The Family Outpost, Episode 6 | Pillar 4: Adventure (feat. Pete & Adrienne Reich)

Pete and Adrienne Reich had a life most people would call ideal: a 3,000-square-foot home in the suburbs of Raleigh, a thriving PT practice, a handyman business, four healthy kids, a tight church community, and some of their closest friends in the world right down the street. They were not running from anything. They felt called to leave what was comfortable.

In Episode 6, Rance and Kevin close out the four-pillar Kingdom Outpost series with Pillar 4: Adventure, and Pete and Adrienne are the living case study. Over the course of a year of prayer, a Waffle House date night, and one very consequential September afternoon, they sold their house, paid off all their debt, pulled their four kids out of school, and moved into a 46-foot fifth wheel with a truck they had never driven. The first two weeks involved a stop sign collision, a hatch door dragged down the highway, a setup in someone’s ditch in the dark, and a sewage hose deposited into the Mississippi River.

What follows is a conversation about fear, obedience, marriage communication, kids who learn to ask, “Will this fit in the camper?” before they ask for anything, and a family discovering, mile by mile, that total dependence on God is not a liability. It is the point. The episode closes with a challenge every family can take: a two-to-three-hour micro adventure where each person chooses one element. No RV required.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Intro and Theme Music

00:33 Welcome to The Family Outpost

00:50 Outpost Challenge Field Report

05:05 Meet Pete and Adrienne Reich

06:20 Pillar 4: Adventure

07:09 Life Before the Road

10:30 A Calling to Let Go

12:36 The Idea Takes Shape

16:18 Real Fears and First Steps

18:12 Family and Community Response

21:12 Praying Through the Questions

22:13 Preparing the Kids

27:10 Life on the Road

31:44 Second-Guessing the Decision

33:31 Dependence on God

36:04 Finding Your Own Adventure

37:50 Outpost Challenge

40:09 Final Encouragement

40:42 Closing and Next Episode Preview

Outpost Challenge

Take your family on a micro adventure.

Set aside two to three hours when everyone can be together. Then let each family member choose one piece of the adventure: how you get there, where you go, what you do, or what you eat. No predetermined destination. No managed outcome. Everyone contributes, everyone is invested, and you go together. Aim for something that pushes at least a little outside your comfort zone. Rance and Kevin will report back in Episode 7.

Email us at familyoutpost@all4one.org to share what happened on your micro adventure. We want to hear about it.

Links

The Family Outpost Podcast: https://www.all4one.org/the-family-outpost-podcast

All4One: https://www.all4one.org/

4MUS: https://www.4mus.org/

SportQuest: https://www.sportquest.org/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFamilyOutpost

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/all4one_ministries/

Episode Transcript

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.

Pete: Earlier that day, it was... The door fell off, and then we go 20 miles down the road and the poop tube comes out. I said, I'm done. This is... God told me I cannot do it.

Adrienne: If it feels hard, it doesn't mean that God isn't in it. It means that God might be asking you to trust him in it.

Rance: Being willing to step outside of our comfort zones, learning how to work as a team, being ready to go and serve and sacrifice for a purpose greater than ourselves.

Adrienne: If this is how you want us to sell the house and where you want us to move, I can do that.

Rance: Alright. Welcome back to The Family Outpost podcast. This is a show for families who feel like life is moving fast, but they don't want to drift. Each episode, we'll talk with families about what it means to live with purpose, and we'll leave you with one Outpost challenge you can try in your own home.

Kevin: If you guys were with us last episode, you got to hear or even see the stunning guest that we had who invited us to get back into an old rhythm. So either challenge us to bring a rhythm back that we hadn't been doing for a while or expand upon a rhythm that we already had to make it bigger, make it more intentional, whatever it is. And if you're sitting here thinking, gosh, who did they have on last week? It was my wife. And so she did challenge us. And it was good for me because I was trying to think of what I wanted to expand upon, and there was... I actually had two, and I'm going to give you two because, I failed to do either of these. All I was able to do since she challenged us was identify what I want to do. And so in thinking about the conversation we had with her and the desire to be more intentional with our time together and hearing from you and your desire to have a really strong coaches meeting, I was challenged to make our coaches meeting more fun because we can have it be way too businesslike. And so I do want to do that. But one other rhythm that I know would be really helpful for my wife is getting back into a rhythm of training days. We've done training days with our kids where we identify one weak point that needs to be trained up in them. And we spend the whole day trying to make it fun to train that one thing. And when we do those things, it builds up the house, it's strong for our culture, the kids have fun because it's... I mean, it's like taking your dog when you're training it to go for a walk. Right? You bring all the treats with you, and they're just happy to be training all day on the treats. And so same thing applies. So I identified two areas to, expand upon and to get back to. And so Yeah. Love that. How was yours?

