Blessed by my visit to Michigan

I'm sitting in the Detroit airport right now waiting for my flight home to Nashville and I'm thinking about my quick Thurs to Sun trip here to Michigan (where I'm from). I came for my brother Mike's wedding and am so glad I did. It was beautiful even though the original location got rained out, we ended up moving it to the pastor's church who was marrying them and that worked out great. Thank the Lord for that being an option and the church being available! What a blessing. By the time the wedding got moved and happened, the rain had let up and we were able to enjoy the Huron Lady boat ride that the reception was on. It was a little chilly but really nice and the skies were clear. My youngest brother was the one getting married and he looked so handsome and reminded me so much of my Grandpa Draveling. I almost cried when I first saw him. His bride, Jamie, was absolutely stunning. They both looked like something out of a bride magazine. Gorgeous couple. My sweet, adorable niece did a very good job throwing down rose petals and I was so happy to have gotten to spend that afternoon with her. We went to the Burger King playland and then to my aunt's house so she could play with the dogs. I got to give her a bath and get her ready for the wedding and then bring her to the bride who then did her hair. Today, I got to catch part of the 1 year birthday party for the son of my best friend Stacey and got to see a bunch of friends who came while I was there. I didn't get to stay very long cause I had to get to the airport but it was so nice to be able to be in town for that. It was a great trip, even though it was short and I got to see so many people in just a few days. Got to see cousins, aunts and uncles, my mom and even some old friends.
The thing that I hadn't totally expected was the excitement about me adopting. I brought a photo album of pictures of the little boy I met on my recent Africa trip who I'm trying to adopt and it was so neat to see how excited everyone was about bringing this little guy into the family. They passed around the photo album, asked for copies of the pictures and so many people said they would be praying and couldn't wait to meet him. People donated toward the adoption and asked about his room and talked about life when he came home. It was just really neat. I have been blown away at every corner these past few weeks at the overwhelming amount of love and support. I think part of me expected more comments about raising a child by myself and thought I might get a lot of people who were doubtful about whether single adoption was a good idea. But I have not experienced that at all. Everyone has just kept saying over and over how they know I'll be a great mom and that little boy will be so loved, they can't wait to meet him, they think it's great, they want to help anyway they can and so on and so on. Even just sitting here writing about it, I'm holding back tears because I just feel like I'm the most blessed person in the whole world. I have a HUGE support network all around me back home in Tennessee and her in Michigan and even beyond that. I've gotten words of encouragement from people I knew in high school and middle school and college and all across the world. I'm blown away!!! That's the best way I can describe it. This little boy is so wanted and so loved already and I'm so thrilled that it's not just by me! The whole family and friends network in my life already love him and can't wait to welcome him with open arms. So to all of those who fall into that category who are reading this - I cannot thank you enough. You have blessed me with your love, encouragement and support more than you will ever know. Thank you, thank you, - a million times thank you!!!!