Weekend in Brentwood

We headed to Brentwood this past weekend for the annual AGCI picnic. All God's Children International (AGCI) is our adoption agency and we LOVE them! Two summers ago when we were in the "gathering info" stages of adoption, we attended a picnic that they hosted here in Knoxville, and it pretty much "sealed the deal" that we would use this agency to help us bring our baby home from Ethiopia! One of the great benefits of this year's picnic being in Brentwood was that we didn't have to get a hotel because it is my hometown and Granbob and Grankaki still live there!! Free lodging and good grandparent time! These first pictures are of Grankaki and Helen not long after we arrived as they were working in the quilting room. Helen wanted to sew a quilt, so she and Grankaki got to work!

They had to find just the right fabric....and Grankaki has PLENTY!

Later on Friday afternoon, Sean, Will and I went to Murfreesboro to a cook-out hosted by the Luchts while B and H went to a movie with GK and GB! Troy and Amber traveled with us to pick up our boys in ET and we feel blessed to have shared this experience with them. Troy was very active on AGCI's yahoo list serve during the time that we were on the wait list and he has done such a great job connecting and meeting so many of those families. He and Amber invited many of the AGCI families who were coming in town for the Saturday picnic to their home on Friday night. It was great to meet many of the families who I had only known through their blogs and their comments on the list serve! Here is a picture of Troy, Amber and Silas! We are praying for their family as they have just been placed on the wait list for a second time to bring home their little girl from Ethiopia! Silas is going to be a great big brother!

This was our attempt at a picture of all of our Ethiopian cuties but it just wasn't happening! It was so fun to see so many little boys and girls who were so very close in age. Most of the little ones were anywhere from 19 months to two years old. There were some older boys and girls there too! Many of these kiddos were at HH at the same time! I just loved seeing them all together and meeting their moms and dads!

Silas and Will. You've got to take a picture fast with Will because he is always on the move!

So, Sean and I went to college in Murfreesboro, and we were amazed at how much the town has grown since we were there. (Even though it has been a LONG time since we were in college!) We were surprised and delighted to see Toot's "South" as we got closer to Troy and Amber's house. Let's just say that we spent a fair amount of time at Toot's when we were in college! After we left the cook-out, we decided to drop in this new location and check it out!

It is all about the fried dill pickles at Toot's! We have ordered them in many different restaurants over the years, but we have never found any as good as Toot's! They were as good as we remembered!!

On Saturday, we headed out to the AGCI picnic. Even though the heat was miserable, it was fun visiting with so many families who have the common bond of adoption! Here is a picture of all of the families that were present! The Harpers are smack dab in the middle!

This is the picture of all the kiddos. Many of the little ones were not happy for mommas to leave them, but I tried. Beckett sure had his hands full with Will!

This is a picture of our travel buddies....Kristi and Lucy Lane and Amber and Silas. So good to see them again! I was hoping a few other families from our travel group could have made it, but they had a long way to travel to get to TN and just couldn't make it this year!

We decided to go out for Ethiopian food on Saturday evening. It was delicious and was a wonderful way to finish off our weekend of Ethiopia memories! Loved my Ayib Begomen appetizer and Shiro W'et with injera! Yummy!

Our family has been blessed in so many ways by adoption; the lessons that God has taught us, the son that God gave us and the people who we have met on this journey! It was a great weekend of celebration!