On the Road Again

Vicky & Me

Vicky & Jeff- the happy couple

Jennifer & Me

Rachel & Me in front of Cesar's Palace (I think)

All the kiddos

Rachel in fron of slot machines. I love this picture!

My baby

Lion's laying above us... cool huh?

Road Trip!

We had a great trip.

Friday night we spent with David and Angela (my brother and his girlfriend) in LA at Biola. We went out to dinner and then goofed around playing basketball in the Biola gym. Rachel was glowing from getting to practice her basketball skills with her tall college ball playing uncle and it turns out little Angela (she is only 5'2'' to my brother's 6'9'') is actually a really good shot. Rachel and I stayed in Angela's dorm room... another fun experience for Rachel. It made me feel a little old because I realised that I haven't been in college for almost 7 years. I still feel like I just graduated. I LOVED college so it's hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I am just going to be further and further away from those days.

We had to leave BIOLA pretty early and drive straight through the desert to Las Vegas. Rachel and I had decided to play Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody" every hour as our road trip song. We danced our way through the desert, did some tricky change action in the car, and made it to the chapel about 10 minutes late. We just missed the ceremony- very funny considering this is the 2nd wedding ceremony we have missed in the last 6 months or so. Thankfully it was a real quick ceremony and the reception was what they really wanted us there for. This is Vicky's third marriage and so it was different than most weddings I have gone to. She and Jeff are really a great match for one another and they have a great sense of humor (see the cup cake topper). Vicky and Jeff have quite a few tattoos and so they got temporary tattoos with their names on it as party favors. So fun! I know it meant a lot to them that we came. They made a slide show of their lives and they made sure to include pictures of all the people who had come to the wedding. There were a few pictures of Rachel when she had lived with Vicky when she was about 7 years old (the 1st of times she lived with her). It is so neat that Rachel can have some positive connections with old foster parents because most her foster parent memories are not the best. I am also thankful for my friendship with Vicky and her daughter Jennifer. I know God has put us in oneanother's lives for a reason.

After the wedding we had a few hotel difficulties but it all worked out and Rachel and I went with Jennifer (Vicky's daughter who is also my friend) and her son (Dayne), along with Vicky's younger kids (Tenny and Levi), old foster daughter (Stormy) and her baby (Gennovesia) and Vicky's friend Robyn and her daughter (Julie) to see the Strip. Vegas is such a weird place. Full of beautiful lights and buildings and creative shows (I love the dancing fountain at the Bellagio) and yet it's all tainted by so much glorified smut. I talked about it with Rachel pretty openly but it's hard to feel good about bringing a kid who already struggles with attraction to the bright lights of the world to a place like that. How we handle the world is an ongoing conversation that we are going to be struggling with throughout our lives.

I have to say that Rachel is a different kid when we travel. She wants to hold my hand and she cuddles up to me. Something about being out of her normal little world helps her accept my love. I sometimes wonder if she can pretend that I am her only mom when we are away without feeling guilt. At any rate after a good night sleep Saturday night Rachel and I went back to the strip and sped-walked through all kinds of beautiful hotels/casinos. We both really loved seeing the Lions at the MGM. It was so crazy, they were laying above us on the glass walkway. You could almost touch them. About 4pm our feet were killing us and we jumped in the car and took off for home. We took the 58 straight home. We hit a bit of traffic getting out of the dessert but we were home before midnight. I was so excited to fall asleep in my own bed but I'm really glad we went.