Week #17
Here We GO 2025!!
1/3/2025
Chris – “Welcome to the Boat Yard”
Happy New Year everyone! We are writing to you from St. Mary’s, GA this week. We arrived down here last weekend to begin surveying a big steel boat that we have been pursuing. This thing is 57’ long, weighs 24 tons, and sports a blue and white exterior. To be honest, it is a bit of a “fixer-upper.” The boat is very solidly built, and has a lot of really great amenities/ extras that are very cool, but it is VERY dirty, and shows plenty of “character” from its previous/ current owner. I have been down at the boat nearly every day since we arrived; going through the boat’s systems, and learning what every button, lever, hose, and motor does. It is a deep dive into the world of boats, and I am “drinking from the firehose,” as they say, trying to learn enough to make an educated decision on this thing. I have spent a lot of time fact-checking things I am being told by the owner, and a lot of time calling mentors to run questions and concerns by them. There is A LOT to cover. The boat is currently “on the hard,” meaning that it is out of the water and propped up on stands. This is the first time we have been able to inspect the bottom of the boat, the propeller, the rudder, and everything else below the water line. As with the rest of the boat, it is dirty and needs some love, but it appears to be solid and sea-worthy. We have completed an inspection of the steering systems, have gone through the inventory of sails and spare parts, and even helped the current owner weld a new plate on the deck of the boat to repair a piece that was broken when they were using a crane to move the boat out of the water!
The boat yard itself is a very new type of environment for me. If you talk to boat owners, most of them will tell you that the boat yard is THE LAST place that they want to be… it usually means that your boat needs work. Work costs money, and it is no fun to sail a boat on land; it doesn’t go very fast. But, for me, there is a bit of excitement to it. I am ready to get my hands dirty, and get to work. I am ready to start putting in my time sweating over my vessel to make it the best I can. Ready to start putting my personality and preference into a vessel that we will eventually call “home”… now that I say it, I am ready for a home. We have been jumping around, “borrowing” other people’s spaces for a while now, and I am ready to have my own space again. This particular boat needs a “boat-load” of work, but, if it works out, we will have plenty of opportunity to put our unique stamp on the “feel” of the boat. That sounds pretty nice. The boat yard that this boat is located at is a busy place; there are a lot of people there working on boats, and, as I see the crazy projects that these people are taking on, I get the sense that these people will be a very interesting crowd to get mixed up with. I saw a golf cart with a welded tent-platform mounted to it… someone is LIVING in that while they work on their passion-project! That’s an impressive level of dedication, and, call me crazy, but I’m excited to meet that person, and to learn how crazy I will get pursuing my own dream. Funny enough, we already met someone at the boat yard that knew a bit of our story. They were a friend-of-a-friend that we met while we were staying in Annapolis, and they stopped by the boat while we were there to ask about the boat for their friend… who was asking for us! It is a small world, and it is surprising to realize that we have connections in places that we have never visited before.
We are still evaluating this boat to see if it is “the one,” so please pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment as we contemplate this huge decision!
We are through the holidays now, and I can honestly say that we had a great time, but we missed being with our friends and family back home. Thankfully, Crystal’s mom made a trip out to visit us, and arrived last night! The kids are so stoked to see her, and we are looking forward to spending the next few days with her.
I hope your New Year is off to a great start. Let us know how you are doing by dropping us a comment, or send us a text, or just call. Have a great week.
~Chris
Crystal- “Another Year Wrapped”
In years past, the post-Christmas blues got me. I’d get sad about all the things I hadn’t gotten around to in the past year and sad that all the good things we had done were memories now. I’d start fretting over how many more times the kids’ special personalized ornaments would get hung on our family tree by their person and wonder if we’d made the season spectacular enough. And then I’d start making goals and coming up with all the things “I’ll do better next year” and get all motivated and overwhelmed.
This year….our streamlined Christmas tiny tote held a 12” tree and 24 of the most basic ball ornaments we own- there were no personalized treasures. Our traditions flexed and stretched and some were put aside altogether. New experiences took their places. For the most part, it was good and we all felt like Christmas was celebrated well. God even put us in timeout on boat search so we could just soak up the season.
Here we are, post- Christmas and a few days into a new year. I’m not sad. I’m genuinely grateful for the year we’ve had. Looking back, a lot of it was eaten by preparation to leave Montrose and the rest we’ve been in transition. But the preparation brought with it a huge simplification and reevaluation of everything. Relationships, traditions, habits and moments were all made so much more precious by their foreseeable end (or drastic change). The transition, though frictive, has been marked by grace and unity and favor. It wasn’t all giggles and glee but the struggles came with grace.
I’m looking at the coming year with a lot of wide open expectation. My goals have less to do with PRs and daily accomplishments and are more open to what may come. During my first quiet time of ‘25, God spoke the word “GROWTH” over me. So, I’m going to choose to come at each day with a hope for better and grace for my failures and for others’ shortcomings. I will back up that hope with intentional action to better myself and our surroundings and to bring heaven on earth with all my heart, soul, and strength. I’m going to fail. But grace says I’ll get back up, nonetheless for it but with a new stepping stone earned. Let’s go! Onward!
