Making the Most of It

Twelve years ago when our twins were born, Kaimey and I shared a dream to give our children the most exposure to other cultures and the world that we could. I had a dream of moving our family for a year to another country and living as part of that culture. Live there, go to school there, and work there. At the time I was an auditor, and all of the big accounting firms had offices in my favorite city, Sydney, Australia. That was my plan: to get a job with one of them and transfer to their Sydney office for a year.

I was fortunate to grow up with a mom who loved to travel. That’s where she decided to spend money, since it was a big value to her. She is always planning her next two trips, and she loves to take her kids with her. We were laughing recently thinking about the time my mom decided we needed to experience the holy land. With a 10-year-old,13-year-old, and 16-year-old she flew us halfway around the world to a country that is constantly in a state of unspoken war. To make that ambition more impressive, my dad stayed home to work, so it was just my mom, my siblings, and me!

Kaimey has been part of some amazing ministry teams with emphasis on mission work. Throughout college and her working career she has experienced many countries and cultures. She has rocked babies and played with kids living in orphanages, built homes for families without one, and shared the good news of Jesus on the streets of remote villages. 

Travel and other cultures have been ingrained in us. We’re both strong advocates that life needs to be experienced. We want to be active in seeking out new adventures to learn from. Have you ever seen the movie “Yes Man” starring Jim Carrey? It’s a movie about a guy drudging through life until he attends a seminar that encourages him to say Yes! to everything. Everything! A homeless person asks him for money? Yes. A stranger asks if he needs a ride on the back of their motorcycle? Yes. The point of the movie is that you can experience so many amazing things in life if you are just willing to get outside your comfort zone and say yes to new opportunities.

This is not my natural personality! I’m a worrier. I like stability. I like to plan for the future and live my plan. But I constantly fight that in myself to grow more as a person. And as cliche as it sounds, life really is short, and we only get one chance at this.

Shaking It Up

With COVID coming in and turning everyone’s lives upside-down in different ways, it’s made us consider what this next year will look like. We thought we knew what the next year held, and we were excited about it! But as it has all unfolded, instead of just wishing the next year will pass quickly or return to normal, Kaimey and I started to rethink what opportunities this might hold.

What about our dreams to live in another country for a year? Well, travelling to other countries doesn’t seem like the best decision right now, but we could certainly experience lots of “new” parts of our own country. What would hold us back from packing up and living on the road? Not my job. I can do that anywhere. Kaimey’s job? She’s blessed with incredible flexibility as well. School? It never has to look the same as it always has.

So we decided to switch things up! Pull the kids out of school and teach them ourselves. Go to another place and live there– not as a tourist, but as a local. Make work and school fit around our life, instead of trying to fit life around work and school schedules.

And when one of my college roommates asked me if I wanted to spend 10 days backpacking in Colorado chasing some elk, I said yes! Sure I would prefer to be with my family, eating real food and taking showers. There are sacrifices and complications, always. But the chance to do something new in life is not something I am willing to give up.

Our plan for the next year has not been completely planned. We’ve committed to leaving town at least once a month to experience something new. The first stop is seeing the stars of West Texas and climbing the tallest peak in Texas. Next month we’ll venture further from home and explore the Grand Canyon. It’s not Sydney, Australia. Yet. But hopefully we’re just warming up.

We don’t have it all planned out, but we are committed to living life to the full this year. Investing in meaningful experiences and quieter moments together. Showing our kids different ways of life. Sure, we’ll all miss out on some things we love. But I’m reminded of some famous words of the wise, Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”