"Travelin' light, is the only way to fly, yeah travelin' light, just you and I"

Great news on the traveling family front...... David and I bought our truck last night. We bought a Ford F250. I am so excited. We have been looking ever since we made the decision to get rid of everything and travel. We finally found the perfect truck. So now we are on to phase 2: finding a camper. We are looking for a 5th wheel. Hopefully thus won't take as long. I am so ready for this next adventure to happen I can't stand it!! I think mostly I am ready to continue on my path of soul searching, and figuring out what is in store for my family. I'm ready to drown myself with nature, peacefulness, and ridding myself of distractions. So, needless to say we are excited that we have one phase down, and on to the next. Until next time. Peace.

Letting Go

Wesley takes about an hour and a half nap every morning around ten thirty, eleven o clock. I decided about a month ago that I was claming that time as mine. I have chosen to not do anything house related, mommy related, or wife related during that time. Out of 24 hours a day, I think I can have about an hour to do whatever I want. I think that as a mom, wife, housekeeper, bill writer, accountant, etc. that every woman needs time to themselves every day. Now i know that moms with multiple kids it gets tricky, but hopefully you guys can find maybe 10 minutes to just stop and breathe. Anyways, while I have he opportunity for an hour, I am taking it! So during that time I take a shower, get ready, and I meditate for 30 minutes. A lot of people disagree with meditating. When I meditate, I don't pray to gods or anything, basically I clear my mind. I don't think about bills, appointments, agendas, or anything else going on in my life. I release my stress for those 30 minutes. I let go. It takes a lot of practice. I still sometimes will find myself thinking about something, and I have to tell myself to just breathe and let go. I love it! It really helps put things I to perspective. I have really bad anxiety. I have panic attacks a lot, I have found that by meditating it really helps me with my worry. So I challenge all my fellow moms to try and take some time out of every day for yourselves. Whether it is 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour. Take that time and just breathe. It's good for the soul. Peace.

A little Soul Cleansing

As I mentioned before, David, Wesley, and I went home for Thanksgiving and finally moved out of our house in Effingham. We decided that instead of selling all of our things, that we would donate them to Goodwill instead. So, we rented a Uhaul and packed up our house. It is such a cleansing experience for the soul, and so freeing when you go through your house and throw away junk that you kept, because "I might need this one day" and donating clothes that fit you when you were like 12. I was so humbled and ashamed in myself when I saw all the bags of shoes, clothes, toys, pots, pans, and other things we gave away. Americans as a society think that we need the newest and latest "thing" to make us happy. We get caught up in the latest trends and fads, and lose sight of what is really important. I mean I worked as a fashion consultant and buyer for a high end clothing store. Believe me I was DEFINATELY caught up in all the hype. Anyways, the only things that we didn't donate were a few antique pieces, that were handed down from my mom, and Wesleys baby furniture, swing, and exersaucer. Hopefully there will be a new Willingham bambino in the near future. After we dropped everything off at Goodwill, David and I could fit all of our clothes in one lawn trash bag, Wesleys clothes and toys in a suitcase, and all of our earthly possessions in the smallest storage room they had. I know this lifestyle isn't for everyone, and we probably won't live this way forever, but right now it fits, and I am loving every minute of it. It feels good to strip yourself down to the necessities and find peace in other areas of life. I am so excites about our journey and I can't wait to share our life experiences with you. Peace!!

