And We are Off !! (Kind Of...)

"Here we go!!! ahhhh!!!" - Kelsie

Five days until I finish my last day at Medtronic. Five days until we fly off to Israel. About six weeks until we move abroad indefinitely. John and I in are both reacting to our imminent, uncertain (but nevertheless exciting!) future in our typical fashions (see exhibit A and B above and below)...

"Hmmm...well, it will all work out..." - John

But no matter what our reactions, no matter how different they may be, we are indeed going. We are moving away from our beloved shire (a.k.a. Minnesota) for the adventure of a lifetime. For the next 2-odd years we will be relocating to Barcelona, Spain so I can earn my MBA from IESE. Stay tuned on John's profession of choice while we are there - cabinetry school, ship captaining and/or coaching youth sports are all currently on the list of ideal options.

We still have a lot of impending variables at this juncture! Where we will live, how we will get around, who our new Spain-based friends will be, where we will go to church and play Ultimate... Thank goodness we will at least have one another as constants! 

Besides getting ready for moving to Spain (ask either one of us about our most recent "Spanish Visa Amazing Race" rendezvous...), our summer has been focused on relishing our last months in Minnesota. Here is a copy of our current bucket list (5/11 completed):

• Picnic on the roof of our building
• Go on a BWCA trip
• Go eat at Sea Salt Eatery
• Play tennis by the Witch's Hat
• Go to the top of the Witch's Hat
• Go to the JonnyPops Jamboree
• Go kayaking/paddleboarding on Cedar Lake
• Go out downtown Minneapolis to go dancing
• Go watch a late night movie at the Riverview
• Go to the St. Paul's Farmers Market
• Get up to Lake Superior multiple times

Plus of course see as many of our family and friends as possible! Something about knowing we are leaving and most likely will not be back in Minnesota for awhile makes all of these summer moments extra sweet.

Now onto this blog. Our goal is to stay connected with those we love and share our adventures with those who are curious in part through this forum. We hope to post at a minimum of once a month. If you are interested in receiving these updates with minimal hassle on your end, consider following the blog via email (option to do so should be on the top right corner of this page).

Our hope is that this will also be a interactive blog - not only providing a report-out on our activities, but also asking questions we would love you to engage with. Examples could be - "How would you handle this?" or "Do you know anyone based here?" or "What are your thoughts on this?" It would be nothing short of a delight if you, kind reader, would be willing to respond to these every once in awhile!

Here are our first set of questions from this post:

Question One: Anything you would consider adding to this bucket list? 

Question Two: Anything you would contribute to our growing Abroad bucket list?

Feel free to respond to either question in a comment, on Facebook or in an email!

If you are interested in more real-time updates, Instagram and Facebook are our social media channels of choice so you are welcome to connect with us there.

Right now I think the main thing we want to convey is gratitude. Gratitude for our wonderful lives in Minnesota to-date. Gratitude for an exciting future and many bright moments ahead. Gratitude for each-other! Man over and over again John proves to be the man of my dreams beyond my expectations. And of course, gratitude for each of you! You are our team, our rocks, our family, our solace! If you are reading this, I invite you to take our gratitude for you very personally. We know, in some way, if you are reading this we are where we are today directly thanks to you. All in all, we love you each more than words and count ourselves so very lucky to have you in our lives.

So signing off for now ! Next post we will send from Israel as we coach kids there through our favorite non-profit Ultimate Peace (we are still accepting donations for the organization if you are so moved). 

Until then - Cheers!

JK