It is often said that life is a journey and not a destination and that has certainly been the experience for both of us. Our journeys have taken us to nearly 50 countries, numerous schools and hospitals and a seemingly never ending upgrade in our job descriptions and qualifications. So when Stephen retired last month one might have thought that this would be the end of that upheaval. Afterall, retirement is usually associated with endings, withdrawals and retreats: the end of the road. 

However, to us this time represents simply a bend in the road, a different way of doing life with new challenges and opportunities and freedoms that will take time, effort and creativity to successfully maneuver our way through. 

Initially, we find ourselves venturing into a new and unfamiliar world of excess time, lessened responsibilities and an uncertain future. For the first time in our lives time does not equal money and our work can be motivated by who we are and what we value. We now have the opportunity to use the knowledge and experiences we have gained in a lifetime of service to others in new and interesting venues. 

God willing, we are looking forward to continuing a way of life that has always defined us and to use this time for engagement, growth, connections, contributions and increased possibilities for service. Retirement is a gift that has been given to us and one that we do not take lightly. One we hope to use for God’s glory.

One of the casualties of the hectic life we have chosen has been our blog. Once we were both working full time here in Cayman, our posts became spotty to say the least and two years ago we finally let it go in favour of attempting to maintain our thoughts through a journal which we continue to publish in hard copy. 

As we start on this new phase of our lives, we have decided to revive our website and return to blogging. For those of you who wish to follow our adventures online we will occasionally link our posts to Facebook. We won’t provide that link for every post, but you are welcome to bookmark our weblog and drop in from time to time to see what we are up to next. We can’t tell you in advance what that will be, since we don’t know that yet ourselves. That is the joy and adventure that awaits us in this new chapter of our lives.