Official Nat Conf Flyer!

We finally received the National Conference Official Flyer.  Please click here for the pdf. file.  It looks like this conference is going to be great!  There will be couples from Mesa attending the conference, so please join us.

LETTING LOVE LEAD

National FSA Conference Info!!

2009 FSA National Conference Here is the latest info from the National Board regarding the 2009 Conference.  Please plan to attend if possible.  Details of the schedule will be forthcoming.   SCHEDULE Friday, July 31st Registration 9:00-9:30 Breakout session 1 9:30-10:30 Breakout session 2 10:40-11:40 Lunch on your own 11:40-1:10 Breakout session 3 1:15-2:15 Breakout session 4 2:25-3:25 Breakout session 5 3:35-4:35 Awards Banquet 5:30-7:00 (Semi-formal dress) Saturday, August 1st 8:00-9:00 Registration 9:00-9:30 Keynote address by Troy Dunn 9:30-10:30 Birth Parent Panel 10:45-12:00 Lunch 12:00-1:00 Breakout session 1 1:00-2:00 Breakout session 2 2:10-3:10 Breakout session 3 3:20-4:20 Closing session and raffle 4:30-4:45 Mark your calendars! July 31, 2009 to August 1, 2009 The conference will be held for a second time at the Davis Conference Center in Layton Utah. REGISTRATION To register, CLICK HERE.  This is for registration and payment purposes only. Please disregard any information related to Temple Square events. Adoptive parents and hopeful adoptive parents are invited. We also are inviting expectant parents, birth parents, and their families again this year. A great amount of effort has gone into planning breakout sessions for them. They may register for free by typing in “itsaboutlove” in the special code field on the registration form.   HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS A few hotel rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn (762 West Heritage Park Blvd, Layton, Utah, 84041) are blocked out for a discounted event rate. You may reserve a room by phone or through the hotel’s Web site. Call 801-416-8899 and make sure to mention the group code, which is “LDS” and the group name, which is “LDS Family Services.” You may also register online here. In the group code field, enter “LDS.” In order to get the discounted rate of $89, you must be registering for the blocked date (July 31st). We will be posting other hotel options when the hotel is full.   CHILDREN’S ROOM A children’s room will be available again during the conference and banquet. Please email Narda Emmett (imaemett@yahoo.com) to register your children. The cost will be $10 per day, per child. She will provide you with the details. AIRPORT SHUTTLE From the airport Express Shuttle – 801-596-1600. QUESTIONS? If you have general questions, please email contactus@ldsfamilyservices.org with “National Conference” as the subject.

Trust in the Lord

 

 

Sometimes, trusting in the Lord isn’t easy.  We hope you enjoy this video.

New Itsaboutlove.org Site Launched

It’s finally here! The new itsaboutlove.org site has gone live!! This means all itsaboutlove.org traffic will be directed to the bluestep profiles we’ve all been working on. Yay!  This has been long anticipated and we are excited about the additional traffic these changes will bring.  If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new site, please take a moment to see what all of the fuss is about. Thanks so much to all of those who have made these changes and advancements possible. 

itsaboutlove.org

 

Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time

A few words of encouragement from Quentin L. Cook

from Mormon Messages

Spaces For Faces

We’ve recently become aware of another great “networking” resource known as Spaces For Faces.  Spaces For Faces has created several “stock” adoption pass along cards that can be modified to include your info and picture at a cost significantly lower than creating pass along cards from scratch. We hope you’ll take a look.   Please click on the link below to be redirected to their website.

Spaces For Faces Website

For more networking resources, please check out the file cabinet.

May Marketing/Easy Free Website Design Workshop Info

This month’s workshop will address the topics of marketing, networking, and how to create a free and easy adoption website.  We’ll provide lots of good info about user-friendly web tools, ideas for making your adoption happen and how to get the word out.  This will be a great opportunity for you to share your ideas with the group too!

 We will be meeting at 7pm, Thursday, May 21st at the LDS Chapel at 1865 S Higley Rd in Gilbert.  (It is the same chapel where we met to discuss Foster Care and Adoption – South of Ray on Higley across from the high school)  We’ll be meeting in the Primary Room on the East end of the building. 

Please join us!  A nursery will pe provided if there is need, so we will need to have a head count by Monday the 18th.  Please RSVP to fsa-az-mesa@ldschurch.org and let us know if you will need the nursery.  Thanks!

2009 Mesa Chapter FSA Survey

Hi Mesa Chapter Members!!

Please take a few minutes to complete this 2009 Families Supporting Adoption survey.   We want to know your thoughts so we can make FSA better.  FSA is what we make it, so we need your support and input.  Thanks so much!!

Please click on the link below for the survey.

2009 Mesa FSA Survey

Celebrate Birthmothers!

Here is another awesome video about Birthmothers.  It’s long, but wonderful!  You might even recognize the music at the end

 

Change a Life Chalk Art Festival

Check out this upcoming event celebrating National Foster Care Month!  Click on the link below to be directed to the official event site.

