Good on you and your family for grabbing life by the balls and living it, how many people can say we have lived our life to the fullest with no regret and would change it!
Watching in oar we would love to do something like this, we're taking baby steps in our head more than in reality lol...
We have four kids eldest is a teen, was their a slow transition you did before moving or did you all jump in head first and how was the transition for the family as a whole, was there times you thought stuff it lets pack up and go back to the US?
For your teen how do they handle the isolation from friends as there's internet but is that enough to substane them?
Sorry for asking so many questions, see it on tv how people do this, haven't met anyone before that has actually done it to ask questions?
Brave and crazy are often cozy bedfellows. I have certainly felt both. There are things I could have done differently to make it easier, but we live and learn, right?! Our transition was really pretty quick. We made a decision in summer 2014 and were down here by March 2015. We wrote a business plan and then moved. Our funding for that didn't work out, so we just had to make it up as we went along. My oldest decided to go back after a few months because of his girlfriend. He was 17, so I just let him go. He lived with family friends. My next one has really been fine because she's pretty happy to just draw and paint and bake and read. I'm pretty sure, though, that she's going to move back to the us in the fall and live with her dad. There's a democratic school up there, and her dad has a lot more money, so she'll be more comfortable there. The younger ones are 4 and 5. They were 3 and 18mos when we moved here, so it's pretty much all they know. When we went to visit, it was very foreign to them. I've thought about going back many times but never more than a few minutes. I just can't do the culture or the cold or the violence, none of it. It's such a shit show up there. It's so relaxed and slow and mellow here. It's not worth it to have fast internet and a few conveniences. It's not even a competition really. That said, a lot of people do go back. It's not for everyone. I'm always good with questions. Ask away!
Thank you so much for answering, It's awesome that even when your business plan didn't work out, you made something else work, even the best layed plans don't always work out, but there are always options if we look more closely.
Must of been hard to let your oldest go, but at least he knows were you all are and has some options.
The little ones mostly adjust more easily than the eldest that's the only worry for us as ours are all getting a bit older so adjustment could go either way.
At least it's a better environment for your family, and your all bonding when you wouldn't of back home.
I definitely have an ability to make things work. I'm super persistent. Letting my oldest move out a year early was the hardest thing I've ever done. It's excruciating. He's also persistent and able to make things work. Giving the older ones plenty of time to connect online with friends and do their favorite activities helps. Letting them help plan also helps.
I'm so, so grateful for our powerful bonds.