Last Week's NY Trip

Sorry for this late update! Overall, last week's trip with Nate to NYU went very well. It was so nice to get the trip down to one day, and it is always fun traveling with Nate. He is a nice calm, laid-back presence which is a great anchor when I start getting anxious or frustrated.

We woke up early and got on the road by 3:40am for our drive to Chicago. We got there (fortunately bypassing a bad accident thanks to google maps and the red traffic indicator) about an hour before our flight, which seemed to be just the right amount of time. The lady at the ticket counter seemed a little more skeptical about Elijah being our son than our previous experience with airport ticket counter workers. When you travel with a baby, you need a birth certificate, which Elijah does not have yet. He won't get a birth certificate until the adoption is finalized (Dec 19!). So, instead I have to bring his birth confirmation letter from the birthing hospital and then I have 2-3 legal documents from Bethany and our lawyer that show he is in our custody for adoption. It's confusing because the birth confirmation letter has his birth mother's last name on it. We don't have a paper that has both last names. However, the lady at the counter checked her colleague and then we were good to go.

Unrelated to our trip - but he always makes us laugh with his arms.

It was so nice to have a direct flight to LaGuardia! Elijah was great on the flight again. When we arrived, we intended to take an official NYC taxi or an uber taxi, but as we walked out the door, an official looking man asked us if we were looking for a taxi. He said he drove one of the black cars (the nicer, more private taxis) and gave us a flat rate. We decided to go with it. At one point, I was nervous that he wasn't an official driver, and actually, we still aren't so sure, but he was a very safe driver (much safer than the normal NYC yellow taxis), very nice, and got us to our destination. Turns out, he was from Haiti, so we talked to him a while about Haiti. He was excited to know that we had been there last year. I would definitely use him again, but he was a little expensive.

We got to IRPS around 11:30. It went smoothly. We were only there about 45 minutes. They checked out Elijah and made some adjustments. They were very pleased with the progress so far and think they will be able to put the nasal stints on in a couple of weeks (maybe even next week). They have to wait until the gap between his premaxilla (the gumline that sticks out below his nose) and his gumline is some small number of millimeters. I forget what exactly. I was glad Nate got to go and meet the whole team. They were wonderful again.

Elijah in the dental chair (pardon my terrible photography skills)

Afterwards, we went over to the NFFR (foundation providing our flights) to meet the team. Unfortunately, Carolyn, the director with whom I have had the most interaction, was not there, but we got to meet 4 other team members who were all so wonderful. They were as excited to meet us as we were to meet them. They wanted to take some pictures of us and even took a vine video (did I say that right? I'm so not up to date on technology) of the three of us for their foundation.

By then, we were pretty hungry. We went to Grimaldi's for lunch to get NY style pizza. Amazing. Not sure which one I liked better Grimaldi's or Lombardi's (where Christina took me). I'm officially stating that I like NY style pizza over Chicago style pizza. Sorry to all my Chicago-style-loving friends. We were stuffed after lunch, so we walked around to sight-see for about 20-30 minutes. Then we called for an uber taxi and headed back to LaGuardia. Elijah was not quite as happy on our flight back. Overall he did really well for the first half of our flight. Then, he cried a bit the second half, but not much to complain about. We got to Chicago and then started our drive back to Indy. I think we finally got home around midnight, and we were pretty exhausted. Confession: I slept a good bit on the drive back while Nate was talking on the phone to his parents.

I am so thankful that we got to take the trip together, as I know it will be rare that he will get to go with us. It will definitely be fun traveling with other family and friends, but there's just something I love about my little adventures with Nate. I am thankful for such a calm, laid-back, generally worry-free man to balance me out. Ok, I'm done with the mushy gushy stuff as I know Nate hates when I go on with it :)

Nate's favorite Elijah face is when he's getting burped...eyes wide open!

Tomorrow, Elijah and I will repeat the same trip with Nate's mom (aka Grandma Evans). I'm so thankful that she is able to come, and I'm glad she gets to have this special bonding time with Elijah. Feeling thankful right now, so I will leave with this verse.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I recognize that it's easy for me to be thankful when things are calm and well, but rarely am I thankful in ALL circumstances (especially the hard and painful ones). I pray that through this journey, God will help me see his will for us and be thankful for his will even when hard.