With about a month to go, things are falling into place. My work granted me a one year sabbatical, I found a job at a clinic outside Wellington New Zealand in a town called Wainuiomata that serves ~80% Maori patients. I was accepted by the Medical Council of New Zealand and received a one year work visa.
We've found someone to rent the house (and take care of our dog for a year), sold a truck and various other things we didn't need, and got rid of a bunch of stuff.
Ben has finished his finals, James finishes school next week, and they're both excited to go, though neither one is excited about leaving their friends. They're also not excited about a short summer and then going to Winter in New Zealand and starting school August 1st. I keep reminding them their payback is a 6 week summer at Christmas time. It will be hard to leave friends and the long awaited summer here, though! We're going to have a going away party 4th of July weekend and hopefully will be able to say goodbye to many of our friends.