Rance: It was good. We're we're going to have to unpack training day more another... On another episode. I I love that. Well, as you and you and Kelly challenged me, I I knew immediately what our takeaway was, and that was the coaches meeting because that's often a struggle for us to get our schedules aligned and and actually sit down and be able to talk through the things for the coming week. So we really made a point to do that since the the last podcast. And as usual, it didn't go like... It didn't happen exactly when we planned it to. We were... We actually tried to put it on the calendar this time. Like, 04:00, we're protecting it. But something came up with Stacy's grandmother. She had to run over there and help her. So ended up being, like, 05:00. We had to sort of push back dinner a little bit, but it was so good because it was in the midst of a very busy week. We had a lot to just get on the same page about. And and I think for both of us, we came away from that meeting just with peace, feeling like Yeah. Okay. We we... We've addressed those things now. We we have a plan. You know? Now we know kind of what the the rest of the week looks like. So definitely something that we need to continue to be intentional with. I think the biggest challenge is can we find a set day and time every week and just sort of automate that? Or do we need to sort of take it week by week and go, okay. What day this week is going to work and get it on the calendar? So we'll keep working on it. Maybe something we'll have to circle back and report on some more later. There we go.

Kevin: There we go. Did you guys... Well, let me ask. Did you already say, hey. Let's plan on doing it at this time next week, and we'll pivot pivot if we need to, or is it now just left in this we'll try to

Rance: get to it

Kevin: next week and we'll figure it out?

Rance: Good question. Well, we are about to be gone for the next three weeks on on a family trip. And so our schedule is just out the window, you know, for the next three weeks. So I do have a reminder that on our way back from that trip to talk to Stacy and say, alright. Let's look at next week. When can we do this? So we'll get back into our normal rhythms then.

Pete: Very

Kevin: good. Very good.

Rance: Well, and we want to hear from you. If you identified a rhythm, maybe that's all you were able to do. Just like Kevin, you didn't have a chance to actually put into action yet, but that's half the battle. Or maybe you did take some steps to reestablish a rhythm in your home. We'd love to hear from you. Link in the show notes. And now let's get back to our episode. Today, we're welcoming Pete and Adrienne Reich, and I'm super excited to have these guys on the show. We've had a pretty long term relationship. I feel like it's been deepening over the past few years, especially as our families and Kevin's families all went to Guatemala together with a few other families. You can't experience something like that together and not develop a really strong bond. So it was great to see their family in action and excited for them to share a little bit more about their family tonight. Pete and Adrienne are also a, I would say, very significant part of our team at All4One. They're not on staff, but you wouldn't know that, actually, if you were just looking from the outside because they volunteer a lot of hours to help us with things like the extreme character challenge for men, the arise challenge for women. And I think in some way, you guys have probably touched just about every event that we do at All4One. So thanks again for being with us here tonight, Pete and Adrienne.

Adrienne: We're excited to be here. Some of us more than others. He's a little nervous. I'm not going to lie.

Pete: Thanks for having us.

Rance: That's alright. That's alright. Well, we're going to introduce you here in just a moment, but, we have been talking about the four pillars of the Kingdom Outpost. So this is kind of a series that we've been in. This is our fourth pillar. We're going to be talking about adventure. And Kevin and I couldn't have think of anyone better to interview tonight on adventure and how you're incorporating that into your family than than you guys. So I'm excited for you to unpack that with us. But the pillar of adventure is really about the outward mission of our families and being willing to step outside of our comfort zones, learning how to work as a team, being ready to go and serve and sacrifice for a purpose greater than ourselves. And so, Pete and Adrienne, most of the listeners don't know you yet. So before we get into it, just paint a little picture for us of your family and what did life look like before all this started.

Adrienne: I'm Adrienne, and this is Pete. I think it's important to know he is six six. So he's a tall individual, and I am five nine. And then we have four kiddos, aged 10, eight, seven, and five. And they range anywhere from almost kindergarten all the way up into fourth grade. And before we took this adventure, we live in a really lovely community in the suburbs of Raleigh in a house that was about 3,000 square feet. I was a physical therapist during the day and the week and then did photography on the side on the weekends. Pete, what did you do?

Pete: I was a handyman. I did anything from building decks to, you know, hanging pictures in the little ladies houses. Yeah. We've been married about fourteen years, before we started this adventure. About thirteen years before we started this adventure. So...

