Granada and our journey....

We just got home from an overnight stay in Granada. We have been to Granada several times and have always admired the Hotel Plaza Colon that sits in front of the square, so we made plans and stayed there!! The hotel is gorgeous and our room had a balcony that overlooked the square. Beautiful!! The girls had a separate room and we brought our friend Alejandra, to watch the girls for us.

We spent the first day walking around, getting to know the city. We "almost" fired Alejandra .... she was holding Gracie's hand while we were walking through the square, I guess we had been there for a total of 10 minutes - and all of a sudden, we heard a loud "DOING!!!" - We look back and Gracie ran straight into, and at full force, a light post that was in the middle of the square!! She hit her head HARD and started to cry - this is a big deal because it takes a lot for our Gracie to cry!! Of course, Alejandra felt terrible about it - so of course, we told her she was fired and gave her a hard time about it the rest of the trip (maybe that's why she asked me to take her straight home when we got back into Managua!!) Later in the day, the girls went for a swim in the beautiful pool at the hotel and Tim and I got ready for a night out!! Yes, my husband and I without the girls for dinner and relaxation!!

We had a romantic dinner down the street and watched street entertainers dance, sing and a couple even fire jugglers!! It was very entertaining. This was the first time I had been out - walking around at night and it made me a little nervous. I am not familiar with Granada and never venture out at night...Tim kept saying, "let's cross here" "O.K., slow down a little" - this happened when we ran into anyone on the street. Yes, I was a little nervous. When I explained my feelings to my husband, he said "Don't worry, I took Tae Kwon Do 10 years ago"!!! Great, still nervous!!! We stayed safe and really enjoyed our evening. We took HOT showers....so so nice, had an air-conditioned room, the most comfortable bed and I didn't see one bug in our room the ENTIRE TIME WE WERE THERE!!!!! YYYYEEEESSSS!!!!

Today, was our second day of the trip and our friends, Jason and Michele came with Michele's Mom and sister and met us at Kathy's Waffle House for breakfast. We arrived in a 2-horse carriage after taking a tour of the city (definitely one of the highlights of our trip), we then did some shopping in the streets. We always see vendors selling movies - movies that are still out in the theaters - I never stop and look because I know this is totally illegal. But of course, when Tim is here, we do things that I wouldn't normally do (he is such a bad influence!!) - so we bought the girls 10 movies for $10!!! You wouldn't believe the quality - they are awesome and I told Tim - I am getting a lot more before we go home!! So we have some more entertainment to last us a few more weeks!! We were then on our way home with some tired girls and even more tired parents!!!

I promised Tim that we would NOT discuss the adoption during our time away. I wanted to escape the prison of Managua for a couple of days. I couldn't help but think about it, of course. When I was sitting out on the balcony at our hotel, I people watched for a long time. I was out there first thing this morning and saw all the street vendors getting ready for their day. They were cleaning their tables, sweeping the ground around them, setting out their food, and items to sell. They all work so hard! They will work from morning until dark....every day. I saw locals walking through the square - thinking they were heading to work. I saw children playing and tourists going from place to place.

The entire time I was thinking how blessed I am to be here in this beautiful place with a family I adore. How my family is healthy and strong and have such a strong future ahead of them. I took some time to think about the blessings in my life. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all are blessed. My life may be very different from the woman in the plaza who sells food, probably easier in many ways, but she also probably has a family to love, is proud of her contributions and has a life of happiness, much like mine!! We are all so different...but also so much the same.

Again, I made a commitment to myself and to God to remember how blessed I am...to know that this time is only a moment in my life, one I know I can conquer! That I will wake up each day being GRATEFUL for my life, not wondering why God isn't listening to my prayers!! There is no feeling sorry for myself...just moving forward and enjoying the journey!!

So my trip did wonders for my attitude...as you can tell!! Having my husband here ALWAYS makes me feel secure and loved....so the challenge for me is to keep this attitude AFTER he leaves!! ;) Allie comes in tonight and we are all so excited to have her here with us!!! So here's to another day of knowing how blessed I am and to loving the days of our journey!!