Big thoughts and big news have taken all our waking hours lately. Come evening I sit down here and mean to share it all and then…..nothing.  I am all thought out by then.  There seems to be too much to say or not enough to make sense.  So I ramble on a bit just like this and then delete and go to bed.  Lather, rinse, repeat and you have a fair picture of the past few weeks.

The big news is that our life is changing again. It isn't entirely unexpected.  In a few months our visas here will expire and we turn into a pack of Cinderellas. We knew this.  We have been planning for this.  In many ways it is time.  We have a new daughter-in-love and are anxious to be closer.  Our older daughters are looking at the next steps in their lives and those steps are leading across the ocean. We miss our sons. This particular adventure has stretched out longer than we first expected and we have wrung every drop of joy from it we could. There are no regrets.  But there are going to be new chapters, new places, new experiences. Lots of new.

This past year has been one long mystery.  We knew transition was coming but as the months unfolded it became clear that it was not taking shape as expected. Going into this European journey we fully expected to return to our very familiar life in Colorado eventually. In retrospect it was that safety net that gave me the courage to step on the plane and go. While we dove head first into new places and experiences, there was in the back of my mind a forever, never-changing place that would follow.  As time passed and that white-knuckled grip on "familiar" has loosened slowly and steadily I had a sneaking suspicion that God had another plan.  

Turns out He definitely did.

There have been nudges along the way that this was more than just a little foray in adventure. Rather it was to be a way of life that was to extend beyond Europe for some time to come.  Without belaboring all the ways the pieces fell together I can tell you that we are heading to snowy peaks of Utah in a few months.  Once again, we are not certain for how long. We are still sorting out short-term logistics.  We have accepted a position there but now are working out where we will live, who is coming with us, where people are going to college next year.  

There may not ever come the day when I can string together a series of in-depth essays here and really, that is ok too. These pages record the overflow of a full active life.  I have, however, had a lot of random thoughts about change, big family living, and what is transient and permanent. This involves a ton of organizing, planning, decision making. We have to be exceptionally tuned-in to each other to ensure everyone makes the transition as peacefully and positively as possible.  It seems like these things might also speak to others out there so they will find there way to these pages and this is the prelude of sorts, explaining.

Life, it's a wild ride. It's unpredictable, it stretches us far and wide, makes us brave if we let it, and rewards with great blessings we just can't see til we are right upon them.  I wouldn't want to miss it, so I am buckling up for the next stretch.

Let's do this, shall we?