Packing up our entire house. Moving to a country we’ve never been to. Homeschooling a Kindergtener, 4th grader and 7th grader. Deciding what to bring and packing suitcases for a 6 month trip. Tying up all the loose ends of our mail,house rental, bills, banking, cars, doctor appointments…all the logistics and red tape. The sleepless nights.

This is not easy. I don’t want you to read our blog and see our photos on instagram and think it’s all sunshine and rainbows. I also don’t want to send the message that we know what we are doing. The truth is….we are winging it. There is no manual for this. We don’t have a master plan. We probably aren’t doing things in the most efficient order. We are just doing it.

But you won’t hear alot about this on the blog and that’s what I want to explain. Everyone gives people a hard time for putting on this “picture perfect persona” on social media. There are a million memes and blog posts about it. Everyone wants people (especially moms) to be more real. However, nobody likes a complainer or a Debbie Downer either. My theory for my personal social media is to keep it light. If I complain, I try to make it funny. And then I usually delete it. It just doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t think some guy who I knew from Kiddie Korner needs to know about my car troubles or sicknesses. I actually do not mind when other people use social media to complain or vent or share their problems. It doesn’t bother me. You do you. To each his own.  Sometimes it allows me the chance to help someone out in need or understand others’ struggles. Of course, I am guilty of the occasional Facebook rant. I do like a little virtual  sympathy from time to time. Generally,  I like to save my bellyaching for Wes. 

This brings me to the blog and my goals and my intentions for sharing our journey. While I don’t want to seem fake, I do plan to post mostly positive stuff. It’s just more my jam. I like to project positive energy. I don’t like to give too much weight to the bad stuff. We all know it’s there. Do I really need to point out the obvious?  Packing sucks. Packing with 3 kids in the house is nothing short of miserable. I think we all know this. I will blog about things I think are interesting, special, important,  fascinating , etc…I will most definitely include the good, the bad and the ugly. Mostly the good. I will risk  being called fake if it means that I am expressing my immense gratitude for this experience. I feel so blessed for this opportunity that I do want to share it with you. If that’s bragging….oh well! This blog will be 100% unapologetic. That much I know.  I’ll share the bad stuff if I feel like it…like if we get attacked by a kangaroo…you’ll be the first to know.  In the meantime, you can safely assume the kids will fight, we will have jet lag, I’ll forget to pack something, we will get lost, etc….If I don’t mention it….it’s still happening. I just prefer to focus on fun. So if it looks like everything is amazing…don’t doubt it. It probably is. As well as stressful and exhausting and confusing…but also AMAZING. 

*DBM