adoptive families camping trip

We just returned from a camping weekend with several families who have adopted or are in process of adopting kids from Ethiopia. What a blast. Fifteen families camped, and about 15-20 other families came for an all-day picnic/beach day on Saturday. This group has been a huge and unexpected blessing to us. We have met some wonderful families, many of which I am now regularly in a prayer group with, and do the occasional playdate thing with a few others. We humans are so relational and crave connectedness. I believe that Farmboy and I connect with these families in a deep way because we understand each other without exhausting ourselves and others trying to explain our lives. The attachment, the struggles, the questions, the joys, the passion, the frustration, the fears, the hope -- we connect.

Oh, a sweet moment -- a woman pulled me aside and thanked me for our encouraging blog. They are in the process of adopting an HIV+ child, and were encouraged by some of my words. Hey, I am thrilled if these words do more than just fill a computer screen. This family has not told their family or friends about their decision yet and I hopefully had a chance to encourage her some more that day.

One family in particular my kids adored -- all of them. This family has 6 kids, 2 of them being twin 4 yr old girls recently adopted from Ethiopia. On the way home, each of my kids had paired themselves up for marriage with the kids from this family. Li'l B has no idea what she is in for....


The family minus Farmboy, our photographer. And, yeah, we still have the dog. Anyone want a Beagle?



A glimpse of a few of the families at the gathering.



Kume and one of the twins getting more connected.


Kume and a twin goofing around, maybe....or wrestling vehemently for a place in the jumprope line.


The jumprope line has disintegrated....now it's 4 at a time. Yup, all of the 14 pictures we took were blurry, so this is all you get.


One of the "pairs" working on a creation. Hey, I would be thrilled SOME day.