November?

Is it possible that it's November? I've been busy working on several things and haven't gotten around to blogging in two weeks?  Well, there you go.  I'm happy that it's November...November means Thanksgiving, but even better it means Thanksgiving in Maine with my family two days before my brother's wedding!  Oh, what a joy it will be to be there.  We've always done Thanksgiving with Daniel's side of the family, so I think this will be the first - maybe second - Thanksgiving that I've been with my parents since Daniel and I got married over eight years ago.  I've always loved Thanksgiving with my in-laws, so let's be clear on that, but it will be so fun to change it up this year, especially given the fact that it's really different for the simple reason that we have a wedding right after Thanksgiving.  My brother's life is his business, but it has affected our family in a lot of ways.  Not all of them have been so happy.  And now that he is doing so well and living a life that is glorifying to God, to see him marrying a girl that we love is one of the biggest blessings we could have hoped for.  The Gungor song "Beautiful Things" reminds me of him and makes me cry (well, weep, if I'm being accurate) when I hear it and think how true it is, particularly in my brother's life that God has truly made a beautiful thing out of what was sort of a mess for a little while.  He is faithful and good and definitely answered some fervent prayers from a lot of people in our family for a while.

In other news, I'm a little over a week out from my race and feeling good.  Praying that good health continues and that I won't get sick or injured in the next weeks.  I had to run two miles this morning and I chuckled when I realized how much my thought process has changed about "two miles."  It used to be a long, long way.  Then it was a long but do-able distance.  Then it was the not-easy-but-okay distance.  Then it was the easy distance in my training.  And now?  Now I think two miles isn't enough of a work out and what exactly do I feel like adding to it (elliptical?  weights?  walking?) to burn a few more calories and be in the gym for more than 20 minutes.  Oh, and check out my tracker!  I'm down 17 pounds now!  Eeek!  (Okay, okay, I wasn't going to say this....but...I bought a dress for my brother's wedding.  It's a size 8!! I was a newlywed the last time I wore an 8.  I know, I KNOW it's not about what size you wear, but I AM getting back to a much healthier weight and shape and I'm proud of that. )

As for the adoption, we heard back this week that the birthmom in Indiana ended up picking another family.  She decided that with the possibility of the baby having Leigh's disease, she wanted him to go to a family that didn't already have kids.  Honestly, I wasn't surprised she didn't pick us.  I knew in my gut she wasn't going to after the length it took for her to decide.  And, frankly, I respect her choice.  She has three kids and one of them has Leigh's disease, so she knows what that's like.  And if that's why she's choosing adoption for this baby, because it's more than she can handle, she would know better than anyone.

We did get our bimonthly update email this week, too, and things seem to be picking up on the pregnancy counseling end of things.  We're still hopeful that we'll get placement soon - I'm BEGGING God that it will not be later than December or January - particularly because we don't want to have to start all over when we get to Colorado.  July, in some ways, is far off.  And in some ways, 8 months is nothing.  After 16, I know.

Oh, and lastly, Tuesday morning Daniel was promoted!  The new picture on my blog header is from that day.  It was a good day and we're thankful to God for this blessing.  A "yes" sure feels good.