the new city and live in a RV for 6 months to a year. He is in the process of getting his house ready to sell (to get out from the mortgage) and quitting his job. To save money, they will live in the RV until they can find a new place to live. True story.

Now, to me, that takes a lot of faith and a lot of courage. He is not making a rash decision, but he and his wife and kids are on board with him. They are planning on doing this together and are going to need each other when times get tough. So you can see why we hit it off. Here is another man who is following what he believes and is faithful enough to follow his dream. He knows that a mediocre life is not for him and he wants his family to experience awesome. If you're following God, it can't be anything but awesome.

So back to us. Out west is where we need to be for now. Are we supposed to be there forever? Or just a month? We don't know. What we do know is that either way it is going to be one heck of a story. We are just gonna step out on faith and see where it takes us.

As a side note, we aren't going to be posting every single day. When we do leave though, we will do our best to keep the blog as updated as possible, and hopefully have some great pictures to share with y'all.

Until next time, find your awesome.