Our Nomadic Homestead:
I went from growing up in the same house until I was 14, when we moved into my mom’s dream house, to moving 20 times in my adult life! 9 times as a single adult, and 11 times with my family. No matter what our current situation is, I can not shake my rooted childhood!
When we started our Navy journey, a sweet woman gave me the advice to make every house a home, no matter how short of time we would live there. Those words landed on ears with a passion for creating beautiful, cozy homes, and she did not need to tell me twice! Thankfully, I married a man who values my heart for the atmosphere of our home and works to make every single home (even the ones we only lived in for less than a year) into a place where creativity and beauty can flourish. As I’m typing this, he is sanding all the black paint off of the concrete counters and refinishing them in our latest rental so that I can knead bread on them! God bless my sweet Charlie Campbell!
Stable Beginnings
I’m from a town of 938 people, and grew up with incredible freedom that is only to be found in rural or small town living. I spent my summers waking up at the crack of dawn to ride my bike all over creation before my dad could see me wasting daylight and find something constructive for me to do. His solutions for my leisure time were always somewhere along the lines of pulling massive tree-sized weeds on our small acre, or washing windows in our greasy mechanic shop! There was endless work to be done between maintaining our property, helping with odd jobs at the shop (ie: sorting bolts that we received by the crate that were not organized in the slightest!) and working in our garden.
I had the luxury of living a two minute walk away from my German, Depression-Era grandma, and learned so much from that precious matriarch. As I have gotten older, I see how so much of what I do was influenced by her. I learned a lot about food preservation, cooking, crocheting, making do, salvaging what others deem as trash, and gardening. She showed me how it looks to be the most honorable steward of all that God has given, and to truly live life in service of God and others. I still have so much growing to do in all of those areas, but I’m so thankful for the beautiful example I had! This first picture is of the Good News Club my mom always hosted. I remember laying the brick with her for that patio!
Giving Kids Grit
Even though we move so often and live in an era of play dates and video games, we strive as much as possible to grow our kids with the grit that comes from contributing to the well-being of the family. Sometimes, when all we have is a tiny back patio, it is harder than others to bring the goal of our nomadic homestead into fruition. Whenever we have the chance, we build gardens, raise animals, and have all kinds of projects going so our kids have ample opportunities to help.
For Richer, For Poorer
We have had times of plenty and times of being near destitute. In 2017, we had the unusual displeasure of being sued for my (one and only!) yelp review. We won, but who actually wins besides the lawyers when it costs so much to fight the battle? That all happened right after we had gutted our (inflated) fixer-upper in Maryland. We had to live with exposed wires, half exposed sub floors, and all around raw, UGLY state. With all of our spare money going to the lawyer, we lived in that condition for far too long. You know it didn’t stop me from hanging pictures on the wall and creating cozy spaces wherever I could!
In the middle of all of that, our three year old had a tragic accident where an unanchored fridge fell on top of her. Praise God, the only thing we lost that day was the tips of two of her fingers. My 6 month old at the time was crawling right next to her when it happened. We could have lost soo much more that day, so I am forever praising God for the plans he has for their lives that caused Him to protect them that day.
Rich Childhood
In spite of those 3 years in Maryland being the hardest that we have endured, those are our kids’ favorite years! Isn’t that how it goes? It was so much more work for them than any other place they’ve lived. Young as they were, that’s when we had the closest thing we’ve had to a farm. Chickens, ducks and goats required constant care. We built a barn, had our biggest garden and required their help every step of the way. Those years solidified our homestead dreams. We are doing all that we can to prepare for the day when we finally get to eat raspberries that take 3 years to fruit. No longer will we put off planting asparagus that takes 7 years to grow! We are eagerly anticipating all that life will be once we are firmly rooted in our forever home!
Join Us
It’s my joy to share the things that I’ve learned. I’m taking you back to the skills I gleaned from my frugal grandma. I let you in on the compulsion I have to make all things beautiful. And I share the new skills I’m learning every day. My goal is to spread the joy that comes from living a life whole-heartedly. We are not sheep being funneled through a system. We are intentionally giving God the glory due His name by being a people of purpose and action! (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
Thanks to my sister setting me down long before I had a glimmer in my eye for babies, I had all four babies at home. We have had 9 sweet years of homeschooling so far, and praise God that, aside from the accident, I’ve been able to treat every single one of their illnesses at home. (Spoiler alert: my remedies for illnesses are NOT essential oils! I do like those for other purposes, but I have found cheap, whole foods to be far more effective.) I’m here to pass all of it on to you and, in doing so, hopefully help you glorify God and enjoy Him in all that you do. Subscribe to my bi-monthly email so you don’t miss anything from Our Nomadic Homestead!
So glad you’re here!
