I grew up living on a bus.

Not part-time, not on the weekends, not for vacation...my family and I have lived on motor-coaches since I was 5 years old.

TLC even aired a pilot for a TV series about our unique life. But, I'm getting ahead of myself again.

When we first started in 1996 (actually this week marks our 20th anniversary of road life), we had no idea what we were doing.

My Dad was a pastor in Michigan. We had just moved in to a nice house and while we didn't have much money, our family was making more money than we ever had.

But, for some reason, my Dad couldn't shake the feeling that he should be doing something else.

Backstory Time!

My Dad grew up in the sticks of Louisiana; the quintessential country bumpkin. His Dad was in a Gospel male quartet. They traveled and sang on the weekends going as far as they could go and still be at work on Monday.

Traveling and singing was all my Dad ever wanted to do and he did it with his Dad's group for a while, but for some reason, life took a different turn for him.

He met my Mom a college in Mississippi in the music department...neither of them graduated, but music became a staple of our family.

The Big Move

Then six weeks after I was born. My Dad, the Louisiana boy, and my Mom, the Tampa Bay city girl, moved to Michigan in view of a call as associate pastor.

Right away, the northerners told my Dad he had to "learn how to talk". His slang and twang from his Louisiana upbringing was quite unbelievable (as evidenced by secret underground cassette tapes locked away in a Tupperware storage vault). So, he learned how to talk. The transformation is remarkable!

Five years later, I had three siblings. That's a story in itself because my parents were told they could never have any children. (Remind me and I'll tell you that one later)

Enough Backstory...Now Back To the Backstory

So, now we're caught up to 1996. My Dad's dream of traveling and singing was about to come true in a way he had never imagined.

He and my Mom both agreed God had a different direction for our family. So, we left our young church and our comfortable lives. They sold everything and made a down payment on a motorhome and we hit the road.

We had two dates on our schedule and nothing else. Everyone thought we were crazy! How would we survive?

What's worse, my Mom and two of my siblings had chicken pox the week we left. It was miserable!

But, we went. We did our first date for a love offering (a trend that would continue to this day) and received less than $100. Now, we had one date left and no way to pay our motorhome payment or any of our expenses.

We were all in.

The next date was a small church. When we arrived, the pastor informed my Dad that he had been sick and he wanted to preach that day even though we had been scheduled to do the whole service.

So we sang a couple of songs and sat down...my Dad was very worried.

But, that little church took up an offering of over $900! It was the exact amount we needed to cover expenses for the month. We knew then that God was going to take care of our family...and He always has.

The TV Show

Over the years, our family grew to 10...and then I got married and had twins within a year. At one point all 13 of us were living on our 45' bus for a full six months!

That piqued the interest of some television producers and they pitched my family to TLC. We filmed a pilot episode for TLC called Home Sweet Bus. It was very well rated and received...but unfortunately they decided to cancel the first season after they had already ordered more episodes.

This was right in the middle of the big Duggar scandal so it could have had something to do with that.

Either way, our producers are still pitching our show and who knows where it will go. As far as we know, there is no one else who does exactly what we do. Most other traveling singing groups have a house they go back and forth to, but we never have.

My Dad always says we do 275 dates a year, if we got one more we'd go full-time.

From two dates on the schedule to being booked two years in advance, these 20 years have been a crazy ride.

And did I mentioned we all lived on a bus?!