Still Here

Thank you all for your kind words regarding my last post. Brandon and I talked and we decided that we're okay with the adoption wait as it is. I'll admit that I was pretty disappointed in December when we found out that the average cost of adoption with our agency went up, along with the wait time. But we came up with the extra money and prepared ourselves for a longer wait. If the same thing happens again while we're waiting, well, we'll just have to reevaluate at that point. But for now we're okay as long as things hold steady.

So remember a few months ago when we were going to plan a vacation (either to Cancun or Germany) but in the end I was too depressed to want to go? Well I'm happy to say that I'm definitely out of that funk. It may have to do with the fact that Brandon and I are doing excellent on our new lifestyle change (I hate the word diet) and I've lost 5.6 pounds in the past three weeks. I'm feeling great and though I'm not yet looking great I'm well on my way. So we decided that it's time for another vacation. Another adventure actually.

So we're going back to the rainforest! When Brandon and I visited Peru in 2008 for a volunteer trip we took a few days to visit the Manu Cloud Forest in the Amazon. It was only a 4-day trip, not nearly long enough to see anything of significance. In fact we didn't see any mammals on the trip, only insects and birds. This time we want to fly into Iquitos and spend roughly 8 or 9 days in the Amazon rainforest. How frickin' cool is that??? I heard that the part of the jungle we're going to has pink river dolphins and I'm so excited to see one. I'm hoping to lose another 15 pounds before our trip in late June so that we can go on hikes and maybe even take an overnight camping trip away from the lodge, in the heart of the jungle. Don't worry, we won't be alone. They always have guides escort you everywhere so you don't get killed by a jaguar.

The only problem I'm facing is what to do about our adoption. If we book this trip and then get matched we could potentially lose a lot of money, unless the airline will allow us to change our flight and use it for the adoption travel (I've never had to change a flight before, much less an international one. Are you stuck using the same airline or do you just get a credit back to use on your next flight? I plan on going through a site like Travelocity or Expedia). I looked at getting travel insurance but if we have to cancel for a non-covered reason they only reimburse you 50% of the cost of the trip. I've also just considered putting our adoption on hold till we get back. At first this really bothered me but after thinking on it I realized it might be the best idea. We really need a nice long vacation and we might come back from it recharged and more positive about the adoption wait. Or maybe we can just ask to be presented to birthmoms who are due after we get back from our vacation. I have a few more weeks to think it over. I don't plan on booking anything until mid-April so any suggestions you guys might have would be much appreciated. It's hard to keep living your lives during the adoption wait because you're always afraid of going away and missing The Call. But I'm sure there's some way to balance the two out.