Somehow, November arrived extraordinarily fast this year. As soon as it arrived, I was filled with thoughts of delicious meals, gorgeous leaves, pumpkins, family time, and of course Thanksgiving. Additionally, Brent and I were going on a trip to Miami as just a couple to celebrate our five year anniversary a few days early. We were so excited. We attended a Christian-marriage conference that Brent's parents gave to us as a gift while they kept the kids, which meant time alone in Miami. We love our children wholeheartedly but decided from the onset of growing our family that our relationship would have to come first. Truthfully, it is hard with munchkins, but well worth it. But I digress.
Clearly, we were ecstatic about our trip and about the entire month in general. The Wednesday before leaving for Miami, I was headed out the door to pick up the girls from school and take Lilly Grace to gymnastics. I had hopped in the car, backed out of the garage, and realized I forgot to grab her leotard. I ran back in and evidently put my car in drive instead of park. Let me tell you, running your car into your own house while you aren't even in it is mortifying! I felt like the biggest moron. However, Brent took the news so well and was calming, kind, and godly despite his scatterbrained wife. We have a lot of brick to replace, and the front of my car needs a little bit of help. My Dad even came over that night and got the garage door back in alignment so it would close.
The following day, Brent's parents came over early in the morning to keep the girls, and we headed out for what turned out to be a glorious trip to Miami! The conference was absolutely awesome, and we highly recommend it. It is "A Weekend to Remember" presented by Family Life. We journeyed to South Beach, downtown Miami, the Keys, the Everglades, and Little Havana. It was a lot in a few days, and we had a ball.
In addition to us celebrating five years of wonderful marriage this month, my dad celebrated his 60th birthday. All of the in-town family came over to our house for "Pop's Party" - his "Stew-Pendous Souper Sixty Celebration." We had soup as our meal, and yes, I really like alliteration. It was such a fun night. All the grand kids were precious, the dinner turned out yummy, and we had great family fellowship. The only down side was that about thirty minutes prior to everybody's arrival, Lilly Grace spiked a 104 degree fever. What we hoped was a 24 hour issue turned into an eight day fever virus affecting both girls. Fevers were up and down all day, noses were repulsively gross, they refused to eat, coughs were productive, and chests were rattling. It was rough.
Before the dreaded virus ravaged our house Brent was gone for the longest he has been gone since we had children. He was originally supposed to go to New Orleans for a few days, but ended up going to DC first then flew from DC to NOLA. He was gone for six days. Truth be told, the girls were awesome. We had a great time doing girlie things, although we really missed Brent. That said, military wives are incredible. Their husbands are gone for extensive periods of time, and they never complain! I am amazed by these rock star women. Six days without help is difficult, like really difficult at times, but it was also really fun. Lilly Grace slept in my bed, we did arts and crafts, we played. It was a grand old time. And because of Brent's flight schedule, we were able to both drop off and pick up Brent from the airport.
Finally, our crazy November was looking up. The girls were well, and they were going back to school for the first time in over a week. I was going to clean and sanitize my house. Right as I was dropping them off, Brent texted me. He was in a wreck on the interstate. AHHHHH! Luckily he was fine, just quite sore. And it wasn't his fault at all - unlike my incident with the garage a few weeks prior.
That brings us to today. Two days ago we were supposed to receive an update on where our paperwork is in Colombia, then the internet and phones went down in the area of Medellin that Lifeline has its in-country folks. Thus, we received part of the update today instead. Today marks six years since Brent and I started dating, and so I just knew that fate would allow something monumental to happen today. Cheesy, I know, especially considering I don't believe in "fate." Late this morning, our precious social worker called. Brent's birth certificate is still causing problems. Grrrrr. Whereas being born in England is no-doubt cool, it makes international adoption difficult for some reason. We filled out an affidavit previously, and completed some forms regarding Brent being born in England, thinking this was sufficient. Evidently it was not. We have to get his Great Britain birth certificate certified in Britain and apostilled there. Much to Brent's chagrin, it won't require a trip to England, but it sadly will add about two weeks or more on to being approved by Colombia.
Needless to say, the ups and downs of this month, which is not even over yet, have made me gripey. I've been a pill to be around I am sure. I thought about this, and am now embarrassed. This is the month of Thanksgiving, and I've done little more than complain! In these next eight days, I pray for an attitude adjustment. Honestly, I have it super easy. My husband is incredible, hard-working, and a true family man. Our kids are usually really healthy, happy, and precious. We never have to worry about food, a roof or clothing. Above all, we have a God who loves us unconditionally despite our unthankfulness. Let me end by saying, I can't WAIT to be thankful that we've been approved to adopt our precious, adorable son, and we pray that day is soon.
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