Man, what a year it’s been?! As we struggled to stay awake to ring in 2013 in a little cottage in Wanaka, New Zealand, we had no idea just what was in store for us this year.

This blog that was only a little twinkle in my eye, it would become my full time job.

The year and a half we thought we had left in Munich, it would become just nine months.

Those places on Must-See-Before-We-Leave-Europe list. Well, they were going to have to be seen, weren’t they?

5 continents,

12 countries,

and one transatlantic move later…

We will be welcoming 2014 in our new town—the town where we plan to settle down and be a while.

This year, we put down roots.

Will 2014 be an easier year than 2013? Probably not.

Growth {individually, as a family, and professionally}, consistent learning and navigating new experiences are rarely easy but as we’ve found, almost always worth the trouble.

So here’s to a year of finding joy in hard work, of dreaming big and accomplishing goals.

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art—write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” -Neil Gaiman