A post for MOM

I guess I wanted to have a post specifically for thanking my mom. I know, by the enormous numbers of people who ask me if she will adopt them, that she is the BEST mom ever. Can ya'll believe she sends us to some exotic country to make memories, and broaden our horizons, and discover new cultures, EVERY YEAR! It is true that she is the best mom ever for more reasons than this, but this is still one of the top 10.
Because she's serving in Ecuador she wasn't able to join us in Italy, and she was missed beyond measure. Those of us kids who went (Cole had a class and couldn't go) are all around 30, and yet, it still felt like we were a bunch of orphans. I missed her. We typically eat breakfast with mom when we travel and each morning for the first week I expected her to come walking into the breakfast room. I kept wanting to pick out a table that had an extra seat for her. I missed having her to plan everything. Mom, I want you to know that I will forever appreciate all the planning that goes into one of these trips. If we stay in a bad hotel, it's not because you planned it that way... it's because you have NO IDEA what you're booking when you book it. There's a lot of pressure to have a successful trip, but it all depends on how it's planned.
I missed having her around when we were trying to figure out the logistics. She usually just makes the decisions and we go with it. I like it that way.
Thank you mom, for giving us the opportunity to see Italy. It was beyond beautiful. We wished you were there. We're counting the days until we see you in Ecuador next summer.