Peapod on Purpose

Today, our family leaves for what might be the adventure of a lifetime. We’re not the first. We’re not the best, or the only (for all my marketing peeps). But our “family gap year” will be uniquely our own. We’ve created this blog so you can follow along with our journey, and so we can stay connected to the people in our lives. More than anything, we want you to reach out when you read our stories. Seriously tho, I’m not OK without my people. 

The most logical place to start this blog seems to be the question we heard over and over again when sharing with our friends and family that we were leaving our beautiful home, thriving community and successful careers:

WHY?

My snarky, off the cuff response was something to the tune of, “if you have to ask that question, nothing I can say will help you understand.” Or, if I was feeling a little less spicy that day, “Why not?”

But… we have given a lot of thought to the why. Why would we sell our dream home? Why would we leave our church that we love and our friends? Our family and our homeschool group?  AND WHAT ABOUT THE DOG?! 

(Don’t worry ya’ll, the dog is in good hands. Or should I say paws?) 

It’s going to be hard to explain years’ of desire coming to fruition, but I’ll try. Or at least I’ll share my side of the story, and maybe JP will weigh in with his own version of things some day. 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to see the world. And not just the highlight reel and the top

sights, but the real way that real people live in regular neighborhoods around the world. I want to experience what community looks like in a small agricultural town in Vietnam and spend a warm summer evening in an olive grove in Italy. I want to hear the stories of farmers and stay at home moms and college students and bakers. I can’t quite explain this desire, since my favorite place to be is home, other than to say that God planted it in my heart, has grown it in me and continues to pull me in this direction. JP didn’t start with this dream, the only times he’d left the country before we met was on a cruise ship, but it’s grown in him too. 

For years we’ve tried to find ways to make long-term travel work. We asked JPs company for international assignments, talked through the logistics of taking long-term vacations, thought about what it would look like to move to a different part of the US. But none of it felt right enough to pursue, until this one. A full year (or so) of just the five of us…exploring, connecting, serving…together. 

We’ve had great timing and success with our past home purchases (thanks, mom!), and had enough equity in our current home to leave our jobs and make it happen. Oh, and we finally paid off our student loans! (Don’t even get me started on student loans.)

Yes, we had to say goodbye to our home that we LOVED. Maybe even loved a little too much. It was a place where community was built, lifelong relationships were forged, things were learned, people grew, concerts were hosted, friends were loved and served, and so much more. A place where we thought we’d raise our kids. “The perfect house for teenagers.” But after much discussion and prayer, we decided to say goodbye. 

• Of course we wrestled over the decision…
• Are we struggling with discontent? 
• Are we chasing a dream that’s not for us? 
• Is this selfish? Ungrateful? 
• Are we being obedient to what God has for us?
• Is this a wise financial choice for our family?
• Will it be good for the kids to leave their people and the life they know?
• And every prayer came back to another open door and a new confirmation of our direction. 

So here we are. The day after Middle Pea’s 9th birthday. Sitting in the American Airlines lounge in LAX waiting to board our flight to what’s next. Publishing our first blog post. Hoping and praying for God wants to do in our family this year. Missing you guys already. 

I’m not going to make any promises for how often we’ll be posting here, I know myself too well for that. But if you want to get a notification when we do, you can go ahead and “Subscribe” below to make sure our new posts land in your inbox. If you’ve lasted this long, THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU.