Hi folks! Just discovered your blog and am so excited to follow along on your journey! And, yes..I am longing for dreads...will you travel to Colorado and help me? Been a 10 year longing for me and a 2 year realistic deal. I am in my mid 30's so now is the time!

~~Suzy

Love your story and jjourney!
I'm wondering if you can point me in a direction.
We live in Lake Tahoe and are looking to do some sort
of swap with someone who owns an RV. We want to
do a partial rent/house swap for an RV. We are looking to do
a 2-3 month swap. We do lots of house swaps, but I have no
idea where to begin to look for something like this. Any ideas?
I am hoping to meet you someday on the road!
Happy Trails!

Kathleen

Love your blog! Blessings, The Wright Crew

Hi Sara,

I discovered your blog a couple of months ago....I check in almost daily and LOVE hearing of your adventures and how God is leading you. It is very inspiring to find another family who is willing to live "outside the box" of what traditional life looks like. I'm sure like others who have never met you in person, I'll sometimes talk of you as my friend. Ha! Just thought I'd say "hi" officially.

Many blessings to you!
Emily

Hi! I am so happy that you all are finally in Texas - and that you have visited most of the places that I recommended to you when I heard you were heading this way! Still keep Casa de Luz on your list of places to eat - and you can't leave before swimming at Barton Springs - then walking to the west side of Zilker park on a Sunday afternoon to hoop, slack line, body contort and fire spin with my son Shade and his group of circus people!

But that is not my main reason for writing. I think I first discovered your site when I was reading about home birthing and read about Bella's birth. I have continued to follow you since that time and now I just have to stop and thank you for posting the most beautiful juice that separated out into purple and green. That did it for me - I dusted off my juicer that had only ever made carrot or apple juice in the past 25 years - and started juicing greens. OMG! Then I read about your 30 day green smoothie challenge - I started back in July 09 - and stopped counting because I've been doing it every day since. When I travel, I make sure there is a good blender at my destination - or I pack my own. I don't want to miss a day!! I look forward to my quart of greens more than I look forward to my coffee. Pretty powerful stuff! I have been a vegetarian for over 30 years - raised my kids that way - but I see it only as a good jumping off point for drinking green and now eating as much raw as I can! Not 100% raw - but I may get there over time! I am a two time cancer survivor, so my goal is to be as clean as I can, so that the cancer cells won't find a new place to take root!! The confidence and joy that I feel everyday is fueled by my green drinks. And to that I can only say - "thank you so much, Sara, for giving of yourself. Your young family and your amazing blog has helped me so much on my journey, and I truly appreciate your sharing your gifts." I have many "small world" encounters in my life, so I feel like I will probably just run into you one day in Austin! Blessings to you and your family. Peace and Love, Andrea (I was unable to post on your "contact us" link.

wow. i have so much to say but all i can muster for now is...WOW. i'm hooked

Hello Janssen's, we have begun our downsizing and we have been looking at rv's. We also unschool our 10yr old son. While looking at floor plans I noticed the bunk for your daughter and that would be perfect for our family as well. However that floor plan seems to be extinct. Did you remodel or did it come that way? Is there a model of coach where this plan may be more popular?
TIA~
Anna~

Thank you all for sharing your adventures. I am loving the energy and the flow of your site, and plan to keep following your journey. If you ever make your way to VT, you are welcome to come hang with us!!
Andrea

I Love Love Love your blog! I am a dreadie hippie mama to 7 kidlets in OK. We talk about RVing, but we have a farm right now that needs us :) . So we dream and read and dream some more. My husband even reads with me, which is saying something! Anyhow, wanted to say hi as I enjoy getting to read so very much. Thanks! <3

Hello Happy Janssens! I just wanted to say thank you for the inspiration I constantly gather from your blog. I love seeing a young family follow what they believe to be the Lord's will for their life and trust in Him fully- and enjoy it SO much! I am a young mother, wife, and follower of Christ myself and have been inspired by you to try raw (we're dabbling in it right now), to look further into unschooling, and most significantly, to really listen to the Lord and look to Him for guidance in my life. I have always wanted dreads and absolutely love your hair! I pray that God will continue to bless your family and if you ever come to the central Michigan area I'd love to welcome you into our home and share a meal and conversation with your family!