Change a Life Chalk Art Festival Information

Event Start Date/Time:	5/9/2009 4:00 PM
Event End/Time:	5/9/2009 7:00 PM
Event Time Zone:	Pacific Time (PT)
Description:	The Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents, in partnership with Free Arts Arizona and the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, is sponsoring a FREE family friendly chalk art festival at the museum with food, drinks, entertainment, drawings by professional chalk artists and family chalk art opportunities. Guests will also enjoy private access to the museum. This event is for foster, adoptive and kinship families, children living in group care facilities, DES workers, licensing workers, GAL’s, CASA’s, Foster Care Review Board members and child welfare advocates.
Event Location:	Children’s Museum of Phoenix

Thoughts on Openness

There seems to be a lot of debate when it comes to openness in adoption, and since it is a relatively new concept, there is not much research or information about the long term benefits of it.  For many of those with open adoptions it seems like a great alternative to closed adoptions of the past.  But, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.  These unanswered questions often affect the way we approach adoption and can keep us from exploring relationships with birthparents. 

When we first began the adoption process we were undecided about the level of openness we’d like to have and therefore indicated “semi-open” on our adoption application.  We were ok with pictures, emails and letters, but felt somewhat threatened by the idea of visitation and full disclosure of information.  We were nervous about “sharing” our child with a birthmother and we thought perhaps she would insist on having a relationship that we were not comfortable with.  In the back of our minds I’m sure we felt it would be easier to have a closed adoption, so there would be no concerns about an uninvited intrusion and no confusion about our roles as parents.  Little did we know how quickly our minds and hearts would change as we proceeded through the adoption process.

We met our daughter’s birthmother at a party some time before she had even decided to place.  However, it was in that moment that everything changed.  We knew that, if by some miracle, she decided to place and (even more miraculously) decided to place her child in our family, we wanted her in our lives.  We knew it was a long shot and honestly felt that we had just met a really cool girl at a party that we’d probably never see again, but the two of us couldn’t help verbalizing the change we had felt.

I cannot describe why or how, but we were reminded that this girl…this pregnant girl was still a child of a Heavenly Father, and that, if she did decide to place, she would be doing it because she loved her unborn baby THAT much.  I must admit that I had previously been deceived about the motivations of “birthparents” in general and thought perhaps it was out of selfishness that one would make an adoption plan.   I am now much wiser and grateful to a Heavenly Father who has helped me understand so much more about those amazing birthfamilies who place children for adoption and sacrifice everything for their good.  I say to birthfamilies everywhere ”You are my heroes.” 

Though we did not find out that we were to parent our birthmother’s daughter for some time, our hearts were being softened.  In His infinite wisdom, Heavenly Father saw fit to heal us from our selfishness and ignorance.  We were being prepared.  We had begun a relationship with a stranger that would become more spiritually intimate than any we had known.  

A few short months later, our birthmother placed her daughter, our daughter in our arms.  It was the most courageous act of love I have ever in my life seen.  How could she do it?  How could she place little Lilian in our arms after just a few short days?  I am not sure how she was able to accomplish this great sacrifice, but I am certain she did it out of pure love for the little child she carried.  She is my hero. 

She is not my hero because she placed her daughter in our arms, but even more so because she decided to place her in the first place.  People would ask if we were nervous that she would try to take her back, or if we were afraid our birthmother would show up on our porch unannounced.  Months before I might have said yes.  What changed you ask?  Everything!  Our birthmother went through the most agonizing of decisions and most excruciating pain to let her child go.   Would she go through all of that to take Lilian back?  The answer is no…no way!  I am certain her heart longs for the daughter she carried, but I am also certain that she continues to love her so much that she only wants the very best for her.  She wants for Lilian more than she could provide, and this is the reason both Lilian and our birthmother are in our lives.  And, to tell you the truth, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love our birthmother so much.  She is a part of our family.  Her family is our family.  Some wonder if Lilian will be confused by the “extra” people in her life, but I say, now there are more to love her, and who would say that is a bad thing? 

I know that this is only one experience, and that others’ experiences may differ from mine.  But, as an advocate for openness in adoption, I want to you to know what a blessing it has been in our lives.  Please prayerfully consider openness in adoption and Heavenly Father will help you know what is right for your situation…just don’t let fear stop you from asking the right questions. 

 

We’d like to know  what questions FSA members have about openness in adoption so we can address them during our upcoming Regional FSA Conference (August 7th and 8th).  Please take a moment to send your questions about openness in adoption to fsa-az-mesa@ldschurch.org or comment on this post.  These questions can be for adoptive parents or birthparents, or the families of either. 

We hope that by understanding the concerns and questions about openness we can help adoptive couples and birthparents make informed decisions about the types of adoption relationships they would like to have.  Thanks!!

Diamondbacks Outreach Event Information

Here’s the Diamondbacks Outreach event information you have all been waiting for!!

This link was created specifically for our group and will allow you to purchase tickets to the game for $5 (Outfield Reserve Seating).  You can have these tickets mailed, picked up at will call or they can be printed at home.   We will all be seated together generally so we can cheer together when our organization’s name is put up on the scoreboard.  Let’s all get out there in support of adoption!

Please feel free to forward this on to your family and friends who are interested in supporting the cause of adoption!!  We hope to see you all there   (This will be a heavily attended game and it will be televised, so get your tickets now.)  Please contact me at fsa-az-mesa@ldschurch.org with any questions.  Thanks!

Family Supporting Adoption:

Be sure to come support the D-backs as we host the Atlanta Braves on May 30^th at 1:10pm. Preferred seating is available to all members of Families Supporting Adoption using the link below.

1.  Log on the following link: www.dbacks.com/groups

2.  Log in using the following information: sign-in ID – fsa / baseball – (case sensitive)  

Be sure to get here early, the first 25,000 fans in attendance will receive a Stephen Drew bobblehead!!

FSA Mesa Chapter