Our Day in Atlanta

On our way to Eastern Europe last week, we were so lucky to have a 10 hour layover in Atanta so that we could meet Gretchen and her cute family. I finally have a few minutes to blog about that day, since my sick baby is sleeping. It was such an awesome day, I want to make sure I write about it! Gretchen and I been friends online since last August when she began her journey to adopt Ian, who is in Anya's orphanage groupa. You get to know a person in such a different way when you meet in person. We feel so blessed to have had this day with her and the hour that we got to spend with Craig and Ari, too.

She picked us up at the airport at 6:30 am, then we headed off to a cool little restaurant called the Flying Biscuit, famous for it's incredible, organic southern comfort food. It's in the hippie section of town. :) Even the grits were absolutley divine. We had a great time getting to know Craig before he headed off to work.  I wish I had a picture of us all together there.

After breakfast, we took Ari to his school. He goes to an amazing school for autistic kids. Very impressive. It was fun observing their classrooms through one-way mirrors and hearing all about what they do for these kids. Ari is just a doll. He has his Mommy and Daddy wrapped around his cute little finger. What a sweetheart.

After we dropped him off, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. This is the largest aquarium in the world. Wow, was it spectacular!  It had several whale sharks, which are the largest fishes in the world! Incredible.

Gretchen and I posing for the camera.

This was my favorite part. The tunnel. There's nothing like having sharks swim over your head!

This sawfish swam right over us and wiggled his saw back and forth. It looked like he was waving to us and smiling. It was so funny!

How can anyone deny the existance of a God when they look at these spectacular creations?  I just kept thinking about that as we watched them peacefully glide through the water. So amazing.  I would love to go scuba diving some day!

Petting the stingrays.  One of those times you wish you had the kids with you. Actually, we did the whole time we were there! It was quite an experience.

After the aquarium, we took a drive to Stone Mountain, which is an enormous state park that houses a huge granite mountian with a carving of some civil war heroes.  What a beautiful place. Gretchen says they go here every week to run on the trail. I can see why!

Thank you, Gretchen for spoiling us rotten that day. And thanks for sharing your pictures with us. We only got a few before our camera battery died. Glad you're as camera happy as we are. You are a truly amazing person and we feel honored to have spent the day with you in your beautiful city!  We loved every minute of it!