3L = Hands down best year of law school

Here is Ava James on the night before Josh started law school, his 1L year.

 

She was only 2 1/2 years old, and I remember how thankful I was to have her company as HLS spent long hours away from us at the law school.  Looking back I realize what a baby she was, but she really was (is) my best little friend.  Confused by the costumes and such?  Click here for a refresher.

  

Just a year later, here is the Bave the night before Josh's 2L year last fall.  We decided to stack up all of his books and see if Ava was still taller.

The second year of law school proved to be significantly less stressful for all of us.  Josh's skin color was less gray from too many hours logged in basements with florescent lights, and we saw him more than just one evening a week.

 

We all began to dream of a 3L year that would allow us to travel, something Josh and I have always longed to do.  The vision was still fuzzy, but we were hopeful.

  

Here is Ava just before HLS's 3L year begins.  Well, we sold most of those hefty law school books, heck - we'd have sold pretty much anything except our souls to the devil to make traveling abroad a reality. 

  

I'm sure Josh will need a few text books when once he begins classes in Lucerne, but for now these are the only books we have for the fall semester.

Even though we're packed and just about ready to go I still can't believe this is really going to happen for us.

This will be Josh's last weekend in the US until Christmas.  Ava and I have one more weekend after this and then we'll join him for this adventure of a lifetime.  I know we'll travel more in our lives together, but I'm not sure we'll ever have three whole months to live abroad.  Words cannot describe my gratefulness for this incredible opportunity!

Because Ava is only 4 and we've been talking about this trip for SO long, it's been difficult for her to understand how soon we're leaving.  This morning we made a bracelet together, her Fly Bracelet.

5 green beads (Daddy's favorite color) represent how many days until Josh flies to Lucerne

13 orange beads (Ava's favorite color) represent how many days (in addition to Josh's 5 days) until Ava, Cole, and I fly to Lucerne

*in case you were worried about my favorite color being represented, the bracelet is on purple stretchy thread

Each morning we'll untie the slipknot and remove one bead until it's there are no beads left.

 Truly, Josh's 3L year is shaping up to be the best year of law school ever.