Fun and more good news

I just returned from spending the weekend in Georgia at Created for Care.  It is a retreat designed specifically for adoptive mamas and it was amazing.  One huge reason it was amazing is because of the wonderful ladies that I was able to spend time with.  There is nothing quite like hanging out with other adoptive mamas who totally understand where I am coming from.  The timing of this retreat was pretty amazing, too, because I was distracted from the painful court to embassy wait for three whole days. That is huge!

Lake Lanier Islands Resort

The view from our balcony Saturday morning

I traveled to Atlanta with my friend Sara who brought her daughter home at the same time that Sena came home from Ethiopia.  We bonded through our first journey and she has been an incredible support to me this time around.  We talk all the time, but she lives almost two hours away, so we don't get to see each other very often.  It was so great to be able to spend the whole weekend with her.

Sara is really tall.  I am almost 5'11", so she must be like 6'4" or something.  Or else she is standing on a rock in this picture...

When we arrived in Atlanta, we met up with two other friends.  Chris has also adopted through YWAM and Shelly has a daughter from Ethiopia, as well.  We have been Facebook friends for quite a while, but had never met in person.  It was so fun to finally see them face to face. 

Chris is sort of a rock star because she has a lot of kids - like 8, 9, or 10 of them (but I'm pretty sure the actual number is 9.)  Shelly has three boys and two girls - just like ME!!

Finally, we met one more YWAM mama when we got to the conference.  Her sweet son came home from Ethiopia 4 months ago.  Tara and I have talked on the phone and emailed, but this was the first time I had seen her in person.  She is SO sweet.

Jennifer, Jennifer, Sara, Chris, and Tara

I will have to do another post about my friend Jennifer who I have been talking to on the phone for almost 2 years, but just met in person for the first this weekend because there is a back story that is pretty.stinking.amazing. 

Finally, as if the amazing weekend wasn't enough, we heard good news from the embassy today.  I checked my email at 5:30am and there was nothing.  I called my son at 7:30 and had him check it again and nothing.  When I got home from work at 10:30, there were 6 emails waiting for me.  At 7:31, an email had arrived in my inbox from the embassy requesting an interview.  It is SO good I didn't know this while I was at work, because I would not have been able to concentrate.  Who knows how the pies would have turned out then.  Nonetheless, while I was baking my little heart out, our agency was at work getting this important interview scheduled.  Three weeks from today at 5:00 am central time, the interview will take place.  If all goes well, our case may be cleared that day and Addie can come HOME.  We are praying this is the case and if you would pray with us, that would be really awesome.