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2018 Year Review

April 24th, 2019 No comments
In January we celebrated 15 years of marriage
We went to the Bay Area and got to see Apple, Google & Facebook
We had brunch with other Chevron employees that were in the Philippines with us
Family got together in California for the funeral of Grandpa Farley
Matt bought a new car
Attended a wedding in Cebu, Philippines
We had an 8 hour layover in Taipei
Mason played Simba in the play “The Lion King”
Girls night to watch Hamilton
Cousins get together to play Dungeons & Dragons
Neighborhood block party that Tia arranges
Mason’s YMCA baseball team
Poulson Family Reunion in Utah
We put our dream home on the market and it sold in a few weeks
Exploring the Philippines and making new friends
We participated in #LightTheWorld in buying gifts for people in the Philippines
Spending Christmas in Phuket, Thailand with friends

Farley family on the move

April 20th, 2019 No comments

In 2014 Matt started to look into what kind of career opportunities were offered by Asian Development Bank (ADB), since many of our children’s classmates had parents working for them on permanent expat assignments. One of Mason’s classmate’s father worked in their I.T. department, so we had them over for dinner and Matt asked him about working there. Matt then subscribed to the job postings and was curious to see how well their compensation competed with what we currently had. We have always been very happy with Chevron and how well they have treated us for 12 years. After spending 3 weeks in the Philippines for our 2017 Christmas vacation, Matt felt a strong pull to live in the Philippines once again. In the spring of 2018, Matt told me he was going to clean-up his resume and really put forth some effort in getting an interview with ADB. He told me not to worry about it, that we have a beautiful home that we had just built and moved into the previous year and that he had applied before to ADB, but never heard from them. I knew that if Matt really was going to put forth the effort to apply, then I needed to get myself ready mentally for the possibility of a move. I tried not to think about it since I had a fun road trip coming up with my sister for the summer. Well, that is when things started to really move quickly, while we were apart for 3 weeks. Matt was given a job offer on August 1. By August 8 we told them that we would accept the offer. Our “dream home” was put on the market on August 25 and we accepted an offer about 2-3 weeks later. Our house was all packed up on September 21 and we were on a flight to Manila on September 23. In less than 2 months we sold everything that we didn’t want/need in the Philippines and started a new career and school in another country.

Our “dream home” we sold after living in it for 18 months.
10 suitcases in one minivan, riding business class to Manila and after 18-20 hours of travel time we arrived in the Philippines.

When we knew that we were returning to the Philippines I quickly emailed the International School of Manila (ISM) to get our kids into school. Luckily there was space available for Kalani and Mason to start school on October 1. It was helpful that they are former students and that we were coming back with ADB. Blake was put on the waiting list for Pre-school 4 since there was no space available at that time. Kalani and Mason were able to jump right into school. Some of their former friends/classmates were still at the school and they knew where things were located so they had a pretty easy transition back to ISM. Many teachers told me that they are the most well-adjusted “new students” they had ever met!

Although we miss our friends and family in the US, we feel like this is the place that we are suppose to be at right now in our lives. Everything fell into place perfectly. And now our friends and family can come visit us in the Philippines!

2016 Year Review

January 27th, 2018 No comments

As the year comes to a close it is crazy and fun to remember all the adventures that we had.

At the start of 2016 we were still living in the Philippines and we had to say good-bye to our helpers.

We had a long flight to get back to the states. This was Blake’s first time to the USA.

I was able to be reunited with my two sisters and aunt. It is so nice that we all live near each other.

Kalani sprained her ankle at a friend’s house while jumping on the trampoline. Now she sprains it often.

Matt and I flew back to the Philippines to attend his co-worker’s wedding.

We got a black-headed python for a pet.

Limary parents came to visit in March.

9 weeks after our belongings were packed up in the Philippines, we received them at our home in the US.

Farley parents came to visit in April.

In May we were able to attend the University of Southern California graduation for my brother.

After the graduation, we spent a day at Disneyland.

Kalani was in the play “Suessical Jr.” She has since been in “Annie jr.” where she played Ms. Hanigan and “Elf jr.” where she was a police officer.

In June while my brother was visiting, we took a trip to Waco to visit the Magnolia Silos.

In June Kalani was able to attend Girls Camp for our church and she loved it.

In July we had a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family in Utah.

In August we went to Turkey for a few days.

After Turkey we flew down to South Africa to visit friends.

In September we got a cat.

Kalani played 3 seasons of volleyball at the YMCA.

The kids had a great time dressing up for Halloween and going Trick-or-Treating with their cousins through the neighborhood.

Kalani plays the trombone in a homeschool orchestra.

We ended the year visiting family in California for Christmas. It is an added bonus when your uncle is Santa!

Looking forward to 2017 and the memories and adventures it will hold.