After an awesome return to Salt Lake City, we headed south. Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon and their nature neighbors are inspiring in scale and in sheer fear, as we chaperoned two rambunctious toddlers through them.
We couldn’t even get there in one piece! In heading to our condo, we ended up in a white out blizzard on a mountain in southern Utah. A nice man in a pick up kindly dragged us up to a turnaround so we could head back down and try again. All ended well and we’re all safe and sound. Still, never boring!
When we got to Winslow, we wondered what the kids would think of Dave’s roots. They got out of the car and in seconds were digging in the red dirt and running in the tumbleweeds. It’s like they were born there. Over the course of a few days, they fell in love with the desert and with their family.
This trip has been about reconnecting with family they’re too young to even remember: adoptive family, first family, cousins like siblings, friends like cousins – you name it. From the bonus Grandma Betty to the birds that visit every morning, the kids were absolutely besotted with Winslow. Remy got to play guitar by himself for the first time. Joy did metal smithing with Sarah Kay. We listened to pick up concerts with multiple musicians in a dome by the fire after enchiladas and playing outside all day. Dancing freely and shrieking with laughter, Tess and Remy found heaven and became the entertainment. Some bigger neighbor kids were incredibly kind to them, which showed them how to be incredibly kind to their young cousin Arya.
Leaving was hard, as it always is. Next stop: Phoenix! My brother hasn’t sold his old house yet, which is incredibly fortunate for us. He and his wife are so kind. They got some secondhand furniture and filled the house with basics. We have everything we need to comfortably wait the weeks ahead of us before we can go home. After traveling so much, we are excited to be in one place for a while. Having such a comfortable, beautiful place is beyond our wildest dreams. We can’t wait for our kids to get some quality time with their cousins up the street! Visits over holidays are always fun, but it’s different when you can relax and know that everyone will still be around a few days later.
And we will be here in a few days. Everything is still on track for this adoption, so we canceled our plane tickets and decided to stay. We got news that it’s definitely a boy, which is good to know but has no impact on our excitement one way or the other. What is exciting? Hearing that, should the birth mom not deliver by Tuesday, she will be induced Thursday morning. We’ll meet our little boy a week from today. My gut says this will happen.
The FBI is off its game, which is making our lives very uncomfortable. It turns out the five-week wait we’re used to has become 14. Without clearances, we can’t leave Arizona. Tomorrow we’ll be going to the police station to request a rush order FBI report from a third-party, kids in tow. Hopefully that will put us back on track to simplicity. In the meantime, we’re finding our groove, Arizona style. Wish us luck and patience! The days can’t go by fast enough.
