This was like, last week, right?  Or not.  Baby Moira whose neonatal nurse sang to her, "Moira, Moira, more-a beautiful than all the other babieeeess."  (Hey, true story. I don't make the news, I just report it.)  My girl who was game for anything from day one. Brave, adventurous, caring. And always smiling. Always smiling. 

She was her sister's little shadow and our best ranch hand. She has climbed mountains (on two continents) and milked goats and bottle fed kittens and road ponies over the plains.  She has competed all over Europe and played the piano and stood looking out from atop the Eiffel Tower. She has renested baby birds and taught tiny people to dance.  And take selfies. 'Cause this is the twenty tens or whatever. and now…..

She's all grown up, folks.  It happened.  18. Which means that fully half our big, crazy group of kids are now adults.   Or alternately, that we have a whole 'nuther set to raise up.  I prefer that last interpretation, though honestly every step has been fascinating in it's own right, watching them unfold and grow.

She came to Europe as a very new teen. She leaves a high school senior with a whole new life ahead in a new country. Plans for the next year are still coming together. Whatever they are they will definitely be sparkly and exciting and big.  

She will always be my baby Moira though.  Always.  The girl with the smile. 

It's been about…

Remembering to leave time to scrape the windshield

Passing out sweets sent home from mass by Josephine

Goodbye hugs from our kiwi friends, now Brits, with promises to meet in the US next time

Hauling worn out stuff to the 'skip'

Reading in bed

Boys basketball

Roast in the crock pot.

thinking over the importance of a truly gentle spirit and all the implications of that for our children, our husbands, our friends

The Christmas season has officially begun.  We are now enjoying twelve days of no pressure fun.  That and mailing the stuff I didn't get mailed BEFORE Christmas. First up, Movie night - 

It's a Wonderful Life. 

In our Christmas jammies. : ) 

They've been keeping a very close eye on Santa's progress and just discovered he has reached the Netherlands.  Abbie Rose came running downstairs to say she saw a red light in the sky.  It was decided that was most likely Rudolph and small people had best hurry to bed. So off we go. : ) 

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wishing you a wondrous, magical Christmas. 

Did you hear that?  That was my life changing. It happened with so little transition it was like Forrest Gump running, running, running, across the country and then he just decides to be done. That's what happened with me and my phone. First I took social media off of it.  And I knew that meant social media wasn't happening much thereafter because it would mean being holed up in another room or not sleeping.  Then when moving my phone it slipped from my hand.  After all of 20in to the floor it gave up the ghost.  And I was… fine. I am not replacing it here and my only draw to replacing it later is the camera aspect. Time will tell. 

One thing that had been bothering me before this was a transition from reading whole books to reading articles and essays.  Both have their place but the latter was taking up all the precious reading time I had and leaving me with harried bits and bobs of news and exhortations keeping my mind aflutter. I have been carving out time to read and think and am happily 2/3 through Sense and Sensibility.  Alannah and I watched the BBC version.  Moira finished the novel for British lit a while back but I am rewatching the movie with her because it is becoming a metaphor in my discussions with young women lately.  My even younger woman, Tess, is meantime happily making her way through Dancing Shoes. She has lots of time before dealing with Willoughby's.  Instead she is bringing me her book daily asking what a plait is and arguing with her brother that Vera is too a real name for a girl even if she hasn't heard it before. 

In other news we are working on my poor sleep habits of late.  (no pun intended)  Going to bed earlier, tired or not, and getting up and staying up earlier.  It's working. Especially since British prose is much more condusive to even keels and deep sleep than CNN or its ilk.

Alannah got started on Christmas treats this afternoon since her boxes are almost ready to ship. She had some help…

This one subtitled "How we do Candy Crush…"

We have pretzel turtles and eggnog snickerdoodles now. There was a little drama with the darn chocolate chips seizing up. We saved them by adding melted butter and making peppermint brownies like these except it's more like peppermint sprinkles than chunks thanks to our zealous crusher.  See above. : ) 

And now there is that bedtime thing again. It's worth it.  

It has been a productive couple days thanks to my family. My husband took off yesterday so I could do some shopping.  Alannah rode along and we made a day of it.  We found some lovely clothes for Tess which have inspired me finally.  (Ready made wardrobe items for the school aged girl are generally UNinspiring, if not downright discouraging.) While shopping locally we found some lovely pieces in shell pinks and champagne colors.  Soft and elegant and sweet.  

 After clothes shopping we managed to find many of the gifts on my list.  As we drove home Alannah said I hear the bell ringing. I said what are you talking about?  She said, "The bells, on that thing you bought."  Still nothing for me.  "What? Am I the only one who believes?" she laughed.  Which of course meant Polar Express for the next bedtime book. Yes, that was a change of topic.  Husband usually asks me to preface these with "break, break" To which I usually say, " Keep UP people!" 

Today she and I helped the little girls put ornaments on the trees the guys set up this weekend. We didn't use all the decorations this year because that move date keeps creeping closer – literally, it's creeping closer. Still we are doing a little bit every day.   I told you, Austin Family Christmas. (Have you read it?  You must read it.  Take my word ok? : ))  

And that's it.  Am blogging like I am decorating, a little bit each day.  And am going to reload that winter reading list back onto the sidebar on that note.  

We decided to be proactive and make some things ahead this year.  You know, instead of waking at dawn and killing myself for 6 or 7 hrs straight before we graciously dine in thanksgiving. I realize to most normal people with some years of cooking experience under their belts this is not groundbreaking stuff.  For whatever reason it hasn't fallen together this way for us very often. 

We have three pies, a large pan of apple crisp, and one of the three smallish turkeys made.  Our European ovens are small so we are moving a small flock of turkeys (or rather a flock of small turkeys) through the kitchen to feed our friends and family.  Real dough turned out to be much more engrossing than play dough.  The three littles sat rolling and making and remaking dozens of small pastries while I made pies.  

The boys spent the afternoon vacuuming and cleaning their rooms. They are teen and preteen boys so this was not as idyllic as it sounds in print. It took allllll afternoon and the vacuum did not survive the venture. But it's mostly done and ready for their big brother's arrival tomorrow.  It still seems surreal he will be here in this kitchen tomorrow.  

Abbie asked if this was our first thanksgiving with Asher.  I said no but it's the first one in a long time, so maybe it's the first for her (that she remembers.)  She said oh, because when you were a little girl you had Thanksgiving with him.  Newly 6yo logic and time perception and all. ; ) We probably won't be so fortunate next year so we are all especially thankful for these few days we get. 

And you? Are you pinching pie crusts and drying out bread for stuffing?  

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?