there's something that we haven't shared with you guys and in this video,
we're going to share something with you that has changed everything for us and part of
that is why we've chosen this lifestyle there's some important things that you need to know but
more importantly they're some super important reasons why you shouldn't wait if you haven't
gotten started yet but you're wanting to and you need to start now we're going to talk about why
so before that we share with you what this thing is that we want to share that we've never shared
publicly really we want to talk about the reasons for getting into this lifestyle and really just
reasons that if you're on the fence you shouldn't wait or if you're already living this lifestyle
maybe just to help reinforce why it is you're doing what you're doing because I know for us
like five years in sometimes we're like why are we doing this again and sometimes we're
like man we should have done this earlier with the kids because the kids would have been so
much easier to go RV living with when they're way younger really reason number one is just
freedom and flexibility for us we always used to call it time and location Freedom we wanted
to be able to kind of live life on our own terms when it came to time but really time
be to be able to spend with our kids that was our big focus is that we wanted to be able to
really invest in our kids while they were young and a hundred percent we have regrets like we
really wish that we would have started a lot sooner because as our kids have gotten older
and they've entered the teen years you have to be way more intentional with RV planning and
that whole freedom and flexibility thing as they've gotten older has actually diminished
somewhat because now we aren't as flexible as we could have been when they were little because we
have to be intentional about meeting up with other travel families a nomadic lifestyle for at least
our teenagers and being isolated like that and not having connections is not a good thing for
their mental health we've learned so we want to make sure that we're prioritizing them but being
able to still live this lifestyle we just have to do it in a different way thank you foreign
that's really like the second reason that we chose this lifestyle but like our motto
if you've been around for a while and if you haven't we invite you to check out some of the
videos on our Channel we've got a ton of info but experiences over things so really with our
motto of experiences over things you know I don't remember what I got for Christmas is a kid right
you know I mean it all probably ended up either in the landfill or Goodwill or something at some
point you know I remember the times that we had with our family and that's really what we want
yeah for our family and even for our friends is that when we get together and we say oh remember
when we did this or when we you know had this experience together you look back on pictures
or videos of the experience you can't do that with things no and so it's like we wanted to prioritize
experiences over things that's part of the reason why we chose this lifestyle and knowing that none
of us are promised tomorrow and that actually hits home really hard for us because of something that
happened yeah so when I was uh about five years old I was diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma
EJ and his family this morning they say they're in the fight of their lives but confident they
can win B.J DeVries is home today still reeling after his first foul with chemotherapy in Denver
which is a form of cancer that was in my chest I like fainted one day and my my mom took me to the
doctor and they diagnosed me with cancer so I had to go to Denver Children's Hospital for regular
visits so I had to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment BJ must wear a strange new
device this is his broviac it goes into his chest into artery I believe and they undo the tape here
and everything and he gets his chemo through that and thank goodness kids are very resilient
I was able to you know Conquer Cancer and and get past it you wouldn't know it to see him today but
BJ came very close to losing his battle last night the four-year-old Blackhawk boy reacted
to a blood transfusion and nearly didn't make it through the night I definitely remember it I had
a bald head going through school and it was no fun and one thing as a kid that I remember even
going through those bad experiences is going camping so that's one good memory that I have
and so that's one memory that I want to be able to give my kids and it just having that like in
our past right having that in Ben's past like you you constantly live with that like you constantly
live with kind of that fear I guess in the back of your mind as far as what if the cancer comes
back what if something you know happens what if because now we have this genetic predisposition
with our kids yeah what if the kids get it what if the kids would develop cancer or something
of that nature and so this is like a constant thing that's in the back of our head I remember
when Ben and I first started dating like when he would get sick like just a cold right a head cold
I was always like kind of like in a panic mode of like what if the cancer is back like what if this
is the big thing and so we just know that none of us are promised tomorrow our kids aren't problems
tomorrow we're not promised tomorrow we want to be with them and have these things that we take
with us and that's not the stuff that's the time and the experiences together yeah we just look
back on some of our videos with the kids and just like a year ago we're like wow they have grown so
much and so fast and then you know like so we have a you know kids like we're traveling with
our kids but maybe that's not your situation maybe you're looking towards retirement maybe
you've got your kids that are grown grandkids lots of different reasons to jump in but we've
seen so many times where people had this dream of traveling the country and it never came to
fruition because they really essentially just waited too long perfect example is you know
Ben's mom she always had this dream of wanting to travel the country in an RV trying new sushi
that was kind of my dream growing up as a kid is being able to take my mom out you
