Creating a Life We Love…

If you don’t know my husband and I, then hearing that we are purchasing a house in a part of Belize that we have never even visited might sound a bit crazy, risky, and perhaps even a little dangerous. On the other hand, if you do know us then you‘re probably thinking something more along the lines of “they’re finally doing it!” 🤣

You see, to know us is to know that there are few things we enjoy more than traveling to tropical locations. We make traveling a priority every year and, thankfully, we didn’t stop after we had kids. I’d love to say that our passports are full of stamps from all over the globe… but that wouldn’t be true and there’s nothing I detest more than a lie. The truth is that our passports, as well as the passports of our children, are full of stamps from countries across the Caribbean. We fell in love with the Caribbean Sea on our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic nearly 19 years ago and we’ve been finding new places to love that touch that sea ever since!

We also try not to get too caught up in what other people think we should or shouldn’t do.

A few examples: We waited seven years to have children (sorry Mom and Dad!); During our first year of marriage, my husband quit his job as financial advisor to buy rental homes in Elkhart, Indiana; We ended up owning more than one hundred forty homes at the height of my husband’s career (and no, they weren’t all owned “free and clear…” I’ll let you use your imagination as to the amount of debt we once had 😱); We throw live crawfish boils every summer (even though we live far from the sea in the heart of the Midwest); We don’t like skinny jeans or man buns (sorry man-bun fanatics); And lastly, my husband has encouraged me to quit my job as an educator not once but twice! The first time was to stay home and raise our kids and the second time (just this year) was to choose JOY over societal expectations.

Ultimately, we have always tried to choose Faith over fear and joy over contentment. With this in mind, we decided to take our family’s education into our own hands and address the areas that we found lacking in public education. Areas such as personal finance and investing, respect for other cultures, adventure, curiosity, and a love of learning. Our kids are currently on a "wait-list" for an excellent private, Christian school in our area. If that doesn't work out then I will be adding homeschooling in Belize to my list of adventures for the coming year! That pretty much explains how we arrived at the place we're in today.

Buying a house in an unfamiliar part of Belize is just the next step in our crazy, quirky adventure that we call life. Whether you’ve known us our whole lives, for just a little while, or you’re a friend that we simply haven’t yet met; I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy living vicariously through the ups and downs that are sure to follow. Most of all though, I hope that you‘ll find some small part of my writing that will inspire YOU to to go out and create a life that YOU will truly love, too. No matter what that looks like or means. No matter what anyone else thinks about it. The kind of life that you don’t need a vacation from. The kind of life that makes you feel like you’re truly living.