I have this warm fuzzing feeling now because my chickens are coming home to roost!  We picked Ari up at the airport last night and Ruthie is traveling around Israel and will be here in about a week.  Andrew and I have so been looking forward to having our whole brood together with us in Barcelona, and now it´s finally here.   With about 7 months under our belts, settling in to a very different daily rhythm – Eitan at a new school and doing great;  Andrew making inroads to expand Patient Power services in Europe; and my finally making the connections needed to stay busy with freelance projects in this timezone…this is the perfect time to relax and drink in the wonder that is our children being all grown up in so many ways!

It´s so amazing to see how each of our kids has truly come into their own – each with a very individual set of life experiences outside the things we did together as a family as they were growing up.  Ari is now working as a product marketing manager at Microsoft and it´s a hoot talking the lingo with him that really only those of us who have been there can fully understand.  He is an evangelist for new technology and has a radiating self-confidence in the work he does that is a delight to see.  He´s also taken on a leadership role in a community organization called J Connect (a great way to meet other Jewish young people).  Ruthie is our world traveler – now in Israel with Birthright, heading to South Africa to work with an NGO in the early summer, and planning a junior year abroad in Australia. And Eitan is taking high school to heart, preparing to enter the International Baccalaureate Program next year and make a trip to Ghana with Habitat for Humanity in the Spring.  Frankly, I am tired just thinking about all this – but I couldn´t be more proud of them.   The throughline here is PASSION – for new experiences…testing limits…making the world a better place.  I couldn´t have asked for a better outcome given the things Andrew and I cherish and believe in.

Soon after the big kids head back to the States, my parents will join us for a couple of weeks, and this is equally exciting.  I am so very grateful that they are able and willing to continue trekking the globe and I cannot wait to share this new chapter in our life with them. I know that the distance between us has been hard for them, and it really has not been easy for me.  But the benefits of what we have done, and the new perspectives we will be able share I believe will make our visit richer.

I wish you and yours a peaceful and happy new year…