~Crystal
Ellis - “Welcome to 2025!”
2024 was a pretty big year for us. Early on, me and Conrad finished up our last climbing season by competing at state in Colorado Springs, our team didn’t really do the “best” but it was a whole lot of fun to hang out with the team. I graduated from high school and come summer, we started getting the house and property ready for us to leave. Our last few months in Montrose, we spent getting together with friends, working, climbing, a little bit of rafting and just generally trying to leave well. I also got to go to my first big concert. It was Twenty One Pilots in Denver and it was super awesome. Enter August, Dad quit his job and we all started basically working on the whole moving process 10 hours a day. We left August 18th (or 19th) and we’ve been traveling since then staying with friends and family and at rentals. We had our first birthdays, thanksgiving, and Christmas away from home. There’s been some ups, and a lot of downs so far, but we’re still believing in the dream and we’ve got high hopes for 2025. Happy new year everyone! Love you guys
~Ellis
Conrad - “Relocation”
This past week we moved back up to Georgia to look into a boat, but we decided to stay in Florida with family for Christmas. We made sure to spend Christmas well and not hindered by the upcoming relocation. The day after Christmas though, we started packing up the trailer. It wasn’t too bad the first day, we still had lots of time to figure out our new things and play our new board game. The second day we really started getting the trailer stuffed, we loaded the trailer like we were playing tetris.
On Saturday we threw the last of our stuff in the trailer and got moving.
Actually, we didn’t get a very early start on Saturday. We still had quite a bit of stuff in the house that we needed to find space for in the trailer. We also had to clean the house a bit, mostly just vacuuming and bathrooms, though we also had to do laundry. We ended up saying goodbye and leaving somewhere around one in the afternoon, and we still had a six hour drive ahead of us. The drive, though it was uneventful, was not too bad. We listened to part of the first book of The Lord Of The Rings and some music. St. Mary’s, which was our destination, is basically on the border between Florida and Georgia on the east coast.
Our house in St. Mary’s is pretty nice, there are beds for everybody and the kitchen has good appliances. When we first got to the house the app that unlocks the door wasn’t working but we figured that out pretty quickly. Outside is not a great place to hang out because there are swarms of tiny biting gnats. Fortunately the house is pretty close to the boatyard that we were trying to get to so it is a short drive to the boat we are looking at.
~Conrad
Oliver - “Hot Dog the Snowman”
This holiday season has been a lot different for us. I did not expect to be able to do our normal traditions. As you probably know we have been on the road since August 19th. We ended up doing most of our traditions. We decorated sugar cookies, hung up stockings, we did a pretty normal gift exchange, and even “the snowman.” The snowman’s name is Hot Dog. It is a really long story but it is basically a little wooden snowman that I made on a lathe one year, and we try to sneak it into somebody’s pocket or hood, without them noticing. Then that person does the same. Kind of like tag, “you are it,” when you have the snowman. Anyway, it has been fun to have a different Christmas Season. We even paddle boarded with dolphins on Christmas day!
~Oliver
Jasper - “Cookies! Sugar!”
On the Sunday before Christmas me and my family did our annual cookie decoration day! We invited the “other” Mullen family over and started decorating at around 4:00 P.M., the “other” Mullens brought sliced pineapple and they also made a chocolate dip to cover them in. The rest of us had already started, using the homemade colored glaze to make art and decorations on the cookies. Some of us dipped our cookies in the chocolate syrup and let it dry. It’s our tradition to make the cookies look different than they are supposed to be such as an angel shape made into a flashlight. It was cool to see all the different ideas that were made into reality on cookies. Overall they were delicious and fun to make, so win, win, right?
~Jasper
Posy - “CHRISTMAS morning!”
At around 7:00 am we all woke up! We read the last chapter of Ishtar's Odyssey. Then we got our stockings. I got a few snacks like cranberry sauce (num num) and other snacks as well. I also got four white pencils and Leatherman and of course a few cards as well. Mom and Dad went and made some hot chocolate and chai. Then we video called our Granny and Papa opened all the presents they sent us. I got a purple paddle board. Jasper, Oliver, and Conrad all got money and Ellis got a super cool keyboard and a case. Then we hung up and opened all the other presents and ate the best brunch ever! The blue berries were Awesome! It was great. My favorite part was giving presents!
~Posy
Happy New Year Mullen's!! Love getting your updates and seeing God walking with you through your adventures!
Oh my gosh!!! I had NO idea this is what your dream was!!! 🫨 No “coulda, woulda, shoulda” needs to be in a life where God is our dream giver, Provider, Protector and Shepherd. Another witness of the entire Mullen family living each moment, each day while waiting on and being lead by their Father. Love you all…Jan