Hey expat ladies! Have you heard about the blog for expat women, Velvet Ashes? If you haven't you should hop on over there and take a look around. There are a lot of encouraging posts written by fellow expat women, just like you, living life abroad. I had the opportunity to guest post over there yesterday. I've posted a snippet of the post here, but you'll need to click the link at the bottom to read the rest.

I remember sitting in the breakfast lounge at the hotel, poking at my muffin. I don't know why I picked it up and put it on my plate in the first place. My stomach was churning but not because I was hungry. Years of mental, physical, and spiritual preparation had now come to these last few hours. We were a hop and a skip from the airport. Our bags were packed. The time to move abroad was now. Who can eat a muffin at a time like that? Not me, apparently.

I watched my sister-in-law hold my seven-month-old son as they looked out the window, watching the planes take off and disappear into the clouds. I glanced over at my dad who sat quietly to himself. There wasn't a whole lot of chatter amongst our family members. Everyone was preparing for the big transition ahead. This was no longer just a casual conversation over dinner. This was no longer just filling out forms and applications. This was it. Our family of three would be living on the complete opposite side of the world and we wouldn't be coming back for another few years.That was by far one of the biggest transitions we've experienced in the past three years, but it definitely wasn't the only transition... [Read the rest of the post here].