Hind sight

Cooling temperatures (in STL that means 80's but I'll take it!), football season up and running, meeting at Starbucks with a couple friends while wearing a comfy grey hoody and drinking a peppermint latte, oh my dear friends....fall is coming. Being a native Michigander, this time of year is my favorite. It takes St. Louis a little longer to get to the true autumn weather but I still love it just as much. I love long sleeves, jeans and boots. I love pumpkin bread (katie B recipe, of course) and making an enormous pot of chili. Sleeping under a throw blanket on a Sunday afternoon watching football is officially on the schedule and this year it's 10X more amazing.

Besides the fact that this season was cut short for me last year as I moved to the land of eternal spring, this year I have a sweet little brown baby to cuddle with me. My heart is as full as my arms. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Yesterday Margie asked me if knowing what I know now if I'd do it again or choose an easier adoption, if I'd had the choice. Being home 2 months already, I can say that I wouldn't change a thing. Eliot is that amazing. If I had to deal with all that drama and make that degree of sacrifice, just to get this little chocolate chip, I would do it again without a doubt. Even not counting getting Eliot as the final reward, the experience was unmatchable. Even the pain. Had we been "scoopers" a year ago like originally planned, there's a lot that we would have missed out on. So I'm thankful. I'm a better mom, wife and friend because of it all and that's only a fraction of the fruit of this experience. The Lord was and is so good.