One Year Ago Today...Leaving on a Jet Plane

I get so excited when I read the blogs of other families about to embark on the trip of a lifetime. I remember well that day in the airport bidding farewell to my husband. It was the first time since we'd been married that we were separated. Our choice to have Rob travel and me stay home was difficult in some ways, but it was the most logical choice for our family. Emily becomes antsy after several days at the shore and her picky eating patterns did not bode well for international travel. Additionally, when the choice was made for us to divide and conquer, we anticipated travel almost a year earlier making Emily three, and just not ready.

Originally, a good family friend, John had made the committment to travel with Rob. We were so grateful for such a generous offer. Unforeseen business committments cropped up a very short time before we were scheduled for travel and John alerted us travel would be difficult. Uh oh. My dear friend Gerry had said to me several times that her husband, Jim would be more than happy to make the trip. A fire chief in a major metropolis, Jim would need to take two weeks vacation - I was certain it was just not enough time to prepare. BUT, I made that phone call and Jim answered the phone assuring us that he was up for the challenge. It turns out the timing in which they would be away was already scheduled vacation for Jim. God is so good!

In order to minimize melodrama, Emily said goodbye to daddy at home and had a full docket of plans with Nan while my dad drove Rob, Jim and I to the airport. It was a rainy day, but our hearts saw only sunshine knowing what the end of this trip would bring.

Below is an excerpt from our adoption journal (our original website was set up with Adoption Voyages)

I am drawn back to the evening Emily was born. I had been in labor for 20 hours (no pain, not progressing, frustrating but serene). In a last ditch attempt to progress the delivery before concluding a C-section would occur, I was given yet another high dose of pitocin and an epidural in hopes it would relax my system. It worked like a charm, and like every other surprise Rob and I have had in life, we were rather thrown into the moment, when we were beginning to expect a different outcome. There she was, a beautiful, wonderful addition to a life we were pretty happy with...and I mentioned I would do it again, in a heartbeat, a thousand times over (okay, maybe not a thousand, but I said that!). Rob and I were all alone (there was an emergency in another delivery room), and he told me I'd done good...it was sweet, and then he said something I will never forget, it was a prophesy of sorts. He said, "I promise honey, next time I'll take care of it." Of course we laughed--never in a million years would we guess what life had in store for us.

Today we kissed each other goodbye for a time, so that Rob could go "take care of bringing home our baby girl." Thank you Rob, for keeping your promise.