Mixed Emotions

As my summer time in St. Louis is coming to an end, I am flooded with mixed emotions. Of course I am happy to be going home to my husband (and cat). I'm just anxious and nervous about leaving my dad. I know that he will be in good hands. It is just difficult to think about not seeing him everyday. It makes it even harder to leave when I have to hear him say, "What am I going to do without you?" He is worried that he wont be able to go to church, music programs, and outings without me being there to take him. I told him that there are people who would take him if he lets them know what he wants to do. I hope that they remember to check on him and encourage him to attend activities. I think that has helped make a huge difference in his state of mind. Even though my time here has been an emotional roller coaster, I am thankful that I was able to be here and spend this time with him.

Thankful Moments and Memories

Yesterday was such a wonderful day. I was able to convince my dad to go on an outing! Once a week they have a planned outing for the residences to go on. This week it was to the Ameristar Casino. We had been talking about going all week and he seemed on board for the trip, but you never know if he'll be up to it when the time comes. When I arrived to his room he was all dressed but when I told him we were going to the casino he said he thought that he was getting ready to go out somewhere with the family. He said he wanted to pass on the casino. The nurse walked in about 15 minutes before the bus was set to leave. When she said they were about to leave for the casino, my dad asked what casino they were going to. The nurse said Ameristar and dad looked at me and said, "Ok, let's go". We hurried up front, loaded the bus and we were off!

We had a great time! We played on three slot machines; one penny and two quarter slots (neither of us are big gamblers). On the last slot machine we won $35 and we both looked at each other and said, "Ok we're done!" We ended up winning $53 altogether. After that we went into one the restaurants, drank some ice tea, and talked. It was great seeing my dad laughing, having a great time and interacting with some of the other people on the trip with us. Even though it was just a 2 1/2 hour trip, it was a little adventure for us. It reminded me of all the fantastic adventures I had with my dad when I was growing up. I am so blessed to have all those moments and memories and thankful that I have been able share all these new ones with him. In the words of my dad "we had a good time, won some money, and had some fun" what else could we ask for?!

Giovanni sent me beautiful flowers yesterday! I was very surprised. It was just what I needed to cheer me up and remind me how blessed I am to have him in my life. He is my life preserver! Whenever feel like I am sinking in troubled waters, he is right there to help me and pull me back into safety. Thank you mi amore!

I have been home for about five days now and will be returning to St. Louis tomorrow for about another four weeks (until I have to return to work Aug. 30th). It has been great being home; spending time with Giovanni, being in my own house, sleeping in my own bed, and cuddling with Capone....living our normal life, if only for a little while.

Still no major news on the adoption front. We got an e-mail from CHSFS saying that some people have finally received their approvals (not us though). The three regional referral committees met in July but no referrals were made to U.S families. They are speculating that there will be no news in August because it tends to be a month that many go on vacation in Ecuador. We were told that our contact in Ecuador has written letters and made appeals asking for the UTA to push to deal with the long pending cases and she did receive a promise to do so. I am hopeful but lets just say that I'm not going to hold my breath.

I can do all this through he who give me strength ~Philippians 4:13