Our Journey North

(I'm back tracking a bit... trying to keep records of this journey in great detail because let's face it, my memory isn't what it used to be!)

Monday we drove halfway to Georgia and met Auntie Karon and two of my nephews at McDonald's. We ate and chatted and then Brandon moved all of our carseats into Auntie Karon's van. It was hot. The air conditioning was broken in the McDonalds. We seem to bring bad luck to that McDonalds. Last time we met right after the tornados came through. Their air conditioning was messed up then too... and they were out of alot of supplies.

Then Brandon and I drove home. For about half of the trip we sat in complete silence. It felt weird and we laughed nervously. Afterwards we started talking about what expectations we had for the trip to meet Annalise. We also made a list of questions.

As we got nearer to Richmond, we got more and more nervous. Brandon decided that a chiropractic adjustment and a pedicure would relax me. So off we went.

Once we got home, we packed and headed to bed. There wasn't much sleeping done by me. I had too much to think about.

The next morning we woke up before the sun was up. We had heard horror stories of traffic in/around DC but we didn't run into much traffic there.

I was already a little tearful as we made our drive. I missed the Fab Four and we had alot of unknowns about our trip and meeting Annalise/our agency.

I couldn't keep the tears in though, as I saw landmarks in DC just as we heard a tribute to the Seal 6 team. God Bless the USA played during part of the tribute and the tears fell easily.

I'd never been to DC or travelled in the northeast. I was amazed at the sights and looked like a total tourist as I was attempting to snap pictures with the camera on my phone.

We were so unprepared for the tolls that we went through. Our GPS usually steers us clear of toll roads but we paid several on the way to the K's home. (Little did we know that this would be a theme of the trip.)

We made a bathroom stop at a Starbucks and Brandon convinced me to try a Starbucks drink. I don't like coffee but do drink cheap gas station cappuccinos and McDonald's frappes. I can't remember what he picked for me but it was a cold drink. This caffeine/sugar filled drink would later be my downfall.

About 2 miles away from the foster family's home, we stopped at a Wendy's for another bathroom break. I put my make up on and grabbed a drink. We were supposed to eat lunch before we came... but I was a ball of nerves. I started to panic a bit. My face was really splotchy and my hands shook. I fought back tears as I realized that the caffeine had not done a single thing for my nerves. I think I had a four piece nugget from Mickey D's. All I remember is trying not to throw up.

We did have a little comic relief though. Maggie (our Magellan GPS) decided to take us to the end of the road and tell us that we'd arrived. So we had to turn around and read the mailbox numbers to find the K's home. Brandon joked that Maggie was going senile in her "old age." She's almost 3 years old, but Brandon said that is like 60 in GPS years. (Like dog years LOL!)

For about three seconds, I didn't want to get out of the van and knock on the door. But I knew that our new baby girl was inside.

Could we handle her needs? Would we both be on board? Was this indeed, going to be our fifth child? As I knocked on the door, my knees buckled and I thought surely I was going to make a scene if I passed out. Slow deep breaths kept me "with" everyone.

And the moment that I met Mama K I knew everything would be alright. She very quickly went to go get Annalise and love took us in....