Day 1

We (actually more like me :) decided to split our 12-13 hour drive up into 2 days. We knew that we would be stopping after about 6-7 hours of driving and figured this would probably be the best plan with a 2 (almost 3) year old in tow. The driving went rather smoothly (with no electronic gadgets along for entertainment, I might add!) & we arrived with a few hours to spare before the evening Mass time that was scheduled at the local church that we were planning on attending.

We hung around our hotel room for a little while, but very quickly figured out that the aformentioned child would not do well with this plan for very long, so we decided to go get something to eat & then attempt to find the church. Supper went well & Luke got on fabulously with the older ladies sitting in the booth behind us (I think he even got food offerings from them if memory serves me correctly.) Then it was time to find the church...

We went back to the hotel since this was the point where our directions started...we had about 10 minutes to find the church (it was only supposed to take about 3-5 minutes to get there). We started driving, but being the "navigator," I noticed that none of the street names matched except for the one that was our hotel's driveway...hmmm.

We finally decided to go back & get directions from the hotel staff. They looked up the address & located it on a city map & we were on our way! As we drove, I wondered aloud whether or not a GPS would have been very helpful-probably not if they get their directions from the same major source that Scott looked ours up with. We got to the church about 5-10 minutes late...normally that would be a "tsk, tsk" but God must have been smiling at us on this day (or in my case laughing tremendously) because...

TO BE CONTINUED ;-P

What a difference a year (& a vacation) make!

One year ago...we were left reeling from having a new baby as part of our family for a couple of days & then having to take him back...

One month ago...I was really not looking forward to these last few days as they would mark the 1 year point since this had all happened & we still have not been able to add another member (even with a seemingly "real" possibility in our future at the time) to our family in that time frame...

What can I say? Vacation was a wonderful distraction & ours came at the most opportune time!

We had not purposefully planned it this way for this reason-it was based on work schedules, but it was nice timing to say the least.

It was not lost on me, though, that on the day we made it home-was the same day one year ago when I was able to watch a little being being brought into this world & how it filled my heart with joy & I was hopeful that wherever Baby E (who probably isn't much of a baby anymore :) was, that he was having a very happy birthday. He will always hold a special little piece of my heart even if he isn't part of our home & family. Happy Birthday Baby E!

Monday was the anniversary of taking him back, but luckily, even though I have a "mind for dates"-this date was forgotten at the time & wasn't as difficult to deal with :)

Vacation stories coming soon & maybe even some pics-WHAT???-I know, I rarely do pics so you'll just have to wait & see on that one :)