Surprise Vacation

We decided to run off to my Grandma’s house in Northern Michigan last Thursday.  The trip was a very last minute thing, originally we were going to try to put stuff together and leave late in the day on Thursday, but we then realized how much we really needed to get ready for the trip and left early on Friday.  This  was our first out of state trip where we didn’t need to get a court order and there were lots of family members who haven’t met Hope yet.

We made side trips all over the northern part of the lower peninsula including Traverse City, Petoskey, and Mackinac City (but not the island).

Thanks to everyone for welcoming us and the Dizzler up!

 Hope just listening to her DVD on the way up.  This was about hour 5.  Thank goodness for the new in car DVD player.

 Hope & my 3 1/2 year old cousin at Mackinac City's playground.

 Hope riding on my aunt's horse at my other aunt's stable.

 Going to the beach at Grand Traverse Bay

 Sand in my hand.

 Hope & Mommy at the beach.

 Wave Jumping

 Family at the beach

 Hope on the dragon

The dragon in the sand

 I spy with my little eye

 Welcome to the wheelhouse

Daddy got me

 Hope with Grandma Great-- this makes it worth the drive

The Dizzler sleeping between the front and back seats and Hope sleeping behind Clifford in her car seat.

It took us 7 hours to get up to my grandma's then a couple each day driving to the different cities and 6 hours back on Monday.  It was great to be able to introduce Hope to many people who hadn't met her or haven't been able to spend much time with her.   We all had a great time-- even the Dizzler.

Preschool and Dance will start just after Labor Day, so we wanted to get our "vacation" out of the way while we could.

 

Pics, pics and more pics.

We had the great pleasure of sharing one of our favorite places, the FW Children’s Zoo, with Hope’s sister’s family.  What a great experience and great way to kick off the anniversary of our families meeting and changing in ways we never imagined.   Here are the zoo pics.

One Year Already

Believe it or not, but one year today we met our little Miss Hope.   It is incredible to think that she has gone from the shy little child who could barely babble to a caring and compassionate 2 and a half year old who is full of her own opinions.  It is remarkably hard to think that just 12 months ago mom and I were both working, we owned our own home in a different county and the thing we wanted most was to share our love with a little person.   Now fast forward 12 months and Mom has retired, Dad has his own business,  we have sold our house and moved back to our home town,  and we are parents.  

It is hard to put myself back in my old office sitting at the back of my wraparound desk trying to scribble down notes as fast as I could while I was on a conference call  with Mom and the caseworker.  I don’t know how I managed to work for the rest of the day until we met Hope at 6pm on that night.  We knew Hope was a good fit for our family, but little did we realize how much our family would grow.  Ladybug, Peanut, and their parents have become an extension of our immediate family and our families have been fully integrated.  It is just second nature to talk to them on a regular basis and meet up at least once a month with them.   It is just one of those things that has been an unexpected benefit to adopting Hope.    They have been able to help us invaluably as we have been through the adoption process. 

While this is a day of great joy, we know it was an incredibly hard decision for T&D to make to let us come in as perfect strangers and take one of their children.  They had no idea about us or the relationship that we would develop.   We are thankful for their faith in letting us create the amazing transition that transpired to create our family.  

We have had a whirlwind of activity since we moved back to Fort Wayne.  We will be posting pictures and more stories soon.  Thanks to everyone!