I am a really big believer that God has a plan & that the right thing will always happen.

On March 7, I broke out my journal for the first time in a long time to make a pros and cons list of staying in Europe verses moving back to America. While I’ve always known that this chapter in my life has an expiration date, there’s a certain magic in dreaming of staying forever in Europe. I wrote about how I need to shift my mindset back to the fact that I am only here temporarily, but how it would be nice to have just a biiiiit more time. Background: typically expat assignments at my company are 3 years long, however I initially expressed that I was only interested in a 2 year assignment (for some reason committing to 2 years felt a lot less intimidating than 3 years of my life).

Just a little bit over a week later on March 15, I was offered an extension on my assignment to stay through the end of May 2025 (instead of January 2025)!!! This came as a shock to me because my department already had a planned restructure for 2025, so I didn’t think there was even room for an extension. However the department is going to be having some internal changes and me staying a little bit longer will provide more stability and the chance to finish up on some of my projects. So now I get four more months of working and living in Europe! YAY!

I was really in awe when my boss asked me, I almost agreed to it on the spot! But then I was like OK Liv hold your horses, you need to discuss with Ben first. Honestly, I could’ve come home and he could’ve told me that he is already set to go home in January, which would’ve been totally fair. Instead, he was overjoyed, super proud of me, and excited to be able to play a second full season of hockey here. Although we both miss home, we realize that life here has a LOT to offer us.

Another exciting career-related thing that happened this week was that I met with Komatsu America to start the discussion about my future role upon returning home. They informed me that they will put together a full repatriation plan and I will know my start date, title, and all the other details by the end of this calendar year! That was such a relief to hear, considering 2025 feels like one big question mark to me. There is so much to figure out and sometimes I get overwhelmed if I think too far into the future. Next year is going to be filled with lots of life changes, but I am so thankful to do it all alongside Ben and the support of family and friends.

Shorter blog post today, but wanted to share this excited update with everyone following along ❤