The Big Move

Many of you have probably heard that we are moving this week! Luckily, we are moving less than a mile from where we live now. This was a last-minute decision. We were going to sign a new 6-month contract on our house in a few days, but decided that wouldn't be the best idea. We are sad, because we LOVE our house, but we really feel like this was an answer to our prayers. 

I've failed to mention that things have gotten really crazy here this semester. We received an email from the school during our holiday vacation, stating that we would be receiving $1000/month less than we did before. Apparently they no longer consider dependents when determining the loan amount that a student is eligible for. Because of this, the single students & married students will now be receiving the same amount of money to live on. Needless to say, this was a shock & the families here are not happy about it! Because of this, a lot of my friends have moved back to the U.S. with their kids & their husbands have stayed here in Mexico to finish school.

Being in medical school is hard. Being in medical school in a foreign country is extremely hard. We don't have state programs to depend on when we don't have an income (no health care, food stamps, cash assistance, etc.), which many U.S. students have to use to make it through school. To save on rent here, we would most likely have to compromise our safety & security. To live any type of American lifestyle we have to pay more for the items that we want. There aren't coupons & extra ways to save here. I could go on & on. 

Lincoln's cousin, Thomas, lives less than a mile from us here in Mexico. (We stayed with him & his family the first month after we moved to Mexico, until we found our own place.) Thomas's family is one of those who has had to split up for awhile, with Jenn & the kids living in AZ while Thomas stays here in Mexico. Thomas was going to move out next week & find an apartment to live in. Well, he had us over for dinner on Saturday, and one of us was joking that we should just all move in together. The more we talked about it, the more sense it made though! Lincoln & I went home & talked about it for about 10 minutes...& that's all it took for us to make a decision. We would still be able to live in a nice, safe area (in the same neighborhood we are in now) & we would save money by sharing the costs of rent, utilities, food, etc. with someone else. 

Anyway, that's the story! We are in the process of packing our stuff up, figuring out what we want to keep & sell, while Thomas & Jenn are trying to figure out what they need to keep & have Thomas bring back to the U.S. with him when he visits. It's pretty crazy! I'm worn out, of course, since I'm not feeling well. As I said before though, this will be a blessing for all of us. I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on. I'll post again when we get settled into our new home!!!