10 Reasons You Should Live in an RV

10. It is Cheaper
Our rent, cable, internet, water, sewer, electricity~ all of it added together costs little more than some of our electricity bills in our home. You can't really beat that.

Proverbs 12:9
Better to be lowly and have a servant then to play the great man and lack bread.

9. We Can Take Our Home on Vacation
We can just throw the Rubbermaids that are under the trailer inside, pull the slide in, hook-up to the van, and go. Anywhere. I don't even have to find a pet sitter. There are RV parks everywhere and they cost a fraction of a hotel stay. We don't have to eat out, remember to pack our toothbrushes, or worry about forgetting a te-te (baby blanket) in a hotel bed. We haven't tried this out yet, but as soon as the Navy finally pays us (they still haven't paid us for our move) we plan on giving it a whirl.

8. Refined Appreciation for Daily Tasks
Like the dishes. ~Think back to the good old days when you (your grandma) had to fetch water. Since I am not using gas, we have no hot water. When I do the dishes, I have to first heat water in my little 4 cup coffee pot. I actually have to stand there and wait for 2 or 3 pots to have enough hot water to do the dishes for my 7 member family. This is really hard for me, aren't there a million more important things I could be doing? I have never been fond of dishes. In fact, when we first got married, I made a deal with Mr. Pilot that I'd do the laundry if he'd do the dishes. He has kept up his part until the children were old enough to take over. Since we have been in the trailer I have been doing the dishes and using my Grandmother as my strength. This past Christmas I had the pleasure of watching her do the dishes. I love watching her aged, work-weathered hands plunge into the mucky water swirling with yucky food droppings from several plates of the just finished, hearty, farm cooked meal. For my entire 28 years of life my grandmother has stood at that same sink for countless hours, doing who knows how many dishes for family and friends. I wonder how often many of them~ how I~ took for granted for the sacrifice she has made, standing there, never grumbling or complaining about the time spent when the counter was filled with the dishes and drippings of the 30+ person Thanksgiving meal. As I watched her, my heart flooded with appreciation, and with the conviction. I didn't even cook dinner for my family regularly, let alone do the dishes daily. I won't even mention the without grumbling part... I had a hard time coming up with a few meals a week. As I imagined three home cooked meals AND dishes each day, for 28 years, or 48, or 62, I stood in admiration and wonder... I vowed then and there to learn to cook for my family. And now I am doing the dishes too. Without grumbling.

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.

7. Focus on Family, Not Self
There aren't 10 piles of laundry calling my name. There aren't 50 toys piled up on the floor, so many that each child can't even see the other children through his own pile. There is no TV or XBOX. We have to play with each other.

Malachi 4:6
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

Titus 2:4
That they may teach the young women to love their husbands and children.

6. Get Familiar with Regularity
not just the poop- although, we are getting familiar with that too, since we have to dump the tanks and all. We are able to keep a much closer eye on everything that goes on here. An unresolved spat doesn't slip by unnoticed. If someone doesn't put their toy exactly where it goes, everyone knows it. If something is wrong, it doesn't take long to be righted. Everyone's habits, needs, likes, dislikes, desires, talents, weaknesses, all of it, it is all out in the open. This is a good thing.

Proverbs 31:27a
She looks well to the ways of her household.

Proverbs 28:13a
Whoever conceals his sins will not prosper.

1 Timothy 3:4
He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

5. No Longer Slaves to Stuff
There aren't 10 piles of laundry calling my name, there aren't 50 toys piled on the floor, there is no 50" TV ~ hmmmm. There isn't room for this stuff. Without it, I don't have to clean it, organize it, and re-organize it. We aren't so wrapped up in our stuff that we can't see what the heck we are doing here. Materialism is raging in America, and in our home. Last night we watched a home-video from Christmas morning 2 years ago. We must have spent several hundred dollars. Maybe even a few thousand. I probably wasted weeks worrying about what we'd give the children, stressing about the perfect gifts for my hubby. Making sure they'd be pleased. Gift after gift we opened. I even opened gifts from myself. As we were watching this typical Christmas video, Mr. Pilot and I looked at each other and gasped. Where is all that stuff? What were we thinking? We don't have a single thing to show for any of it. Rubbish, all of it. I don't think this is particular to our family, I am pretty sure this is common in America.

Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money or possessions).

Luke 12:15
Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

4. Reduce Cleaning Time
Without all the stuff that we are no longer slaves to, it only takes 10 minutes. From top to bottom. Dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed. Nook, cranny, and all. Have you ever said the phrase "time just flies by" or "where did the time go?" Well, my dad told me that it only gets worse each year. I don't want to look back at my life and see that I wasted precious years that I could have been enjoying my children and husband on cleaning, organizing, and re-organizing my stuff. We all have the same 24 hours per day. I will never again shoo away one of my children because I have too much cleaning to do.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Ephesians 5:16
make the best use of time, because the days are evil.

3. The Simple Life
Tired of the rat-race whirlwind, running from this sporting even to that meeting, from this errand to that appointment? You are missing out on the sweetness of Life! Always rushing makes people sick, literally! Filled up calendars don't allow for noticing the lizard on the tree or for watching the mama duck make her nest You don’t have time to look up and see the sparkle in your little one's eye. How can you be in love with someone when you don't spend anymore time with them than what it takes to spout off the current days' tasks and the new chore list for tomorrow?

2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

2. It's Cheaper
My husband thought it was worthy of being mentioned twice. With the extra money we save and the way my husband rocks the budget, we are going to be out of debt completely (not counting our mortgage) in less than a year. Our goal is to live in this RV for a year but, as we drive around Mississippi and admire the amazing farm houses we realize that if we lived in an RV until Mr. Pilot retired, we could pay cash for our dream house. I am not saying that is what we are going to do, so don't start spreading any rumors that I have gone off the deep-end and become a crazy trailer hermit. But I am just saying... I definitely don't want to move back into a house until I have reached the place that I won't go buying stuff to fill in all the empty space I'd have.

Matthew 19:24
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

1. Loving God- and Family
With all of that other stuff out of the way, you are freed up to Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and soul. When you do that, you automatically fall in line with loving your family. I am not taking about, "yeah, you are my mom, I love you" kind of love. I am talking about, "I enjoy being in your presence, you make me smile, I'll give you the bigger half of the cookie and let it roll off when you hurt my feelings" type of love. Genuine love, not only will I die for you type of love, but I will live for you love.

Matthew 22:37-39
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.