Hi Janssens Family- My family (Mom, Dad + 4 kids) are trying to shed our possessions and researching RV/ 5th wheels. Any suggestions for us I really do not want to have to put away a couch bed everyday so I was hoping for bunks. I am also in the very very first stage of feeding my family better and I figure I would start with raw shakes since my kids love shakes. You brought so much joy to me. We were researching this little dream out there and I almost cried when I saw families like yours are already living it. You all are inspiring, encouraging, and exciting to follow. If you are every on the east coast of Florida and need a yard/ driveway (sorry its not much we live in a suburb) please fell free Thanks

Sara,
it's been a while since I checked out your site. I am happy to see that you all are well. I'm glad that you love the Oregon Coast ( I am a huge fan, myself and was shocked upon reading at one point that you'd never seen the ocean.) I am also happy to see some folk on the site that are brown like me!!
Blessings to your lovely family,
pdxprose.blogspot.com ( I need to add some photos to my blog!)

Hi Happy Janssens! In a random way I found you while I should have been working - but this blog made me so happy! Our kids are grown now and we did do some camping in the younger years - but you guys are taking it to a new level. I have to admit after visiting here I spent 2 more unstructured hours looking into getting a vintage VW Camper bus. Ha ha! I'm really understanding the need to get rid of so much "stuff" and get to know myself and other people. The fact that you love Jesus was a really refreshing find. :-) I guess I thought people living your lifestyle were super - new agey and you debunk that myth. Love you guys - keep posting - maybe my hubby and i will see you on the road one day. Blessings.

Hello Lovlies,

I'm a rather new reader to all of your blogs but caught up quickly. Your family is beautiful and so full of wonderful souls!
I want to give you guys partial thanks. Partial because Gid already put me on the oath of full discovery and I figured it out about a week before coming across your blog...what is it you ask? I was a believer when i was young. When I was entering my teen years I was drawn to the "hippie" scene. But everywhere I turned I was told I couldn't be Christian and hippie. So I left God. A few years ago around the time my first son was born I was saved.

The problem was that I wasn't fully happy. I was trying to be someone that wasn't me. I'm not the right winged Christian housewife...not completly. So since my second son was born this December the Lord told me I could walk my own path to find what was missing. I haven't left my faith but realize now that I need to figure out how to be "hippie and Christian together...be me!
So then I saw your blog. So...thank you!

Maybe when our resources are greater and my husbands web design company is bigger (70plus2.com) we can travel more.

On another note, I know you guys are settling for a bit. Do you know of any one who can put dreads in my hair in the NJ area? I had them in about 5 years ago but had to cut them out. And my husband is finally convinced that they are me and awesome ( ok so he may not say awesome lol). Or do you have any plans if a later time to cone back to the east coast?

Hugs & Smiles :)
Meghan

hello happy janssens!
my first visit here, on ur wonderful online space
loved every moment of it!
will keep visiting a guys

have a happy life
:)

Happy Janssens, I'm soo glad to meet you!! Just by visiting your blog for 5 minutes, I'm already inspired to squeeze more joy out of life! ..... should've bought an RV instead of a house... :)
My happy unshcoolers are boys of ages 5 and 2.5, my husband and I are vegan activists and together our family hopes to help elevate the world by being examples of compassion and love for all beings. Your RV home reminds me of that of one of my favorite book authors Will Tuttle and his wife Madeline, who have been living in their RV for 20 years now. His book "The World Peace Diet" just reached number 1 on AMAZON.com and is in the top 10 for the 3rd day now! We feel this represents a major shift in consciousness for all of humanity and are celebrating the trend toward the vegan lifestyle!
God's highest love to you and your precious ones!
~*~
Eve

