Well, I did it, I read all this posts in this topic.
My name is Sam and I am 42 years old. I am the oldest of 6 kids. I was raised in a quiet, sincere, loving, and Christian home where I was homeschooled with my siblings by my mom. My dad was a truck driver and was gone a lot. I was born and raised in Waynesville, NC and lived there for 13 years until moving to a house in Canton, NC about 15 minutes away. I became a rebellious brat at the age of 16 and was kicked out and brought back a few times before I committed to being on my own at 18. In spite of some homelessness I still managed to stay out of the weather by staying with my brother, friends, or my car.
At the age of 21 and a bunch of dead end jobs I saw two planes take down two buildings in New York on 9/11. I wasn't going to stand by and tolerate an attack against our sovereignty and people so I joined the Army. I went in May 1, 2003 and was made a truck driver (88M). I went through Basic and AIT in Fort Leonard Wood, MO and after graduation was sent to Coleman Barracks in Mannheim, Germany. I was stationed there running missions from Frankfurt for two years until I was deployed with my company to Bagram, Afghanistan (what a dump). I didn't die so I went back to Germany with my company and stayed for another year. I was PCS'd to Fort Sill, OK and was stationed there for the duration of my enlistment (7 years total).
I made it to the rank of Sergeant in 4 years but lost motivation to pursue any higher rank. While in the Sandbox (Afghanistan) I was injured and after discharge in June, 2010 I began filing all of my paperwork and records of my injuries and finally was given the rating of 100% Permanent & Total Disability as per VA standards. In October of 2010 I met my wife and her 5 kids. 4 months after my discharge from the Army as a bachelor I became a husband and dad to 5 kids. I learned a lot about a lot in a few short years.
In the 10 years we have been married we have lived in NC, TN, NE, and AL. Four different places in TN (which included a farm with house and an adjoining property and house we owned), two different places in NE.
I decided to pursue a degree of some sort so from our house in TN I moved the family - my wife, 5 kids, and 4 horses 1200 miles away to NE and we didn't know anyone there. I started school at Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture for an AS in Agriculture Production Systems (farming for the big boys). That turned out to be a headache and I withdrew and started online with Capella University for a BS in General Psychology. I got tired of the secular slant with that school and transferred to Liberty University Online.
Being that the whole point of moving to NE was now null we decided to go back to TN to visit and see what we could find to move back to and while we were there one of our twin girls was diagnosed with kidney cancer (Bilateral Wilms Tumors) at 3 1/2 years old. She went on study and with lots of prayer, 10 rounds of chemo, Quail eggs, and great doctors she was declared in remission. Praise God!
Well, we decided to buy a farm in TN and we had animals, huge house, pool, boat, RV, 1/3 acre garden, massive barn, rental house, etc. All of it just vanity, vanity and vexation of spirit. We decided to sell the houses and move back to NE because the boys were into rodeo and the opportunities are better out West. So we moved 5 kids, two of them married with kids, a boat, a horse trailer with 4 horses, and two of the biggest trucks Penske had to move back 1,200 miles away. Hell started!
We got settled in and nothing went according to plan and I mean nothing. We couldn't get along with each other and had falling outs that persist to this day. We opened a steakhouse/saloon and that made things worse. It was absolute Hell. Finally, after just 10 months my wife and I had had enough and were barely even still married ourselves. We sold what we could, put everything else in storage, bought another RV and hit the road. Just me, her, and our twin girls who were 10 at the time. LESS IS MORE. Write that down and post it on your fridge or forehead - something where you can see it all the time. Forget waiting until 65 to live or buying a bunch of junk on credit. Less is more!
We travelled via camper from NE and covered all of the West, travelled across TX to AL on our way to FL to winter there until God directed us to what was next. Well, we live in AL now and LOVE our life here. No drama, no violence, no customers, just us and God. Ahhhhhhh........ BUT, this is a result and not a goal. God brought us to this point because we were ready for it in His eyes and we wait for the next chapter now.