So… if you are a High School friend of Amy’s and in Portland this week, drop her a line!  She is in town.  If you happen to be in Mexico, come on by the build site and pound a nail or make a sandwich. (less likely, yes, but believe it or not, we do have a woman “coming by” in Mexico that just HAPPENED to read about the builds, contact us, and volunteer!)

Upon our return to Boise, we will be spending around two weeks helping my mom transition from the Elks Rehabilitation Hospital back to home.  Then we’ll load the RV and see where God takes us!  (Thank you to those who are taking a role in helping make my mother’s transition happen- from meals to overnight stays to visits to phone calls- while we are out of town!)  She is continuing to recover well from spinal surgery, and is expected at this point to regain all functions that she lost prior to the surgery.  Praise God!

Blessings – From the road once again!

The Houcks

Since January 30th, we've…

• crossed the 11,000 mile mark for total mileage
  
• stopped counting the RV toilet paper rolls
• made it back to Boise for a quick visit
• shared at Life Church Boise
• completed 2 or 3 more chapters on the book
• replaced the starter on the Big Bouncin' Roo
• helped register over 25 people for Catalyst West
• Raised 6 carts full of groceries for the Orange County Rescue Mission during Chad's birthday food drive (see photo)
• watched a semi burn to the ground so to speak on I-15
• successfully connected our website to TOMS Shoes shopping
• met many new great friends
• began a relationship with UthBuild, building homes with teens in Mexico to help the homeless
• got in a debate with zealous street corner preachers at ASU (Tempe, AZ)
• fed the hungry
• Still never gone hungry
• provided rain ponchos for homeless people
• taught for adults, teens, young adults & college students at various venues
• are acting as camp speakers in Mexico
• seen both Emily and Dillon take their training wheels off their bikes (hey… thats what happens when you live in parking lots.  They get to ride alot!)

All of these great things happen thanks to your prayers and your faithful monthly support.  If you are not already a monthly supporter, would you partner with us on a monthly basis?

What do you get when you mix 6 loads of laundry, a flying stuffed chicken, two energetic kids, a masked monkey with stretchy arms, and a rainy day?  A GREAT TIME!  (or a really bad joke…)  Well, that was today.  We just got done loading the washers at the Coin-op in Temecula and I returned to the RV to drop off the soap when I saw my camera and an idea struck… I would sneak back into the Laundromat and fly these two little projectile stuffed animals at the kids while filming it all for posterity!  (Cue mission impossible music)

The video shows that my imagination may have created the scene more dramatic than reality, but none-the-less, it was funny.  So that covers the laundry and the chicken, but what does this have to do with Costco you ask???

Well, that’s where we came to adopt our new flying mascots; the masked monkey and the rubber necked chicken.  But first, the video!
 

Attack of the Flying Chicken from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

We had just finished a stop at Costco for water and a pizza, and we
were hanging out in the far corner of the parking lot where we were
parked playing with the kids.  A car pulled up in front of us, and the
woman in the car asked us how long we were away from home.  I explained
that we were actually full timers on the road, and that it all started
back with a trip to Africa when she began to tear up.  Her name was
Nel, and she explained that she had been driving down the freeway
praying and pulled over to be able to listen.   She was looking for
direction on a mission trip to… you guessed it… Africa.

We continued to talk and eventually prayed with Nel for clarity on her
decision.  She was so grateful for our divine appointment that she
wanted to share something with our kids.  She reached over to her
passenger seat, opened a shopping bag, and pulled out two stuffed
slingshot toys that “fly” when you shoot them.   We were proud to have
two new members to add to our traveling family.  The Masked Monkey and
the Rubber Necked Chicken.

God is good.  He knows our needs and meets them before we even ask. 
When we stop to pray, we are simply acknowledging that we will look to
him to provide the answers, and we open ourselves to receive his
provision.  We may even get a cool flying barn animal in the process! 

Vital Statistics:
year:  1993
model:  34n
legnth:  34'
width: 8'4"
engine:  454 Chevy Gas
weight:  appx 16000 lbs
avg fuel efficiency:  8mpg
understorage compartments:  2 full passthrus, 5 partial compartments
ammenities:

• 6 gal hot water heater
• 80 gal fuel tank
• 80 gal water t
• 45 gal grey water tank
• 50 gal black water tank (toilet, people!)
• gas furnace
• ac and dc lighting
• full gas and electric refrigerator and freezer
• queen bed in rear
• dinette makes into full bed for kids to share

We've added:

• 900 watt inverter (charge laptops when driving)
• 32" visio LCD TV
• Mac Mini w/ wireless keyboard and mouse
• 2 macbook laptops
• AT&T wifi access card
• black bookshelf/tv stand
• featherbed over the queen matress
• 5000# rear airbag suspension
• new heat riser bushings (exhaust)
• New am/fm/mp3/cd player stereo
• Garmin Nuvi 260 GPS!

