THE COUNTDOWN...

Hello, Dear Ones! We have 22 days until we leave Alaska. I can't believe it. It has been so stressful waiting for all the plans to fall in place, but as of today we have passports back, travel booked (although now we're going on the 17th instead of the 20th like we had planned), and official orders will be in tomorrow. I've made a connection (accidentally--or not) with a possible home for us to rent in Germany, which could bring a lot of peace. We sold Vince's truck, my cute little red car, the 4-wheeler and it's trailer, and the snowmachine. Have a lead on the piano, and hired someone to manage our property as a rental. I've tried to go through stuff and get rid of things and decide what to put in storage, but I keep getting sidetracked! Maybe I need some of Ephraim's adhd meds??? I guess it will all happen whether we're ready or not, but I had hoped to make it more organized so that it will be easier to unpack on the other end. Oh, well. I've also had to take care of lots of appointments, and get all of our Christmas gifts ready to mail or pack to take with us. We will fly into DC, spend two days with Heather (my sister) and her family, and then have Christmas in Pennsylvania with Vince's folks. We will fly from DC to Frankfort on the 27th. We have a whole houseful of company for Thanksgiving (they all bought their plan tickets before we found out we were moving!), and so much to do, but...I WILL SURVIVE! Maybe I need to listen to that song. There will be 17 of us here on Thanksgiving Day. One guest arrived today and flies out on Sunday, and four of them fly in Thursday morning and leave Monday. I'm putting them all to work! At least maybe someone will watch Sophia and Noah so they don't do much more destruction. I'm posting a photo of a SMALL portion of Noah's latest handiwork. No, it's not as bad as it looks. It's much worse. I'm getting so busy with all of the kids and the move details that I'm hardly allowing myself to grieve. I am so sad to leave Fairbanks and our beautiful home and all of our wonderful friends! The MEDDAC Support Group gave me a lovely farewell party last week. This has been a great group, and I've gotten quite close to a few of them. I have gotten lots of emails this week from the ladies in my quilting group, Threads in Motion. There are about 10 of us, and we meet at someones house once a month and have weekend retreats three times a year. They are all phenomenal women, and very talented artists. I kind of lucked into this group through my friend! One lady sells her wall quilts for as much as $10,000! They are all considerably older than me, lots more experienced, and wonderful teachers. I've learned much from every one of them. I will miss them dearly. It will be so interesting to go from our little old Fairbanks to a busy metropolitan area. I'm looking forward to better weather and lots of good shopping! Our family has been working on some German words and phrases. Ben and Ammon are in German this year. Ben has an amazing knack for it, and a great accent! I am going to enroll in a class when we get there. I'm sad, apprehensive, and excited...all at the same time. Hope I don't spontaneously combust! I don't know how many posts I'll be able to write for a while, so I'm going to wish you all the merriest Christmas, and a New Year full of bounty. I love and miss you all so much! You have a standing invitation to visit us in Germany, which I hope more of you will take advantage of than you have while we've been in Alaska!

Andrea