Depressing Year..what is next?

I have not written much in the last year...not much to say I suppose.   

Last April we rushed back from Nepal to help my parents who were quite ill.  Watching people you love at the brink for months just sucks.  Thankfully, they have recovered. Dropping everything to care for a parent just seems like the right thing to do. Maybe it is from spending so much time in Asia where this is normal, it seems like nothing special to me.  When someone says something about what a wonderful act it is to care for your parents, it really makes me uncomfortable.     

After my parents health began to improve, the financial world started shaking.  Our investments have been badly damaged by the market fall outs and we have really had to refocus on what we are doing with our lives. We went to check in with Sandy's mother for a few months.  She has been a gracious host.  We have had time to think about what we want to do next.

We are so lucky to have so many choices in life.   I think people are much more comfortable with structure and limits.  It makes making choices easy, less stressful.  When you can do so many things it is a much more daunting and, for me, an emotional experience to plan life out.  

A year ago, we thought we would like to go to Africa and volunteer.  It would be interesting, we could help others, and we could grow through the experience.  

Now we realize that we could do much more with my life if we invested more of myself in one area.   We are hoping to go back to Thailand and start a project working on schools.  I know that we can do big things and enjoy ourselves.  

Reality is that after the market downturn, our financial future is not set anymore; we need to work and save money again.  We love teaching, and we decided to spend a year teaching in Korea.  We will leave in March.  It is not what we planned, but it should be fun. and fulfilling. 

The year (or more) will give us time to plan the project we ultimately want to do on the Thai-Burma border. In addition, we will need to raise money for this and now is not the time to ask people for money.