hello 2014

Well. 2013 was kind of a doozy. There was a morning in June, right in the middle, that just about exemplifies it.

Matt had been traveling almost non-stop (it wasn’t really, but felt like it) and I was worn out, but looking forward to our fun, fun, fun five-week trip home for summer. I got up one morning, ready to rouse the kids and start the day, gave my email a quick look and found a message from Matt. We were moving back to the US. We had known this was a possibility, and had been in limbo for weeks, knowing the deciders were at 50/50 on the issue. Now it was real and I’d only have a week to prepare the kids and say goodbye.

Kids started getting up, and within a five-minute period, two more things happened and I can’t for the life of me remember which came first. The ground started to shake, enough to wake the remaining sleepers in the house. And a mouse ran across my kitchen floor. I am a pretty calm person, but hello adrenaline! My heart was racing and I was more than a little awake.

With my nervous system on overdrive, I got the kids out the door (we wouldn’t tell them about the move until that evening) and started to think through everything that would need to happen that day, that week, that month, and the rest of the year.

And here I am, having weathered all of that. Stressful, yes. But we are so blessed to have everything we need and more. I have been “in the thick of thin things” for months — paint colors, rugs, furniture shopping. (Thanks Mom, for that insightful phrase — I’ve checked but can’t attribute it.) I am well aware that my stress can mostly be attributed to “first-world problems.”  And I still haven’t figured out what my everyday life is supposed to look like back “home” in Utah. But it’s a new year, all is well, and we are ready to take it on.