Steve Has Left -- and Aria is Coming Home!!!

Steve just left this afternoon to fly to Vietnam to FINALLY bring home our baby girl!!!!! It still does not feel real to me at all. In the final 15 minutes before a friend came to pick him up (the boys were napping, so a friend drove him to the airport instead), Steve worked on installing Aria's car seat in our mini-van. Every time I see something of hers such as the car seat, I keep thinking that we shouldn't get it out yet, because what if she doesn't come home?? And then I quickly correct myself... she IS coming home!!!!!! :) :) The wait has just been so long that I'm still working on reminding myself that this is REALLY happening!!!! :) :)

When we all traveled in June, we had 5 suitcases (for me, Steve, Kevin and for both babies -- not knowing yet if Aria would be coming home on that trip or not). Then, of course, my mom traveled separately and had her own cases as well. Well, now Steve is traveling alone and coming back with one baby. And he left this afternoon with ONE suitcase to check!!! :) He also has 2 carry-ons (one carry-on and one "personal item"). Plus he has a stroller. (I'm worried he's going to forget to retrieve the stroller from the gate check area on one of his layovers on the way to Vietnam, since he will have no baby to serve as a reminder of needing to pick up a stroller! ;) ha!)

I said good-bye to Steve 3 times within his last 30 minutes at home and cried each time. This is the longest trip he has ever gone away on without me, and it's a pretty emotional time all around! But he's coming back home with our DAUGHTER!!!! WOW!!! Praise God!!!! :)

I did a lot of work over the past few days getting Steve packed up. I had a loooong packing spreadsheet (edited from the one I used for our June trip), and many things had been set aside in a rubbermaid container since June as well. And now I'm exhausted. The boys are still napping, so that is now my plan too.

[By the way, this blog is set up to be on Vietnam time zone. So Steve really did leave home on Sunday afternoon...but the post says Monday, because Vietnam is 12 hours ahead. :) Just in case anyone was wondering!! ha]