Adrienne: And I would say that our life looked a lot like a typical American life. We... Our kids went to public school. We both had jobs. Our family who lived further away in the Southwest actually moved to North Carolina within the past years to be closer. So we had a really close knit community with the best friends in the world. One of them is who is on this podcast. But I would put all of our best friends up against anyone best friends in the world. Like, community, great church, great school, loved our life in North Carolina.

Kevin: So great that they left.

Adrienne: I know. Who does that?

Kevin: So to be fair, Pete and Adrienne are some of our closest friends. You talked about getting close to people through Guatemala. Adrienne mentioned the fact that Pete is six seven. And so in 2017, I shared a two man tent with David Williams and Pete. And so we didn't need Guatemala to get close. Let's say that.

Pete: Three of us in a two man tent.

Kevin: Yeah. So dynamics between Pete and I will be obvious because Pete is one of my closest friends in the world. And so if you think we don't like each other, that's just how we love each other through. So you guys talked about being kind of the typical American family from the outside looking in, living in the suburbs, all that. And so I would say from being on the inside, but looking on the outside, it seemed like everything was fine. Everything was running on all cylinders, even positive healthy rhythms in life. Was there something that was underneath the surface that that people didn't know that eventually led to this, or where did this idea come from?

Pete: I don't think there was anything really significant under the surface. I mean, we did have that typical life which means that we had the big house. We considered a big house and all of the things that went in it. And so for me, a lot of it was, you know, that the kids just wanted more and we had more things to put in the the garage for me. You know? And it was just we accumulated and got more and more. And so it was really, when it came down to it, like, how do we downsize? Let's go extreme, you know? So let's really downsize.

Adrienne: Yeah. I think under the surface for me back in 2021, I had felt this calling to really get rid of all of our debt as well and felt this calling from the Lord to be able to sell our house, but I didn't know what that meant. And I remember praying a prayer and saying, what should we do about our house? And he said, sell it, but wait for your husband. So that was in 2021, and I would continually bring that up every year because of the debt that we were in. He's shaking We're not selling it.

Pete: We're not selling it.

Adrienne: Yeah. That's what he would say. He'd say, well, I just think we need to make it more of a home. But I would continually bring that up year after year, and I wouldn't know where we would go if we sold our house. But I knew that if we sold our house, we'd be able to get rid of all of our debt and live in debt free, which is something that I'd really love our kids to be able to see is as living financially responsible and healthy.

Rance: Yeah. I want to just build on that for a moment as you talked about your kids. Sounds like, I mean, you you had a lot of stuff, and they were pretty happy. And and what more could you ask for? But it sounds like deep down, there was maybe something more you wanted your kids to experience. Can you flesh that out a little bit more for us?

Adrienne: I think because we come from such a really affluent area, what I would consider affluent, I wanted our kids to be able to know what it's like to live with less, so they'd be grateful for what they had. Because I was seeing this constant consumerism of we got this really cool present and... But I still want something more after this. And we would talk about, well, don't give them presents, give them experiences. But then the experiences would start to build on each other of, well, I want a a gift to come with that experience. So I just saw this more consumerism in them that I think we were hoping that would change with them instead of having presents because we can't keep presents in this place. We'd be able to do more experiences and have that be the thing that they wanted to do.

Pete: Yeah. No. I agree a 100%. And being in such a small place, I mean, you can only be inside so much. So the goal is get outdoors and do the things and, you know, not just have the Nintendo or whatever it is to go back to. So...

Rance: Alright. So you guys have made reference to this place and not being able to have very much stuff with you. But for our listener who may not fully understand what it is you've decided to do, tell us what you've done, and where did that idea come from? Like, was it Pete? Was it Adrienne? Who who came up with this?

Pete: I think for me, it started... I... One of my good friends from high school in 2020 sold his house, took his family, which consists of six girls and his wife. And they sold everything, bought a motor home, went on the road. And I thought, ah, that's cool. That's fun. Then we have a friend that is also in ministry that came to visit us. And Becky, a good friend of Adrienne's, came in and she stayed with us and brought her camper. And the kids loved it. And so I'm like, push mama. Push mama. You know, we... We'll talk to her about this. And Becky said, you know, why don't you guys go look at campers and I'll watch the kids for you? And so I told Adrienne, don't go unless you think you might actually do it. Because I don't want to get my hopes up. I don't want to I don't want to be crushed. So we went and looked and, you know, Adrienne said, yeah, they're nice. We might be able to do something like that. So we prayed on it for a long time. I mean, almost a year.

