February 16th - A Sweet Suite

     One of the aspects of this trip that we looked forward to was the traveling and one aspect that we did not look forward to was the traveling. As they say there you take the good and take the bad. Our second trip down to Indy was exactly a week after the first, we were more rested and probably better prepared for this particular trip. It was Valentine's Day a great day for a meeting hey, anyway we decided to get a hotel for the evening rather than drive back in the late night, what a great decision that was. We logged into the hotel at 3:15 in the afternoon, enjoyed the exercise room, hot tub and our room all before going back out for the meeting in the evening. Earlier that day we had stopped in at Bethany to drop off some paperwork for our file and we met the lead adoption specialist in the office. She surprisingly said 'we just got finished with a team meeting about you' that was not what we expected, then she invited us to sit down and we'd all go over some new information together. We had thought we'd just stop by to drop off some documents and instead we had a meeting on the spot which did prove helpful to us, a bit more understanding of how this whole process can work for us.
     The evening meeting was about attachment, that is a very important subject when dealing with adoption. When, how and to what extent does an adopted child attach to the parents are key questions and this particular seminar focused on this subject, it was helpful to us as we look to having a child attach to us in the future. After a good night's sleep we also decided to enjoy the amenities of the hotel on the next day as well, so a hot complimentary breakfast was first on the docket. We once again used the exercise machines and hot tub, television and eventually checked out at 11:59, I'd say we got our money's worth on that occasion. With all that is going on in our heads it is great to get an evening away, and with Earl's parents coming for the weekend having some alone time was quite valuable, as you can expect there is much to discuss together.

     One of the great aspects of this trip is that we are staying in a great house right in the Goshen, so it is really close to many of our friends. We're both quite relational people so having friends and others around is fabulous, after our arrival back 'home' Karisa stopped in for the rest of the day and evening, just us eating dinner, watching tv and hanging out. Having space to hang out like that is really food for our souls, and since moving from Goshen 3 1/2 years ago we have realized the deepness of relationship that exists here with so many people. Of course we really miss being back in Overton, seeing many familiar faces day in and day out, but for this month stretch at least the familiar faces are ones of Hoosiers, and quite soon Cliff and Della. On Thursday they arrive and Friday we are off to Kouts for the next part of the home study, this will be a meeting with our specialist about us, it will last for probably 3 hours or so, should be much fun.