JANUARY UPDATE & PROGRESS REPORT

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie, 1/22/23

I figured it was time for an update since many of you have been asking what we’ve been up to and when we plan on heading out West! So here it goes…

Part 2 of our Trip:

As I mentioned in our last blog, I had pushed back our departure date from Jan. 8th to Feb. 1st all the while knowing that our main priority is to be with Great Gram through the end. Since we are only 2 weeks away from Feb. 1st and Great Gram is still here with us (thankfully), I cancelled the campground reservations for the first week in February and will continue to do so taking it one week at a time. We are so happy to get this extra time with Great Gram, and our flexible schedules are allowing us to see her at least every 2 days which is such a blessing to her and to us! Jaycie and Great Gram were able to have a watercolor painting session together. Such sweet memories!

There was even one evening she felt like taking us out to eat... so we happily obliged!

Here’s some more photos from some of our recent visits with her:

We do plan on making up the destinations of the trip we’ve cancelled and are tentatively thinking we’ll do so during the summer of 2024. We certainly don’t want to miss out on what Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, & New Mexico have to offer!

I’m happy to report that all the necessary repairs & maintenance work on both the RV & Jason’s truck have been completed. Jason decided to go with new wheels which have a wider base allowing him more stability when hauling the RV, especially in strong cross winds which I’m sure we’ll encounter while traveling in the West. And he matched the wheel color to his truck’s color which I think looks really nice.

In addition, I have begun taking inventory and re-stocking the things we’ll need for the next 6 months. I should have all that completed by the end of this week. Our bedding & towels have all been washed & restocked. And I already have the “short list” of things to pack for when we’re gearing up to go. I would say by the end of the week we’ll be at the point where we can be ready to pull out within a matter of 3-4 days (when that time comes).

Homeschooling vs Roadschooling:

While we’re in limbo we’ve decided to focus on homeschooling and have added in curriculum for Science & History since we aren’t currently learning that from our road trip field trips. We’re also using this time to do extra work to make sure the kids are caught up with their Owasso Preparatory Academy (OPA) classmates! The kids aren’t too fond of the extra work, and frankly neither am I, but we all know it will pay off in the long run! Times like this make me REALLY appreciate OPA’s “university model” of schooling which allows the parents to “co-teach” with the in-classroom teacher. I’m quickly realizing homeschooling as the sole teacher is a LOT of work! By the time I get through that day’s lessons, grade their assignments/tests, and lesson plan for the next day I am spent! But we are extremely grateful for the flexibility we have during this season.

Jett was invited by his 4th grade OPA teachers from last year to come give a presentation on the Northeastern states to their 4th grade classes. He helped me pick out photos to share via power point slideshow which turned out to be 75 slides long! And the crazy thing is that we left out SO MUCH! It was mind-blowing to see just how much we crammed in during our time in the Northeast region. We all enjoyed practicing the presentation together because we were able to relive our journey! Last Thursday was the presentation and we used up all 45 minutes of our allotted time! I was so proud of Jett. He was in full charge and spoke about 80% of the presentation by himself.

He felt very comfortable and confident in front of his peers and really seemed to enjoy himself. And the 4th grade classes were very engaged and asked good questions! It was an extremely fun and educational experience. Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mrs. Brock & Mrs. Hadley!

Another fun thing we did for school was celebrate MLK Jr. Day with our cousins! We started off that Monday going through a lesson with Aunt Ellie. Jaycie was sure to add in some things we learned from MLK Jr.’s Memorial in Washington D.C. and MLK Jr. National Hist. Park in Atlanta, GA. Then each kid stood at the podium and shared their favorite MLK Jr. quote with the group.

Jett also shared his watercolor painting he did of MLK Jr. (at Great Gram’s) which I thought was excellent!

We then watched his famous “I have a Dream” speech and headed out to go watch Tulsa’s MLK Jr. Parade. The parade was very enjoyable and fun to see all the creative floats!

After the parade, we enjoyed Hideaway Pizza together.

Overall, it was a super fun and educational day with our sweet cousins!

Just for Fun:

OPA has graciously allowed Jett & Jason to join in on this year’s Basketball season! Jett is playing on OPA’s 5th grad team alongside his friends/teammates from the past 2 years. And Jason is able to coach practices during the week and games on Saturdays.

Even though there’s a chance we won’t be able to finish out the season, they are really enjoying the time they are able to participate! And its fun for family to come to the games and watch him play.

And bonus! It allows sister some much needed hang out time during the games with some of her school friends!

Our family enjoys quality family puzzle time (especially in the winter) and with our recent nomadic lifestyle, we weren’t able to do any puzzles. So, we cleared off the dining room table and enjoyed putting together a US shaped 1,000 piece puzzle we received as a Christmas gift. It took us about 2.5 weeks and was quite challenging considering there were no straight edge pieces. Here’s the finished product:

And lastly, I was able to clear off the RV refrigerator and transferred my magnet collection from the Eastern half to our Storm shelter in our Garage game room.

The RV refrigerator is now clean and ready for our upcoming adventures out West! I will continue to keep you all posted as we get closer to departing. Until then, please keep us all in your prayers as we are rallying around Great Gram and soaking up these moments with her.