Adrienne: At least a year.

Pete: Yeah. And then she came back and said, I I think we can do this. I I think we can do it. So after a year, we sold our house, paid off our debt, and then moved in with my in laws for five months. But in the process of buying a fifth wheel and a truck.

Kevin: So it sounded like, Pete, you were well ready in that year. It sounded like you were just praying for Adrienne to come along. Is that correct? Or was it still like, I know it sounds good, but I don't know if this really is what the Lord wants us to do?

Pete: The truth is, and I think both of you know this, I I have a hard time hearing God's voice. So I get an idea in my head and I'm like, oh, yeah, let's go. And really, it took the prayer and my wife... My... God speaks to me through my wife. And took Adrienne praying on it and I would have done anything with her, for her. But when she said it was a possibility that we could do it, it was like, okay. Let's start planning.

Adrienne: I specifically remember where we were. I have a picture actually of us standing because I said, we need to take a picture of this. This is the start of something, I think. We took a picture outside of all of the RVs after he and I went on a date for like the first time in six months to look at RVs. And then we went to Waffle House. And I sat with him at Waffle House, my first time at Waffle House, and ordered my first waffle and thought, if this is how you want us to sell the house and where you want us to move, I can do that. I can't do that this year, Lord and Pete, but I think we could do it the next year. But I'd... Like, I specifically remember where I was sitting, and it felt like this was God's answer to sell the house and move into something much smaller.

Kevin: And when when exactly was that?

Adrienne: It was 09/03/2023. So it's actually... We prayed about it for a year. And then I don't know if this is jumping ahead too much. But... So we prayed about... At it for a year and, like, talked about it with our kids, wrote it out on a chalkboard. And then Piper started telling all of her teachers, so I'm not going to be at school next year. We're going to be in a fifth wheel. And then the teachers would come up to me at these school events and say, hey. I... So I hear you're not going to be at school next year because you're going to be on the road. And you think, oh, that's so sweet. It's like the voice of God speaking through your child. And that's not actually what I was hearing. I heard, oh, crap. They think we're supposed to do this. And if we don't, we're going to look like idiots. So we better do this. So,

Rance: yeah, what were some of the real fears or hesitations? Or as you started thinking about this, like, you know, when it... When rubber hits the road, there's some reality here that, maybe you're trying to pencil out in your in your mind. What were what were some of those fears you were you were feeling?

Pete: For me, it's still financial. Right? You still have to support yourself on the road. Yep. That's obviously a big one. Also, the biggest trailer I had ever pulled to that point was 11 feet long.

Adrienne: You know? So... We have a 46 foot trailer right now. So it's almost the size of a semi.

Pete: Yeah. So that was that was a big fear. That was a big fear for me.

Kevin: Not to get too far off track, just... Can you just tell us about the first time you drove that? I've been.

Pete: Well done, sir. Well done. Yeah. It was great. Which part of the first part? So we hooked it up and had never done that before. And so finally, we... It was parked in my father in law's backyard. We had about six inches.

Adrienne: Yeah. So this... Look. This is how much we had to get out. This is how much our trailer took up to be able to pull through that space.

Pete: It was very small. So we finally get it out and park it on the side of the street and finish loading up, and we're just taking it out for the shakedown trip. You know, this isn't our our full time yet. And about a 100 yards from my father in law's house, I might have scraped a stop sign. Just barely. Just... I... Okay. An eight foot gash down the side of our brand new camp.

Adrienne: And we still have that and there's band aids that we put on it as like this solidarity of we know we did it and we're okay.

Pete: It took me a while to get to, the point where I could put Band Aids on it, though, because it's embarrassing.

Rance: So on that note, you know, you're right down the street from your father in law's house. What did your family think about this? I mean, what were those conversations like? Because you mentioned not only your family, but your church family and community being really strong. So what was their reaction?

Adrienne: My parents... After we had that infamous date on 09/03/2023, we went to my aunt's house where my parents were and my aunt And said, I think we're going to do this. And it's kind of like that they just laugh at you, like your little kid that says, I want to run away from home. They're like, alright. You let me know how that goes.

Pete: Don't cross the street.

Adrienne: Yes. And then we continued to talk about it. And I I don't think they said a lot to our face in the beginning. I think they would talk behind closed doors. Not maliciously, but can you believe what they're going to do? Are you sure? Are you sure they're going to do that? And I think one of the harder conversations was one that Pete had with my dad.

