3/19/2006 Hello from home! I am so happy to be back on my own Internet connection. Usually when we are out of town I don't have trouble getting a good connection at the hotel...but not this time! It was very strange too, I could visit some websites with ease. It was just the websites I REALLY wanted to visit (this one and my caringbridge friends' sites) I couldn't do very easily. Anyway, I am glad to be back home.
Well, just like the verse I talked about the other night about not worrying about tomorrow...here is another one. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" I realize that sounds a bit dark, but it just kind of fits the weekend. As you may or may not know, it is spring break. We had grand plans of visiting my sister and her family in Kansas this weekend. We were going to leave Friday and stay the night in Kansas City then finish the drive on Saturday. Then we were going to bring my nephew and niece back with us on Tuedsay to stay with my parents. Well, a few things went a little differently. GG had emergency ankle surgery and remains in the hospital until her next surgery (which is where my mom is spending a lot of time). And then my nephew was very ill with a tummy virus...due to the contagious nature and Hunter's susceptibility to stomach bugs, that put a damper on our visit. :( I always enjoy time with my sister and was sad to miss it. Well, that is not all...there is snow, BIG snow, headed the Kansas way. If we had gone, we more than likely would have been stuck there. While that would have been fine for me and the kids, it wouldn't have been so great for Mark...he has been very busy with work recently. Even missing Monday was going to be tough. So, all in all, we traveled as far as Kansas City and just stayed there for the weekend. Obviously, these were not the plans we envisioned (much like the adoption process has been thus far :)...but again, they were God's plans for whatever reasons.
Now, onto our trip. We had a wonderful time. Yes, the kids were disappointed that we didn't make to my sister's household this time. But we made the most of the time together. A mini vacation, you could say. We enjoyed dinner at Dick Clark's American Bandstand restaurant, went to Babies R Us and DID buy the smaller carseat for Maria for my car (God willing we get to bring her home while she can still use it:), played Cosmic (glow in the dark) mini golf, visited Union Station in downtown Kansas, enjoyed a little show in the planetarium, visited "Science City", a hands on museum for the kids, browsed through a traveling sports memorabilia exhibit (okay, that was more for Mark than for me :), ate at this yummy steak restaurant that had some of the tastiest cheesy potatoes I have ever eaten, enjoyed root beer floats (the kids' favorite part of the whole trip I think), watched some TLC together last night, rode a carousel and train at a Kansas City mall, and enjoyed lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a lot of fun, a lot of togetherness, and probably more money than we should have spent. (Every dollar spent I though could be a dollar for a trip to Guatemala...but then again, that isn't guaranteed either...) I treasure those times with my family. We have so many places we want to see and visit together (and made a LONG list last night at dinner together), but those are things we have to save up for...while we do, we can enjoy these mini-vacations. After all, it isn't so much where we are, it is who we are with...each other.
Of course, while we were gone and enjoying that family time, my heart still had that missing piece for Maria. We kept wondering what would she be doing? Thinking? What would the Rainforest Cafe look like to her? What will be people's reactions to us having this dark eyed beauty with us? And being in Kansas City, at that same hotel, brought all kinds of memories. See, it was there back in July that the idea had just started to burn into my heart and thoughts. I remember being at that hotel and wondering, "How would we have three kids in a hotel room? Where would they all sleep?" And at the steak restaurant, that is where we ate with one of Mark's business friend's families...a large family. (They were unfortunately out of town this weekend, so we missed eating with them.) When we saw this neat family, much beyond the typical "2 kid" family rule, all happy and loving...it made us think, "Maybe we can do this..." It was also in Kansas City I finally laid it out on the table for Mark about what my hopes were. Even though I said any little girl from Guatemala, Maria was the only face I had in mind. And here we are, several months later, hopefully seeing it become a reality.
Please continue to pray for God's will (and for our acceptance of that) as we hope we are in the Embassy and hope to attain pre-approval quickly. We also hope to get out of family court quickly and successfully. And we hope that little Maria's heart is preparing for us as much as we are preparing for her. Thank you for listening!
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