A Busy Weekend

I felt I needed to let the world in on our weekend -- such as it was. We stayed very busy! Friday, Brandt had to be at a wedding rehearsal for his brother's wife's sister (aka Roni). I went with him to the dinner. Although they are from Birmingham and her family lives in McComb, they wanted to have their wedding here in Natchez. They booked Dunleith for the occasion.
Nice place for a wedding, eh?! The dinner was wonderful, and it also gave us a chance to spend some time with Ken and Kim (Brandt's brother and his wife.) Saturday morning, we got up at the crack of dawn and went to Jackson for MS Chinese Cultural School. Z has been attending this once a month for the entire school year. This month was especially fun b/c we were able to take pictures of Lucy to show off. There was another mother there that has just recently received a referral and PA as well. I had the opportunity to meet her and share in her excitement as well. Several of the families are giving us (us as in my family and the other recently referred family) a shower next month after Cultural School. That will be soooo much fun. It has been quite a long time since I had a shower!! (Ok, you know what I mean!!) We rushed home from Jackson to go to the wedding and reception. Brandt did a fabulous job officiating the service. The wedding was beautiful. (See the above picture -- the bride even arrived in a horse drawn carriage.) The reception was fantastic -- great food, great band, and open bar! Since it had been such a long day for us we retired early -- I think we were home before 9. Today was our church's day to cook for Stewpot -- a place for people to come get a hot meal -- kinda like a soup kitchen. We served spaghetti. I always enjoy doing it, but often leave not wanting the meal that we served 100+ plates of. This afternoon, I bummed around with Janee and Jessa. I shopped, watched 3 week old goslings swim in a bathtub, and watched a documentary called China's Lost Girls. It is about the journey to adopt a daughter in China. It was really well done, and it helped to make the reality of our lives a little more real. Tonight I have been reading other blogs of families that are either in China as we speak or have just returned home. It still is a very surreal experience. I pray that Lucy (Fu Ni Hua) finds a bit of peace and comfort today and that she has a smooth transition into our family. ~Erica

The best part of today was imagining our "Gotcha Day" with Lucy as I watched the film and watching 3 week old goslings swim in a bathtub (that was awesome!!).