How?

      I realize this is not a "Why?" question, but it's one of the main questions people have asked about (or wondered about).

    How (time-wise) is that we have flexibility with Lucas working remotely and with us homeschooling.

    How (money-wise) is that we have been living frugally and saving for years.  We were able to pay off our mortgage early, so we don't have that weighing us down.  Lucas has also been working hard on several book projects the past years above and beyond his regular magazine.  When the books arrive at our doorstep, there are all-hands-on-deck weeks of packaging and shipping thousands of books to fulfill pre-orders.  

    We also try to travel frugally. We won't eat out every meal (most of our road trips in the U.S. are PBN-driven. That's peanut butter and nutella!).  We're doing a monthly rental on AirBNB which is way cheaper than the nightly rate.  We opted not to select specific rooms on the cruise, which saved us $2000 (although we may end up at opposite corners of the ship!).  We won't do all the tourist-y, hyped-up experiences. We spend more of our vacation time at free park playgrounds than expensive museums.

    I'm hoping to dive into "travel hacking" where people use credit card points and miles to snag free flights and hotels. That's all a little overwhelming to me now, though. Maybe something to check out in the future if we want to continue traveling.

    Ultimately, travel is a priority for us, so we make it happen.  I know that it is not feasible time-wise or money-wise for everyone to travel. I do realize I am blessed to be able to do this. But I also know that we have saved and made sacrifices to make this possible.  I regret not doing study abroad in college, so we have worked hard to live with few regrets in these fleeting years we have with all our children under one roof.

Why...? series

Why now?

    We ain't gettin' any younger!

    We had always said that we would go when our youngest was four. (Four is a good age where they're a bit more independent, and you don't need diapers or strollers or all the baby gear.) That was back in 2018 when we had a newborn.  And then we kept having more sons!  Our fifth and final son was born in 2022, so this is the year when he turns four (he'll actually turn four on the way over! Thankfully, his birthday isn't the day we cross the International Date Line, or else his birthday would be skipped!).

    Time is also ticking because our oldest son is a sophomore in high school, so we're running out of time for the ease of whole-family memories (I know, we can still travel once he graduates, but it might look different). He'll be taking several dual-enrollment classes his final two years of high school, so this is the time to go!

    We were thinking spring 2027.  But then when I spotted a worldschooling transpacific cruise for October 2026, I told Lucas we needed to seriously consider it. My brain was bursting with excitement at the possibility. So after several days of prayer and consideration, we booked it! And it's surreal that it's almost time to set sail for Japan!      

Why...? series

Why Osaka specifically?

    War Lords of Japan. It was a simulation my 5th grade class experienced.  Every day for multiple weeks, we would work together as samurai clans of the late 1500s to compete for the title of shogun.  "Student armies amass stores of rice and conquer other provinces by completing a variety of activities, including writing, accounting, calligraphy, and art assignments." And which group was I in?

Osaka.

And here I am, 30 years later, traveling to Japan to live in Osaka for 2 months! Crazy!

Many have asked how we picked Osaka.  Well, we started with a few basic preferences:

• not Tokyo (this is what Lucas said)
• need to use public transportation (which eliminated more of a rural stay)
• in proximity to a church or missionary that we could link arms with
• furnished housing, but not a hotel

    My original plan was a city on the outskirts of Tokyo -- Tokorozawa.  I have some connections with a thriving church network there called Hope Alive. I don't know the people personally but have several mutual friends with the team.  But the AirBNB options there were slim.

    Osaka, however, loosened their regulations on AirBNBs back in 2019, so there were plentiful options there. We found one that was affordable (especially with the monthly rate!), enough rooms for our family, and three minutes from a train station on a prominent line. AND, it's walking distance to a bilingual church that was recommended to me by a sister of a friend of a friend.

    Osaka is also a great base camp because there are many Nintendo-type things to do in the area (and Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan), and it also has close proximity to the nearby cities of Kyoto and Kobe.

    Also, as I've been in contact with the other worldschooling families on the cruise, there are about 8 other families who will also be going to Osaka for a chunk of time after we arrive. I'm not sure which of the families we'll connect most with, but we'll have some built-in friends already.

    Speaking of friends, I have a few friends that I met in Lexington that will be living in Osaka when we are there. I was playing Ticket to Ride Japan with "Sunny" back in April, and I asked where she was from in Japan on the map game board. She pointed to where she was originally from, but she said, "But when we return next month, we'll be in Osaka."  "WHAT? That's where we'll be in October!" So we're planning on connecting in Japan!

