Skoolie Dreams

Our dream is simple, we want to live a life worth living. A life filled with experiences, new places, and a small impact on this planet that we call home. 

This wasn't always our dream.

I remember telling my mom one day that I wanted a big family. I'd always dreamed of being surrounded by a big family, full of love and life. When I met Steve we were both living in California, but soon after we started dating his dad became too sick to care for himself and we moved to Minnesota; a place I'd never been. We took care of his father while he was on hospice care, a burden of love and suffering. But it bonded us, and soon after we were engaged to be married. Soon after we were engaged we discovered that we were expecting! We were so excited, my dream of a big family was turning into a reality! 

However, it was not to be, and before my 1st trimester was over I miscarried; we were devastated. Soon after my miscarriage I got news from my OB/GYN that would make my dream of a big family next to impossible. I was born with a Bicornuate uterus, a fancy way of saying "two horns". Essentially my uterus looks like a heart, the kind you draw, not the organ. But I was assured that it wouldn't impact my ability to have children, I'd just be considered high-risk, with a high-risk of miscarriage and per-term labor. A shock to say the least. I struggled for years after my miscarriage to find the strength inside to try again. When we did decide to try again we were met with an uphill battle. I had numerous "almost" pregnancies (read: chemical pregnancy). Then in November 2017 the miracle happened, we were officially pregnant again! I was over the moon, not only was I pregnant, but my Sister-in- Law was pregnant too...just days apart even! I remember thinking this was the coolest thing ever! Already thinking about how our children would grow up as best friends. I started going to the Dr. right away, knowing that I would need extra care. I got to see the heartbeat at 6 weeks!  It was surreal, a moment I never thought I'd actually get to see. My heart raced with anticipation. Each day that passed felt like one step closer to my dream, even if it changed from a big family to a family of three, all I ever wanted to be was a mom.  

Then it happened, it was a Thursday, I was at work. It was just a small amount of blood, but I made a Dr. appointment and went in for an ultrasound to make sure everything was OK; it wasn't. No heartbeat was found, a miscarriage looming over head. I can still feel the ache in my heart when I heard the news. Its a pain I feel to this day. To top it off, my body presented whats called a "missed miscarriage". To help my body heal I had a D&C procedure done, normally a procedure done with local anesthesia. But in my case I needed to be under general anesthesia and the Dr. needed to be guided by ultrasound to be sure not to damage my uterus and cause further complications. Well over $6,000 later all we were left with is a broken heart, full of despair. It's been six months and the emotional toll has been taxing. 

It was in this low point that our new dream was formed. I've always loved to travel, somewhat of a gypsy at heart. It didn't take a lot of convincing to get my husband on board either. So we started to think about how we would make this dream a reality. Some how we stumbled upon Skoolies; school buses being converted into RVs. This really awesome community of people who live and work out of their Skoolies, traveling from one place to the other, it seemed like exactly what we were looking for! 

We've done our research. I created our floor plan, no small feat when your looking at making your home out of roughly 220 sq. ft. AND you have four dogs. Now we need the help of our friends, family, community, anyone and everyone who would like to help me heal this heart of mine. 

We bought our bus on March 29th of this year. Its been so surreal to see our dream so close! Now we need help to make this dream happen. A typical conversion costs anywhere from $10,000 to upwards of $30,000. But we think if we do most of the work ourselves we can end up on the lower side of costs. With help from you we can make this dream a reality!! 

To help fund our Skoolie build I opened an Etsy shop where I sell handmade jewelry and photographs of some of the amazing places we've been so blessed to travel to. All proceeds generated from my Etsy shop go towards our Skoolie build. You can find my Etsy as www.etsy.com/shop/fernwehlakestudio.