Since joining Steemit, I have been asked many times (@goldendawne, @ethandsmith, @enchantedspirit (also the one who gave me the post title)) why we chose to move our entire family to Panama. In this post, I want to establish a little background about our decision. In Part 2, I will go more in detail about the reasons.

Five years ago, if you would have told me that I would move my family to Panama, I would have told you that you were crazy. Years ago I did mission work in Toluca, Mexico and I felt, at the time that would be the last and only time I would be living internationally. I definitely never intended to move my children away from the great state of Texas.

In May of 2015, my husband presented the idea of moving when we were on a car ride to a wedding. I thought he was insane and I was furious. As a matter of fact, any time after he brought it up for months, I would not talk to him for the rest of the day. I knew he had been researching this for months before bringing it up that day, but I figured it was just a fluke idea, nothing really to worry about, an “exit” plan just in case we needed one.

Around that same time, we found out some life changing events had happened in our extended family. @panamapilgrim told me that maybe God would use that event to help me realize that a move to Panama would be good for us. Later on that year, that, along with a few other things, was exactly what happened. I was able to step back from the situation and see that Panama was possibly a good choice for us and we both felt like we had a “green light” to move forward.

In February of 2016, my husband went on a scouting trip to Panama. He went with his dad and they were there for about ten days. During that time, he was able to check out a few different towns, see a few different houses and meet with a lot of local expats to talk about the possibility of us moving there.

His initial goal was to start a corporation and open a bank account so that it would be easy for us to apply for visas when we brought the family for a visit. He was able to meet with a lawyer and start a corporation, but the bank account did not work out and would have to be done on the next visit. Another thing he did was find a property he really liked in one of the towns. The rest of the trip went fine and he enjoyed meeting other expats in the area.

When he returned home, he showed me pictures from his trip. These included the home that he really thought would work for his plan of building a neighborhood. At that point, he made an offer to the owner and we had a contract…all before the kids and I had even visited!

In April of that year, we were able to get a great deal ($203 round trip per person) on Spirit airlines to fly to Panama City. We scheduled the trip in less than two weeks and we were off. Upon arriving in the middle of the night, we tried to decide if we wanted to stay at a hotel or just drive the eight hours to Boquete. We decided to drive. It was the dumbest and the smartest decision all in one. The kids slept almost the entire way and woke up when we were almost there. Then again, we were incredibly tired after having been awake all night long as well.

The ten days we had in Panama went well. We enjoyed the nice weather and friendly expats. We got to see the beach and mountains. We were also able to acquire our resident visas during this trip and fly back to Texas with those in hand. We were now residents of Panama living in Texas.

We returned to Texas planning to get our house on the market and sell it as quickly as possible so we could move. The market was pretty good at the time, but due to various unusual circumstances, our home sat on the market for almost a year. We had to move to temporary housing in order to keep it clean. I could not imagine living in a home where we also homeschool with five small children and keeping it “show quality” 24/7.

April of 2017 was quickly approaching. This is when our temporary visas were to run out and we would have to pick up our permanent ones. We had to decide quickly whether to do a quick round trip, since our house had not sold, or move and leave the house in someone else’s hands. We decided it was time to load up our container with our stuff and move. We were able to find one way tickets for $103 each on Spirit Airlines. So in early April of 2017, we took the hardest step which was getting on that plane with all five kids.

We did not tell anyone other than people we saw and family that we were moving. So after arriving, I made a blog post to announce it to family. Needless to say, everyone was quite shocked.

Once we arrived in Panama City, it was time for a new adventure. We were no longer sad about leaving, but we were looking forward to getting to our new home, meeting new friends and being in a new country. We spent about a week in Panama City getting our permanent resident cards and Panamanian driver’s licenses completed, bought a car, being tourists in the city and learning our way around. Then we headed to our new little town and that is where our adventure began.

We have had a relatively easy time adjusting to life here. We were already used to homeschooling, working from home and being together a lot. That is one adjustment some families have a hard time with. The Panamanian people are very friendly. The expat community is amazing here. We feel as though we are closer to our friends here than some of our friends and family in the US. The sense of community among the expats is incredible. We know we can count on them for anything.

The first six months of the move included a lot of trips to the store to buy things we needed for the home. This included internet (which took six weeks to acquire), electricity, groceries, household necessities and the like. As we have learned, everything here takes longer than one would expect!

The kids are adjusting quite well. They enjoy having lots of space to run and play as well as new places to explore. My son just recently posted about how they go fishing and dig in Treasure Cave. We have some homeschool friends we miss in Texas, but they also love having friends here that they have a lot in common with. Our next adventure is Spanish immersion at a local Boys & Girls club since their Spanish is not taking off like I would like it to.

With all of that established, I am now able to explain why we chose to load up everyone and move to Panama.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

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Part 2