We're Moving to Mexico!

Yep, you read the title of this post correctly: 

we're moving our family to Mexico.

Two months ago, Ben had an early Monday morning meeting with Head of his department that we'll never forget. He asked Ben to consider taking a management position in Daimler's facility in Monterrey, Mexico. While we had always considered moving our family overseas, we expected it to be to Germany. Mexico was not on our radar. However, as we prayed, discussed, researched and considered the opportunity, we realized that a move to Mexico would actually be a much easier transition for our family for several reasons: first, all of Ben's business trips will be back to Portland, so our family will be able to return every 3-4 months. Second, the travel time back home is only 8-10 hours...much easier with three children than a flight half way across the world. Finally, we think that learning Spanish as a second language will be a bigger benefit for our children (and us for that matter!) than German.

So here are a few of the details:

We'll be moving to Monterrey, Mexico. Never heard of it? I hadn't either. Here's where it is:
(photo link and credit http://www.worldatlas.com/na/mx/nle/where-is-monterrey.html)

We'll be leaving in Mid-March and will live in Monterrey for 2-3 years. We're hoping to be back by the summer of 2019. The current plan is to keep our house, so that we'll have something familiar to return to on our trips home. Monterrey is a city of 4 million, so we assume that it's going to be quite the adjustment for all of us "country and open space" lovers. We're hopeful that missionaries on furlough, or friends and family in need of a place to stay can use our home when we aren't in Portland for a visit. (So please, if you know someone that has a temporary housing need starting in March, let us know!) We're going to keep our home fully furnished and move with a minimal amount (clothing and some books and toys).

Ben and I took a quick visit to Monterrey one weekend in October, as we didn't want to make a decision to move our family to somewhere we've never seen. Our first order of business was to assess whether or not we felt safe; we did indeed feel safe and have done lots of research on the safety of where we will be living. The second question we had: will there be grocery stores to accommodate all of our specific food allergies? So, we spent our Saturday driving to and walking the aisles of grocery stores. It will be no problem. In fact, they have a wonderful grocery store with all the allergy friendly and organic food anyone in Portland would be thankful for...and they even have a Costco! Finally, we spent a lot of time driving around finding green space and parks for our family. It's a hard mental adjustment for all of us to imagine living in a huge city apartment building; Ben and I wanted to make sure that our children can still have an outdoor and active lifestyle. We found several beautiful parks, and as Monterrey is nestled at the base of a gorgeous mountain range, there is also hiking opportunities. Here's a view of Monterrey. (photo link and credit http://www.allmexico365.com/blog/tag/things-to-do-in-monterrey)
This was the view from our hotel in Monterrey

 Here's Ben and I at Monterrey's famous Fundidora park; it is a former foundry that was converted into an enormous, beautiful park that I think our boys will have a lot of fun at! We were thankful to find a park with lots of green grass and trees.

Making the decision to move our family to a foreign country has been one of the hardest things we've ever done. Truth be told: I've cried a lot. It's hard to picture leaving a home and community that we love. It's hard to imagine being that far from family. We are going to miss our spacious home on an acre of land. I grieve the loss of my favorite hobby of gardening: who is going to eat our raspberries and see my iris', lilies and roses bloom? The boys are going to miss our dog, Rosie, as we won't be able to take her to Mexico (anybody in the market for a dog?).

However, we believe that the adventures and experiences that will come from stepping out of our comfort zone will be invaluable to our family. Going through the decision process as a family has been wonderful for our faith, as will be the experience of living in a foreign country where we can't be as in control of our circumstances.

So, stay tuned. As we don't have many more details of our move than I just gave you, I don't have much more to share. Daimler is going to fly our family out in January or February to pick out housing. Meanwhile, we're spending our evenings trying to learn Spanish as a family, as not as many people in Monterrey spoke English as we hoped and expected. Please pray for us as we try to prepare our hearts and minds for a huge life transition. Also, if you know anyone who would like a dog in March, or would be interested in staying in our home short term, please contact me via email jmeruda@hotmail.com.