The Changing of the Guards

While traveling through Europe, I was so fortunate to have the most fabulous help. At one point, Steve asked if I could have traveled alone with our children successfully. With out hesitation, I answered, "No chance!" Sarah joined us in New York and stayed for seven weeks, leaving in London. Not only did she simply stick with our craziness, which was a success in and of itself, but she also proved to be incredibly helpful, fun and loving towards my children. She could pack a car more efficiently than a Tetrus champion, she navigated subway stations and city streets with ease and confidence, she had no problem figuring out how to work even the most complicated European gadgets, such as uncooperative sofa sleepers, and she always found ways to entertain tired children, including teaching heel clicks, telling stories about her adventures to places like Bonnoroo, or, when everything else failed, her backpack always had a stash of chocolate for desperate times of need. She exemplified good habits, such as writing in her journal every night and reading her scriptures, and before long, my three oldest  picked up on these good habits, something that I am grateful for. Sarah also kept us laughing, especially when she pulled out her book of Ebert family quotes and repeated them as we went! We were sad to see Sarah go but are happy to have seven weeks of fun memories with her. The girls cried when she left.

 Fortunately Aunt Jenny entered the picture. Late at night I picked Jenny up from Heathrow Airport. Sophia was the only one to join me because it was late, but as soon as Jenny came into view, Sophia was off and running. She lept into her arms, so excited to have her with us. My family has always been in awe of Jenny, agreeing unanimously that if you need someone full of optimism, grace, and ease, but who is fully dedicated, selfless, works hard and is responsible, Jenny is the one to call upon. We have known that my little brother Jonny is so lucky to have Jenny, but for five weeks, we were the lucky ones. As soon as Jenny saw that there was a need in the back of the car, she jumped in the back seat, staying there for almost the entire road trip, sitting between Ezra and Sophia, creating mazes, drawing pictures, telling stories and breaking up fights. The rest of the car begged for her attention too, asking for more stories from her soccer star days, from her time in the hospital as a nurse and, especially requested from Ezra over and over, times when she or her family members were injured. Jenny was in a great mood for anything, including touring Scotland in freezing weather, attempting to fit every site in Berlin in within a day and a half, letting Sophia snuggle in her bed with her, many nights staying until morning, and even creating maze after maze for Ezra, even when he burst into anger, accusing her of cheating on the maze that he created for her.  She jumped into action in times of need, like finding a taxi driver in the middle of the night to lead us to our hotel and she was incredibly selfless, like when she waved to us from the shore holding little Mia's hand as the rest of us rode away in a gondola or when she protected our illegally parked car at Neuschwanstein Castle while we took a tour of the place. When Jenny left, the girls cried, too. We were so lucky to have two fantastic helpers make our European dream a reality.