Princess Breakfasts & China

We just returned this afternoon from 10 days in Florida. We love to camp at the Disney campground and this year, with friends in tow, we tackled the campground again. This camping at Disney thing has turned into quite the tradition, we have been doing it for the past 8 years. Last year I found myself thinking about the fact that I would only have two years left of enjoying the boys in these surroundings where they are so happy and carefree. This year was completely different. I had never attended the Princess breakfast before (for some reason I could never get L and the boys to agree to go) but this year two of the families that camped with us had little girls so I made reservations for all of the moms and daughters (I took D's girlfriend). I was awestruck. The whole experience was wonderful. As I was eating my food, watching the interaction between mothers and daughters and princesses, it suddenly occurred to me that by this same time next year I will have Koli. I will have her to experience all of the magic and wonder of new experiences with. In a few years I will dress her up in the princess costume of her choice, invite her Daddy to dine with us, and watch the sparkle in her eyes as Princesses she will have only known from books and movies suddenly come alive.

I needed this vacation so much more than I even realized. It was wonderful interacting with the boys and L (and D's girlfriend) without the usual time constraints on our family that we are held to at home. My family made it a point of visiting Epcot where we spent an unusual amount of time in the China pavillion. It was almost like without speaking the desire, we all wanted to explore this pavillion, speak to the workers, eat the food, do everything we could to feel a little closer to the country where our daughter and sister will be coming from. No one wanted to leave, we bought souvenirs from the store then laughed at ourselves at the fact that we were buying things made in China when we would actually be traveling to China early next year. It was a great experience and I am so thankful to have witnessed the interest that all 3 boys displayed in learning everything they could about their sister's homeland.
The time away did alot to help with my frustration levels as well. I am back now and this Friday we will meet with our social worker, it seems much more tolerable now than it did three weeks ago when I first found out about the delay. From now until Friday I am just going to keep reliving my vacation-going to my "happy place" in my head and reminding myself that this time next year, we will have our own sweet princess.