Andrea Finally Goes to Europe!

When Brennan graduated from college, he went with the Noordas on a two-month vacation to Europe. His Mom and John gave him the airfare as his graduation gift and then he scraped together his savings and managed to live there
for two months. He didn't do in luxury, he stayed in hostels and train stations and ate on a budget, but he managed to see a huge chunk of that beautiful continent. This was after he had lived in Ireland for two years on his mission. I, on the other hand had only been to Mexico, and Hawaii and Peurto Rico outside the continental United States. We had always hoped to be able to go to Ireland together for our 10 year anniversarry, and then that came and went, maybe 15, maybe 20th.

Then, last spring Davis announced that he and Melissa and Bea would be moving to London for a few months. Brennan had predicted that would happen and told me that would be our chance because it would help offset the expense to have somewhere free to stay. My heart sunk when I heard Davis' timeframe, they would be there from March to June. I think we probably heard about this late February. I knew there was no way. There was no time to save up and money was tight, Brennan was under a lot of stress not to mention the last few months of school are always intense full of programs, sports and concerts. The timing was all wrong. But, every time I wrote it off, somehow it came up again. Brennan and I talked about it, but usually one of us saying we should go for it and the other one was reminding the other how impossible it would be. Then, my Dad talked to me about going with them. I told him how much we'd love that but that it just wasn't going to work. Ryan and Macy were going to go, but later along with a visit to her parents who are serving a mission in Manchester, England. Chris and Rebecca, Josh and Eliza and Braden and Mere weren't in a position to go. They felt like we were the ones to go with them, and even talked about squeezing Ireland in too. A few days later, my Mom mentioned she and my Dad were praying that we would be able go with them. I called Brennan and told him our fate was sealed, I knew that if Mom and Dad were praying, things would happen. Sure enough, a few days later Brennan called me from St. George. Sadly, his step-dad had passed away and he went to be with his Mom and help her get ready for the funeral. He also helped her find and access all of the bank accounts and information. John had a credit card and Jamie asked Brennan to cancel it. He suggested they check to see if there were any rewards or points on it first. Sure enough, there was a huge amount of reward points on the card. He had mentioned our crazy Europe scheme to her and when they found these points she so generously told him to use them for our airfare. Those prayers were working.

We knew this was too good an opportunity to pass up. We settled in on the dates and then had the huge obstacle of what to do with our kids. We would be gone for 10 days. Sweet Eliza called me one night and told me Josh told her to tell us they would come stay with our kids. She had three young, busy kids of her own and was pregnant with her 4th, but she is probably the person my kids are most comfortable with after Brennan and me. We left on a Friday and got back on a Monday night. We arranged for my cousin, Lauren to come stay with the kids the first weekend and then Josh and Eliza stayed here during the whole week, she cooked and cleaned and kept track of 8 kids all while pregnant, she is a saint! Then Jamie came up Friday afternoon and had them the rest of the time. It was perfect. We hadn't left the kids for 5 years, and we knew it would be a stretch for all of us. When we told the kids, they were all kind of a mess, they are all worriers and hate to be seperated. It was so hard to push them so far outside their comfort zones. It was hard for us to think about leaving them for so long, especially little Josh.

We had a lot to do to get ready, expediting passports and planning where were going to go and coordinating with my parents and Davis and Melissa, arranging carpools and rides to games and writing the longest note with details for our brave babysitters. It all came together though and on April 11, 2014, we headed out for the trip of a lifetime! What a blessing, I will forever be so grateful for the experiences we had. It was one of those things we all knew was a gift, a beautiful, custom-made gift for us from Heavenly Father and Jamie and Josh and Eliza and Davis and Melissa and Mom and Dad.


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