Wordless Wednesday

Homecomings, Sweet Homecomings

The S Family's Journey to Silas video and blog were some of the first we stumbled upon when we were thinking about adoption. Their family was such an inspiration to us as we went through the adoption process. They moved to Florida about a year ago and it’s been so cool to get to know them in real life. E and D have such huge and authentic servants’ hearts. Just love them. And I have to add that their children are some of the sweetest, most thoughtful and well-behaved children I’ve ever met. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to join their awesome church family and friends at the airport to welcome them home with the newest addition to their family—a sweet daughter from Ethiopia. They'd been in Ethiopia for about a month and their kids back home were so excited about being reunited with their parents and meeting their little sister.

There was so much energy and anticipation in the air!

Photo by Lizzy Grant

Me and M (of Along the Narrow Road)

(Photo by the other "Mrs. B" :))

We waited for news (via text messages from E to R (of Love with Abandon) that their plane was on the ground. . . . They were off the plane. . . They were getting on the people mover. . .

And then . . .

Photo by A (of Fulmer Story)

Such a precious reunion (as Lizzy mentioned, like a window into heaven):

Photo by Lizzy Grant

Together at last!

Photo by Lizzy Grant

These sweet girls were BFFs at their orphanage in Addis Ababa. Isn't God good?!?!

Photo by Lizzy Grant

Welcome Home, Sweet Z! You are SOOO Loved!

Photo by Lizzy Grant

And that wasn’t the only airport adoption welcome we participated in last weekend. My friendship with E goes all the way back to 3rd grade. My family moved into a new neighborhood. I started attending a new school. And E became my first new friend. We would stay outside playing until the streetlights came on. And Friday evenings would find us walking through the neighborhood with arms full of pillows and stuffed animals, headed to one of our homes for a sleepover. We both loved animals (especially horses), swimming, church and school and were inseparable during those elementary school years. We kept in touch through high school despite attending rival schools. Since I knew she and her family were fun-natured, my friends from my high school and I selected E’s house for “rolling” on several occasions after a big football or basketball game. (As a side note, I wonder why rolling doesn’t seem to be as common today? It was a quite popular pastime in my hometown during my teenage years. Back in the good ol’ days. The huge oak tree in our front yard was a frequent target and toilet paper was a constant feature in its branches. Thankfully, my parents had a lighthearted attitude about it all as well.) We eventually went off to different colleges, attended each other’s weddings, and settled down in different parts of the state. But no matter how much time lapses between phone calls or visits, we always just pick right back up where we left off. Seems we’ve always been kindred spirits. And some similarities in our thinking have been downright uncanny.

Like back in 2007 when she e-mailed me this picture:

Not knowing that we’d recently taken this one: We both thought we were the first to come up with that photo idea!

Or like at Christmas 2008. We used our Christmas card to announce that we were adopting from Ethiopia just as she and her husband announced that they were adopting from South Korea! I think we might have both mentioned that adoption was something we were considering in the future, but how funny that we independently decided to put the wheels in motion at the same time?

Well, while we’ve been home with Miss K for a little over a year now, E and M’s journey has taken a bit longer. And finally, last weekend, they brought their sweet daughter home! Their flight into Tampa was scheduled to land in the middle of the night. When E got her travel itinerary, she sent out an email and noted that an airport gathering wouldn’t work due to the crazy hour that they were getting in. Well, we decided that the time of day or night was a minor detail and that nothing should stand in the way of our marking such a momentous occasion with a memorable celebration. In the spirit of a friendship with its roots in pillows, pajamas and sleepovers, we decided to throw them a midnight pajama party welcome at the airport. The few other people at the airport also got a big kick out of it and were excited to see who we were so excited about greeting. We had so much fun and, needless to say, E and M soooooo surprised! Although there was not a big crowd, it was as tearful, joyful, special and memorable as all adoption homecomings should be.

Wasn’t Hus-B a good sport? He didn’t bat an eye when I suggested we all wear PJs and carry pillows. These are exactly like the pajamas that E’s dad and brother used to wear (I have a vivid memory of observing that every member of their family wore pajamas, robes and slippers to breakfast).

Miss AC, we are so excited about being a part of your life. I look forward to watching you play with K like I played with your precious mother. You’ve got a wonderful life ahead of you in a home where Jesus is Lord and laughter and togetherness are a priority. We love your family and we love YOU! Welcome HOME!

An Orange and Blue Weekend

I’ve had a bit of the bloggy blahs lately but thought I'd hop on the computer this morning, show it some love and post a little recap (and a few pictures that are just too precious not to share!) of the lovely, sunshiney weekend we spent at our beloved Alma Mater. We always look forward to catching up with old friends and assessing the next season’s football team at UF’s Alumni Weekend.

We were once again able to score rooms at the on-campus hotel! We're trying to make this a tradition but they are really in-demand and we have to remember to call on THE DAY they open reservations! We’ve been able to get one a few times before and were so excited to get one this time. The hotel is at the top of the student union and is where all of the important visitors to the university stay. It’s one of best-kept secrets of our school and our girls get such a kick out of staying there! And a room with a balcony overlooking Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is a room with a view indeed!

Before the football scrimmage on Saturday, we took our girls on one of our usual brainwashing sessions tours of the campus. We love those sentimental strolls around our old stompin' ground and down memory lane! But I must admit to having mixed feelings about reporting that our little scheme (to get our girls to all choose to attend UF but to think that it was all their own idea) is apparently working. When Miss M mentioned that she plans to ride a bicycle to class when she goes to this school in 11 years, we almost fainted! Our firstborn will be headed to college in only 11 years?!?! That’s like, tomorrow!!! We just took the training wheels off her glittery flowery purpley bicycle!!!!! WHY OH WHY do they grow up so fast? I’m really not sure if I'll be ready.

And of course, we felt ANCIENT when we realized that this year’s freshman class was not even BORN when we were freshman?!?!?! How did WE get so OLD?????

A generous friend with connections gave us tickets to watch the Orange and Blue Debut from the skyboxes! Thanks, K! What a treat! I could get used to football games at the Swamp with seatbacks, ceiling fans, air-conditioned lounges and complementary sweet tea! Being near the railings made me a little woozy (I'm a nervous nellie when it comes to heights!) but the seats a few rows back were perfect!

The Champions Club--ooh la la!

Full hands, full heart! And A/C ! This is the Life! It's not a ballgame without hotdogs! Little Commentator! Another Daddy's Girl! My Peeps! Three new statues gracing the outside of the stadium--UF Heisman winners: Spurrier, Tebow and Wuerffel--were unveiled during the game.

Another highlight of the weekend was dinner at Satchel’s—a fun, funky pizza restaurant that has become a Gainesville favorite in recent years. We loved the playgrounds, art, live music, relaxed ambiance. And especially the company! We were thrilled to be able to meet up with the L Family, one of the first families we connected with when we were considering adopting from Ethiopia. We really enjoyed catching up with S and H and our children play together wonderfully. They just started the process to adopt again—this time a little girl from China! They also started a blog. You can visit them HERE. So thankful God has brought this sweet family into our lives and looking forward to a long and growing friendship with them!

Our little artist (she drew that Gator!):

The B and L kiddos:

Alumni Weekend Pictures from 2010 are HERE. Alumni Weekend Pictures from 2009 are HERE! Love looking back at how much our girls have changed! I need to post some pre-blog pictures of the big girls. They were so cute!