Friends, Forever Family and the Frosted Orange

Saturday was a BIG day for some friend's of ours. They welcomed home their daughter from Ethiopia...they had been waiting for her for over 14 months and Saturday was THE DAY she was welcomed into the arms of her forever family. It was too precious for words, really, and unfortunately I do not have one picture to show for it as I was snapping pictures with their camera as they all met for the first time at the airport...but take my word for it...MOVING.

So moving, that I cried tears of joy and sadness for the majority of the evening. Joy, for God's miraculous ways of placing a little girl from another part of the world in a family that loves her and will protect her and provide for her. Sadness for the orphan crisis...and all the loss that is necessary for the happy moments of being placed in a family. And this little girl...so. precious. So open to love. So willing to embark on her 'new life.' Tears well up just thinking about it.

It happened very quickly, and before you know it, the family was loading the Marta to head home. My friend, Steph and I had piled 5 kids in the van to drive to the airport for the welcoming and we were going to capitalize on the effort invested if you know what I mean!

We decided on a stop at The Varsity. An Atlanta establishment that claims to be the largest drive-in in the world...We got a little lost...sat in A LOT of traffic...and praised ourselves over and over for being awesome Moms attempting this downtown driving ALL BY OURSELVES! Needless to say, there are not too many mini-vans weaving through traffic in the BIG CITY. :) But we were there and we were making it happen!

After a few 'WHAT'LL YA HAVEs?!?!?!', we ordered a naked dog, a slaw dog, onion rings, and a Frosted Orange. (and a sure case of heartburn...)
The Frosted Orange is our favorite, it is kinda like an orange-cicle all blended up...YUM!

Eli enjoying the ONLY thing he would EVER eat at The Varsity,

The Frosted Orange

The Girls in front of a small portion of the HUGE restaurant.
(Look how cute Chloe and Abi's legs are!)

Half the fun is the 'getting there.'

Only this time it was the 'getting OUT of there!'