    Another one of my friends is from Osaka, so she has given me lots of recommendations. Her mom came to Lexington to help with her new grandbaby for 3 months, so I have gotten to know her mom here. And then she'll be going back to Japan around the same time we are. We already have plans to have a "takoyaki party" and meet up at a park together!

    Looking back, I see God weaving together all these details to pave the way for us to be in OSAKA!

Why...? series

Why 2.5 months?

    When we first started dreaming of living short-term in Japan, we were thinking one year. At the time, I was teaching in a traditional classroom, so I planned on taking off a year. But as we got closer to that magical time when our youngest son was four, one year felt overwhelming. What about our house here? Could we swap with someone? How would that work? Would we just be in a furnished house there so we wouldn't have to pack as much? Not to mention, our sons weren't thrilled about being gone from their friends and from our church for that long.  We realized that we'd rather plan for a few months and actually do it than dream about a year but being so paralyzed it never actually happened.

    So one year got shortened to "maybe 6 months" (although the tourist visa is only 3 months) or "maybe over the summer" (although the summers in Japan are unbearably hot).  

    Eventually, 2.5 months was settled on because of the circumstances regarding our way there and the timing of our way back.  When the October 2 cruise option with Worldschooling Journeys opened, I knew it was something to seriously consider. So that set our date on the front end.  We had always said we'd wait until our youngest was four. Chance will turn four on the way over!  And then the boys wanted to be home by Christmas, so that set our end date. We'll fly into Indianapolis on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas morning with my mom in Indiana before driving back home. So it turned out that our length of time in Japan was kind of decided for us through these circumstances. And I think 2.5 months sounds great! It's long enough to really dive deep into a city and live like locals (well, as much as possible!) instead of flitting around on a frenetic itinerary.  But it's not too long.  There's FOMO (fear of missing out) either way.  Yes, we will be missing out on some things here, but if we never go, we'll miss out on this dream to live overseas short-term.

Why...? series

Why cruising to Japan?

    I used to say we were taking a boat to Japan, but one person was picturing a catamaran and another was envisioning a cargo ship. So, although Chance still refers to the "big boat", yes, it's a cruise.

    I'll admit, at first I was a little hesitant in telling people we're cruising to Japan. It sounds extravagant and...expensive! But actually, the cruise to get there is cheaper than our flights back home! We've done one other cruise as a family, and each one of us LOVED it! It's like a choose-your-own-adventure. Everyone can eat what they want, do the activities they want, relax as much or as little as they want...This cruise is 3x as long as our 5-night Caribbean cruise, plus we're adding a person (Chance stayed with grandparents last time), but only $1000 more (total, for all of us).

    As I mentioned earlier, we're on the cruise as part of a worldschooling group of 29 families. We can be together as much or as little as we want, but this gives us all a built-in friend group. There are 50+ kids of all ages (but a ton of 12 year old boys for Calvin to pal around with). I have been in a group chat with the parents, and I'm excited to meet them soon! 

    Here are some other benefits to cruising over...

• arriving in Japan with no jet lag!
• crossing the International Date Line at sea!
• really grasping the vastness of the Pacific Ocean
• 3 meals/day - buffet or formal dining room
• pizza and quesadillas and ice cream whenever!
• kids club to check the kids into
• nightly shows (magician, comedian, musicians, etc.)
• 3 ports in Japan (2 in northern Hokkaido and 1 at Mt. Fuji) before arriving in Yokohama
• older two sons getting some freedom (with limits!) on a cruise ship
• finding ducks that passengers hide!
• making memories as a couple and as a family
• pools, ice-skating, laser tag, waterslides, etc.
• our ship Navigator of the Seas is a sister ship to our previous one (Mariner of the Seas), so the boys are excited to already know the layout and that there's a Windjammer buffet

    Yes, it will be a lot of At Sea days (no stops between L.A. and Japan!), but I've heard that with this built-in group, the sea days are where the magic happens!

    So the real question is not "Why cruise to Japan?" but "Why not cruise BACK from Japan?" Well, the same ship does head back to L.A. in May after wintering in Singapore, but the boys insisted on being home for Christmas. Maybe next time?

Why...? series

Why Japan?

    I loved my college experience at Asbury. Maybe a bit too much--because as appealing as study abroad seemed, I couldn't bear to miss out on a semester of college life.

    But looking back, that's one of my biggest regrets from my college years.

    Early on in our marriage, I shared the idea of traveling internationally as a family, not just on a weeklong trip but getting to really experience the country. I would have gone to any country. Lucas, however, was interested in one country: JAPAN.

