Amazing Grace and a Safe Haven: Mugshot Monday--Home Away From Home

Just before our summer vacation ended we had an extraordinary trip to the Our Family Adoptions reunion. One of the other dad's there was taking pictures the whole weekend so I waited until he sent me his shots to write this post. I also wanted to catch my breath and just bask in the wonderful glow I had after that trip. Let me explain.

As we all know, no matter how much fun a vacation may be, it will also have its moments of stress. But this wonderful weekend was the most relaxing, rejuvenating, inspiring time that I have ever had the pleasure of sharing with a group of friends. And over the course of the weekend many of these friends become like family.

We traveled to the home of Jamie and Stori, a wonderful couple with 4 of the coolest kids around. They welcomed us, people that they had only known through the internet, into their home like we'd been coming to visit for years. They hosted 11 families, over 60 people, for weekend of food, fellowship, swimming, playing, and sharing. They live in a spectacular location, in the woods, nowhere near a busy road. They have a pool, playground, and trees galore. It was an ideal setting to just let the kids, and there were lots of kids, run loose and have fun! I never spent a single minute worrying about what my kids were up to. They were being kids and they have probably never had more fun!

I had the opportunity to finally meet some many people that I have spent months getting to know through our blogs, Facebook, and other correspondance. And Brian had the chance to reunite with some of the families that he traveled to Congo with. It was so awesome to sit with these families that look like ours, think like ours, and have a passion for adoption and the children of DRC, just like we do. Never in my life have I felt such a kinship with a group of people.

One of the very special moments for me was to watch Haven be reunited with Debra, the little girl lived with Haven for the 2 weeks before he came home. I'm sure they didn't remember each other, but they still seemed to share a sense of family. And Grace and Debra were fast friends, too.

So here are some pictures of the wonderful weekend. Thank you to all the families that made it such a special event for me. I can't wait until next year. There will be so many new babies to meet!!!