Seizing the Day.....Why We Are in Japan

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  One of the cultural aspects of our church is that all young men between the ages of 19-21 who are living the commandments to the best of their ability are asked to serve a mission for the church.  My husband, Raymond, served his mission in Fukuoka, Japan.  He lived and worked in Japan for two years and came to really love the culture, the people, the food......everything.  This extraordinary experience became a part of who he is.  Japan became a part of who he is.
Two and a half years ago, Raymond began law school with six children in tow.  It's been hard for every member of our family, but we have a firm belief that anything obtained easily is cheap.  Anything worth obtaining is usually hard to achieve. 
Raymond has really enjoyed his international law classes, and wanted to take everything that the University of Wyoming had to offer.....unfortunately, they don't offer a large range of international law.  Recognizing this as a weakness in their class options, they created a semester abroad opportunity for those few students who choose to specialize in this field.  These students could spend a semester in Tokyo, Japan and attend Temple University.  The international law classes that the student took on the TU campus would be transferred to UW and work toward graduation.  Of course, Raymond wanted to do this as soon as he heard of the possibility.  He has always told me that when he left Japan at the end of his mission, he knew he would be back.  He has always told me that he wanted to take me there, to share with me something that he loves so dearly. 
Honestly, I didn't think we would ever go to Japan.  It's on the other side of the world, for pete's sake.  Most people just don't travel like that.  And, we have a lot of children.....seven, in fact.  They are expensive little things.  We would never, ever save the money needed for the two of us to be able to visit Japan.
And then, Raymond applied and was accepted into Temple University.  Then, he went to the student aid office and discussed the possibility of taking out enough student loan aid in order to have enough funds to take our entire family--all nine of us--to Japan for a semester.  And then, they actually accepted our budget plan. 
We had the money.  Sure, it was student loan money that we will soon have to repay.  But......WE HAD THE MONEY.
Holy moly.
This brought up a whole new range of questions and concerns.  Should we ALL go?  Maybe just Raymond should go....I could stay in Laramie with the kids.  It was only a semester.  Maybe it would be cheaper. 
We prayed.  We fasted.  We searched for answers.  What should we do?  Career wise, this was a great move for Raymond.  He needed to do this.  But what about the rest of the family?  What should we do?
We sorted through all the fog.  All the questions and concerns.  We needed to do this experience as a family.  Why?  Because.  Because we are a family, and should be together.  Because we should experience things that will help us grow together.  Because at the end of the day there were a million reasons why we should go and only two reasons why we shouldn't.
Those reasons were:
1. $$$$$$
2. It would be easier for the family to stay in Laramie.

And here's what we came up with:
1. The money.  We have always lived within our means.  If we don't have the money, we don't spend it.  Period.  Life has always moved on.  But, in regards to this experience....we are already deeply in debt with student loans.  We have a plan to pay most of them off with the sale of our newly remodeled home.  New lawyers graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt all the time.  We won't have much at all after our home sells.  Being as we have no other outstanding debt, we didn't feel like the money was a reason to separate our family for a semester.  It is, after all, just money.  We'll be able to repay it. 
2.  Easier to stay in Laramie.  Yep.  Sure would be easier.  But, as I said earlier, we don't usually choose the easy way to live.  Things obtained easily are cheap.  This experience would be a great learning opportunity for all of us, and therefore would be worth the great effort.

So, we decided to go.  But then, a new reason for not going crept into our hearts.  Fear.  We were scared.  Scared to live in a foreign country. Scared of the unknown. 

We had to decide if we were going to allow fear to decide what our family did in regards to this decision.  We talked about it at length.  The kids were scared and didn't want to go.  I showed them the movie Dead Poet's Society (editing as needed for my younger children) and then we discussed some more.  I love this movie because it has some great life advice.

Seize the day.

Make your lives extraordinary.

This clip really hit home with all of us.  We only have one life.  Why not suck all the marrow out of all that life has to offer?  Yep.  I love this part of the movie.  It's one of my mottos for how I live my life.

So, we are "sucking the marrow" and are all going to Japan!!  Are we scared?  Yep.  Some people have even told us we are crazy.  We would agree. 

We're doing it anyway. 
:-)

This blog is my attempt to journal our experience.  Some posts will be more family-oriented.  Some posts will be religious-oriented.  Some will be educational.  I hope that you will be able to relate to some of it and learn and grow along with us.