Things have been coming together like I could never have imagined this past week. It is amazing to me to see how God has opened the doors (and all the windows too!) to get us going on our trip! I know that some of you may feel that I come off as a holy roller, but if I leave out when writing this blog that we asked God for direction and He has given it to us clearly all along the way, it would feel hypocritical to me. I need to give the credit where it is due.
Chad has now given notice at his work, and the results of this were better than any one could imagine. Chad and his supervisor are getting all the details in order, so I cannot divulge much, but lets just say that any worries that we had about having income on our trip are now alleviated. This feels like the green light, there is nothing holding us back from planning and taking this trip. Whatever fears or anxiety that we felt have been answered very clearly by God that we are to go. Now where to go?
As of right now we are definitely going to spend a few days in Austin, Texas, and then Miami for a couple of days. These are both cities that we would consider living in if we do come back to live stateside. Our plan is to live in Thailand or Taiwan, but God may call us back to the USA and if He does, then we want to live somewhere warmer and cheaper than northern California.
After Austin and Miami, that is up in the air right now, we are thinking Argentina for a couple of weeks and then to Europe because by then it will be May and hopefully the weather will be nice and warm. Our goal is to keep warm no matter where we travel, so where we go when will depend on that countries seasons. Argentina’s winter starts in April/May so that is why our time there may be less or even cut out completely. I will have more on this next week when I write because I think Chad and I will be getting down to the nitty gritty planning now that we can! (Yay!!!)
On another exciting note, Chad and I (well, really just Chad) got our big ole’ traveling backpacks down from the attic yesterday! I wrapped them in about 4 plastic trash bags so they remained unscathed while waiting patiently for us for 4 years (almost 5 years now- ACK!!!). They were good as new and Chad and I walked around the house with them on to decide if we felt we could each handle carrying a heavy backpack plus a carry on bag and taking turns with a restless toddler. Zoë also tried on her little back pack and walked around with us (seriously too cute!). We agreed that it seems like easiest way to get all of our stuff to wherever we are going to go. The great thing is is that all of these plans are not set in stone, if we use the backpacks and they end up being too cumbersome we can ditch those and buy nice suitcases with wheels along the way. Yes, they do sell luggage in other countries. I need to keep reminding myself that we are not going to Mars, pretty much everything they sell here in America, they will sell in most other countries.
What having our luggage ready to go means to me, is that I can start packing and re-packing my bags! I know that I have three months until I really have to pack, but you just can’t rush these things. I can now figure out how I will take every pair of shoes that I own and maybe some clothing too. I plan on making a list of everything I was decided to pack for myself and for Zoë to begin with on our trip, then as the time and traveling happens I will let you all know what we really needed and what I could have left behind.
What is something that you have packed while traveling that you were so happy that you did? What have you felt you could have left behind? I would love the help (and Chad would probably appreciate me not taking everything I own). Thanks friends!
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