Pete: So her dad and I are in a men's group together. And in our men's group, we have an oath that essentially is raise your family like this, treat your wife like this, follow God like this. And he brought up that oath and asked me several questions on each one of those points in our oath and said, how are you going to do this on the road? How are you going to take care of your family? How are you going to take care of your wife? How are you going to, you know, be there for your brothers? And so it was very pointed. It was a great conversation. But yeah, it it hit home. And then I have friends like Kevin and others who are like, dude, what are you doing? Like, are you going to do this? Let's let's talk nuts and bolts, you know. And so there were a lot of tough conversations, definitely. And then there are those people who, I would say, probably aren't our closest friends. Because our close ones have the honest truth, you know, they they really get down to things. But there's the other ones that are like, oh, that's great. That's awesome. You guys are going to have... But they don't get into how are you going to pay for it? How are going to do it? How... You know, what happens if you get in an accident type of thing.

Adrienne: Yeah. I distinctly remember my brother coming over to talk to Pete. And I was never a part of these conversations. I kind of like that actually. It takes me out of the hot seat and puts Pete in the hot seat. But I could hear my brother saying, I just would never do that. I would never do that. And you just hear this I I I. And Pete and I had the conversation afterward of like, it was nice that he would never do it, but I feel like God's calling us to do that. And I think one of like the most beautiful conversations I had was two weeks before we left on the road, And Jason, my brother, took me out to lunch and said, I want to let you know, I realized that this is a huge leap of faith. And so I'm going to trust God that you're trusting God. And I'm going to continue to pray because I see him in it. And it just felt so wonderful to have my brother just put words to what I wasn't able to put words to because it feels like this huge leap of faith. I have no idea what we're doing, how we're going to do it, but I don't feel like God's saying no. He's saying yes. Go.

Kevin: So once you guys kind of got to that point where you both looked at each other and said we're doing this. Like, this is what our family... This is the direction our family is going. When those conversations came up with people questioning you, whether it was your brother, your dad, me, didn't matter, whoever's questioning you, did that shake you guys, only dig your heels in more, or did that build you up? How did you guys respond to that?

Adrienne: I don't think it made us dig our heels in more. I think we would sit back and think, okay. Is this wise? Did we hear wrong? We would pray a lot, probably more than we have ever prayed. Like, God, are we hearing you correctly? And then we would just do the next step that we had to do to get ready. And just put that out and say, God, if you say this isn't what we're supposed to do, well, you just close that door. And there weren't any doors that closed. So I don't know that it... Hearing those conversations made it harder. It just made us pray harder and continue to follow one step at a time. And we continue continue to see God open doors.

Rance: So let me just recap here for a moment. You sold your house. You quit your jobs. You took your kids out of school. You got the truck in the fifth wheel. You're you're about to embark on your dream. By the way, rewind for us. Did you talk... Was there a moment where you told the kids this is happening for the first time, or was that just sort of this gradual understanding? I don't really remember.

Adrienne: I think it had been a prayer request for us for so long that the kids just assumed it was going to happen. And then all of the prayer requests we had leading up to that were like, help us sell our house. Help us move into Opa Che and Omi's house without, like, being annoying. So I think they just always understood that it was going to be there because it was something we prayed about every day. So I don't think we had a moment.

Kevin: You guys mentioned at the beginning that a lot of the beginning conversation, maybe not the spiritual side of, like, God's calling us to this, I think it sounded more of like this discernment that you guys were going through that we're watching our kids kind of fall in the pattern of the world around them. And we want to be a greater voice. We want to change the circumstances. We want to do all these things to break this flow. You're obviously only at the beginning, which is a beautiful thing, which means we get more episodes to, like, walk through this whole story with you. You guys have only been at the beginning of this. But even as you guys were embarking and they recognized because they had to, I would assume, get rid of a lot of their stuff, did you see at any point in time something switch in their minds that they were like, wow. We're going to we're going to do life differently.

Adrienne: They would have a question they would always ask us when we would get something. Is this going to fit in the camper? Can go... This go in the camper? And we would often say, I don't think that's going to fit. And they say, okay. Well, then I don't need this. And you would see Piper choosing to not buy things because I don't think that's going to give me long term help or be good in the long term, so I just won't buy it. So that was something that we continue to see them saying and doing. And even... Yeah. So even now, that's a question. I don't think this is going to fit in the camper.

Rance: So it's almost like because there was an adventure to go on that it was like a no brainer. It's like, oh, I guess I just won't need that. But maybe before, you know, all of this started, if you would have asked her to get rid of something, you know, I imagine that would have been a little more challenging.

