What a weekend!

Talk about a whirlwind trip; we've had a busy couple of days. We're home now, and can hardly believe that the weekend is already over. Here is a breakdown of our trip. I apologize if this is too many details for you.

Friday - We flew from Phoenix to Minneapolis. Due to bad weather, our flight was delayed three hours. My family was supposed to drive in from Fargo, but decided that it would not have been safe. As bummed as we were, it was much better to be safe than sorry. We finally landed in snowy Minneapolis at around 11:40pm and headed over to our hotel.

Saturday - Picked up our roller skate of a rental car in the morning. The idea of driving a compact Hyundai was more than a little scary, but it wasn't too bad. Matt actually enjoyed trying to make it spin out. By the early afternoon, the roads were fine. We spent some time at the Mall of America, mostly walking around. We almost rode one of the roller coasters, but I wasn't sure my stomach would appreciate it. We headed down to Red Wing after lunch and got checked into our second hotel of the weekend. we got in touch with Brandon & Heidi, and decided to meet for dinner in Lake City. On our drive into Red Wing, we saw a sign for the world's largest boot and decided we had to include that in our trip. On our way to meet the family, we stopped and got our picture taken with the size 638 boot. This was a welcome distraction from my anxiety. Dinner went well. Brandon and Heidi brought their son (Aiden) and his parents along. We used it more as a time to get to know them and to feel more comfortable with each other. It was like being on a first date, so there was a lot of small talk. The conversation consisted of interests, family history, likes/dislikes, etc. We did manage to get some of our questions answered. At the end of dinner, we decided to meet up the next afternoon with just Brandon and Heidi. His parents are great, but we were excited to spend some time with them.

Sunday - We had a lot of time to kill. Our hotel check-out was 11am, and we didn't plan to meet until the mid-afternoon. We were able to use the time to do some research on Minnesota adoption law (in addition to spending about an hour walking around Target - that store never gets old). We met up with them in the late afternoon and got to meet one of Brandon's brothers, who was hanging out at their apartment. We talked for awhile, and got more of our questions answered. I think we all felt pretty comfortable with each other. We also had fun playing with their son, Aiden. It was fun to find out things that we had in common, talk to them about their goals, and see what they are hoping for in an adoption. I think we are all on the same page as far as an open adoption, which is great!

I wish that we could say that we were closer to a decision, but we're still trying to figure things out. There are pros and cons on both sides. We have a few more details that we need to cover with both birth moms, and then we'll be able to make a decision. There are so many factors in adoption and I don't know that we'll ever be able to answer all of our questions. A big part of this process has been trusting God, and this part is no different.

We're going to continue asking for prayer, especially over the next few days. As soon as we've made a decision, we'll share it with you.