Is this Heaven?

I thought maybe we'd run in the house and spin circles in the living room and breathe a sigh of relief that we were back in familiar surroundings. But, I admit walking into our house was a little underwhelming. First of all, we were locked out.

What we're looking forward to

Okay people. That's a given. Family. Neighbors. Friends. (But not my brother. He decided to move while we were here and I'm still not over it. The reality hasn't sunk in since I haven't been there to miss him at Sunday dinner.)

I look forward to getting to the gym and going to Zumba and seeing my family. And I am looking forward to a good long run in the sun. I had that here, too, but right now it's winter and I am craving some heat on my skin.

I can't wait to have a homegrown tomato. I really want to see my succulents in my window well and check out my garden. And I'm very nervous and anxious about getting my kids in to see the dentist.

And having Costco just one block away. I'm gonna get a Blend-tec twisty jar and I've got some recipes to make in it!

Henry is WAY happy to get back to Utah. He wants snow. I remembered the daily helicopter flights overhead about a week ago and I really got excited for when we get to hear that again and run outside to see it. (I'm excited for him to have his own room again. Sharing a room with him this year has been hard on my sleep level.)

Karly is excited about some restaurants. Taco Bell. Chipotle. Cafe Rio. 

Leo is excited to drive again. And I'm pretty sure Allen is looking forward to a 10 minute commute instead of a 90 minute train and bus ride.

But we are all filled with a nervous apprehension.

What we'll miss

Last year at this time we shared things we will miss about the U.S. Now we're reflecting on what we'll miss about Australia.

Karly said she was going to miss the

What we've learned

Things we've learned in the year we've stepped away from normal life in the US:

spending more time together, less busy schedules keeping everyone coming and going

spend more money on experiences, less money on possessions

spend less time cooking, more time eating leftovers

spend more time stepping outside your comfort zone, less normal routine

Busy is a choice. Not-busy is a choice. I've had to safe-guard my time because I can easily just duplicate my same ridiculous busy life here. Didn't move halfway across the world just to do the same thing here! And then spend all my time saying, "Oh, we should go see the Great Ocean Road, but there's never anytime time..." or "wish we could find a day to go see downtown Melbourne." Nope. I'm here for one year and one year only. All those time fillers and expectations from other people are not that important.

And there are people here that are a lot busier and complain a lot less about it. They work 12-14 hours a day and it's normal. They smile when you're together and "ugh, I'm so busy" isn't the first thing they say when you ask how they're "going."

Karly says she's learned so much more from this than she expected. "I think it's good to miss things. To see the world, not in a touristy way."

Our kids have learned to be together, without bickering. They still have their moments, but for the most part I think they've learned to see each other as peers instead of pests.

A fear I didn't know I had

Every morning I take my kids to early morning seminary (a church-run scripture study class for high school aged youth). I used to always go on a run or to boot camp during that time, but now that it's cold(er) I've opted to just sit in the car and read and do the exercise in the warmer parts of the day.

A few weeks ago I was parked under the street light on the corner so I could read my book. On the street perpendicular to me came a car very slowly. Then it stopped, with its headlights somewhat pointed right at me. I was uncomfortable. I looked to see if they were throwing

All-Together Playground donations

Millie is raising funds for the All-Together Playground being built in Orem, Utah. It's an amazing playground where children of all needs can play together with their family and friends. I especially love that it gives their tired care-givers and much needed dose of sunshine and time outside of the house. The city has really been great to move forward with this! A $20 donation will get your name on a fence picket for the playground. Please help her meet her goal. She wants to "sell" 35 pickets.

(Using the button above is to make it easy for you, but we found out that PayPal charges us 88 cents every time. We thought it was free for donations but we were wrong! Mom is happy to pay the 88 cents as part of her support for this project, but if it's all the same to you and you want ALL of your money going to the playground and not PayPal, just send $20 to minigingerbreadhouse@gmail.com. Choose "Send money to friends and family" and then be sure to specify what name you want on the picket, maximum 23 characters.)

These are our friends, Mindy Gleason, and her daughters, Presley and Charlotte (and Dad inside). Presley's family has been instrumental in making this playground become reality. We LOVE THEM and want to help!

Having a kitchen table

I had no idea how important a kitchen table was. When we arrived I was being practical and minimalistic and thought we'd just do without. But having a place to sit and eat together, do homework, work on projects, type on the laptop, sit and chat--so important. It's really the center of a home. I'm so glad to have one and to have learned this lesson. And for Yolanda for seeing our need and offering a table to us.

And it provided the opportunity for this little gem: