Genesis of Think-Ahead

Today my son is 3 months old. Since he's been born, I've been thinking about the future a whole lot more. Where will we raise him and send him to school? What will the world look like when he has to begin competing for jobs? How involved will I be in his life? The years of "just living" seems to have come to an end, and much more "planning" is necessary going forward. Hence this blog: my journal of ideas for the future and a way to keep track of how plans do/don't work out the way we envision.

My wife and I have had 9 wonderful years of marriage and have travelled to many places... lived in four countries... made many friends... gained a global perspective. For this we are truly thankful. Now it is time to settle down and establish our little family. God willing we will have a second child in the next 2-3 years. Ultimately we'd like to move back to South Africa, although we are very happy here in California for the moment. We're taking our boy to meet his grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts in South Africa later this week. Hopefully being back in SA will bestow some wisdom upon us vis-a-vis timing and feasibility of moving back there. Current time frame for such a move is 2009 at the earliest, definitely after child #2. We view giving our children dual US/SA citizenship as a wonderful gift and something that may not be as easy in the future. In 2009 we'll also be able to apply for US citizenship unless the INS and US govt decides to change the laws. Quite possible given the times we live in.

And then there is work... I am just embarking on a new start-up venture with a US/Vietnam team and the new year should tell us if there will be funding and how successful it is likely to be. We have aninteresting team dynamic (perhaps I'll write a blog post about this some time).

Well, that's a start! My focus now is on wrapping a few things up at work before our much anticipated trip back to the motherland. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika!