Moran Family Fun

In about five hours we're waking up to drive to the airport and fly to Ireland for the Thanksgiving weekend! This is your warning that the posts for the rest of the month will be travel related. This evening has all been about packing and preparing for our adventure in the Emerald Isle. We're flying with RyanAir, which we usually do when traveling around Europe. In 2003, the first time we flew with RyanAir, we were also going to Ireland! For those who don't know, flying with this low-cost airline is a major hassle.  Every little thing costs extra, you're packed into seats with zero legroom, the landings are often rough, and the flight attendants spend the flight going up and down the aisles selling drinks, snacks, duty-free stuff, and even raffle tickets. In May Jared and I flew from London to Frankfurt on Lufthansa and the experience was a million times better than RyanAir.  But you just can't beat five round trip tickets from London to Cork for $150. Becaus...

Every year during the Christmas season we look forward to the Light the World campaign! It's an invitation to serve others during the month of December and bring light to their lives. Today for our family home evening we watched the new video The Christ Child  to kick off this year's campaign. The video is about twenty minutes long and it shows the events of the Nativity using the story recorded in the Bible. The actors speak Aramaic and there are no subtitles, but this is the story that everybody knows so that's okay. You guys, it is amazing.  There were tears shed as a sweet Spirit filled our little living room. There's a family home evening lesson resource that is free to download that suggests having each person pay special attention to a character (Mary, Joseph, shepherds, etc) and think about how that character may have felt. We used that idea and after we watched the video we shared the thoughts and feelings we had as we watched. It's actually kind of ha...

This weekend my Mom turned 70 so I thought I'd share 70 memories I have of her through the years. Happy birthday Mom! Going with her to Myrtle Grove Elementary School when I was a preschooler and watching her teach music classes to the kids. Learning (and singing!) the song Kids are Music in the auditorium at Myrtle Grove. Counting to ten in Italian for each curl when she would do my hair in the mornings.  Not curled this day, but this was the haircut that I remember from those days. Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci While out running errands, always knowing I could find her by looking for her red hair. Staying home from school the first day after Christmas break to help take down the Christmas decorations.  Racing to be the first person buckled up when we'd get in the car. The winner would declare "I beat!" Holding hands and giving each other a little squeeze as a secret I love you. Sleeping in her room when my Dad was in Alas...

Okay, we've got what, eight days left in November? We must get our Christmas shopping finished. In fact, we must get our Christmas shopping started because we have yet to buy a single gift except for that calendar I mentioned yesterday. That's not great, especially because so many people on our list live on the other side of the world from us and shipping always takes some time, but during the holiday mailing season, it takes even longer than normal. I actually feel a fair amount of stress/anxiety around purchasing Christmas and I've been trying to figure out exactly what those pressure points are so I can take steps to alleviate some of that next year. First, there's the desire to get the people we love things they will love. I tend to want to give and receive practical gifts (which explains the Roomba Jared gifted me for our anniversary this year) but I understand that not everyone would be excited to open something practical on Christmas morning. It can be hard t...

Madison is our grown-up child. The one that people who've only know us for the past few years may not even know we have because we've never been lucky enough to have her live in England with us. The first Moran girl, the original, the redhead that started it all. For all of us, being a family divided has taken some getting used to. We've had to figure out how to stay connected and keep our relationships strong from 5,000 miles away. Through trial and error, asking our friends who've done it before us what works for them, and plenty of prayers, we've kind of figured out how to make it work.  I realized yesterday when I was making a 2020 calendar for Jared's dad (it's the one thing he asks for at Christmas every year) that I have very few pictures of Madison. If you were to read all the posts on here over the past year or stalk my social media feed you wouldn't know much about her life. So today, we're going to do a little Madison update!  ...

Something exciting happened yesterday - Jared found out he was selected for promotion to Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force! Luckily enough, I was actually there when the Wing Commander, Command Chief, Group Commander, Group Chief, and all the Chiefs on the entire base came to deliver the good news. The squadron was holding a chili cookoff and I'd just dropped off our entry for the competition - which did not take first place, but you can't win them all - and were sampling the different chilis when the door opened, the entire room came to attention, and Colonel Marshall congratulated Chief Master Sergeant Jared Moran on his promotion.  It was kind of crazy. We knew the official release date for promotion was set for November 25th so it was likely that Jared would hear if he'd made it sometime this week. That's because the results are sent to base and squadron commanders a week early and the information just leaks out. Someone tells their fr...

Every Monday for the last month or so I've been sending out a weekly ministering message to the women in our ward. My goal is to give everybody one simple, actionable thing they can do to minister to the women around them. Here's today's message:  1 Peter 4:10 teaches us that, "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." I love this verse and the reminder that when we receive a gift from God we should share that gift with those we minister to. Often when I'm reading the scriptures or studying a conference talk, something will stand out to me or will be an answer to a question that has been on my mind. Those moments of personal revelation are definitely a gift in my life.  This week as you're studying, pray beforehand with your ministering sisters in mind. Then as you're thinking about and pondering the things you've read see if anything stands out to you. If...