I was being so organized. Last year at the Reece's Rainbow reunion my battery died on the camera so I was only able to take pictures for the first few days.
I mean - a reunion without a camera is like leaving part of my soul behind....
So this year I got smart. I would charge the battery before we left so that there was no danger of running out of battery.
I plugged that battery nicely in the charger and went about the frenzy of packing for 6 people for 6 days away. Packing this year included figuring out little girl's food for the week which added a thousand hours onto the entire packing process.
All the while - my battery was charging nicely in charger.
It was a wonderfully charged battery.
It charged wonderfully for the entire time we were gone. It was nicely charged when we came back 6 days later.
Who goes on vacation and leaves the camera battery at home??
Frenzied, harried me!!
No camera. Just a phone to take pictures.
I know that some people ONLY have phones to take pictures and love them, but I am not one of those people.
I so missed my camera.
I will be real.
Taking a newly adopted child is a traumatic experience. It is out of routine, scary and overwhelming. We spent the first few days looking at each other and wondering if it was worth it. Adding her seizures that are currently increasing by the day just adds chaos to the chaos. Cooking separate meals for her and for us was nuts. She was happiest in the pool and most unhappy out of the pool. So we swam. A lot. Having three disabled kids adds crazy to the crazy.
But, despite the meltdowns... she had a blast.
You would think that fracturing her collar bone from falling off one of these would mean she would never ever want to get back on one again..
Think again.
She was fearless and we were both having mini-strokes.
She didn't think the group photo was much fun but she LOVED Yogi!!
She made friends and even worked on her sharing skills a bit... that's a work in progress...
She got to meet Auntie Andrea (founder of Reece's Rainbow). How cool is that!!
Her brothers had a lot of fun too. They made new friends and played with old friends.
Going to Yogi is the absolute highlight of their year. They are already talking about going next year.
John celebrated his 14th birthday on the trip! He got to explore in a cavern as part of his birthday.
We had our third annual invite to our cabin for fellowship and smores.
On the last night Mary sang in her first Karaoke. No - she will win no awards for her singing abilities, but it was stinking adorable. Yes. I have it on video. Come to my house and I will share!!
We had some great talks with so many moms and dad who are in the same trenches we are in. Those conversations were priceless. I needed those talks. I needed to share my heart, my exhaustion, my struggles with people who get it. Adoption is hard and emotionally costly. Many are living hard lives but as someone so poignantly reminded me - what we are doing with these children is our Love Letter to the One who gave His life for us. Every day they give us an opportunity to express our Love to Him.
Yep. It was a wonderful week despite meltdowns and seizures.
Little girl learned that we can go and have fun and come home again and all is well. Those are important life lessons for her and she needs to have them.
Goodbye Yogi...
Until next year....
With fully charged battery and camera in tow...
