The remembering of 9/11 would have likely been enough to cause some anxiety in me this year. I decided last week to talk to Jackson about 9/11 knowing that he would likely hear things at school. It was an interesting conversation and I think he had some good questions. Although there aren’t many good answers. Coming stateside has brought a great deal of relief from the anxiety of being in countries that don’t love Americans but the thought of Seth being down in the heart of our capital has for sure reignited some fears.   Last week was a big one for the Foreign Service family. Like any family it has it’s quirkiness but again like any family tragedy brings us together and makes us all analyze the parts we play in the family story. I vividly remember the warnings in Bogota, the blockbuster blowing up down the road from us, kidnapping threats and paying for my maid to take a taxi the 30 plus miles home one afternoon when there were 7 bus bombs going off throughout our city. In general we were very safe, but often there were risks. Our time in Switzerland felt safe but it still wasn’t home.  And now, when I expected to feel much safer being home I am aware that Seth is often at risk even stateside.

Last week I found myself fearful as we watched the news and we made contact with multiple friends around the world. Some evacuating, some staying put during scary times and others like us in “safe” places looking on and hoping for peace around the world. Losing an Ambassador and other fellow diplomats is a sad thing for our community.  Schools burning, walls being jumped and just general hatred is unsettling.

And no matter how much anxiety I feel or how much sleep I lose ultimately I know that God is in control.  And as my grandmother wrote in an email recently “I am sure that any place we are in God’s will we are safe. Just don’t always know what ‘safe’ means to God!“. I agree. My idea of safe may be far from where God wants me.

This week I am trying to walk by faith knowing that we can control very little. I will make every effort to live a healthy, productive, influential life that is hopefully a blessing to others, but I have no control over my days. Only God knows the hours and moments that remain.  My prayer is for peace and safety for friends and family worldwide, and for our little family here.

On a completely different note we had a really fun weekend with family and friends here in VA. I will try to hop on here later to share some pictures of our day at the fair on Saturday!

Since we will be stateside for a bit this was a treat to do one last homeleave before the next phase.  Seth spent most of his leave painting and working on the house but he snuck in a few fun days before that all began. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger. I haven’t learned how to do a collage and the thumbnails cut off some of the pictures but this was WAY too many pictures to put in full size and in a zillion posts. Sorry for the photo dump!

We started in Friendswood with Seth’s family! We made it to an Astros game which made Seth’s heart content. Oh yes, and he had some Whataburger too. What more could a guy ask for.

on our way to Ft Worth we popped in and saw our friends Bo and Leigh and their little girls! Their new home is so beautiful and was such a welcoming space!

Seth stayed in Ft Worth for a couple of days with us and then packed up and drove a penske up with his dad to get going on painting and getting the house liveable!  While he was away we went to the Ft Worth zoo, got spoiled with my moms good cooking, went to Glenrose, Texas to look for dinosaur tracks in the river at the State park, spent time with my brother and my sister-in-law Tina and weathered the heat of the Texas summer!   We also got to catch up with good friends from our old Dallas days!

part way through our time in Ft Worth we went away to my sister-in-law Tina’s family lake house in Possum Kingdon! On the wall of their kitchen they have a quote that summed up the weekend: “Home is where you treat friends like family and your family like friends”.

After our time in Ft Worth the boys and I headed back to Friendswood where we spent a few more days with Seth’s mom and had some great cousin time. It happened to be Jackson’s birthday so we celebrated there. I had planned to keep it REALLY simple and it was but Jackson started asking about invitations and friends and DADDY so by the end of the day our fun frozen yogurt outings with cousin morphed into a pizza/swimming party to lessen the blow of a birthday during a move.

These weeks were packed and exhausting but so fun too. I learned pretty fast that I don’t enjoy being a single mom and that it was very hard to be away while Seth was working on the house. I am so happy to be here now working together and making progress towards being settled!!

As you can see I am backtracking big time but we would miss so many special memories if I just jump in now! So enjoy…or bear with me, whatever the case may be

The Friday before we left Bern Seth’s coworkers hosted a farewell party for him. I didn’t get many pictures as I was chasing boys on the lawn of the Embassy but it was a neat time to see Seth’s coworkers appreciate him and thank him for his work. This was his first position managing local staff and it was neat to see him grow in his managerial skills. It was evident at his farewell that he was well respected and will be missed.

The Saturday before we left Bern our friends threw us a wonderful farewell party along the river. Our friend Daniela booked a place with a big outdoor grill, playground, awnings for shade and of course the  river! It was beautiful and so many special friends came to wish us well. We felt so so blessed and overwhelmed once again to see how God provided friends for us in yet another home.  We have so many wonderful memories, pictures and extra pounds (for me) that we will cherish forever…well not the extra pounds, those will be gone soon but the memories of Switzerland will be cherished. Just like anywhere we have lived there were good days and bad, things we loved and things we never quite got used to. I could go way deeper into all of this but I am so crunched on time so without further ado here are some pictures!

Bitter sweet for sure!! As we left Bern we were so anxious to be back stateside but so sad to say farewell. I am sure we will be processing all of the farewells for months to come!

Two days after our farewell we loaded up and flew back to Washington, DC….

Hi folks, we are alive, we are well, we are settling in….and we are still without internet. I haven’t forgotten about all of you and I have 2 months of photos and life to share with you. But internet doesn’t come for a week so I will sneak to Starbucks around the corner when I can but it will likely be a few weeks of catchup! In the meantime….we are loving our new home, our boys are peacefully settling in and SLEEPing again, we miss our dear friends in Switzerland, we are enjoying reuniting with dear friends here in NoVa, we made lots of happy memories (with minimal heat stroke) in Texas and our hands are covered with paint from the endless house projects!! Life is busy and good! More to come! Thanks for bearing with me!

You can find me blogging on World Moms Blog this week….www.worldmomsblog.com. They have a new fancy schmancy website so hop on over if you have time!