You're What? Where?

Lots of people have been wondering about what we're doing at this point, so I thought I'd post an update.

Shawn's contract ends officially in Bahrain on April 30th. However, with all the leave he had left over, we packed up and were all together in the States on April 8th. One of the perks that was sort of written into Shawn's contract was the fact that we were able to claim tax-free status while working in Bahrain. The only catch is that you have to live 330 of 365 days overseas in order to enjoy this benefit.

Since Shawn's contract ended a little earlier than expected (not just for him, but for all the guys in his group), that left us 45 days short of our 330 required days.

SO, the IRS said we had to perfectly legal options: 1) Come back to the States and pay all of this year's taxes. That would amount to a substantial portion of the money we were actually able to save this year. Essentially, that would suck big time.

Option 2: Live somewhere overseas for the remaining 45 days and meet the eligibility requirements for tax free status.

It was sort of a no-brainer for us. "Hmm, pay all of our savings to the government OR go on an extended family vacation....?"

Shawn's family has a long history of living in Ecuador. His grandfather is a doctor who spent over 30 year in Ecuador as a medical missionary. Shawn's mother grew up in Ecuador. And now Shawn's uncle, aunt and cousin live in Ecuador. Since living in Ecuador would be less expensive than living in Bahrain, we opted to come here for the remaining time we have, or approximately 7 weeks.

Our scheduled date of departure is June 10th. After that, we don't know where we will be going or what we will be doing. We know God has a plan for us beyond these 7 weeks and we are trying to just relax and enjoy the respite.

I hope to be posting more about our Ecuadorian adventures. Thanks for reading! I hope you're all doing well!