Pete: Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

Adrienne: Yes. We've gotten to see which of our children are the pack rats. Each of... Each child, like, has a box that they can keep their toys, and Atlee's box is so much more full than everyone else's. I don't even know what's in there. But she was the one that, like, carried a whole bag of things out of the house when we were leaving on our camper. I didn't even realize where she got them. She's like, I just need this. So some of them gave them up easier than others and are still working on that.

Kevin: I struggled to see in so many ways that a lot of kids that are used to doing life one way that you just say, hey. We're going to hit the road, get rid of your stuff, that it's just like, okay. Sounds good. We're going to say goodbye to all of our friends. Did you have to cast a vision of what this could look like to get them on board or because of the slow conversations around it, it almost was a natural thing for them to step into with you?

Pete: I think it was a... More of a natural thing because we had been talking about it and praying about it. We, you know, pray at our table every day and have prayer requests. And and so it had been on our list to pray about for several months, year plus. And so it was more natural. The... Depending on the age of the kids, you know, we started this about four months ago. Piper, our oldest child, had a difficult time with leaving friends. She knew more people, was older, was in school, had more friends. So that for her was harder. Where the younger kids, was, well, what can we bring? It was more of the items for them. But in that, we've seen Piper grow a lot in. She has a lot of pen pals now, you know. She meets people along the road. She has friends from church that she writes. So that has been really cool to watch as well when she gets a letter from North Carolina or California or whatever the case is. It's it's pretty neat.

Adrienne: I think something also... I'm really bad at goodbyes. You would think like I was being murdered when I say goodbye to people. There so many tears, so many crying. And I just like knowing I'm sitting in the last moment. So throughout the two years that we were saying goodbye to our house, we would talk about, this is going to be the last time that we have this party at our house. So I want you to really enjoy it and remember it. Or this is the last time we're going to drive to school this way. What do you notice about this? Just to be able for them to capture certain moments and for me, like, memorialize them in my heart because they were such beautiful times that I loved. And if I could have stayed in there, I would have, but I didn't feel like God was asking us to stay.

Rance: So good, guys. So many... So important lessons that came out of this experience. We haven't even gotten on the road yet, but let's go there let's go there now. You've been on the road, and we know there's a lot here. But what what was the early days of being out on the road? What's it actually been like?

Pete: The first couple weeks were pretty rough. You know, we're new to this, and I'm one of those guys that I don't like to ask for help. And I'll figure it out. I know. So, you know, on the stop sign that jumped out in front of us, it... We knocked the door off the camper, a hatch door that we drugged down the highway for about a half a mile. You know, the kids have broken locks on the camper all within like the first couple of weeks and it was tough. You know, our first night camping, we pulled into this spot and it wasn't a campground. It was somebody's property. And it's the middle of the night. They say never set up in the dark.

Adrienne: Nah. Ver. For a reason.

Pete: Yes. And so we pull on this guy's dirt road and he said, oh, yeah. This is the flattest ground I have. Well, it's a dirt road with a ravine on one side and a ditch on the other. And middle of the night, it it was just a disaster. It it was scary.

Adrienne: And when he says middle of the night, it was 5PM in November. So it felt like the middle of the night, but it was 5PM.

Pete: It was dark.

Adrienne: Yeah. And we had already had a bunch of things happen where the door opened in the back that wasn't supposed to and people had to flag us down. We were pulled over multiple times. It's raining. And plus, when I get anxious, I dry heave. So he's trying to drive this 16 ton trailer down and I'm like, ugh. Our daughter is sitting next to us. Our 10 year old like, are you okay, mama? Yeah. Fine. Fine. We're fine. But I remember we pull into this area and we, like, almost bottom out our trailer. All kinds of weird noises are happening. And the guy's like, yeah, I don't think that's right. Maybe you should back it up. We don't know how to back up a trailer. And I go to... I I came in. We tried to set up camp that night, and I came into the bedroom and I just closed the door. I turned off the lights and I texted all my friends saying, please pray for us. I think we're going to die.

Kevin: So bad. Let's be clear. Adrienne was the only one communicating back at home. And so, like, the guys would just essentially make up stories of what's happening while they're on the road, and we'd get little teeny bits and pieces of whisper down the lane. So, like, they mentioned the story of the door, but I'm pretty sure I heard a story of, like, the door coming off and almost hitting somebody behind them and then having to send Avery to go get it. And at one point, somebody told a story that, like, I don't even know what you call it. I'm just going to I'm just going to call it a sewage hose. Their sewage hose flew off and went into the Mississippi River or something It like did.

Adrienne: Is that true?

Kevin: It truly happened. Yeah.

