Trip to Utah

For months we had been anticipating a trip home. As summer approached, school ended and Ben's workload waned, we started to finalize plans to fly to Utah. In May, we submitted our paperwork to have our 1-year visas renewed (we would need a new one-year visa and accompanying Luxembourg residency cards to get back into Luxembourg on our return from Utah).

After weeks of nothing, Ben paid several visits and spent several afternoons on the phone navigating government employees in an attempt to get information our visa status. 

Finally, we received word: 

Your visas won't be ready until September, they said. 

That doesn't make sense, Ben said. 

I'm trapped here, I said. 

13 Months

We've flipped! We're no longer counting months by how long we've been in Luxembourg, but by how many we have left. 

Occasionally, I start to panic and make and re-make a big list of all the things we need to see and do in the next 11 months and then I look at my kids and realize if we do nothing else but eat european chocolate chips and play at the park next door, we've done and seen and conquered and experienced more than I ever dreamed. 

End of the school year

I had more trepidation about sending Otto to a Luxembourgish preschool than I did about moving to a foreign country. In addition to fear, I had guilt. A lot of guilt. Who moves to a foreign country and then sends their smaller-than-average three-year-old to preschool (for the first time) in a foreign language every morning of every day and in the afternoons Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? I do. 

Lilly

Lilly Evans came to stay with our family for three months. She arrived on May 4 and left us on July 30. It was an incredible three months. I had a built-in best friend. We painted nails. We watched ridiculous movies. We ate a lot of cookie dough. We laughed. We cried. And we learned a lot about each other. 

One Year in Luxembourg

I'm sitting in a car. Ben is driving. And we are driving away from Utah. Away from family. Away from best friends. Away from beloved mountains and running trails. Away from Costco. Away from rooms where I brought my three babies home from the hospital and rocked to sleep. Away from conveniences I don't yet know are conveniences. 

But it isn't hard to drive away. It's been a long-time coming. We feel prepared. And the allure of Europe makes driving away really easy.