Our trip so far ....

Has been awesome! What a great week it's been so far. And what a blessing, for sure.

Victory Junction Gang Camp was a blast. It was a very nice camp, and totally free for us! We were assigned a counselor who saw to our every need, and we did nothing but play for a whole day. The rooms were nice for camp rooms (hot water!!) and the food was pretty decent, too. It was no luxury stay, but nicer than I expected. Instead of being a therapeutic experience, it was more of a "let's forget about being wounded for once and have fun" atmosphere. But just seeing all the other families and knowing we weren't alone was really nice. Most of the families were from Fort Bragg and most had unnoticable wounds. There were about 4 men in wheel chairs. The facilities were geared toward sick kids, so it was completely handicap accessible and just really great. It's a NASCAR-themed camp, so everything was NASCAR related. It was like Disney World. We took tons of pics and some video, which we weren't supposed to. They also filmed our whole stay and then made a DVD for all of us. Since there were only about 30 families, the Harris' are all over that video. If you come to our house, we'll show it to you. =)

So, here are a BUNCH of pics from our camp experience.

This was our room. It was half of a large cabin, with 8 twin beds on each side. Notice the gas pump nightstands and lamps. So funny. That yellow door led to the locker room style bathroom.
Sam in his bed. We were allowed to take home these handmade bears on each bed and the handmade afghans. I took two.

After breakfast and dinner every day we had about a half hour of dancing. It was so funny. They played the same songs over and over and taught us the dance moves. This is Sammy and I out on the dance floor bustin' a move.

We did arts and crafts.

The camp is owned by the Petty family, so Kyle, Austin, Richard and Patty all stopped by at different times. Here's us with Kyle. We're not race fans, so it really wasn't that exciting for us, but they were really nice!

Sam was thrilled to be riding a horse. He was a little shy about petting Dusty, but after I introduced them, he hopped right up, went around three times with a big smile on his face, and wanted more when he was done!

Here is he leading a pony around the barn.

Here he is fishing with Daddy. They didn't catch anything.

Here Sam uses that special drill for changing tires.

Sam and Oreo, this adorable pigmy goat.

Sam and Heather, our counselor. She's from Canada and we had a great time with her. Sam called her his friend and whenever she wasn't with us, he asked for her.

Richard Petty (otherwise known as the voice for the old blue race car in Cars)

Sam refused to join us for the family photo. You can see the edge of his jacket as he lies on the ground just outside the photo.

Mommy and Sam. We had great weather, but it was COLD, so we were bundled up most of the time.

They had the Fab Shop, where you could put colored gel in your hair and paint your nails. Sam asked Heather to put blue in his hair and he had his nails painted green.

They had a great bowling alley and it had free race car video games. So awesome!

They also had archery, which I just love. I seem to have some talent for it, because every time I try it I do well. So I was excited about this range. Out of 6 rounds, I hit 5 bullseyes. We even got one on video. Brian took these photos of me. I think it's my first one.

It was a blast. And we were only there one full day. I hope we get to go again some time!

After they sent us off Thursday afternoon, we dropped Sam off at my Aunt Beth's house in Greensboro so we could attend this adoption meeting in Charlotte on Friday. Wouldn't you know it, as we were kissing him goodbye, he says "I wuv you" for the first time! I was in tears I was so happy. What timing this kid has!

Since we had to go to this all day seminar, we decided to make a romantic get-a-way of it. Brian found us this great hotel room - with a Starbucks in it!!!! I love this man - and we're having a great time! We had planned to go see a movie one night and go out to a fancy dinner another night, but we keep staying in. =)

We just finished with the adoption seminar today, and it was fantastic! I have much more experience with adoption than Brian does, so I felt like this was more for him. He really enjoyed it and made some big decisions while he was there. We both walked away feeling SO good about the agency we've chosen and even more determined to do a "transracial" adoption, which means adopting a child who is not of our own race. We got to meet with a family that has adopted two sons transracially and boy were there some adorable kids there. Nearly all were transracial, because there are just so many children out there who need good homes and God is leading these families to them. As Brian said afterward, how can you looked doe-eyed at these commercials with kids in Ethopia starving, but then turn your back on an African-American child who is right here and needs you. It was such an uplifting experience and so affirming that we're following the path God has set for us. So please keep us in your prayers, and especially our future birth family and the agency staff as well.

Tomorrow, we're heading back to Greensboro to spend the rest of the weekend with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins, and then we'll head home on Sunday. Then Sam and I are off Monday afternoon to visit friends. Phew! =)