House building

Twenty-five  years ago we built a house for us in Flagstaff Arizona.
We purchased 5 acres,
put in a well and septic,
looked at logs
and built a dream house.

It looked at the peaks and
had four bedrooms- two with walk out porches.
The house was lovely.
We built it three years before we moved into it.
Most of the work was done while we were
living in Hong Kong.
A sole contractor took it on. He was a blessing.

My parents thought that we were insane.
Maybe we were.
Purchased rugs the size of rooms.
Amazing house.

We traveled "home" to "retire" after the bombing in Saudi.
Our children settled into school.
We spent about the same amount of time with my family
as we did when we lived 2500 miles away.
But the house was magnificent.

Property taxes, electricity, staining logs and decks,
water and country roads all became issues
in the ten years that we were there.
There was also the problem of meaningful underemployment.

And so we sold and moved to better employment
.
Ironically, the TV show Sister Wives
just bought land about a block from this house
which would have made it insane.

We moved to Kansas- great employment, nice people, house was too big.
Then to Delaware- closer to grands, great house, GREEN!
But now a four year plan is moving into place.

Moving- what does that mean?

Our house is the place we live,

Our home is where we are.

We moved to the East to be close to our children 

as they had children.

The families are complete and they are growing.

In four years all of these people will be in school.

Yes, children need grandparents when they are in school,

but the need is less pressing 

and more vacation time planted.

We live too far away to be of use for occasional care.

Funny that a fellow blogging friend 

just posted on it being rather selfish to move.

People come to depend on you.

Hummmm. 

Last year we began to search.

My husband has put up with so many of my schemes.

He just wants to die in the West. 

The East is beautiful in its own way, but the attitude is different.

We are holding on, but if I see one more chicken house put up near a water source

AGGGG! 

The care for the land is SO different.

Last year we headed West to look for land-

lots of land

wide open land.

Wyoming is beautiful

It is really remote.

The place my husband is interested in

has billionaires 

and Reservation poverty.

I just cannot do that again.

We also agreed that at 75 he would not be able to care for 100 acres.

Whew. 

This September we are headed for Idaho. Small town Idaho

My husband grew up in Idaho Falls.

It has grown too large for him

We will be looking a bit north of there.

A four year plan has commenced.

We will buy land this year

build an outbuilding next year

and a house the year after.

We will spend the winter there the fourth year

(yes, I know, people LEAVE Idaho in the winter)

and move entirely the year my son's family moves out of the area here. 

Everyone will be in school.

The West has always been home in our hearts.

I guess we are, finally, going home.

Do you have a number in mind?

Since 1996 I have kept Composition books on our savings/debt/budget. 

Our debit was much higher then our income.

We had two to put through college and weddings.

We both were at work and stuffed every extra penny into savings and debt.

Yes, we gave them a budget and let them roll with it- how they wished. 

In 2005 we arrested all of our debt, so it became our savings/ budget book.

By 2007 both kids were on their own paths. 

Savings were rolling for retirement. 

In 2014 I gave up on budgeting,

 having a basic idea of what we spent on what things,

giving each of those things a virtual or real "envelope"

and have lived that way.

The Composition Book became all about our savings.

In 2015 I developed "a number".

It is also the year we retired.

We also had taken our money out of the market

 and put it on the sideline about three years before. 

The number I came up with was using the base of 

"what is needed for the rest of your life" medical number

 that is often bandied around.  

At that point it was about  $250,000 for a couple.  

It has moved to $280,000.

BTW- our health care is relatively low in cost.

Thank goodness my husband stuck with the military. 

Then I had to figure that my income 

would drop a great deal if my husband passed before me.

The base had to get bigger.

I doubled the base.

For some reason, I just cannot get to that number. 

We are close, but not there. 

In fact, we have been just about even for about four years. 

We do save, a great deal, but we spend as well.

Our money is back in the market- as well as laddered CDs.

Even. Great trips, but even.

My thoughts are that, at this point, 

we need to be enjoying our income and interest.

At 61&68, there might not be a whole lot of years to just play.

Really, what are we saving for.

