We can’t have a (re)launch party without friends, right? Please meet my friend and blog designer, Kristin Bernazard, from A Dropped Pin Life. She’s been a gift to me and I know that her brave yes to moving her family to the Persian Gulf to live in Abu Dhabi will fascinate you.
Kristin was gracious enough to let me celebrate and interview her. She too, has “begun again” and is reshaping life thousands of miles from her comfort zone.
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Kristin’s son, Maddox, at the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
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What obstacles have you faced? What are the complications?
Moving your family of four across the world, leaving your time zone and your comfort zone, is not for everyone. There are hundreds of obstacles that will come up, physical and mental. In your mind you hear voices of “this is crazy” and then you show up to get a visa and now we don’t have the right paperwork and they can’t understand English. The obstacle to keep hurdling over is your own most of the time, because if you can take a big jump knowing that this is what you’re supposed to do, that we’re in the position God has placed us in (even if you’re not sure why yet), then you can stop jumping over the hurdles and just live your best.
How has this impacted your family?
THE biggest reason we decided to move to Abu Dhabi, is because of family time. Tony was spending 3 hours a day in his car, commuting to and from work, plus his 8+ hours of work. So yes, he leaves at 7am and get back somewhere around 7pm. As you can imagine or probably even relate, that leaves very little time to spend any time, let alone quality time, as a family. When he got this job offer he was told he’d work no longer than 8 hours a day and we could find a nice area to live with a 30-minute commute each way. Not only has that happened, but he’s more than doubled his vacation time, actually has sick time, and there’s just tons of holidays over here in the UAE. Pretty much work went from being his life, to being a PART of his life. Naturally, our family has never been closer, the kids have never been happier. Of course we miss our family and friends, grandparents, cousins…but there’s something about being happier as a family of four that I can’t describe in words.
How has this changed you?
I think the move has completely transformed all of our lives, but evidentially and quantifiably mine the most. I went from working a 40-hour a week job, to being a stay-at-home homeschooling mom…and I love it! I never thought I’d GET this opportunity, and I’m really taking it all in and living in it for as long as I can. I’ve had so much more time to work on myself. I always had a hard time balancing wife, mom, employee, friend, that adding in eating right and exercising was always too hard to make it a habit. Since I left my job in April I’ve lost 15lbs and have established the nutrition and exercise routine to keep it off. I’ve also had more time to spend in prayer and studying the Word of God, which bleeds over to so many parts of my daily attitude and overall character.
How does your faith influence your decisions?
Faith is everything for us, it’s what we say we base our lives off of and it’s actually what we DO base our lives off us. As someone who’s worked in ministry, lead small groups and Bible studies, gone on mission trips…all of it has been a reflection of how our family operates which is we always live out of our comfort zone. I’ve heard countless times that God cannot grow us unless we get uncomfortable. Tony and I are definitions of that and our prayer is not only do we say that motto, but people see us living out that motto. Living out our faith in God, knowing that HIS plan is way better than anything we had in store. Before we even said “yes” to the job, and the move, God was writing our story and weaving in beautiful people, moments and signs for us to only affirm that we were on the path we were meant to be on. Even if it did look hard and difficult.
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Bernazard family on the beach in the Persian Gulf.
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Book that has inspired/helped you?
One of the hardest things about leaving Atlanta was leaving my friends. I had never been a friend girl. I had two friends in high school and a few in college, all of who I appreciate, but Facebook friends is kinda where we’re at. When I got married and started to move around, I found one friend, who will always be my friend, but we ended up in different states. So now, I’m in my mid-twenties with no friends in a new city. I remember flipping my attitude, and instead of thinking ‘Gosh, people suck, girls suck’ ,I decided I was going to give it ALL. I had to TRY and make friends. And it worked. I had never had so many friends, literally friends who were praying for me, in my day-to-day, full calendar of girls nights, date nights and family BBQ’s. It was perfect. Leaving them hurt me, and I know hurt some of them too. One of the beautiful people that God put in my path was a women who would become my friend here in Abu Dhabi and she handed me a book called ‘Never Unfriended’ by Lisa-Jo Baker that I just needed at that moment. If you’re struggling with finding friends, keeping friends, moving away from friends…read this book!
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Isn’t Kristin just wonderful? I love how she is so deeply intentional with family time. With bravery and faith, she’s stepped boldly into a dropped pin life, and I love watching them chase after their family dreams. Check out their Facebook page and follow their adventures at Dropped Pin Life.