In 2021 we had a long furlough in the USA. It was a year later than it was supposed to be due to the pandemic. So it was longer than normal, and as such it ran during a time when Jane was ‘in school.’
Doing 3 months of travel while trying to keep a 6 year old on track with school (bearing in mind we are not homeschoolers, and have no ambitions to be) was one of the hardest things we have done in our time with MAF. Harder than living in Lesotho…
So, when another 2 years rolled around and we were due for a short furlough again, we decided to make it as calm and low stress as possible. Thankfully we were able to plan it to be in Jane’s winter (Northern Hemisphere Summer) vacation from school. That’s already a good start. Also, she is now 8, and 8 feels like 10 years more maturity than 6. Next, we planned to make our furlough away from Lesotho short: 6 weeks away, and focused on time with family. We then decided to travel as light as we could, and not plan to do too much while away. Activities add up quick, so planning to do little still means we are pretty busy.
A few days ago we arrived back in Lesotho. And we are excited to say that we feel like we achieved our goals. Our time away was very restful, low stress (besides airline travel, which seems like mess at the moment), and really enjoyable.
We began our time away with a few weeks in Texas, visiting Emily’s mom and stepdad. We had fun on the farm. Jane and I experienced our first rodeo and 4th of July Parade!
From there we went up to Minnesota, and had a great time with Emily’s dad and stepmom. A few days at their family’s lakeside cabin was a highlight, swimming and boating and having a fun time.
Our next stop was to join my family in the UK for 2 weeks. Our family had an amazing time seeing the country my mom grew up in, experiencing London for a few days, as well as the beautiful countryside in the New Forest.
Jane and her Corgi princess in London
Back in Lesotho, having missed the majority of the very cold months, we are grateful that this time away was as restful, fun and meaningful as it was, and that it was a huge improvement from our last furlough experience.