know go rving have her there with the kids her grandkids dad go ahead and unfortunately
she passed away from cancer in her 50s and so that never became a reality because it didn't
happen soon enough yeah and so really part of the reason we wanted to make this video
so just really encourage you guys if you're on the fence there's really good reasons to so our
third reason for choosing this lifestyle is really that it's a minimalistic lifestyle you know I feel
like every single thing as far as the reasons why we've chosen this lifestyle do fall under
that umbrella of experiences over things and this just is another part of that where when you live
a more minimalistic lifestyle you don't have a lot of things you're not surrounding yourself
by a lot of things and there's actually a lot of research that shows when you have a less cluttered
environment that you feel less stressed people that have a cluttered environment they tend to
feel stressed and I know I 100 in that way in our video next week I've got some tips that I'm super
excited to share about minimalism decluttering all of that so that's coming up very very soon
so what's reason number four so reason number four is a community and camaraderie right exactly
like we have made friends for life because of this lifestyle that we would have never
met these people any other way other than like you connect with people on the road now here's
the deal with connecting with people on the road not everybody that you connect with on the road
is going to be your people right but you will find your people yeah when you are out on the
road and we have found our people we've had the most amazing conversations with the most unique
and interesting people out there and again not everybody we've connected with are the people
that we say hey let's meet up again but we do have those that we have made those connections
with and even continuing into this coming summer and our travels we are meeting up with a lot of
our people on the road and the only way we made these connections was because of this lifestyle
where we met because we're both living this mobile nomadic RV life yeah and really our
kids actually have something to look forward to whenever we go out now so they're really excited
to go to Oshkosh RV buddies are the best okay so this is actually probably one of our favorites
it's learning and personal growth and that is because we have learned so much and you will
learn so much in this lifestyle because you have to learn sometimes on the Fly and it really just
it grows who you are so like we feel more Brave we feel more confident in being able to try to like
attack things on our own if something goes wrong with the RV but it made a step out of our comfort
zone when it came to things like that but it also made us up out of our comfort zone when it came to
exploring new places or maybe like with the kids really encouraging them to try new foods or meet
new people the other thing too is like when we've had breakdowns on the road ah yes and those again
like when we talk about experiences over things those are kind of some of the experiences that our
kids remember I know we have a friend that used to tell us if you really want to make an impression
on your kids and have an experience that you don't forget then put your family in a situation where
you all almost die did you die because they will remember that well the thing is is they see how
you handle these situations too it's not always rainbows and unicorns because things happen having
your kids see kind of how you handle things and and how you get through these things and
have a positive attitude I think it really goes a long ways to teach our kids so back to that whole
premise of growth and personal development it's happening all the way around because it
forces you into these scenarios where you're just gonna have to push through and persevere
another reason is that it really strengthens family bonds when we are out rving we're
obviously very close together because we're in a 300 square foot box we're in close quarters
but the thing is and this is another reason why you should not wait you need to jump in
now we really wish we would have done this earlier because we would have had I don't
know I don't know I would say such a better time but it would have been a whole different
Dynamic right when the kids were younger like I mean when they were four five and six years
old they look at the world through a completely different lens and I really wish we would have
had this lifestyle then for them so I don't know if I would say we're making up for it
now but we're definitely moving towards that with them now and strengthening those bonds
and things now but I just think we could have had something so different if we hadn't waited
as long as we did so if you're on the fence man jump in now and if you're on the road right now
you've got Littles or maybe your grandma and grandpa of Littles take them with you if you
can bring them along it's so much fun to be able to just experience that new Wonder and
everything like that through those those little eyes yeah I know you're looking forward to that
I am I love organization what Ben does it like is when I purge all of his stuff but oh no you
didn't tell me about that the heck experiences over things you know like what do you no hold on
hold on nope just a son of a biscuit I'm getting big
actively bit Yeah there are mosquitoes out here
they like your sweet blood they do I'm like anyway did two mosquitoes,
okay so you're attracted to the mosquitoes or they're attracted to you neither okay ready
so experiences over things okay everything with RV life isn't always just you know rainbows and
butterflies it's unicorns oh rainbows and unicorns unicorns so another byproduct and
reason hold on strengthening it makes it sound like it's dark contains byproducts okay not
not byproducts it's the leftover stuff nobody wants that's a byproduct okay another what is
it called a reason okay yeah so I'm gonna put a video right up here the time that we got kicked
out of a campground definitely a very interesting story you're going to want to watch it we don't
see you out on the road or around the campground we'll catch you in the next video peace foreign