Leaving is Hard to do

I think it is proper that our first blog post is about one of the more difficult things Jen and I have had to do in a long time. 

From time to time we will step back from telling our actual experiences from the course of the trip and try to fill you in on some of the logistical details such as what we packed, how we picked locations, etc.  For this post I want to talk simply about leaving.

Ever since the beginning of January, our lives have been insane.  From the final decision of going on the trip to picking countries and booking flights to packing and hitting the road, it has been hectic.  All in between we continued to work, packed up our house, moved into a storage unit, celebrated our birthdays, visited graduate schools, had YoungLife, and tried to enjoy time with friends and family.  Needless to say the ice, snow, and Superbowl did not make things any easier.

Our old house in the 'm streets' covered in snow

By far one of the hardest things I had to do was tell my YoungLife guys that I would be gone for six months.  I know the same is true of Jen who would do most anything for her girls.  When you are 14 years old, six months is a very long amount of time and a lot happens.  It is a hard time to miss and while I am sad I will not be there with them, I very much look forward to what I am guessing will be entertaining, interesting, funny, and all over the place talks via Skype.

Some of Jen's YoungLife girls

Some old DRC co-workers

Jen also had a fantastic job at the George W. Bush Foundation which was immensely hard to leave.  The opportunity to help build an institute that fights for human freedom & democracy, economic growth, global health, and education is tremendous.  That team will help continue to shape the world for a better place and each individual I encountered there was not only well equipped to do so, they were simply good, caring people.

It was rough not being able to see or talk to everyone before we left but such is life.  In fact, we did not get to even tell a lot of people about the trip until we were already on the road (sorry!).  Of course we will be back before we know it and maybe we should just stop being so dramatic about leaving.

Tales and pictures from who knows where will be up in the near future.