T-10 days

We’ve moved so many times before, yet there’s something different about putting your life on hold for an extended one year trip. Some of the many things we have had to think ahead about are: dogsitting, house maintenance, mail, paperless billing, global entry, homeschool materials, European carry on requirements, doctor’s and dental appointments, orthodontists, international health insurance, the list goes on and on. We have three different ongoing shared lists that we keep referencing, hoping we haven’t missed anything major before leaving. It kind of feels like we have 100 balls suspended in the air at the moment. But, we’re ok with that. We keep reminding ourselves “its not that deep” as our kids tell us. hehe!

We make it a point to stop and cherish the moments at home recently. Late and lazy mornings snuggling the dogs is part of our daily agenda. Also, a lot of time with cousins and friends! Lia keeps telling us “I’m not leaving without Luna and Coco. We can’t leave them.” But we remind her, we have found the most amazing dog sitters that will live in our home and treat them like their own. They will want for nothing and get all the cuddles and treats while we’re gone. It doesn’t make her feel better. And thats ok….sometimes you just have to let those feelings sit there suspended in the air like one of our 100 juggling balls.

Mateo keeps telling us he would much rather spend a year at his school, then have his mom and dad teach him. We don’t blame him. We have no idea what we’re doing! We are enlisting the help of an online academy for some of the core subjects, however we are excited to spend the mornings reading a family devotional, learning about local European history, and then scheduling the trips to go see what we read about - in person!

Our hope is that this blog will help us stay connected with everyone while we're away. Check back often, as Lia and Mateo will both be writing blog posts and posting photos and videos as part of their writing curriculum. Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures!

xo - The Stav 4