Are We Crazy? Probably!!!!

I sit here and I wonder how to start this post. How do you explain to people a crazy idea that is completely, absolutely turning your life upside down and inside out? How do tell people this crazy idea that the Lord has placed on the heart of our family? 

M y name is Kimberly Trautman and my wonderful husband is Carl. He is in the Army Reserves and I am so proud of him. We have 9 children. Eight are here with us on this earth and we have one precious blessing waiting in heaven for us. We homeschool our children and go to a family integrated church. We live your typical American life with a house, two cars, and lots and lots of stuff. That is all about to change for our family.    

I guess a little back story is necessary. When Carl and I got married we always knew that we wanted to eventually end up is some kind of Christian ministry. We talked about it but always said we should wait until we were ready. We wanted to be a little bit more mature in our faith. We wanted to wait until we had kids or the kids were older. There was always some excuse. We have gone through a lot in the 16 years we have been married, some of which we thought disqualified us from Christian ministry. We just never thought we were "there" yet. 

The past year though the Lord has done revolutionary things with our family. I think it all started with  Carl losing his job. Last October he was given notice that he was no longer doing good work, after nine years on the job, and that the company was letting him go. They graciously allowed him to work until Thanksgiving to finish up the projects he was working on. So here we are with eight kids, Christmas just around the corner and no job. The Lord miraculously worked it out that Carl was able to pick up some Army orders that lasted until, get this people, August. He was able to stay local with just a few trips out to California. Talk about the Lord providing. We were so grateful.

As August approached we felt more and more that Carl was not supposed to go back into engineering. We had counseled with Hal and Melanie Young, who attend our church and are the authors of several books, that we should take this time and really seek out what the Lord would have us do next. We prayed about it and this crazy idea started to form in our heads. 

We had been sitting under the teaching of our wonderful elder, Chris Jensen. He is passionate about the gospel and was doing an extensive study of what the gospel really is and how it looks to live it out. We discovered that we were severely lacking in sharing our faith and serving Christ. We were too focused on our stuff and our own lives to share the gospel with anyone. 

The Lord slowly began to work on our hearts and give us an urgency to change some things in our lives. Our desire and passions started to change so that the things of this world began to lose their luster for us and the things of Christ began to shine brightly. It was amazing. We began to realize that there were some things that needed repair in our marriage, with our children and most importantly in our relationship with God.

My husband came to me one day and told me that the Lord had given him a crazy idea. He said that the Lord had given him the idea of selling everything we had and buy a travel trailer and travel full time. Most wives would have thought their husbands has gone of the deep end. I was flabbergasted because the Lord had been showing me the same thing. I am not kidding. When we shared the idea with our kids our second son, William, shared that he had the same idea shown to him. By this time we were looking at each other with open mouths unable to believe that a crazy idea like this was given to three separate family members. None of us had shared our idea with anyone before. We had kept it to ourselves because it was just...crazy. 

This was all just before our family was supposed to go camping. I ended up not going because some of the kids were sick. It was during that time that I found out I was pregnant with number 9. I was so excited to tell everyone. My husband came home from the trip and we celebrated this new life. Shortly after this my husband was to leave for a month for his annual military duty. He would be gone almost 4 weeks. During that time the Lord showed me over and over that this crazy idea was really what he wanted our family to do. He also was working on the heart of my husband. It was a joyous reunion when we picked him up from the airport.

Two days later our world came crashing down. I started bleeding and rushed to the doctor. As I looked at the ultrasound and knew that our little one was no longer on this earth my heart was overcome with grief. I was also amazed at the grace of God to allow this happen when my husband was home and not while he was still in California. I spent the next three weeks going from waiting for God to cause my body to miscarry the baby to pleading with God for a miracle. I spent one week in a deep dark pit of despair barley able to function. The Lord sent women my way to encourage me and uplift me and help me out of the pit. My husband was also my rock during that time.

After three weeks of waiting I finally had a final ultrasound and was flooded with such peace that the Lord was guiding me to have a d and c. I did and was able to start healing. I truly was given a supernatural peace and have been able to share our little ones story already. It was a growing time for all of us. I miss the little one we named Asa but know he is with Jesus.

During this time the idea was put on the back burner but it kept coming to our minds and the Lord kept reaffirming what we were to do. My husband and I went to the beach for my birthday where we finally sat down and decided that we had to tell God YES!!!!!!!! He had been leading us and preparing us for this for years. 

So here is the crazy idea. We have put our house on the market and are liquidating all of our possessions, except for a few things. My wedding dress is being kept along with several things that have sentimental value. We have started looking at travel trailers and will be buying one within the next month. As soon as we get the trailer we will start living in it full time. I still think sometimes that this idea is too cray but I do not want to see my children ever tell God no. Carl and I want our kids to see that there is more to life than the typical American dream. He calls us to share Jesus with those around us and bring him glory. We are going to take a few months to heal some relationships with our kids and our marriage concentrating the most on getting closer to God. We want to glorify God and share his love with those we meet in our travels.

Wow! There is so much more I want to share with you all but my hands hurt, I am hungry, and I need to take a break. More later!!! Stay tuned for updates to this crazy journey we are embarking on.