Brenner's Day

I know it might be the "wrong" thing to say, (I find that usually the wrong thing to say is something everyone is thinking or feeling but unwilling to share) but there's something about losing the family of three to a family of four that makes my heart ache. Don't get me wrong, I so love the idea of being a family of four and finally having Berynger home, but there are some very special and treasured dynamics that we have enjoyed for the last three years that will soon be lost in the transition. So, yesterday we had a special day for Brenner as a celebration of one of our last days as a family of three. I figure no longer being the center of attention all the time is going to be a little rough on Brenner, so we wanted our sweet boy to have some fun before we leave for Ethiopia. We started out by going to the McDonald's play place at Brenner's request. Later, at home we had ice cream sundaes. We spread out all kinds of toppings and let Brenner choose whatever he wanted to have on his, and you know how a three year old loves choices! And for bedtime, Thomas and Brenner set up the tent in the living room and we had a family campout, complete with thunder storm tracks playing in the background. Brenner's really special day ended up being a really special day for all of us.