Created for Care Retreat-- Part One

So this past weekend I drove up north of Atlanta alone (boy was that peaceful!) to a beautiful resort called Lake Lanier Resort (www.lakelanierislands.com) for an incredible retreat for adoptive moms. It was called Created for Care http://createdforcare.org and over 450 women-- Adoptive or waiting to adopt were there! I was sooooooo excited! I've always said that I feel like adoptive moms/families are like their own little club-- we just understand each other more than other people understand us. We have had people say the craziest things to us and searched within ourselves for the best responses to be kind and educate when really we just want to hit them over the head! Anyhow, my weekend started meeting a "friend" of mine who I feel like I really know even though we never met! She contacted me almost 2 years ago through the Bethany Christian Services FB page because I put a post there. We ended up talking on the phone and then following each other on our blogs and FB through both of our adoption journeys. She is just as cool in person if not more!! She roomed with me and another girl she brought who she met at their Bethany Adoptive Parents Training weekend and Cherie is a waiting mom too! That was the beginning of the excitement of the weekend!
My first breakout session was with an Adoptive Moms panel-- I LOVE panel discussions. It's so fun to see what people have to say and soooooo neat to see several women all with awesome families built through different types of adoption telling their stories! I must admit I was most excited to see/meet Aimee Powell (Mac Powel's wife-- lead singer of Third Day). I have read their stories in magazines and seen some of their testimonies but so cool to meet her in person and what an awesome person she is-- not that I ever doubted it...
OK--there is so much to say that I'm going to put this in a few posts...