My Thanksgiving lesson

This Thanksgiving was a thanksgiving I will never forget. Wednesday when David, Wesley, and I were packing to go back to South Carolina to visit my family, I told him that I had a weird feeling about this thanksgiving. He told me that everything would be fine, and that I was probably stressed because we were finally moving our furniture out of our house. Well, we were really donating all of our furniture, most of our clothes, and a ton of other things. Anyways, I just had a weird feeling. If I only knew what was coming. So we started the drive home, and we hit the traffic. It was bumper to number for miles and miles. What was supposed to be a 3 hour drive turned into a 5 and a half hour drive. Wesley did really well until the last 45 minutes, but who can blame him? We did purchase some awesome cowboy boots for him before we left. They are the most awesome boots I have ever seen. (I would post pics, but I am currently blogging from my phone bc my laptop died. Santa I really need a new one!) once we made it home we crashed for the night. So thanksgiving day we all wake up and cuddle in the bed and get ready to go to my moms. We arrive, my brother and his family arrives, and for the first hour everything is great. Then the war breaks out. Without getting into to much detail bc it's personal, I have never been so blindsided by meanness ever. Needless to say my intuition came true. David, Wesley, and I left my parents early and had thanksgiving lunch at Golden Corral. Now before you feel sorry for me, let me tell you the awesome lesson I learned. At first when all this went down at my parents, I was upset. But I realized I am no longer the person that I was even a year ago. By the grace of God I am changed. I am a mother, and a wife, I am no longer the selfish, rebellious, brat that I used to be. Thank God for that. I also learned that my family is now my amazing husband and my beautiful son. It doesn't matter where I live, or where I eat my Thanksgiving meal, I am with my family and that is all that matters. My husband and son love me for who I am, and they think that I am the best wife and mother ever. And you know what? That is good enough for me. So what started out to be a crazy thanksgiving turned out to be one of the best thanksgivings. I learned a valuable lesson that I will take with me forever. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, and ate way to much turkey! Peace!

The Willingham's Lately

So it has been awhile since I last blogged. I have decided since David and I have made a serious life change, that I will start blogging about our adventures. What is this life change you ask? Well, we have decided to sell pretty much all of our earthly belongings, and travel around the US with David's job. He is a pipe welder and has this amazing opportunity to travel all over the country. We both love traveling, and since W is little, we thought why not? So I am going to revamp my blog, and blog about all of our adventures that we encounter. I guess you could call us your modern day vagabond. Also, I want to share with you guys our granola way of parenting. What is granola parenting? Well, basically, David and I cosleep, babywear, and cloth diaper Wesley. We dont babywear as much anymore because Wesley can walk, but when his little legs get tired, we babywear. So, this blog is my way of keeping my family and friends up to date, and anyone else who cares to read. Peace.

My Adventure in homemade baby food.

I decided along time ago that I was going to make Welsey's baby food. I figured it would be healthier, cheaper, and I love a challenge! So, a couple of weeks ago, when he was about 5 and a half months I started my adventure. Before I started, I did a lot of reading. After all, I definately didn't want to feed him something his little tummy couldn't handle, feed him too much, and mainly, just poison the poor guy. I found that wholesomebabyfood.com, for me, was the best website. I also asked several of my friends who made their babies' food some pointers as well. (Thanks Karen Bryant and Elizabeth Robinson!) So I went to the store with my list in hand ready to embark on my journey! I decided that I was going to make brown rice cereal, apples, bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes first. (FYI - Do one at a time to make sure they aren't allergic.) I also decided that everything I was going to make for him would be organic as well. It is a little more expensive, but you still save SO much more in the long run. I mean one carrot is like 2 days worth of food at first. I was scared when I first started making his food, but you know what? It is incredibly easy. It eases my mind knowing what is in his baby food. There are no preservatives, dyes, or crazy ingredients in it that I need to be worried about. I wasn't able to nurse Wesley as long as I had planned, so making his food makes me feel less guilty. So, so far my adventure is going ok. I'll keep you updated as he starts to eat more challenging things!

Hold on to every minute and everyone, because you never know what tomorrow holds

What is going on? So much heartache is surounding our Florence community. With in a matter of days, a girl from Florence went missing in NC, and a great guy was murdered! I didn't have the privilege of knowing Kristy, but from what I hear she is an amazing girl. I did have the privilege of knowing Chris Deaver. He was an amazing guy who smiled all the time, was kind, funny, loving, a great father to his little girl, and a talented musician. He was murdered in vain by a 17 year old punk for absolutely nothing. My heart aches so much for his family, as well as, Kristy's family. To all of my friends who were closer to Kristy and Chris than I was, I am praying for you and love you, and just know that with time you will be able to smile again.