many, many thanks for all of your e-mails, phone calls, blog comments, thoughts and prayers.  We’re back from Texas and had a good trip.  I’m still fighting off my cold (possibly turning into an ear infection now?  super fun on the plane rides there and back.), but other than some coughing fits, it didn’t spoil our visit at all.

Let’s see…. what can I share….  We arrived at her grandmother’s house (where she’s currently living) around 11;30 and were there (except for all of us going out to lunch at a local eatery) until about 6:00.  Pretty much we just talked the entire time.  It might actually be more accurate to say that she talked the entire time (whew!  she is even more chatty than me!  can you believe it?) and we occasionally chimed in with responses, comments and questions.  It was helpful for us to see the town she comes from, meet her family and talk to her in person.  For some reason, I thought that talking to her in person would be different than talking on the phone, but, except for a lack of static and the ability to read her lips as she talks (which helps me when I’m not sure what someone is saying)…. it’s pretty much the same.  Around 6:00, we realized that we should probably try to secure a hotel room for the night.  We asked her if she wanted us to come back after we’d gotten the room and she said, “I kinda don’t like to hang out at night.” so we made plans to get together the next day instead.  love that she’s willing to be that open and honest with us!

the town is very small.  there’s a smattering of fast food (dairy queen, sonic, church’s chicken, mcdonald’s, subway, pizza hut), a wal-mart, a grocery store, a giant car wash, a hotel, a few local restaurants, the county hospital (which has 35 beds) and a few clinics and (I think) three stoplights.  the landscape is filled with scrub and cactus and dust.

I did “take a few trips up the crazy tree” when i allowed my overactive imagination and my anxiety to dance a little too closely together, but j patiently sat at the bottom of that tree and laughed or hugged me out of it every time.

We returned to her house the next morning when they invited us over for barbacoa tacos (YUM!) and stayed until about 1:00, talking more, listening more and learning more about each other.  When we left, she said she was glad we’d gotten to meet each other before the baby comes.  She was worried that she wouldn’t like us in person, but we’re just the same as she’d thought we’d be and she still likes us.  (whew!)

The rest of the trip was spent with family in San Antonio.  I got to see some cousins that I haven’t seen for ages and get to know their wives better.  It was nice to spend time with my aunties too.  But it was also nice to get home last night.  My brain is still processing all of the information we took in over the course of the weekend, but all in all, I feel a much greater sense of peace about our upcoming adventures, wherever they may take us.