The Best Day Ever

It's become an annual tradition for my stepmother, Marilyn, and I to take my neice and nephew to the zoo while everyone else spends the day at the Brickyard (save Travis, of course...Sunday's are working days for him). We began the tradition last year and had a wonderful time with the kids, so we decided to do it again. Last year, Cassidy had just turned 3 and Will was just 3 months old, so he slept for most of the visit. This year, however, at almost 15 months, he was, let's just say, a little more mobile and vocal. Originally I was supposed to watch a co-workers 2 kids as well (they're 2 and 4), and we were going to tote the whole gang, but it turned out she didn't need me to watch them. This must have been divine providence because I'm not really sure how we would have managed them all together. It was almost a tag-team effort; Marilyn took care of Will and the stroller while Cassidy and I went from exhibit to exhibit and completed her day's wish list (which consisted of riding the choo-choo train, seeing Sponge Bob in 4-D, riding a horsey, seeing the dolphin show, and riding the carousel). We completed all but the horse ride, but she was appeased when I told her we could do it when we came back next time. Note to those of you with smaller children that have not yet tried Sponge Bob in 4-D: this was a little scary for Cass and in my opinion wasn't worth the 2 tickets per person. The movie was only about 3 minutes long and you sit in virtual simulator-like chairs which shake and move pretty violently. Thankfully, a very nice older gentleman was operating the ride and turned off our chairs about a minute into the film at my request. There's also a part where a 3-D saw comes out right to your face, which frightened her. (This made think back to the my first 3-D film (the Muppets)...why can't we just have normal cartoons anymore?)

After a stop in the Zoo's gift shop and some refreshments at DQ, we were all beat. On the car ride home, Cassidy announced to us all that she'd had the best day ever...and I'd have to agree.

Ready to Go!

Will loved the Oceans Exhibit

On the Carousel

Gabby Time!

So, I'm offiically a bad blogger and I haven't even been doing it that long! This post is really long in the tooth, but I was waiting on getting some pics from my friend Shari. Travis and I got to keep Gabby overnight the weekend before last and gave Emily some (much needed, I'm sure) time to herself. So Travis and I decided to take her with us to our annual young adult pool party. (Although I'm not sure we qualify as "young adults" anymore...almost everyone is over 30 and has children except for us....so it was nice not to be the only childless couple for the evening!) Ironically, we forgot our camera (you'd think the professional photographer would always be ready, but we must have been distracted by all the baby stuff we were now toting :)
We don't have any pictures of us swimming, but here's some of us swinging post-pool.


And some kisses for Auntie Sarah


After the pool party, we decided to head home and play with Gabby for a little while longer before bedtime. She was a real trooper; she wasn't fussy and went down very easy in her pack & play. I did, however, make a discovery about myself over that weekend. I am a very, very, VERY deep sleeper. I rarely wake for anything in the night (Travis actually says I sleep like the dead...I don't move much and make very little noise.) So I have always wondered if I would be able to hear my babies/kids when the time finally came. I worried that I would make a horrible mother, never waking for crying children. Well, I found out I was wrong. I heard absolutley every noise she made that evening; I don't think either of us slept for more than a couple of hours. So, in a strange way, I'm comforted in knowing that God didn't make me defunct. It's actually a lot like grace...He gives us exactly what we need, always in the right amount, but never before we need it. I'm sure when we finally do bring our daughter home I will discover much more about myself. For now, this small discovery will suffice.

Some Setbacks...

Well, we've had some not-so-great news on the adoption front. America World received more referrals this month while we were gone and they are currently running closer to 9 months from DTE (dossier to Ethiopia). Also, the wait time to travel after receiving a referral has increased from 6-8 weeks to 8-12 weeks. So, for us this means we're probably looking at next April or May before we travel to bring our daughter home.
Although news like this isn't surprising, it's always a blow to our morale. I have currently put all baby items we've collected/been given away, and we've decided to wait until after the first of the year to work more on her room. Please pray for us to continue to be patient and understanding, and that we wouldn't lose heart. It's easy to do...