Moving From Canada to Panama: Why we decided to quit our jobs and move our Family

How the heck does a super-ordinary family go from living the normal Monday to Friday 9-5 life to literally selling their whole lives with 2 kids under 4 and move abroad? Well, that is a darn good question that we sometimes still ask ourselves, to be honest. So let’s start at the very beginning….

Who we are

I traveled/vacationed a lot with my family growing up and I always loved it: the ocean, the sun…oh the sun. The different cultures, everything about traveling I loved. It has always been my dream to live in the tropics, but I never thought it could be reality. Growing up we moved around a lot and by the time I turned 20 I had lived in 2 provinces, 8 houses and 5 towns. Lots of people may have hated the moving, but I truly loved it. New people, more friends and many adventures. Zach, on the other hand, traveled as a kid but lived in the same town and house his whole life. He had never really wanted to move or live anywhere else once he got to Alberta. We came from very different backgrounds in that aspect.

The World Changed

Then 2019 happened and man, did life ever flip upside down.  Everything we thought we knew about life changed and we started to question what we were doing with ours.  Both sets of parents lived in other provinces, which has always been difficult.  Having them nearby was a desire for both of us, so we decided we were going to move to BC.  We started praying and applying for jobs. Every time we thought a door was opening, it would be slammed shut in our face. It didn’t seem like we could make anything happen. So we took a step back and kept on praying for guidance and a clear sign about our future.

After a few months, I started talking with Zach about maybe leaving the country, starting over. I wanted us all to be together. To stop trading out time for money. I also knew that moving abroad was something my parents had also always wanted to do. This idea was ‘killing many birds with one stone’ so to speak. The bonuses seemed endless! We would get a set of grandparents, we would no longer share our time with employers, be living a dream and give our kids an experience they may never have otherwise.  This seemed to be the perfect time to just go for it.

Not on The Same Page

Well, I immediately got shut down. There was absolutely no way in heck that Zach was ever quitting his job and leaving the country! So began the next 1.5 years of me subtly and not so subtly trying to convince Zach that this was a good idea. I truly felt that this is what God was calling us to do, even if it sounded crazy to everyone, including myself at times. So I researched, researched and researched again all the different countries. Trying to figure out cost of living, VISA and residency requirements, quality of life, and anything I thought I could use to convince him. I even built financial spreadsheets supporting my idea, to show that we could actually do this. It was an exercise in patience. I kept praying that either his heart would change or if I was wrong my heart would change.

Then that crazy day came when he said, “let’s do it.” I thought I was ready to hear him finally say those words, but when he actually said them, I wasn’t prepared for the shock and fear I felt.  I don’t know about you, but it’s scary when something you only ever dreamed of can become reality and you have to follow through with everything you said you wanted. All of those reasons I had used to convince him to make the move, I now had to commit to and adopt for myself.  It had all seemed so unattainable, like it would never happen.  I had to remind myself why I wanted it so bad.

Everything Changed

And so began the process of making this idea a reality for us. We needed to choose a country that would potentially become our new home and, in doing so, we needed to sell our house in Alberta, Canada. This definitely put our commitment to the test.  Our home was our biggest financial asset and selling it would be a huge factor in our ability to move. So we called our realtor and told her about our crazy plan.  With her full support and encouragement we decided that night that we would go ahead and put the house for sale. What a whirlwind!  

The real estate market was crazy and houses were selling in mere days in the spring of 2022. The prices and demand were at all time highs and we had this special scenario where we could sell high and not have to buy high. We were able to get out while the getting is good, as they say. We would rent a home until we could move out of the country. We figured it was a good plan even if we got cold feet and decided to stay in Canada. We knew in our hearts the move was going to happen, we just didn’t want to say it out loud yet.

We are Committed

The phone call that the house sold truly changed the game for us and we felt so blessed. We had put the house up for sale and by the end of that week it was a done deal. The new owners of the house were amazing and they even bought most of our big furnishings from us. That was such a God send.

After all those previous “doors” had closed on us trying to move to BC, God was opening all the doors now. This gave us even more confidence in our decision. I guess we just hadn’t been looking far enough. Now begins the real process of moving, where do we even start?