Pete: No. It's all true. It's all true. And when that happened, I I pulled over so that we

Kevin: could Asked for help? Attempt to

Pete: No. I still wouldn't do that. Pulled over and... So that we could attempt to get this sewage hose back, this tube. And I said, I'm done. Adrienne, I'm done. I cannot do this. You know, because earlier that day, it was... The door fell off. And then we go 20 miles down the road and the poop tube comes out. And I I said, I'm done. This is... God told me I cannot do it.

Kevin: How did that... Like, why does that happen?

Pete: Because you don't follow a checklist. Did you latch that? Did you hook this? Did you double check that? And so... Yeah. You know?

Kevin: Who's you didn't who's you didn't do a checklist?

Pete: I'll I'll take blame. I'll take blame.

Adrienne: He is responsible for the outside. I am responsible for the inside. So I have my mental checklist not written down, it should be. And he has his mental checklist.

Pete: And everything on the inside is perfect.

Kevin: Now, was that established before you hit the road or was that like after the poop tube situation?

Pete: The checklist or who's in charge of what?

Kevin: I thought they were the same, but... Sure.

Pete: We decided we actually needed a checklist, yeah, after the poop tube.

Adrienne: And to be fair, Pete has the kids that want to go outside and help him with the fun exciting stuff. I'm the one that's like mopping the floor and cleaning the countertops, and that's not fun. So they'll go outside and help. And so Pete had put Avery in charge of putting the poop tube in, and he just forgot to, like, double check that he had done it correctly.

Pete: Yes.

Adrienne: So we pawned.

Rance: So you're standing there with no poop tube, your door's hanging off, your life's falling apart. Were you second guessing yourself a little bit? I mean... And and did... Like, what did you hold on to in that moment?

Pete: No. I I... Absolutely, I was second guessing myself. Did we make the right decision? Can we actually do this and survive? And... Yeah. It it was tough. And I mean, it really was a prayerful moment because it is... God, why am I here? Like, I... You know? And out of it, what I got... Was a lot. Before we even got to this point, you learn God's timing because we had planned on leaving in August. And turned out things happened. Truck wasn't ready, all of this. So we didn't leave till December 1. So, you know, trust God. Trust his timing. And then this happens, and you realize it's a door. It's a poop tube. Like, everybody's okay. He... He's teaching you to make that checklist. Right? God has a lesson in everything that we do. And so they were small things. In the scheme of things, they were very small things.

Adrienne: I'm really glad they were small things because 16 tons falling other places is not a small thing.

Rance: Right.

Adrienne: I think what was nice... So in that moment when I remember Pete saying, I can't do this anymore. And I thought, well, I can't drive that trailer. I'm I'm not going to. So I'm either going to call Kevin and have him come drive it, or we're just going to do the next thing. So I was like, okay. Well, we're going to pray. So our kids heard us pray probably every hour the rest of that day, and we just... We're just going to get to the next stop, and we're going to see what happens. Let's just do the next thing and see what happens. I felt like that's what Yeah. The first two weeks were about.

Rance: So plans changed. Things didn't turn out exactly like, you know, in our... I just... Idealistic way of thinking. What was God doing underneath the surface through all of this in in you guys as well as in in your whole family?

Pete: You know, for Adrienne and I, it was a lot of communication. Mhmm. Adrienne and I, I think, have a very good marriage. We do tend to lack in the communications. I'm not... I'm... Communication is not my strong suit. So it's not her. It is definitely me. But talking about things constantly, like what, you know, what's going on with the trailer? What's going on with the kids? How are we getting from point a to point b? Where is point a and point b? And so I think it helped to bring us together in just our communication, for me.

Adrienne: I think for me, I learned that every breath I was taking, I needed to ask the Lord about. And I know that sounds really melodramatic, like really every breath. But I had become so comfortable with being so good at so many things in our community where we were that I was like, this is me. I am doing this. And when you're out on the road and driving at 16 tons that you don't know what to do and having things literally fall off of it, I realized, God, the only reason that our wheels are still staying attached is because you have decided that they are going to stay attached. And the only reason that husband and I are not screaming at each other and our children are still alive is because you have decided that. So literally every fifteen minutes, I would say, let's thank Jesus that the sun is out right now. So I just became so much more aware of what God was doing in our life and giving him credit for that because I had stopped doing that in our life. And I think that was what was under the surface for the first, I don't know, still to now. Like, every moment, I see God in so many things. And it's really, really nice and really scary at the same time.

Pete: What was neat about that also is that while she was doing that, she was encouraging the kids to get involved as well. So to hear the kids going down the road, you know, just randomly thanking God for a safe trip or the sunshine or, you know, whatever it was, pretty neat.

