What a year it was.  We rang it in with fireworks in a tiny farming village on the highest peak in our part of the Rhineland Pfalz.  We closed it out watching magnificent fireworks explode over the London Eye.  (and can't wait to share!) 

In between there was dancing

in Stuttgart, Ramstein, Munich…

and in Ireland.  Beautiful Ireland. 

There were parades big and small. 

There was a lot of football.  From little boys playing alongside the flight line to American pro football in Wembley Stadium

to English football in Manchester. 

There were great celebrations. Holy Communion…

Confirmations.   

As well as solemn memorials to a good man gone too soon for us.  

We cheered at a high school graduation and a college graduation. 

And then there were the road trips.  Lots of them. 

Luxembourg

Köln

Trier – a couple times. 

Some of them hiked the French rock formations along the old Roman road.  

another put her toes in the sand on the Italian coast

 

Others splashed along the Suffolk coast. 

We watched another cross the finish line in Prague

Prague, the city which stole Abbie's heart.  

And we boarded ship for the white cliffs of Dover, not a road trip but to  make a home. 

Where we pal around in Cambridge and London

From flowering rapeseed in Germany to the bowing fen grasses of East Anglia. 

We have been blessed to share this year's adventures with over a half dozen American students as well.  The one face you don't see in these pictures is our son Asher. He spent 2012 in Korea.  Major goal of 2013 is a picture of him next to his mama. 

 It's been quite a ride y'all. I count it as a singular blessing to have been able to share it with the people I dearly love near and far, face to face and via this screen.  2012 saw a lot of boxes and suitcases and smiles – as well as tears.  Life is full.  

It is never easy. 

It is always good.  

Life is good. Hold on to that.