Where It Began...

Piling into the car, heading to the airport.
Bye Canada!

My husband and I, along with our 3 kids (8, 6, and a week shy of 3 years), are moving to Portugal for a year.  

Rewind 4.5 years: I can picture the rise on the highway on our drive to visit my parents-in-law.
Our two young kids in the back seat listening to an audio book, leaving us a rare opportunity to chat about life. 
We agreed: “We're doing this!”

The first step was me applying for a self-funded leave, an option at my work where I defer 20% of my salary
for 4 years. I am then paid out that accumulated amount over the 5th year, am off work, and have my job held
for me for the year. So we got used to a little less money every two weeks, sat back, lived life and grew our
family of 4 to 5 (the more, the merrier!).

Fast forward a few years: Mark got the thumbs up from his company to work part-time and remotely from
Portugal.  I am a Portuguese citizen, and so through naturalization, we obtained Portuguese citizenship for the
kids. This means we can stay as long as we like, have access to the health care system at no cost, and they can
attend public school. We started talking with the kids’ teachers here and the French consultant about a year
abroad and the impact on their education (they are in French Immersion, and so we wanted to ensure they
could return to it and remain with their cohort).  Fortunately, we got the ALL CLEAR and resounding support
that the experience was undoubtedly going to enrich their learning, not hinder it. I think it also helped that
Portuguese, like French, is a Latin-based language and that my kids are both strong students so far…

Then the months leading up to our departure…with the help of my aunt and cousin in Portugal,
we registered the kids for school (more on that later!).  We then found tenants for our house: a seemingly great
family with kids the same age as ours. And so began the de-cluttering of the house. Clearing out medicine
cabinets, filtering through toys, knick-knacks, books, clothes, bedrooms and those rarely touched boxes in
the basement.  And leaving with a 2 year old, but coming back with an almost 4 year old means so much to
give away. Full disclosure: I love cleaning and organizing…the difference between the before and after makes
my heart flutter! 

And the week before departure: time to pack 5 suitcases.  Our place in Portugal is fully furnished. I have packed
clothes for 3 seasons (no snowy winter, woot woot!), had the kids choose some special little toys and games
for our new place, and we are now down to crumbs and ketchup in our kitchen.  

We all have bucket lists for the year:

• Mark – spear fishing, eat exotic seafood, spend time with Luisa (what a romantic!)
• Luisa – TIME. Time to get to know my kids better, time to surf, time to take a nap, time to read a book (its been a LONG time!)…time to be mindful
• Jonty – play soccer, play in the waves, have unlimited screen time on the long flight there and back
• Gabi – live in a hotel (apartment building), swim in the ocean, ride a camel
• Catarina – go to the beach

We fly out soon, and are all so excited!