need to give back a dog, without making the kids fear we'll give them back!

not sure we can swing this, but we oh so much want to. we don't want to take our new (to us) dog on our "trip" since we'll be in an rv. seems like a simple problem, he sheds, is a huge pain, listens to no one, and would be very inconvenient, all the time.
BUT (dangit) how can we say family is forever and make the kids understand? he's a dog, and i see the difference, but he's the one "person" em says she's let into her heart. all three kids love him. dad and i, not so much. he's a nice dog, just untrained, stubborn, and inconvenient (hm, sounds like the kids...).
BUT as we value his help in them attaching and all that, would it be horrible to leave him? we'd have a good place for him, and it could even be temporary, just til we get back (which will probably be years).
i'm just not sure they could take it, in the middle of all the attaching they're doing. but i'm not sure we can put up with him on the road. we'd never be free to be gone for too long, and he's not even good on a leash. ugh! what to do??????

thanks for the comments, and i'd love more! i know what we can do, have plenty of ideas, i just need to know if it'll be detrimental to the kids????

who's the victim?

do you ever have (well duh, of course you do) those moments where you feel why me? but then you stop and remember, why them? today we were getting ready to leave (calmly, talking softly) and still their brains didn't work, logic is just out the window. how do you open a door? why can't i wear summer clothes? how do you tie shoes?
and i thought why me? why do i have to put up with complete ignorance simply because we're leaving like we do daily? and then i thought why them? they have to live with that! i have to deal with it, they have to live with it.
they have to live knowing they completely lose all control and intelligence simply because we're walking out a door. looking from their viewpoint, that would SUCK! i was actually amazed that i could see from their viewpoint so clearly, and quite depressed for them. but much less depressed for me, so i'll take it. i've heard it and heard it, but today i felt it, finally.

more therapy pics

just some more pics from em and therapy. this one AMAZED the AT and me! if you remember, she did a sand tray of her heart and it was heavily guarded (see it here). well her AT asked her to do a tray of her heart one year from now. and check this out! i am still a queen (yay) but look how close i am! and i've defeated all those defenses (those are bones lying all over!) :) there's simply a fence around her heart, and an electric fence, but that's it. but look how close she thinks i'll get!!!!!!!
and this is just a "draw how you feel" thing from another drama queen fit during math. as a fear-driven perfectionist, she puts a lot of pressure on herself!

instead of relocating, we are unlocating. freedom on wheels!

wow, i'm so behind in posting here. i don't think i can keep up with our real-life blog and this more anonymous one, so i'm pondering what to do! i'd love to share our trip with you, as it'll be some SERIOUS attachment therapy, on wheels. i just won't be able (willing) to share any of our RADical issues on our "normal" blog. because, you know, in blogland, we like to pretend to be normal. :) maybe i'll just link to that one and only share RADical happenings on this one. just not sure if i want to open it up yet. (would love opinions!)
and besides all the reasoning below, just imagine the opportunity we'll have for bonding time if we live in an RV fulltime...

so here it is: we've decided to fulfill a dream and take to the road in an RV!

i'll answer your questions now...

yes, full-time.
yes, the whole family.
yes, the kids are excited.
yes, permanently.
yes, we're serious. and we can't wait! :)

we've had so many concerned calls and emails and it's apparent some people are forgetting we are us. why are we doing it? because we can!

no, we're not desperate (while we do have 2 houses to sell, we could sell this one and live in the other debt-free but who wants to live there? not us!)
no, we're not selling the company (are you nuts?! we'll have satellite, internet, phone, computers, printers, and a mobile office.)
no, we're not yanking the kids out of school (we already homeschool!)
no, we don't need all this stuff (dad's new favorite saying: the more stuff you own, the more stuff owns you.)
no, we're not crazy (um, okay you got me on that one, we are, but it works for us!)

it's the opportunity of a lifetime and we're so grateful to be able to do it! thanks to our company and technology, we're able to work remotely. instead of just teaching the kids about this country, they'll get to see it! we have family from florida to alaska, so hopefully we can visit them all. we'll definitely visit our staff and members along the way too (especially the other full-time RVers!)!

where will we go? who knows?! we'll follow the sun and stay warm mostly likely. we'll go where we want and stay until we're bored. we're giving up a house, but gaining an ever-changing backyard. we'll miss our friends, our church, and many conveniences, but we'll find adventures and make memories while keeping in touch! you can follow along if you're interested. i'm sure we'll do the same kinds of things, the backgrounds will just change.

more common questions:
what will our new home look like? we're not sure. we'll have to wait until we sell everything!
when will we leave? see above.
what are we selling? see above, really, everything! rental house, our house, van, truck, camper, possessions. local friends check out the house tour (email me). anything you see is for sale, furniture, storage, gadgets, decorations, tools, everything.
can you come too? sorry, we're limiting it to our 5, but we'd love to visit you! :)

so hopefully soon, we'll be driving one of these! we'll certainly miss our home and friends, but it will be so fun to unlocate and just go........