authentication trip

we were all so excited for our trip to richmond!

{joshua wrote this the night before...}

i had butterflies in my stomach.
the day had so many pieces...and it was literally planned out to the minute.

after my 6 mile run in the morning, i got ready and got the car all packed...snacks, lunch, meal packed for friend, bag of activities for the kids if we had to wait long at the authentication office, change of clothes for everyone, pj's for everyone, camera (duh!), paperwork to be signed, bikes and scooter. the car was pretty full! :-)

first stop, IKEA!
it's about an hour of us...and i'm making the girls new duvet covers and wanted to get comforters to go in the covers at Ikea.
it was on the way from our house to Richmond, so it made sense to stop.

this is the only picture i have from there...it's a SUPER kid friendly place...and i utilized this great seat on the back of the bathroom stall for sawyer! :-)

we got to ikea at 10 on the dot (when it opened) and were headed back to the car at 10:30 (exactly when i was planning...) until i realized i had somehow gotten 1 twin and 1 FULL comforter! so...back through the store (which, if you've been to ikea, you KNOW is not easy!) to get another twin. buy it. and return the full. now i'm getting back on the road at 11 am. ugh. behind schedule already.

get back on 95.
it's a parking lot.
ROAD WORK!
it should be illegal to do road work on 95 south between NOVA and Richmond on a friday.
seriously.

once the traffic starts moving i *somehow* make up for lost time.
until my GPS sends me towards Charlottesville instead of into Downtown Richmond.
i call Leah and she gets me back on track...but i was 30 minutes away from where i wanted to be...more lost time...

get to the authentication office.
well, park 4 blocks away from the authentication office.
load the stroller up with all our bags (lunch, activities, paperwork, sawyer's clothes - he was still in his pj's! :-))
pay 2 hours worth of a meter

then walk to the authentication office.
it's 1:30pm-ish.

hand over our paperwork.
she takes one look at it and tells me it will take a couple hours.
it should be done by 4 pm.
not what i was planning on...i was hoping to wait for it and be done.

we leave and eat our lunch in a little courtyard right outside of the building.
the kids are doing AWESOME!
no complaining...going with the flow...(joshua is asking every few minutes when we are seeing owen :-))

after we eat our lunch, we walk back to the car and hop in. just as i'm ready to drive away, a man in a suit and holding a Bible in one hand knocks on our window. i roll the window down. he asks me if there's anything he can pray for us? we have a little conversation. and he prays for us right then and there. as we drive away, the kids are amazed! that a stranger would pray for us!

we drive to leah's house to hang out, play, and let sawyer take a nap (it's 2:30...WAY late for sawyer's nap! but he was going great!)

the kids had a ball playing outside.
they made a playground for the caterpillars they found :-)

leah treated us well!
i had a diet soda (ahhh!!!!)
the kids got juice boxes.
we had yummy cookies!

leah and i sat outside and caught up a little while the kids played (NOT long enough though!!!)

the authentication office called and said my documents were ready to be picked up.
leah graciously watched all my kids so i could go back downtown to pick up the documents.
i left about 3:30 pm and got back to her house at 4:15 pm.

the building.

the office...
a few of our documents were not filled out properly by the notary.
so we need her to fix that and then we will mail them in.
i was super sad and frustrated and disappointed.
i called pat and vented.
had a little temper tantrum in the car on the way back to leah's.
and then was fine.
there was nothing else i could do...it was NOT going to ruin the rest of our day!

got to leah's, woke sawyer up, gathered all our stuff and headed over to the fogarty's.

it was about 4:45 pm by the time we got to their house.
we were supposed to be there at 3:30 pm...so both joshua and owen were SUPER anxious...

they were SO cute together from the second they got out of the car!
their relationship is so sweet...i just love it!

everyone played outside...

i ended up forgetting my water bottle at leahs, so she drove it over to me and cary (her husband) stopped by on his way home from work. the kids loved seeing him!

oh how i loved getting to hug ali's neck...baby ryan is a week old and i've never been able to see her so soon after giving birth! she looks AMAZING! and ryan is the cutest thing ever!

the visit was way too short. but precious all the same.

we left the fogarty's and stopped for dinner on the way to our last stop.
chick fil a!
how cute are the kids??

our last stop was the Thompson's house.
they adopted a little boy from Rwanda in January...and live in Richmond. when she saw i was going to be in town, she asked me to stop by! we "know" each other through our blogs, but had never met in person.

and it just so happened that the Thomas' were visiting this weekend also - and also adopted from Rwanda (they were in the same travel group!)

both families were so gracious to let us crash their party!
my kids loved it...took about 3 seconds to get comfortable and then jumped right in!
i treasured seeing these sweet families in person...and hearing from them...

we left at 8:15 pm...and got home at 10:30 pm.

quite the day.
long...but so so amazing.
i felt your prayers in such a real way.
and the kids were unbelievable with all we did!

it was a GREAT day...and i felt like i got hit by a truck when i woke up the next morning :-)