This post is from Brian - A lot has happened since our last post.  
We received a phone call with the news that my Mother had a severe stroke the 16th of December and that has created a whole series of events that changed what we thought we would be doing during the Holidays.  Once we realized the seriousness of the situation (the expectation was that she would not last more than 4 - 5 days) we quickly had a family counsel with my siblings and I began looking to fly our family back to the States for the funeral.  We were able to get a flight out of Ireland on Christmas Eve which we booked.  My mother ended up passing away that Friday night, less than 2 full days from experiencing her stroke.  It was a peaceful passing and we are grateful that the Lord mercifully allowed her to go in dignity and without pain.  

Because of the quick changes in plans Lareen and I quickly decided that Santa needed to make his visit a full week early - and so we arranged (very quickly) for that to happen and we had Christmas a week early on Saturday morning.  It was the first time for us having Christmas in a hotel and a week early, but the kids were great sports about everything given the circumstances.

The following week we had our hands full, we had decided NOT to rent the original house that we were waiting to get finished (it had too many issues and we didn't want to live in a partially finished house for the next few years with a Landlord we didn't feel we could trust).  So, we went back to a house we had looked at before and liked and decided to go with it but it had some issues that needed fixing and we needed to get that in order so it could be done when we got back from the States.  Thankfully we have a good friend and fellow member of our Church who is a General Contractor who took the lead on getting these things done.  We simply negotiated a rent credit with the Landlord for the stuff we needed to do.  We will be living in an old Farm House on 100 acres right behind the horse racing track.  Our address is:  Touchwood Stables, Dooneen, Crecora, Co. Limerick, Ireland.  Again = there are no numbers.  I know it's weird.

We also had the issue of getting our container of furniture and goods worked out.  It was due to arrive while we would be in the States.  So we worked it out to have it collected by the logistics company we are working with in Ireland, they would empty the container, then reload it into smaller trucks with lift gates to lower stuff to the ground (much easier than the way we loaded the container - brute strength).  Then they will take our stuff to the house and some friends and church members will help get it into the house in various staging rooms.

So, we flew to the States on the 24th made some surprise visits to friends in Utah on Christmas Day, picked up Logan's friend Ashley to spend the next 10 days with us and on Sunday Morning we went to Music and the Spoken Word in SLC and then drove to Idaho Falls for the viewing.  It was great to see my family and the viewing and especially the time we spent afterwards sharing memories of my Mother, as a family, was great.

The funeral also went well the next day - great speakers and musical numbers.  A real tribute to one of the most Christlike people I've ever known.
We were able to visit family and friends in Western Idaho for the next few days, including New Year's Eve with all of Lareen's family.  

We're back in Utah to get some things wrapped up before we take off on Wednesday.  It was so great to be attend our Ward in Utah and visit all of our friends here today, we went to lunch and dinner with good friends here who invited us to eat with them and we filled our buckets with love and we are ready to go back to Ireland, live in a home that we can invite people over.