The Reason for our Gap Year

The truth is that our family loves living in Arizona. The weather is sunny year-round. We have the most amazing group of friends.  Our kids love their school, cherish their friendships and enjoy their sports teams. We live within five minutes of extended family. Our home is a place of peace for us and a gathering space for our biweekly small group. What else could we want? 

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Given Maria-Paz's South American roots, and Alex's Peruvian upbringing, it was clear to us that we wanted to share our international experience with our kids. Travelling provides perspective. It offers a window into other cultures. It cultivates respect and tolerance for differences. It gets us out of our comfort zones and pushes us to try new things. Adventuring is part of our family's fabric - rooted in our ancestors' stories of immigration.  

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We feel truly blessed to be able to take a year to travel. But travelling isn't our sole or most important focus this year. We are looking forward to cultivating a love of learning with our kids. So much of the last 7 years has felt like rushing to school, back from school, through dinners, to sports, to bedtime, etc etc. Our hope is that this year is one of slowing down. That we would be able to sit together and enjoy reading aloud again. That we would spend time teaching the kids a new recipe or how to shop for produce at the local market in a new language. We want to spend time talking to our kids about their interests and what sparks their passions and then turn those questions into research projects that we can explore together. We want to teach our kids small and big things like how to budget for a meal, how to prioritize time with Jesus, how to influence people, and how to have positive self-talk. We plan to read historical novels like Number the Stars and Anne Frank's biography and travel to Amsterdam to experience it first hand, imagining what it would be like to travel back in time. We plan to visit corners of the world like Patagonia and Galapagos and read about the vastness of God's creation and the nearly extinct creatures. 

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We plan to document our travels, our homeschooling mishaps, our travel highlights and our amazing adventures even through our childrens' eyes. We hope you will follow along and take this journey with us as we explore and accept what God has in store for us coming year together!