Rance: So that's the beauty of of adventure. Right? It puts us in a place where we don't have it all under control, and we're out of our comfort zone, and these crazy things can happen. And then you've gotta communicate, you've gotta depend on each other. And you begin to discover the things God's put in each one of you and your kids that contribute to the whole as a team and enable you to keep going and and to do what it is that God's called you to do. You know, not every family is going to be able to do what you guys did, or maybe they're not called to do what you guys did. But, how would you encourage those that are listening to find their own adventure and to explore what God wants to do in their family by maybe stepping out in in faith in a similar way?

Pete: Find out what God is asking you to do. First of all, we knew God was asking us to go debt free. We knew that, you know, God was asking us to take all of the worldly things... Not all the... Take the worldly things out of our life and focus on him. And so the question was, how do you do it? What do you do? Do you just downsize and get an apartment? You know? Do you move in with your in laws and get rid of all your... Like, what is it? What is God calling you to do? And then make it an adventure.

Adrienne: Yeah. I think for me, I so often felt like this is hard, so maybe it's not right. But I think God lives in the hard. And so that's what I have... I would just encourage people. If it feels hard, it doesn't mean that God isn't in it. It means that God might be asking you to trust him in it so that you're not the one that's holding up the flag saying, I'm doing this. So if it's hard, press into that.

Rance: As Kevin said earlier, this is to be continued because you've just started your journey. And so we're definitely going to have you guys back on the podcast in a future episode, and we'll get to hear the rest of this story. But right now, I want to move to our outpost challenge. And, Pete and Adrienne, I'm really excited to hear what you guys have cooked up for me and Kevin today. You guys, you know, are already... You... You're... You've just talked about this adventure that you've been living on. So now we're going to ask you to give us a challenge and an adventure that Kevin and and and my family will do, but also we're going to encourage our listener to do as well. And then Kevin and I will report back in the next episode how it went with our family. So, what have you guys, come up with for us and and our listeners to do this week?

Adrienne: So what I challenge you to do is to incorporate your whole family that you live with in a micro adventure. So don't have to sell everything and go on the road, but choose like two or three hours on a day when you all can be together, and you all have to choose a part of an adventure some way. And that means like maybe, for example, Kevin would decide to take his five children and his wife and he's going to ask Callan, Callan, are we going to walk, drive, or ride bikes to our adventure? And so Callan would say, we're going to ride bikes. So that's the portion.

Kevin: Exclusion. And then an adventure.

Adrienne: Yes. And then Kevin would ask, like, Alright. Cason, where are we going to do the bikes? And he gets to choose. And so everyone gets to choose. So there's no true end point. You're all just choosing something to do together to then make it an adventure later on.

Rance: Something that might be just a little bit out of our comfort zone might challenge us just a little bit. Right? Okay.

Pete: Yes, please.

Rance: Kevin, are you up for that?

Kevin: It's supposed to be realistic. I can actually already picture asking Colton, like, what do you want to take? And we're either taking a helicopter or a dirt bike. And so I'm excited for the challenge, and I will book whatever the cost is on Pete and Adrienne's tab.

Rance: Alright. Well, we're... We'll do this. And, next episode, you'll hear how it went. So... And we'd love to hear from our listeners too. So, we we hope that you'll do this little micro adventure this week, and then we'd love to hear about what happened, what surprised you, just your experience. And you can email us at familyoutpost@all4one.org. We'll put that in the show notes, and we'd love to hear your story as well.

Kevin: And if you have any questions for Pete and Adrienne, feel free to fire them away. We will have them back at some point in time. So if we didn't ask a question that you're dying to know, definitely make sure that gets to us.

Rance: Well, Pete and Adrienne, thank you guys so much for your time, your story. I I hope that our listeners are just inspired to maybe think a little bit outside the box to think about what adventure could look like for their family. Because when we put ourselves in those... That position where we are experiencing some challenge, it forms a team, and it enables us. It it prepares us to be able to serve others better because we're able to function better as a team and face whatever challenge comes our way. So, again, thanks for your encouragement today. Next time, we are going to have a very special guest, Mandrae and Karissa Collins, and, they are going to join us to talk about what it looks like to raise 11 kids. That's right. 11 kids as a Kingdom Outpost. And so they're going to be celebrating the joy of big families, and that'll be next time on The Family Outpost. So, subscribe, follow us, rate the podcast, share this episode with someone, that could be encouraged by it, and we'll see you next time.

Kevin: Alright, guys. Enjoy your adventure.