Overnight in Austin

On Saturday, our family attended the quarterly "waiting family" support group weekend at our adoption agency. We've been active with our agency, waiting to adopt again, since the summertime. We were matched with a birthmom in December, but before we could take custody of the baby, she was pressured by her family to relinquish to a distant cousin. CPS got involved as our agency was pushed away, and ultimately, that little girl wasn't meant to be ours. Our social worker felt awful about the failed match, but we know God has a greater plan and we had peace. The social worker joked that maybe this loss meant there was a little boy in our future, but we'll see. We'd be blessed by a new little family member, regardless of gender. In the meantime, we wait -- and attend support group meetings.

Because we had to make an out-of-town trip for the meeting, we opted to make the whole weekend one of getaways. James took the day off work on Friday, and he and Bub spent the day in Houston at a baseball card convention. They added a few cards to their collections before enjoying a night in a hotel room, then we all drove in from different directions to attend the meeting.

After support group, James took Bub and the two littlest ladies home while Gracie, Brystol, and I drove to Austin. Because we were coming in in the evening, we drove straight to South Congress Avenue to browse the cool shops and hit up the food trucks. We dined on Thai food, bought sweets at Big Top Candy Shop, and tried on sunglasses and vintage clothes at a few of the shops. We picked up a couple of new Barbie dolls before heading back to the hotel room (where two happy girls played together for a couple of hours before sleeping). The next day, we enjoyed the hotel pool and hot tub before hitting up the Round Rock outlet mall on the way home. It's always so special to have some alone time with one or two kiddos. We all enjoy the individual attention and time to reconnect.