Thankful

Praying at Montserrat.

​No question, it has been a turbulent couple of weeks in the United States.   Here in Spain I've felt at times like a satellite watching my mother ship struggle through rocky waves. 

A friend in California posted a video this morning about a woman who took 365 photos to remind herself of the little things for which she is grateful every day. I love this!  What could be a more perfect time of year to give thanks than the week of Thanksgiving?

Here are some of the blessings I'm counting this year.  
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As different as we are, together we combine to make a beautiful family.

​​Big, Beautiful Family.  During this strained time in America I am grateful that our huge extended family of 40+ people can hold profoundly different opinions and beliefs from each other, but still also be a strong collective deeply grounded in love.

Together we are a diverse crew comprised of almost every walk of American life.  We are actors and doctors, teachers and investment planners. Dancers and insurance brokers. Nurses and professors. We are Christians, Mormons and Jews, straight and gay. A healthy mix of moderate, conservative, progressive and liberal. We're descendants of soldiers in the U.S. Revolutionary war and immigrants from Eastern Europe. We are Portuguese, Mexican, Russian, Polish, British, Scottish, German, French, Canadian, American-Indian and much more... a little bit of almost everything in our special blend. We are what makes the gorgeous textured fabric of America!

​I would do anything for our relatives and I truly believe that they would do anything for my husband & me... and especially for our kids!  I'm grateful that family love is stronger than politics!

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This kid is good at being direct.

Straight Talk. I'm grateful for the people that will tell me straight up when I'm wrong, or if they disagree with me and/or the way I am saying or doing something.

Living in an echo chamber isn't going to help me become a better mother, daughter, friend, wife, teacher, writer or human.

​Thank you to everyone who gently tells me truths I don't know (or that might be hard to hear).  
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A best friend is the one who will confidently confide that you've got toilet paper stuck to your shoe as you walk through the five star restaurant.  I'm SO thankful for my best friends who love me enough to call me on my bullshit, and then laugh with me about it!  Speaking of which... ​​
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Thrilled when they get a letter or email from home!

Friends Without Borders.  They say you find out who your real friends are when you can go a year without talking and pick back up right where you left off.  That may well be true but it's obviously nicer to go a year and keep talking!  

​I'm incredibly grateful for the many friends who have continued to keep up with us via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, texts and letters while we are far away from home.  There is no substitute for hearing your voices, so thank heavens for Google Hangouts and WhatsApp free calls!  I'm also so touched by the fact that my children's best friends from home continue to call and write them every week, and some are possibly even coming to visit!  Staying connected means the world to us.  Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The talented hands of my amazing friend Viva, who has helped us in countless ways since we arrived!

Outstretched Hands.  I was flat-out terrified to move to a foreign country where I knew almost nobody, nor the language.  Now that we've lived in Barcelona for four months, it's hard to believe I will ever leave this place.  So many amazing people have reached out to our family to help us get settled in Spain, from old friends to incredible new friends to neighbors to school representatives to AirBNB hosts & many more.  Just like a rock concert when someone dives in the crowd, there was a real chance that nobody would reach out to catch us when we jumped.  Yet from the first moment here, everybody has had their hands up to keep us in the air and now we are sailing forward.
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My luminous mother.

My mother.  I'm grateful for my beautiful and gracious mother, Abuela Luminosa, who just flew halfway across the planet by herself on four airplanes to see us, even though she speaks almost no Spanish!

During the two lovely weeks she was here, she devoted countless hours to helping my children with their homework, watching their soccer games from hard cement bleachers, taking us out for delicious meals, helping me to digest the US presidential election, and lavishing all of us with her love and gentle wisdom.  She and I talked and talked, whole days flew by unnoticed.  

​My mother is one of the kindest and most patient people on the planet, and I am so proud to be her daughter.  More photos from her fun visit at the end of this blog! ​
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Aventura Children.  Yes, they are loud and messy. Yes, I do have to apologize to the downstairs neighbors  when they tell me my children sound like a stampede of trampling horses upstairs all day long.  Yes, parenting is exhausting and sometimes tough.  

​YET.  The three little humans I was lucky and blessed to bring into this world inspire me beyond words.

​They are developing their own interests, personalities, perspectives and hobbies.  The Scientist consumes 400 page novels in a day and shows signs of a passionate interest in economics, while Soccer Dude blows me away with a masterful command of beginning Spanish and Chinese... not to mention his wickedly silly sense of humor!  

Little Angel just devoted a full week to a Halloween Candy science project about gummy bears wherein she used the Scientific Method, creating her own hypothesis about what happens when gummy bears sit in liquid for a long time and then testing it day after day. She is a meticulous, enthusiastic learner.  
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I could go on for days.  In love with these kids!  They are the best thing ever.

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I feel like Indiana Jones in this place!

Adventure!  Looking ahead to December I am sooooo excited that we are headed to six different European cities to celebrate the holidays!   My mom was just telling my kids this weekend how much I loved to travel as a kid, and it looks like some things haven't changed!  Blessed beyond measure to have the ability to keep traveling.

​Between now and January 1 we will be spending time as a family in Valencia, Granada, Sevilla, Madrid, Amsterdam and Paris!  I can't wait to get bundled up in warm winter clothes and watch my kids ice skate on a canal, visit a Christmas market, and watch the Eiffel Tower illuminate at midnight on December 31st.  I know there will be plenty of icy weather, tired children, long whining hours in the car and maybe even tears along the way... but there is nothing I relish more than a life of adventure with the people I love. Can't wait!
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Health :)  Only a few people know I started my summer vacation with unexplained bleeding in my lower digestive tract and underwent a full endoscopy and colonoscopy one week after arriving in Barcelona.  (You know, your typical way to move to a new country! LOL.)  Everyone told me that the "clean out" prep for the colonoscopy would be the worst part, but I surprised myself by finding it hilarious and laughing non-stop for that entire sleepless night.

​Gracias a Dios the colonoscopy was clean!  I have to take iron and watch what I eat due to gastritis but for now my life clock is still ticking along peacefully. Health is the biggest gift in the world, and I am so grateful for having more time.  

​Hopefully a lot of it!

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This guy.

Love.  My husband is 6,000 miles and a nine hour time difference away from us for three weeks. This isn't the first time we've been apart and it won't be the last... but whenever he is gone I am constantly reminded of the many little things he does for us every day when he is here.  Things that are easy to take for granted... like holding my hand while we watch a TV show, telling our kids to believe in themselves (and that he believes in them), driving us to the grocery store so we don't have to walk in the rain, cooking us a meal or mopping the kitchen floor.  We married twelve years ago this week (nearly 15 years since we met!) and beyond the big things like passion and trust, for which I am still so grateful, it turns out there are all of these little things that also make love strong.  

I'm grateful that Señor Aventura still dances with me when nobody is looking; still makes me his signature guacamole with a truckload of cilantro and a twinkle in his eye.  Still makes my heart skip a beat when I see him from across the room.

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Thankful that as an American nobody can tell me how to pray, who to marry, or what to write.

Freedom.  I'm so thankful for the right to be myself, and to speak my views freely and openly without fear.  I'm truly glad you have that right too... even if sometimes we may genuinely disagree!  

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I'm thankful for you too!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!  ​​

And now.... more photos from Abuela Luminosa's fabulous two week visit!  
​We are missing her already.