{Vacation: Day Six}

Today we are packing up and heading home.  This vacation was everything I wanted it to be -- so relaxing and amazing memories made.  Today has been both amazing and disastrous all wrapped up together.  As I mentioned yesterday Madison has been having a difficult time with making good choices and listening to us. Today she made a really bad choice and had something fun taken away that we were going to do tonight. It just really stunk for both of us.  I didn't want to punish her and obviously she didn't want to be punished.  

After she cooled down a bit she came up to me and said she was sorry and really truly meant it.  She told me that she doesn't understand why she does the things she does and we were able to have a little heart to heart talk about how Mommie has the same type of personality and how both us girls are so stubborn and need to have extra self-control when we are challenged.  It was a good talk for us to have, one of those parenting moments I'll probably never forget.

Today we hit the beach again and as we normally do, Angela and I walked about four miles up and down the boardwalk.  On the way back I looked down at her and was so in love.  I stopped right in the middle of the boardwalk turned her head toward me and told her I loved her so much.  Adoption is so beautiful -- it is a process that you can't possibly understand until you actually walk it.  I thought the moment I met Angela I loved everything about her -- but as time has gone on I find myself falling deeper and deeper in love with this beautiful little girl, which I guess isn't that much different than how it was after the birth of my other two.

Although we are sad to see our time away end, we are also so happy to head home -- find routine and structure and begin our normal once again.