Disney!

We had a great trip to Disney. We discovered that the trip is much more enjoyable and easier to recover from if you fly instead of driving twelve hours on both ends. Connor really enjoyed his first plane ride! I think we are forever spoiled! Hopefully Allegiant Air will keep offering awesome deals so we never have to make that drive again!

At the last minute, my mom decided to come with us, so we decided to try to find a last minute deal on a house. We were so blessed to find a really nice 4 bedroom house just a few minutes from Disney for less than we were going to pay for the hotel room! We really enjoyed having the space. We always say we are going to stay at a Disney resort the next trip, but we always end up getting a house. It is always such a better deal!

Day one at Disney was on Monday. It was an early morning since our flight got in pretty late, and we had a long drive from the airport. We spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom, and by the entire day, I mean 14 hours! We had so much fun! It is still Connor's favorite park, and I know he's going to outgrow it soon. The thought makes me sad!

Day two was split between Hollywood Studios (which we still kept calling MGM, much to the employees' objection) and Epcot. Connor's goal before we even left was to get picked for the Jedi Training Camp at MGM. He was so excited to be chosen to fight Darth Vader and it pretty much made his whole trip. He even told me today, "Mom, you need to print off a picture of me fighting Darth Vader because no one at school is going to believe me!" We got to ride the new Toy Story ride, which was so much fun! We hung out at Epcot that evening, and of course no trip to Disney is complete without getting a box full of pastries in France. YUMMY! So glad that's only a once a year thing or we'd be in trouble!

Day three, Greg and I celebrated our ninth anniversary. Connor started feeling pretty yucky on Tuesday, so Nana, Mimi, and Connor stayed behind at the house and rested. Greg and I took the Magic Kingdom's "Keys to the Kingdom Tour" and it was so neat! We got to see all the behind the scenes stuff, rode a couple of rides, and found out all kind of interesting information. It was five hours well spent! That night we all went to Downtown Disney to eat at Wolfgang Puck's, do a little souvenir shopping, and we enjoyed some margaritas down by the water.

Day four, our last day, was Thursday. We split the day between Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We raced to Epcot that morning to get fast passes for Soarin' my absolute favorite ride in all of Disney! We all rode Spaceship Earth for the first time, and Connor randomly said it was his favorite ride in all of Disney. Very strange choice! We spent the evening at Magic Kingdom, got some pics with Mickey and Minnie, and headed out early since we had to catch an early flight. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a yummy dinner and raced home to pack. We had to be up at 3:30 a.m. to leave for the airport in time to catch our flight. It was ridiculous! However, it was nice curling up in my own bed at 10 a.m. on Friday and going back to sleep!

Every year at Disney just gets better! We had a great fourth annual trip and were so glad Nana joined us this year! We had a great time!

Another Update....

We leave for the annual Disney trip in two days and we are so excited! We changed our original plans, and ended up renting a house in Orlando to stay for the week. Originally we were just going to stay for a couple of days and go to my mother-in-law's house for a few days, but my mother-in-law has a client who is going to get us some free tickets. Who can turn down changing a 2 day Disney trip into a 4 day Disney trip...not us! Also, my mom decided to join us at the last minute, and we are so excited for her to go to Disney for the first time. Connor is going to have so much fun with his Nana and Mimi. I wonder if he'll notice Daddy and Mommy are even there!

I finally made a decision about school.....I'm going back! I sent in my deposit to hold my place in the program yesterday. It is a year-long program. I'll begin in August and end next summer. The program is fixing to completely change, so I needed to get in while the administrative endorsement was easier to get. Just when I was getting my student loans paid down, I have to take out more! It's so stressful, but something that I feel like if I'm going to do it, I need to do it now.

Everyone keeps asking us about the adoption. No, we haven't heard anything. No, we won't hear anything for probably about two years. Right now people are waiting for the average of 30 months for a referral, then add 8-10 more months for court papers to go through before they can even travel to get their child. We're approaching our 1 year mark in a few weeks. I am beyond frustrated with the adoption lately, and quite honestly if it weren't for Greg encouraging me to hang in there, I would have given up two months ago after returning from Taiwan and the reality check we were given by the orphanage director. I never wanted my kids 7 or 8 years apart and we decided not to go with China for that reason. I am not pretending anymore that I'm not frustrated or angry because I am. I'm ready to go ahead and get pregnant again, so, if God has a plan, I hope he gives me some encouragement soon, because quite frankly, I'm ready to surrender. It's hard when you do what you feel God has asked you to do and feel like you have been totally abandoned. Two years ago we felt the calling to adopt, we've been faithful and patient, but there is just a limit that I'm reaching where I am starting to really feel completely hopeless. Connor desperately wants a sibling and I do not want to wait three more years for a baby to come into our home. I've been holding all of this in for a while, only talking to my closest friends, but I just don't understand it all.

So, I've been trying to distract myself from adoption depression with different things! Part of the reason I'm going back to grad school again...distraction. I've also been working out like crazy, and now have a new obsession with Pilates. How you cannot break a sweat but get an unbelievable workout, I don't understand, but this is definitely for me! Working out has helped to eliminate almost all the pain that I was feeling on the right side of my body. I'm still having a few problems with my sciatic nerve, but it's definitely improving! Greg is doing an awesome job on his health kick too! I'm so proud of him! He's lost five pounds. Connor loves going to the gym as well, and goes to "Kid's Club." It's been really fun to get healthy as a family. Another distraction I've found lately is with coupons. If you know me, you know I love a good deal, but lately I've been actively trying to see how much money I can save. It's like a game to me, and I'm having fun! Everything from eating out to groceries to stores, I'm getting some good deals!

Well, our next update will be from Disney! I can't wait to see Mickey! We'll let you know how Connor's first plane ride goes! Hope everyone has a great Spring Break!