The last update a couple months ago (could it really be over two months ago since we've updated you all?) left somewhere around "we're (almost) buying land and going to build a yurt". It goes without saying, after this post's title, plans have changed.

In the process of considering the land and determining our budget we arranged to have a realtor come look at our house and give us an idea of what we might list it for next winter/spring. We were this close (put your thumb and forefinger together with a 1/4 inch separation) to buying a piece of unserviced land to build a yurt next summer when we found out the news: In today's market our house is not worth what we owe.

This was a mild shock and I suppose the news should have been expected given the economy. Needless to say, the market value of our home has definitely derailed the land/yurt plan for next summer. The world would not have ended if we had went ahead and bought the land but doing so would have tied up our resources more than we want. Afterall, we want freedom not be be burdened with a piece of land but no money left to buy a yurt in live in.

So, after crashing real hard (Renee has a hard time adjusting to sudden, slow or any change really) we came up with plan B. We had talked about this option already but put it on hold while seriously considering land/yurt.

Plan B - Maybe We'll Travel Instead

What about the house?

Although it was initially shocking how little our house is worth in this economy it didn't take us too long to bounce back with an alternate plan.

Damien's current working visa expires October 2011 and we are moving before that time. We don't have the option of waiting for years to sell our house before finally moving. We're not disappointed (honestly) about not buying the land and building a yurt next summer. We would still like to do that someday. But for next year we're making other plans and here is what they are:

We keep our house and rent it out. Our house has 2 suites - a regular family house (where we live) with a fully finished and renovated basement apartment. We will find a good property manager and rent both suites. We will keep the house as an investment and when the time is right we can sell it.

With the house taken care of we can think about moving anytime next spring/summer when we've found the right tenant and property manager. This option actually makes the planning easier. We don't have to think about when and if we'll sell. 

Plans for next summer

So once we leave Maine then what? Well, we'll need a place to crash. A cheap place to live while we initially launch "phase one" of making a family livelihood. Thank goodness for parents. Renee's parents have already offered their 30 foot camping trailer for us to live in for the summer on their property in Nova Scotia. I think they'd even let us stay in their house (wink). A place to just hang for awhile before moving to the Gaspe.

But we are also thinking that this "in between" time, before we settle in Quebec, might be the perfect time to live one of our family dreams - to travel across the continent with our children and/or do an extended backpacking trip.

Our goal is to build a livelihood that we can take anywhere. Or, have low enough living expenses that we can take chunks of time for travel and adventure. Or ideally a combination of both. Why not try that out next summer?

Freedom is what we want. Freedom to work at what brings us joy. Freedom to adventure. Freedom to spend our days together as a family. This traveling option gives us that so it's something we are seriously considering.

You know what that means, right? It means Adventure in Your Back Yard might be coming for a visit!

But as the title of this post says "all plans are subject to change". We are learning to hold these ideas in our hands and hearts loosely. To not get too caught up the emotion but to look for the open doors and walk through those while accepting others that close.

Blogging as a Part of our Plans

All along we have talked and prayed as a family for the right doors to open. We don't know the path we are to take but we know, with our whole hearts, we are to walk forward. And in walking forward the right opportunities will come our way.

In this update where I laid out our timeline for these two years I said that during these current months Damien planned to be making contacts, working on his resume and basically getting his name out there for on-line work. Though our long term plan is to build a family livelihood (ie: Renee contributing her creative skills and talent) to start off we're relying on Damien's experience and skills to earn our living as we adjust and figure out how to live and work together.

Our writing and photography are starting to open doors for us, taking us one step closer to a family livelihood becoming reality, not just a dream. I can't divulge too much of what's brewing right now but it's exciting stuff and it's coming our way because of our blogs and the on-line presence we have built.

When we started blogging seriously (ie: writing for an audience wider than our families) we made an intentional choice to focus on quality content and being authentic. We want to be the real deal. A family that doesn't just write about the outdoors and natural healthy living but a family that lives it.

We haven't pursued advertising on our blogs, mostly because we can't due to visa restrictions. Instead, we hoped that by building quality content for the long term our blogs would someday financially benefit our family, either indirectly or directly.

We are starting to see some of those indirect benefits even now and are excited to see what new opportunities will arise in the near future. Of course, as we are able to share more about these developments we will do so.

How Do the Kids Feel About This Change?

We've been asked by family members how the kids feel about this impending change in our lives. In two words, mostly excited. 

One of the biggest challenges for Brienne is the thought of parting with stuff. She is the family packrat. Though we have scaled back toys significantly we are planning to scale back further and move just the most important possessions. 

For Celine the disruption of personal space and the change of comforting routines is her greatest concern.

Laurent has the least worries about the move, as long as he's got his sketchbook and a pencil he'd be ready to start a new adventure tomorrow.

With the kids we focus on the positives of this change more than the work that must be done. We are also starting to talk about ways to find personal spaces and maintain comforting routines regardless of where we are - a tent, a yurt, staying with family, etc... This is new for us and we are going to grow as a family in this regard.

We also talk a lot together about what this move will mean for our family in terms of our collective desires to travel and have adventure before the kids are grown.

Up until this point our updates have mostly discussed what this move does for us as adults - livelihood freedom. What might not be clear (and now is a good time to set it straight) is that we want this livelihood freedom for the sake of our family life. Our goal is not to build careers but to build family.

Our plan is to fully support our children as they come into their young adult years and find their own paths for earning a living and being independent. We intend to do that by offering our skills, talents, gifts, strengths, and earning potential to help them meet their goals.

We want to participate with our hands, head and heart to launch our children's dreams and desires as they grow. We are super excited about this. We do not fear the "teenage years".  We anticipate it will be a time of industry, activity, and adventure. And making this change now will start to put those pieces into place. This is one of the reasons we feel the urgency to move and decided not to wait for our permanent residency here in the states.

The time is running out for the years left with our children. We need to make the most of them. Now. 

Our children know our plans to support their dreams, we speak of it often, so I think they look on this move differently than they might if we were simply moving for say, a better paying job. They know this move is part of their future, not just about opportunities for the adults.

Homeschooling is also in our favor in that our children are not closely attached to a school peer group. Family life together is the center of our daily life, not a school schedule or classroom buddies, so the kids haven't expressed the "normal" loss about leaving friends.

After writing these dreams and plans, private thoughts that have been mostly expressed in the safety of our family, I think "wow, people are going to think we're crazy". That's ok. We walk closer to that line with each new adventure.

News of our move will be made public first thing in the New Year after Damien has given notice at work. I won't have time to write another update here and my next moving update will be published "for all eyes" in early January at FIMBY. So stay tuned. We'll post a notice of that here as well.

It will be interesting to see how plans change between now and then.