One Step Closer

Today we officially declared to the girl's schools that they are NOT coming back next year. We had to fill out some forms (a lot easier than I thought) at the school office, and attach a letter of intention stating that they would be homeschooled instead.

 Next, we wait for approval from the Principal and District Office and then we are good to go. Crazy how quick and easy that was! Anyhow, it may not seem like that big of a deal to anyone, but I left the office feeling so excited. We are one step closer to making this happen! It's gettin' real, people! :)

Research 'Til We Drop

Well, this is what we've been doing every day and night for the past few months... research, research and MORE research. Little did we know that planning our lives for the next year abroad would be so time consuming. We started a list (In case you didn't know, I LOVE lists.) of things to do before we leave and here is just a little glimpse of what we still have to do to prepare: find renters for our home, sell our cars, change our medical insurance plans, map out our route in Europe, find places to stay in Europe, find transportation for Europe, get international driver's licenses, plan and gather homeschooling resources, pack up and store our things in Hawaii, find an employee for our chair business, cancel utility services, car insurance and Hawaii accounts we no longer will be using,  etc. etc. etc. As you can see, it's not just something you can plan overnight. Most travel blogs we've read have suggested at least one year when planning something so detail oriented. Well, since we don't have a full year, 6 months will just have to do. Anyhow, this is basically what you would see if you came over on any given afternoon... maps of Europe, our master calendar, our computers, our phones (thank goodness for the internet) and two very excited yet overwhelmed opportunists. Here's me looking at a huge map of France we got for Christmas (Thank you, Geela). At least my Geography is coming along...  ;)

Time To Change It Up

So back in September of 2014, Jason and I went with our good friends, Deven and Shirlyn Cox to Italy. We spent almost 2 weeks touring the country, loving the new sights, scenery and customs of a foreign country. We got home from that trip eager and anxious to see and do more with our lives. It was then that we ultimately decided it was "time to change it up." This began our quest for figuring out a way to make some crazy dream turn into reality.

For the past few years, we have explored the idea of going somewhere exotic for a summer. We contemplated Bali or Costa Rica, mainly because we love being near the ocean. But after having been to Europe, we had this overwhelming desire to return and see more. From October through December, we spent many days and nights talking about possibilities and thoughts on traveling around Europe. The crummy thing about only going for a summer though, is it's just not enough time. So we decided it was time to make a BIG move and go for an entire year! The thought of doing this seemed extremely daunting. All the planning and preparation to do something like this, seemed impossible. Well, I'm here to tell you that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT.

The first thing we did was create a wish list. Where do we want to go? What do we want to do? Let me tell you, it sure has changed as times goes on. At first we only thought about hitting a few countries, but the more we looked at maps and read different travel blogs, the more we wanted to see! Only time will tell what we actually see and do, but at the moment our plans are all over the board. We will see where this journey takes us.

About mid-December we finalized our plans and decided to make this plan a GO. We applied for passports for the girls and started the planning of this exciting year ahead. The girls had mixed emotions at first. They were sad to leave Hawaii and their friends, but we reminded them that the adventure and excitement that lie ahead will soon far surpass any of their worries or concerns. Besides, we are returning in a year, so Hawaii will be here just as we left it. We are planning to homeschool (or as we have now termed it, "worldschool"). HEAVEN HELP ME! ;) Hopefully I don't want to shoot myself in the process.