For years, author Christy Shriner Richards had dreamed of traveling. Not the two-week family vacation type of travel, however. She wanted to immerse herself in a foreign culture, spend enough time to get the real deal and the feel of the local people and their beliefs. Richards’ idea was to throw herself all in and go to another country for a year. In Taking a Year Off, she shares her story of a dream come true.

Covering everything from preliminary research to the actual experience abroad, Richards narrates how she; her husband, Gordon; and her youngest teenage daughter,...

For years, author Christy Shriner Richards had dreamed of traveling. Not the two-week family vacation type of travel, however. She wanted to immerse herself in a foreign culture, spend enough time to get the real deal and the feel of the local people and their beliefs. Richards’ idea was to throw herself all in and go to another country for a year. In Taking a Year Off, she shares her story of a dream come true.

Covering everything from preliminary research to the actual experience abroad, Richards narrates how she; her husband, Gordon; and her youngest teenage daughter,...