I just found your blog (via welcometomybrain.net) and I love it! Full-time RV'ing is definitely not in the cards for us right now, but I'd sure love to travel more. I'm saving up to buy a little trailer and fix it up to take our kids (5 right now - 2 bio, 3 foster) camping more often. I love your decorating style.
We live on a ranch out in nowhere Washington, love to have you visit next time you're in the area. :)

I have just discovered you via a link from Beauty That Moves. I LOVE your blog! I will definitely keep checking in to see what new adventures you are embarking on. :)
I also checked out your photography website, Sara, and found your photos to be fresh, genuine, moving, and oh-so-fun! I love your style!
Safe and happy travels!

I found your blog through a tagged photo of Aaron Ivey on FaceBook, and let me tell you I enjoyed reading it! It is very entertaining and fun to read. I am glad that y'all got to experience The Austin Stone, it is such an amazing church that I am thankful to be apart of! I will definitely be a follower of your blog and can't wait to see and hear about your adventures. Happy travels!

-Traci

I'm smitten with you Happy Janssens! I found your blog through a link at Mama Manifesto. I was drawn to your story because I have lived in some form of camper/travel trailer for the past 5 summers, and we're planning on summer number 6 as I type this. In short my family and I are carnies. I know this might go against your healthy eating/living philosophies, but we are ice cream "pushers". We have a mobile concession stand that holds 80 flavors of premium hard ice cream and we travel around our province selling it at fairs and rodeos and festivals. We have 2 kids (age 4.5 and 3) and one on the way (due around the peak of the season, great timing I know). Though we do not travel as far and wide as you all, I can so identify with life on the road. I love your decor and organization and am curious as to how you stow things away when you are en route. Have you ever had things fall out of the closet or cupboard or off the counter? We have a travel trailer that we pull behind our 7 ton Freightliner which has the ice cream concession on the back, so we don't ride in our home. It is always interesting when we stop to open the door and see if anything jumps out at us!

The first year we were on the road we had a 13' boler trailer that we fixed up somewhat. I pulled that behind or VW Golf and my husband drove the concession. The next 2 years we upgraded to a 27' travel trailer, and after that we got what felt like a mansion in our 32' travel trailer with a slide out! Woo hoo! It is so great to see all your storage solutions, as I find that part tricky and I'm always reorganizing. I'm drooling with envy at the size of your fridge and your cute little washer/dryer. I am happy with what I have though and it serves it's purpose.

Some of the things I love about living on the road are: the time I get to spend with my hubby and kids, the pools parks playgrounds we get to check out, interesting people we get to meet, having no time card to punch.
Some of the not so fun things include: repair and maintenance of every loving part of the truck and trailer, long hours driving to each destination, being away from family & friends, searching for septic dumps and water fill stations in unfamiliar towns, lack of storage, eating a lot of fair food (yikes! not exactly how you would recommend using grease for fuel!)

Over all it has been a great way to experience life, and to incorporate work and family. I'm a little apprehensive about going into labor on the road this summer, but we'll deal with that as it happens.

Anywho, this it a big long guest book signature, but I just think you guys are so neat, and it is cool to read about other people who live outside the box. God bless you as you travel and keep you safe and sound.

Sincerely,
EM

I have to say sorry first of all for my English that it is not as good as I would want it to be but I am from Argentina. I´m your blog follower, all of them and love them so much! Thank you I am learning English, learnng how to eat, learning of a lot of topics but mstly learning about FREEDOM. Thanks Sara to you and your family!!!!! Waiting for your adventures to come. Cheers and all th ebest from Buenos Aires!!!

I stumbled across your 'Walk Slowly Live Wildly' blog recently... and now this... talk about becoming inspired and motivated! Thank you. And your RV/home is adorable... I wished my house looked that cute. Anyway, kudos to you for doing what you love and believe in... I look forward to following your travels and hearing all about it... thanks for sharing.