    I have a special place in my heart for Asia. In 2003, I had signed up to teach English for 6 weeks in China. The SARS outbreak in China changed our plans, and my team was shifted to Vietnam. Then less than a week before we were supposed to leave, we found out that our visas had been denied, so the team leaders scrambled and found us spots in Thailand. So, I've flown over the Pacific, spent time in the Hong Kong airport, taught for over a month in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and crossed the border in Myanmar and Laos.  I had always wanted to be a teacher, but after this experience, I set my sights on teaching at an international school in China when I graduated with my education degree. 

    During my junior year, though, I became heavily involved in a church in Lexington, Kentucky. Lots of exciting things were happening there, and upon graduating, I decided I wanted to stay in the area so I could continue volunteering at this church. Two decades later, my life looks very different than I thought it would. And at times, I've wondered if I made the right call by staying in Lexington. But God has a funny way of bringing things full circle in His master weaving.

    

    First, a worldwide pandemic similar to SARS from 2003 but on a global scale caused a dramatic B.C. (before Covid)/A.C. (after Covid) turning point for our family. I quit my teaching job I loved to stay home to homeschool our boys. And to make it financially feasible, I started teaching English to kids in China through VIPKid. I worked crazy hours (4-9am and also late at night), but it was a beautiful fulfillment of my dream to teach kids in China (just didn't imagine it would happen this way). Also, in part because of my contribution through my VIPKid earnings (and also because of Lucas working so hard!), we were able to pay off our 30-year mortgage in 10 years! To God be the glory! Also, because of homeschooling, we're freed up to be able to travel more flexibly.

    Second, although Japan was not on my radar, Lucas was incredibly interested in the gaming culture and food of Japan. So, Japan it is! We first started dreaming about a family adventure in Japan back in 2018ish, so for awhile I've been dabbling half-heartedly in learning Japanese and making Japanese connections. But ever since we booked our ticket over there (last November), I have kicked into high gear! I've been learning the language like it's my job! And I was praying for one Japanese friend for me to connect with. Well, God has opened the floodgates on that request and has given me dozens of Japanese friends! In January, I started volunteering with Friendship International, which has women gather every Friday from 30+ countries. But the Japanese by far are the largest contingent -- over 100 Japanese women! Turns out, the largest Toyota factory in the world is right here, which not only brings Toyota workers but also a bunch of feeder businesses (parts for Toyota, robots for Toyota, interior for Toyota, etc.).  

    So here I was with a heart for Asia but bemoaning the fact that I was stuck living a mediocre life in boring Lexington. But now, I see God's hand at work in planting me here. For such a time as this. 

    And in case you're wondering, I now love everything about Japan, even though I haven't been there yet! I love the food. I love the language. I love the culture. I love their way of doing things. And everyone I've talked to who has visited Japan has absolutely loved it. I can't wait!

Why...? series

Why worldschooling?

Why worldschooling? What IS worldschooling anyway?

    One definition is "a form of education through travel, global experiences, and real-world learning." When we go to Japan, we won't be lugging over a bunch of textbooks and workbooks. Instead we'll embrace the educational philosophy, "The learning is in the living."  We'll be learning the Japanese language and the Japanese culture and gaining worldview-shifting experiences.  The main writing they'll be doing is keeping a journal to help preserve their memories (and maybe occasionally being a guest writer on this blog!)  

    When we first started dreaming of going to Japan, I was still teaching in a traditional classroom. We figured I'd quit my job for a year to homeschool in Japan for a year before coming back.  But now that we homeschool, we are even more freed up. We aren't doing a co-op this year, and Carter won't be doing any dual-credit classes until spring semester.

    The agency that we booked our cruise with is called Worldschooling Journeys. I had joined their Facebook group several years ago and had a case of wanderlust at all the options available! Many cruises and also land trips. On their trips, they don't schedule set-aside "learning time." They leave it up to the parents' discretion, but many don't force any workbooks on the kids during the trip. And for some, this isn't a one-and-done trip -- many have sold their homes and "worldschool" full-time. I don't necessarily think that is in our future, but I'm looking forward to conversations on the cruise about how families do this. Financially? Sanity-wise? Educationally? There will be several from the cruise who are going to Osaka for several weeks afterward, like us. At least two families are heading to Vietnam for January - May (who does that?!). And at least three families are staying for a month in Japan then flying south to Auckland to hop on a transpacific cruise back to America. We may not be THAT crazy (yet!), but we are prioritizing something that most people only dream about.

Why...? series