Brother Immigrating

So this morning at half 3 the whole family said goodbye to my only brother Ian. He's gone to Autralia on a one year visa with the hopes of getting sponsorship to stay on longer within that year.
Now this isnt the first time he's gone for such a long period of time. About 4-5 years ago he did a year in Oz and then a year in New Zealand. This made it all the harder to say goodbye this time around, cause we knew how much we would miss him and how going away for a year could turn into a much longer period of time.
Its especially hard at times like Christmas. He missed 3 Christmas's the las time he was away and they were never the same. I was practically an only child!

It is probably the best thing he could do for himself though! He loves working in construction and has a lot of carpentry abilities and is an amazing stone mason, well not one who has trained full term, but a course done or not, his work speaks for itself!!
There's no work is the areas he likes here in Ireland. Theres no work anywhere here really! Only in I.T it seems and that wasnt him. I had to show him how to use facebook once upon a time.
It's sad that people have to go so far from their family and friends just to be able to find a job in something they enjoy.. and not just a job at a call centre or stacking shelves.

As hard as it is for us, and especially for him, not getting to see Rian's first birthday, I do wish him all the best and hope he doesnt find himself back here, or in any trouble anytime soon!

These things just have to be done. :'(

MommaKatie xo.