Monday

Happy Monday to all of you, my dear readers... hope you had a great weekend.

Well, we didnt win the Disney contest, but it was so much fun to be a part of it, and thank you so much if you voted and if you shared - yall are awesome.... and I cant be too disappointed about it, a sweet family who lost their husband/dad won - so I wish them the best and hope they make a bunch of great memories.

Well, we did not get LOA last week... which means that we are pretty much resigned to traveling in September.... we might could get travel dates in August, but I have a big wedding in August that I am already committed to, so even if we got August dates, we would have to wait until September anyway.

And both Daniel and I have come to peace with it and are actually kind of excited about it.  September actually really works out well - Daniel will be settled into the school year enough that it wont be too much of a burden to leave for 2 weeks.  There are no holidays or birthdays to miss and the weather is usually nice which means it should be nice where Willow lives as well, which will make it easier to pack.  It also gives us another month or two to fundraise and save, which we still have a good bit still needed, but we will get there, Im sure.

And if you think about it, thats only 4 months away.... only 4 months and our lives will change forever!  Thats just so crazy to me.

But with hindsight from Wallace's adoption, I have learned to cherish this "quiet before the storm"  b/c yes, it will be a storm when it all goes down.... and we will probably feel like we are dying.... but it will pass too... so I have learned to savor this time when I am just a mother of three, when life is quiet (or as quiet as it can be with 3 kids), when life is ordinary and we have this one last summer of peace before everything breaks loose.

So right now, since we have a sort of date in our head... I am beginning to enter the nesting stage a bit.  Trying to make lists (I love lists! they complete me.) - figuring out what to pack with the 44 lb weight limit, figuring out what we will need for 2 weeks - for us, for Willow, for our kids who will be still here.... what our 3 here will need while we are gone..... what we need to take for gifts in country and for willow.... what we need to buy to put in our pantry and fridge so when we get home, we dont have to get out.

There is still so much to be done.... but we are growing excited as we are about to enter our "third trimester"... its so exciting.

Thank you for loving us and supporting us through this wonderful time in our lives... :)