A Digital Christmas Card

As I am writing this, our dear friends back in the US have popped our Christmas cards in the mail, to ensure they arrive on time (not to mention, manage postage costs).  Normally, we include a letter to recap our year, however, to make it easier on everyone, we are taking our card digital this year.  

The other day, I turned to Marty and remarked, "What did we do this year?  Did we go anywhere?"  To which he replied, "You mean other than moving to Geneva, going to Paris and Barcelona and having a baby?"  Fair point...

This year has certainly been a busy year for us and I guess we spent most of our energy and time getting ready for the move.  Around Thanksgiving 2011, we learned that Marty's Fabric Care organization was being relocated to Geneva.  In December 2011, we learned we were pregnant.  In early 2012, we decided that yes, we would move to Geneva.

Then it turned into a bit of a whirlwind of activity - submitting applications for various schools for Hayden, including one which required him to submit a self portrait (as a two year old, he could barely draw anything that actually looked like something.)

At the end of April, when I was 6 months pregnant, we flew to Geneva for our house hunting trip and found a nice flat, roughly half the size of our house in Cincinnati.

Back at home, we sped up efforts to finish the basement. What was once a "no rush" project became a bit more urgent, with plans to put our house on the market.  We found that, with a toddler and me being pregnant, it became a bit harder to organize rooms, move things around and finish the basement.

Work was busy for both of us - Marty in his Fabric Care role and me in Hair Care.  It was hard to wrap everything up before maternity leave, and this year was especially busy with a ton of projects on my plate & knowing that I would not be coming back to my job.

With us moving out of the country, I had a short bucket list of US "musts" including celebrating holidays and events as big as possible: Easter projects, 4th of July Sparklers and art projects, a Reds baseball game, and a Disney Cars themed 3rd birthday party for Hayden.

This year, THANKFUL is the main feeling that comes to mind:

For the safe arrival of our baby boy - Beckham Gabriel joined us on July 20th.  He was in a hurry to join us, coming 9 days early and just 30 minutes after arriving to the hospital!  He is a wonderfully mellow and happy baby and is already well travelled after 5 months.  He thankfully arrived just in time - one month before we were set to leave, yet early enough to get our tickets booked, his birth certificate and passport processed for the trip.  I can still hear the disbelief when we booked our plane tickets and the man asked for Beckham's birthday, "July 20th...as in yesterday?!?"

For two healthy children - I can't take for granted that God has blessed us with two amazing boys and I am thankful for every day with them.

The help of our amazing friends and family - We couldn't have gotten our house ready, had it not been for so many people who sacrificed their time.  Marty's parents and my mom in particular, made many trips to come and help us.  I am not sure what we would have done without them!

Marty's tireless sacrifices of time and energy - He spent every waking moment, working around the house ready and handling most of the details for our relocation.  This was on top of his busy workload and being a great dad to Hayden.

Hayden's easy spirit amidst many transitions - He lovingly welcomed his baby brother into our family and has taken all these changes in stride.  I am thankful that he is enjoying his new school and French speaking teachers.  He has made friends quickly and has enjoyed our little adventures to various parts of Europe - taking the "mountain train" in Zermatt, Going to Disney Paris, Seeing the Gaudi architecture in Barcelona and learning to ski trip in Les Gets.

Last picture in Hayden's room

Last goodbyes to our dog, Taz

The perfect timing of this opportunity to come to Geneva - While it was certainly chaotic to manage everything leading up to our move, I am always amazed by God's perfect timing in our lives.  To be on maternity leave during this move has been an amazing blessing.  Not only am I able to spend time getting to know Beckham, I have been taking Hayden to school as we manage shorter school hours.  It has also been a learning experience, learning the ropes of being in Geneva/Europe, things overall taking a bit longer than in the US.

So long, Cincinnati

Hello, Geneva!

While the past four months have been very exciting, there are still bittersweet moments.  I miss our family and friends and I am especially sad that we won't be able to watch our kids grow up together, for the next several years.  I will also miss my amazing co-workers.  I am not quite sure how I am going to return to work in 2013 and not get to work with them again.  We really have been so fortunate to have such amazing people in our lives!

As 2012 comes to a close, we are so very thankful for full and happy lives and are excited for the year ahead.  And we also hope 2013 brings some visitors to Geneva/Europe!

Our warmest wishes to all our friends and family for a wonderful Christmas and amazing New Year!!

The Vanderstelts (Marty, Irene, Hayden and Beckham)