We already know we will never afford Tesla retirement communities.

That is OK. 

What do you think?

Even, save more, spend it all and hope for the best in the end?

The top of the bucket list.

We did it.

Church of the Nativity

Warning to travelers

Vat for Jesus wine in Cana

Thursday Market

Temple Mount/ Dome of the Rock

Jerusalem from Mount of Olives

Western Wall

Holy Sepulchre

Mosaic of Nailing to the Cross

Masada

Our tour group

Red Sea- in Jordan (looking at Egypt/Saudi/ Israel)

Petra
It wasn't an easy trip.
We went with a group.
The spell is broken.
Travel is now back on the table.
Where next?

Travel

My husband had spent there years as a Special Forces Medic during Vietnam.

He got out and worked every other semester to make his way through university.
Nine years later he rejoined the Army as an adjutant.
We met in Germany.
I was a teacher in the DoDDS school system.

For the next sixteen years we lived in three countries: Hong Kong, Germany and Saudi. We also lived in six different states: Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, California, Hawaii and Arizona.

We both LOVED to travel and we paid for it through me teaching everyplace we lived.
We lived with "Big Blue" always packed. Handles, rollers on the long bottom. 70 lbs.


By the time he retired, we had traveled to many different countries and states.

Our last "tour" we were not in a good spot.
We returned to my home area of Arizona and dug in.

My career restarted and travel was a big part of that.
My job took me into 700 schools in 49 states. Whirl wind for sure.
He stayed home. Kids grew up. Parents passed away.

The journey took us out of Arizona, back to Kansas.
He went back to work in notifications (it was a war) and I went back to the classroom.
Big blue was permanently unpacked.

Then our oldest married, had children and moved, East.
Our youngest joined the Army. We gave him Big Blue.
Three years ago we moved here.

Long story short. We have not been out of the US, in any way, for twenty something years.

When we decided that we had to get past our PTSD, we had to wait for:
 the "kids" to settle,
Safety in the country's foreign policy,
and a place we both really wanted to go.

Leaving on a jet plane.

We have been prepping for our #1 bucket list destination for the last year.

My husband has rented movies,
and shared news articles.

I have read numerous books and
studied every aspect of some of the places.

We chose a tour.
It has been a long time.
This group does not do dinner, and arrives at lunch places.
so we researched places to eat along the way.

You have read about me packing and repacking.

It has been over twenty years since we traveled out of country.
To put that in perspective.
In the last five years of my husbands service
we traveled to twenty countries for
periods of time from two weeks to two years.

My PTSD snuck in a number of times when packing.
Hey, don't you choose between a set of shoes
and a first aide kit?
And everyone has one piece of their bag that they can pull and
be OK with for at least ten days
right?

My sister is here. My husband's brother will meet us there.

Traveling BACK to the Middle East
after how we left
is going to be exciting,
thrilling, enlightening and
hopefully
healing.

Learn some Hebrew!
Shalom!

Ready?

Obsession can be a very bad thing.
Finding yourself awake at 3 am,
wondering if everything will go smoothly,
not the best thing for trying to change time zones.

Will I remember anything that I have read
or learned
in the last six months?

Then I relax at Mass
hearing the worship and praise
from the lips of those around me.
The Gospel proclaimed about the desert.
Telling myself to just soak it in.
Hoping to be able to put so much in context in the future.

Lately I have been thinking of Jesus' age when He traveled
in the areas we will see.
He was younger then either of our own children
when He gave up His life for me
 and you
and anyone who chooses to have their sins atoned for.

I mean, He was a kid.
He couch (mat) surfed at Peter's house.
He walked the road from Egypt to Damascus-
along the lake
along the river
in sandals.
I can hear Mary now,
"Jesus, you really should keep your feet clean.
People will listen to a Rabbi with clean feet."
Or Peter's wife,
"OK Jesus, you can unroll the mat over there
and the baby will probably cuddle up with you
while you sleep."

Thinking of Him, Humanity running into the Godhead.
My faith has always been a part of my life
The journey has not always been clear
I have no expectation
and yet