Back to the real world

We are back from Florida, we completely enjoyed our vacation! The weather was absolutely perfect (don't worry the moment we hit the Texas border we hit rain), the beach was beautiful, the drive went really well, the seafood was great, we had tons and tons of fun! Ella perhaps had the best time of her life... she really LOVED the ocean. I was shocked by how well she did, the waves were pretty darn big and she took it like a champ. She loved for us to pull her out on a boogie board and pretend she was a surfer. Before the trip she saw the surfing movie with the penguins and thought that was really cool. She is swimming really well, she wears a floating of course, but can really hang with the big kids. Here are some pics from our trip...

Ella's cool shades for the drive

Me and Ella at this great dive in Louisiana. Ella danced the night away with the band. Ella in costume on the swamp tour

Ella and her daddyJust cooling down with her fan Dreaming of sand castles and surf On the way home we stayed at a plantation in Louisiana called Oak Alley. The trees we're absolutely amazing.
As for adoption news...Our paperwork for Gladney is complete it is sitting on my desk ready to be dropped in the mail!!!!! YEAH! One part done and now to start the Dossier stuff. I must admit I'm feeling a little bit frightened by the Dossier. I'm not sure if its the word that intimidates me, the amount of work that it seems to be, or just all the steps that have to be done. I think I have most of the paperwork together so I think most of it will be getting it notified and checking with Gladney to see if I'm doing it right.

As for how we're feeling...I think with any big decisions there are big ups and downs. Before we left for our trip I was having some doubt, feeling scared, and overwhelmed. I started getting worried about the trip over there and how Ella was going to adapt, I worried about the mounds of paperwork needing to get done, about when everything would happen, I started to worry about all the unknowns. I guess that's were faith comes in and I know that God will bless me with it. I know not to be anxious and to wait and that God has a perfect time and perfect plan but I just wish he's let me in on the ol timeline, wouldn't that be nice! I think most of all I was just run down and needing a pick me up. After getting home I'm feeling renewed not only in energy but in our decision.