I love the new blog! I loved the old one too. I love reading about all your adventures and experiences. I see your dreads and the urge to have them again is overwhelmiing (had them once but only made it 6 months before shaving my head because I was living on a boat with no showers for 6 weeks)....... I just need a couple dedicated friends for a day and it will be done again.... still waiting for the friends to be free for an entire day.
We have not gotten on the road yet but we will sometime in 2010. I wanted to ask how much it might cost us to have you guys come to convert our truck (we have 5th wheel) so we can use veggie oil too? We have 5 acres in upstate NY (between Binghamton Albany, and NYC) so if you are ever in the area and need a hook up please contact us, we'd love some 'on the road' visitors. Right now we cant promise any house accomidations (we are building a house & living in our driveway in our 5th wheel) but we have plenty of electrical/dump hook ups. Have safe travels and God Bless. You have a beautiful family. You have an amazing talent of photography too. What kind of camera do you use? I cant wait for more posts! I will be adding you to my blogroll.

Hey Janssens!
Love your new blog. I've been looking forward to it for a while now...

I just want to say that I have been keeping up on your other blog (Walk Slowly, Live Wildly mostly) for over a year now and I have to say I look forward to reading it almost everyday! I feel like we have so much in common:
I love Shane Claiborne and what he is doing. He has challenged me in many ways. We have been going thru extreme amounts of simplifying; selling house and cars, getting out of debt, taking multiple box loads to salvation army and so on. We are preparing for a life that is less cluttered and more fulfilling as a family. We are unschooling our 3 boys (ages 12, 10 and 9) and have been on the raw food diet off and on. (my husband and I lost 25 pounds doing it).Gotta love those green smoothies!! We LOVE to travel and learn new cultures. Thai food is my favorite too! We are planning to move to Japan this summer with my husband's job! Yeah! We're all learning Japanese right now :) We are renting a home in the outskirts of Detroit, MI.
Your recommendations on water filters and going without consumable toiletries has changed my life!! LOL!

We are also learning a lot about the house church movement and would love to someday settle down and live in a real, authentic Christ-centered community that meets in homes rather than going to institutionalized "churches". Very exciting stuff! Frank Viola is my favorite author on the subject.
And speaking of settling down, when we return from our 3 year assignment in Japan, we are looking into and doing some research on building an eco-friendly home in very non-traditional ways. Can't wait to grow as much as our own food as possible! Still not sure where we'll settle, but it's so exciting to think about. Who knows, maybe we'll travel in an RV for a year or two before we settle down. My husband sounds very similar to yours, very handy with all things mechanical and electrical and in construction and plumbing with a ton of creativity. We are so blessed, aren't we!?

Oh and I have always wanted dreads but either been too chicken to do it or haven't found anyone to help me put them in. I love yours. (I'm a whitey too :)
Anyway, thanks so much for taking time to blog. You are teaching and inspiring my family in so many ways!
-peace
Jess

I love you guys!!!! Allow me elaborate! A couple of years ago my family and I were living the typical American dream with the big mortgage, credit cards, and husband working o/t to pay for it all. Even though we have always unschooled our two children, drive a veggie oil Suburban, and call ourselves Crunchy Christian Conservatives-we were not completely happy. When a severely Autistic member of our church went missing in the Dolly Sods wilderness we answered the call for help...and our lives were changed. After four days, the boy was found alive and we drove away desiring to change our lives. Within the past year we have shed the mortgage, the credit cards, and the long working hours! God has given us an 1895 lodge to remodel for the nonprofit organization The Human Animal Bond and I am so incredibly excited since my passion for almost twenty years has been Adirondack Architecture! Gone is the financial and social burden that was weighing so heavily upon our shoulders. In its place is time and energy to create beauty!

I want to thank you personally! We desired a major change and your writings have fueled those desires! Thank you for all of the amazing pics and descriptions! Thank you for always placing Christ first and foremost! We would love to have your family up this summer for a photography session and as guests at the lodge.
Take care! Juli