So there you have it… I am committed. the ink is dry.  I've said it/typed it/spoken it, and now I SHALL MAKE IT COME TO PASS!

Its kinda sick how I have to trick myself into this stuff sometimes!  Oh well.

Be blessed.  We are in Oceanside, headed for Santa Barbara by Monday night.  The weekend is an unknow, but that is what makes this fun!

-Chad

We spent Thanksgiving in Mexico with Amy's parents, and had the opportunity to spend a day serving the children of the Esperanza Children's Home outside of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico.  They have about 30 kids and 4 full time staff, and we were able to help them with cooking, cleaning, and even some construction work.  Amy's mom Connie did laundry and ironed the girls' school uniforms, while her dad Dick and I applied texture to a new bathroom and kitchen in one of the new guest quarters.  Amy even got to do a number of hair cuts for the girls!  It was a great day, and we left blessed by the smiles and hearts of the children and staff. 

We will be returning in March when we go down to Rocky Point again for a construction project with Bethany Community Church of Tempe, AZ.  (If you are interested in possibly going on this or a similar trip, contact us for more information.)  You can see more photos of our Mexico trip on our Flikr photostream here!

We are now sitting in Phoenix at an RV park with Amy's parents (they came down in their 5th wheel) and are waiting for the kid's passports to come in by FedEx.  Destination:  Puerto Penasco, Mexico!

We hope to be able to connect with and serve with "Mission Jim" in Rocky Point, a gentleman that has worked with Bethany Community Church from Tempe on past building projects.  We hope to be able to rejoin them in March to do two more build jobs in Rocky Point, but are going to try to sneak down for this holiday to see if there is anything we can do to serve. 

We talk about the challenges of Share5, and if you remember the passion challenge, it is to spend 5 days engaging your passions.  This is ours.  To serve those less fortunate in nations that do not have as much as we do.

So… See you in a couple of days.  We're headed to Mexico to give…thanks!

Be blessed.
Chad

Dillon throwing a couple quick licks on the Alvarez autographed guitar we are giving away at the end of the Keep Breathing Tour.  It is signed by all the band members from Wavorly, A Current Affair, and The Wedding, and you can register to win by creating a profile on our website!

Photo courtesy
John Wollam, New Hope Fellowship, Chico, CA

We got a crazy deal on this thing.  Its old.  It’s got retro colors on the outside.  It has over 100k miles on it.  But get this…It had the engine AND transmission fully rebuilt only 8,000 miles ago!  It has new tires, and a basically new, oversized top of the line generator.  Those three things alone are worth what we paid for this whole thing!  Since it was a steal, we were able to buy it without financing it, so it will make keeping the bank from breaking on the road all the more realistic.  (Thank you Bob Rathbone for your sound encouragement to do this without borrowing a larger sum of money for a newer coach.  We listened!)

We will be traveling through Phoenix, Vegas, Reno, Elko, Idaho, Southern Oregon, extensively through California, and then on back to Phoenix by Thanksgiving.  From there, well, its kinda an open book, so we’ll see where we end up.  Stay tuned to this blog for updates.  We are excited to finally be ready to roll, and just wanted to thank everyone who has been supporting us, praying for us, and encouraging us on our adventure.  We look forward to meeting new people on the road, and staying in touch with all of our friends here at home, wherever YOUR home happens to be!  We’ll add more details later, and lots more photos as we make this thing "ours", but for now, here are a few details and a quick "before" interior shot!

1993 Fleetwood Bounder 34′ long Class A (Bus style)
454 Gas engine, new engine and transmission rebuild 8k miles ago
6 new tires
only 185 hours on the 7000w generator
new carpet on interior
Queen bed in back, sleeper sofa and dinette in front for kids
full kitchen w/ Gas stove, oven, fridge, freezer
and of course… running 2 mac books and a mac mini on a cellular wifi network! (ok… we added those)
TOTAL PRICE – w tax, title, license, etc… $8300!!

Blessings, and let the Share5 Tour begin! 

Sharing well with others,

Chad & Amy

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