And We're OFF!

No not to Ethiopia. Although that would be nice. We are headed to Napa Valley for a long weekend! Now I could be really melodramatic and tell you we are on one last get-away before our lives change forever and only God knows when we will ever get a chance to be alone again, but I won't. Brian and I have always wanted to go to Napa and we thought it would be the perfect gift to celebrate the fact that we are both done with me being in school. Now there was a time when we were too scared to plan anything in July for fear of having to cancel if we passed court and quickly had to rush to Ethiopia. We now look back and laugh. Oh July would have been way too easy. Things have changed. They slowed way down after the lightening paced paperwork phase. I am even dreading the fact the we might be able to plan a valentine weekend away. Hopefully that is just pure pessimism with no hint of reality but with international adoption you just never know. We have been told not to hope for Christmas, probably January for travel, but a slight possibility of February...ugh. Of all the things we have learned it is that we are so far from being in control it isn't even funny. Really not funny.

So, back to our trip! We are taking off for a long weekend since we really don't know when the next time we will have an "adults only" weekend will be. After forced separation the first (most-likely) 6 months of our baby's life, I can't imagine we would be ready to drop him off with a sitter and take off for a romantic get-away anytime soon. All you seasoned parents might laugh at that statement but it is hard to imagine ever leaving our little guy when we want so badly to be with him now. We are both really excited for a time to relax, enjoy each others company away from the hustle and bustle and fall back in love. Whenever we go away for a couple days we come back so much more in love and ready to face whatever life brings us. Since we are closing in on potentially the most trying part of the adoption process (waiting to pass court) I think it is the perfect time for rejuvenation.

**Side note: Today is exactly 9 months since we first turned in our application to AGCI. I can see why God thought 9 months would be the perfect term to carry a baby. I am definitely ready TODAY to "have" this baby!! We will continue to wait on God's time to be united (and not just because we really don't have a choice:)) but because we know His time is perfect!