Adoption Panel April 19, 2013

This past Friday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend an adoption panel that was put on by Families Supporting Adoption. We look forward to these get togethers so much because there are other people there that are in the same shoes as us as hopeful adoptive parents. The thing I like the most about these monthly get togethers though is I want to learn as much as I possibly can about being the best parent I possibly can. I know that I will never be fully prepared when we are chosen but why not be prepared with the most knowledge as we can. At this panel there was a wide variety of panel members that were from 2 families. There were adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, birth mothers, and adopted adults. These families this past weekend reinstated my testimony of adoption in my heart.and how it is such a great thing. The love that each of these families had for each other was incredible on both the adoptive family side and the birth parent side. This panel brought back some great memories of the adoption classes that we were required to take over a 2 day period during our approval process. Before these classes we were not sure what we thought about the idea of open adoption and were sort of against it too. However, after going to listen to the panels of people it changed our heart completely on the thoughts of open adoption. The love we gained for expecting/birth parents grew indefinitely. If you ever have the opportunity of going to one of these panels I would definately recommend it. They are open to anyone to go. The idea that lots of people have with adoption is not accurate, just like LDS Family Service's motto says and it is so true is that. Adoption- Its about Love. How true is that? Expecting parents place their children out of love and hopeful adoptive parents are trying to grow their families out of love as well. I love adoption and am so thankful for it, without it we would never have the opportunity to grow our family.

Delivery Room Vs Sealing Room

On Friday we went to an adoption panel that Families Supporting Adoption put together. It was a panel of adoptive parents that told their stories. It was really good but the thing that hit me most was the quote in the photo. He said "I would trade a delivery room for a sealing room anyday." How true is that and how cool is it also. I have been in 3 sealing rooms when an "adoption sealing" was taking place. It is such an incredible thing to see. Like I said in my previous post it is pretty cool how Heavenly Father understands and allows adoption to complete families eternally. I look forward to the day we are able to take our child to the temple and be sealed. I can just picture us kneeling there together and then looking in the mirrors that symbolize an eternal family.

United Way Volunteering Day

We absolutely love volunteering. Luckily our work gives us many opportunities to volunteer in the community thoughout the year. Today was the Unitedway Day of Caring. We went up Millcreek Canyon to the boyscout camp areas. A huge group of 2nd graders from a school in West Valley came up. Questar put together a bunch of different stations from 100 yard dashes, dino ring toss, natural gas teaching and other fun ones. We were in charge of the fossil making. You would take a leaf and put it under a piece of paper and color on it real light and it would make it look like a fossil. It would teach them how fossils are made. It was real fun seeing the kids eyes light up when they would get it to finally work and look good! I had a bunch of fun with the kids and especially teasing them. I even got one kid to believe for a second that there was a mountain lion on the hill right next to us. We really love volunteering like I said earlier and look forward to doing more in the near future. We are also looking to volunteer with Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) too. We just need to look into how to get more into that! Now on the the part that everyone enjoys! THE PICTURES! ENJOY ~