O u r Y e a r A r o u n d T h e G l o b e

I (Taylor) am a registered nurse at the local hospital.  I don’t have the luxury of a one-year leave of absence with my job….so I quit.  Yes, in a failing economy.  Quit.  But with “good standing”, says my boss, so I also hope to return to this position when we get back.

So we are really doing it.  Starting in June 2011, ending in July 2012, spanning 26 countries and 6 continents….we are traveling the world.  What began as a separate dream for each of us long ago is finally becoming a reality.  Countless people have asked us what made us want to do this.  So let me explain….

I (Taylor) knew it for certain when I first traveled overseas at the age of 16 on a family trip to Europe.  I remember visiting a Swiss family’s home and recognizing the simplicity around me.  The walls seemed oddly bare and the cabinets uncluttered but the stories this family told left a huge mark on me.  They told of their adventures all over the world.  They told of their ideals to live more for experience than for material things.  And then they said the words that made all the difference to me: “You can do it too!”.  I never forgot their words….and I certainly didn’t forget them in the winter of 2007 when my doctor shared the news that I was cancer-free.  After battling through 6 months of chemotherapy and 2 months of radiation (at the age of 22!) I found myself restored to that wide-eyed, youthful state of excitement and belief.  Life had taken on a new perspective for me, indeed, and I was finally starting to understand the reality that we are not promised tomorrow.  What is the value of a paid-off house and a 401K if we have never really lived along the way?  It took one date with Michael to realize that he shared this vigor for life and we can hardly believe the way the pieces have fallen into place to make this trip a reality for us.

In essence we have grown into the mentality that life has more to offer than the “American Dream”, that perhaps there are people and cultures outside of ours that have value beyond what can be learned from within our comfort zone.   We believe in a God who came to give life and life to the fullest (John 10:10), so as followers we feel our lives should reflect that.  May we face challenges?  Injuries?  Accidents?  Disasters?  Who knows!   But the alternative of living a “safe” life seems meaningless to us.  Some people think we’re crazy….we say a life without risks is no life at all!

Thanks for loving us and joining with us on this adventure!