When friends rock your world

I joke a lot, I know, but there is no doubt the past two weeks have been tough. Balancing the whole new business venture with five kids who just had to do a 500-mile move and cats whose stomach's are a little stressed and issues with the seller and issues with the locals and the 400 degree weather and all of the many, many, many little details which have been let go for years out here ...

Then, within two days, WE were the ones who were blessed. We had people come and "feed" us emotionally. They laughed with us. They let us make fun of our situation. They were encouraging. THEY BROUGHT FOOD!

Friday, Cammie came in with her two kids. I've known Cam since college. I feel like I know her kids intimately, because we follow one another's blogs. It was so amazing to see them IRL. It was so good for all of our children to spend the day with another adoptive family - a family who is also a mix of culture. The things which make our family unique and unusual were just normal. Not to mention, Cammie wore her painting clothes, but was kind enough to NOT paint. Anytime you move, a little dose of a familiar face is so nourishing. Thank you, THANK YOU, Cammie, for just letting me talk your head off and for chuckling under breath with me during some of our more "colorful" experiences that day.

I think the biggest thing was how she responded when it was finally confirmed that yes, Mar had stolen her son's game cartridge. Mar called to apologize. Cammie did the PERFECT thing. She DID NOT SAY, "Oh, honey, that's okay." She just gave my daughter the opportunity to make it right, because it was not okay. Mar's reasoning was actually a little sweet - she did not want them to leave. She thought they would stay until they found the game. Still - way not okay.

Very funny aside: later that night as we're climbing into bed, Mar says, "Ya' know, I had a really good day today. I wasn't inappropriate with any of the kids, and I didn't annoy anyone or have to sit out. I just did the thing with the game. (Inside wanting to scream: "YOU MEAN THE EXPENSIVE GAME CARTRIDGE YOU STOLE AND THEN HID?!?!?") Of course, I was not seeing all the things she DID NOT do. She knew how hard it was to be strong. She knew how hard she had worked to not be a very annoying Chatty Kathy. I had to help her acknowledge all of that good (I did not see, because it did not happen) and then also the ways she "made it right" after taking the game.

Okay, and I've skipped one of my favorite parts: Cammie showed up with Krispy Kremes - LOTS of them. She also gave me a few little treats for my worn-out feet. Sounds like just a little something, but I still have not found all of my toiletries. I'm sure they're in storage. To have my feet feeling soft and smelling yummy was HEAVEN. It was just super great.

On the same day, my in-laws also stopped through. Super Amazing Mother-in-Law brought lunch (which included cold diet soda and watermelon, thank you very much), and a new batch of sugar cookies to replace the other batch Mar stole in a fury the week before.

Then, yesterday, there was a convergence of the RADalicious at Hill Shade RV Park. Two women I have never met, drove from their own respective towns, each at least an hour away, to come see us. Rancho Chico and My Sweet Chaos brought all of their broods. We had three moms, twelve kids, and Michael (who would pop in occasionally and made a great gopher).

And once again, we were so crazy blessed. They brought chicken with fixin's, they brought homemade cheesecake and ... are you ready for this? THEY BROUGHT ME PEI WEI!

It all started with a joke with one of the ladies - "What can I bring you?" "Well, I don't think Pei Wei will make the drive, but you could eat some and then breathe in my face when you get here."

Super Amazing New Friend #1 gets to talking to Super Amazing New Friend #2 (#1 actually remembered verbatim, my favorite items on their menu just from reading my blog!), and #2 lives close to a Pei Wei, and bought me my THREE FAVORITE ENTREES, keeping them hot in a cooler all the way here.

Yeah, what else is there to say? Now all of these women keep saying it was no big deal - the donuts, the Burt Bee's foot-loving-stuff, the goulash, the watermelon, the Diet Coke, the Pei Wei and the cheesecake - but it was huge. IT WAS ALL SO VERY HUGE. Even more so because they sat with me and talked and talked and talked (or maybe that was just me ... don't remember).

Oh, and we got our very first random phone call asking about the park - some guy found us via the internet!

An amazing weekend.