Making Lemonade

Arrivederci, San Luis Obispo County! One month from now we head out on a new adventure...Europe for 8 months with our 2-year-old! While I am feeling extremely mixed emotions about this move, I know that it's going to be amazing and life-changing. Taylor and I like to say that this trip is the equivalent of us making lemonade out of lemons. Let me explain what that means...

Over a year ago we had just celebrated Logan's 1st birthday. I had recently quit my full-time job to stay home with Logan and work on my own Juice Plus business. Taylor loved his job and the extra duties he had taken on. Life was blessed! Two weeks after Logan's 1st birthday, Taylor badly injured his back on duty. He blew out three discs and fractured one of his vertebra in his lumbar spine. Little did we know that this injury would completely change our lives forever. After months laying on the couch, physical therapy, and seeing multiple doctors, Taylor was told that his career in law enforcement was over for good. He was medically retired. I don't think I need to tell you that this time in our lives was dark and sad. Everything that we thought we had planned was pulled out from under us. I was trying to be supportive of Taylor while taking care of our young child without a lot of help. Taylor had to figure out not only what he would do with his life now...but figure out who he was now. Profession is what many of us use to define ourselves...and Taylor loved his job and embodied it to his soul. So the question became...what now? With his back injury he is limited. And there aren't a ton of jobs here on the Central Coast.

After many people (including me) encouraged Taylor to consider law school...he finally agreed that although he was hesitant to commit to three more years of schooling, he had always had a great interest in law (obviously). Taylor spent six months studying vigorously for the LSAT exam and took it last month! Now he will be applying to schools over the next few months, and will begin law school in the Fall of 2015.

Now here comes the part about Europe...what would we do with our time between applying to law school and him attending? We could stay on the Central Coast (my choice) or we could move out of state to save money and start a new chapter of life (his choice). We couldn't agree on either one. Then someone amazing planted a seed in my head. She reminded me that Taylor and I had always wanted to live abroad, and we love to travel, so why not do it now? After many weeks of investigating this option, speaking to various people, looking at prices of rentals in Europe, talking to Logan's pediatrician, and much more...we decided that we could and would do it! If not now, when?! So this is where the lemonade comes in...we were given lemons (Taylor's injury and our lives changing in an instant) and we are making lemonade by doing what we love to do, traveling. We are making the best of a bummer of a situation. We have to move away regardless. Taylor needs to reinvent himself and follow his passion. We found out that he can attend law school for free in Texas due to the Hazelwood Act. So after Europe, off to Texas we go.

We are incredibly blessed that God has given us this opportunity. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and while the last year was an indescribably difficult one, God has led us towards some amazing times ahead. While there will be a lot of changes and new territory to be covered, I am excited.

Due to visa restrictions in the Schengen Area (virtually mainland Europe), we can only stay there for 90 days in any six month period. So we will be moving around a little bit so as not to violate any visa restrictions. We will begin in Italy in early August through early October. We rented a 2-bedroom flat in Florence. Then off to Barcelona, Spain for a month (my Juice Plus European conference is there in October). After Barcelona we have reached our 90 day limit in the Schengen Area, so we will head to Split, Croatia in early November for five weeks. Then we fly to London where we will meet up with Taylor's best friend, Corey, and we will rent a car and take a ten day tour of England making our way up to Edinburgh, Scotland. We rented a flat in Edinburgh from Dec. 22, 2014 through early February 2015. We will spend Christmas in Scotland joined by Corey, and my Swiss sister, Dani, and her family (her husband Gunter, and their two boys who are a year older and younger than Logan). After Scotland we've left the last two months open. We want to see how Logan is transitioning, and we also want to have some flexibility in case we learn of new places we'd like to live during our last two months abroad. We plan to head back home to California in early April so we can spend Logan's 3rd birthday on the Central Coast with family and friends.

We have so many friends and family who have already booked trips to come visit us along the way, and so while I originally was so nervous to be away from all we know and love for so long, we will have lots of loved-ones coming to us while we are there!

Sorry this is such a long introduction. But a lot of people didn't know we were doing this, and many others don't understand why we are doing this. Hopefully this gave you a glimpse into our decision-making process and how we came up with this plan for our family. I hope you enjoy sharing this experience with us through this blog. Off we go, first stop: Italy!