Getting Elizabeth... and Rachel

We're back!

Twenty-five hours there. In the car. Spread over three days.

Twenty six and a half hours back. In the car. Spread over two days.

We traveled through six states. We spent ten nights in five different spots. We saw relatives in Georgia, relatives in florida and very special friends we adopted with in 04 and 06 in Tennessee. We went to the twice beach, spent a night and a very full day at Disney World and swam in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. The girls played and played and played with their cousins, grandparents and friends. And now, spring break is done. We're back. And boy, are we ever bushed.

This level of exhaustion rivals how we felt when we returned from China in 06. It is not as severe, of course, but it is the same sort of drop dead exhaustion, where everything just aches. The ride back was a killer - picture one big traffic jam, filled with plenty of construction stops, rain and crowds, crowds, crowds and very little sleep. But we sure did have fun.

Busy at home

Today I never got a shower. Didn’t get a lick of housework done. Had, short of maybe 30 minutes to pray, zero time to be alone  from 5:30 a.m. until now, 10:30 p.m. --- yet it was a wonderful, awesome day. What made it that way? My girls. I love being with them and love to see their friendship blossom.

Today we attended a mom’s program at church that just fed my soul and inspired me to be a better mom. The rest of the day was pretty routine – lunch, nap, homework, bath… and a few out-of-the ordinary things. We made cookies together. We gave our cookies away to neighbors. We splashed in puddles (actually they splashed, I laughed). We looked at photo albums – their request – Hua Hua’s adoption book, Rachel’s adoption book and mommy and daddy’s wedding album. They cracked up at the wedding picture of daddy and mommy feeding each other cake. We had a great time!

I’m afraid I haven’t been blogging much lately because life has been so busy. We had to make a decision about kindergarten, and after visiting several schools, talking to many people, and praying, praying, praying, we felt led to enter Hua Hua in our neighborhood school for next year. Our other major time consuming activity is getting ready to leave for florida in less than a week. We’ll visit Dan’s family there, making some stops with my brother and his family on the way down and friends we adopted both children with on the way back. We are very excited but there are so many details and, well, just getting thru the week is often more than I can handle! LOL!!