“Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does.
So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big moments are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's
when you find out who you are." - Joss Whedon

Friday, August 31, 2012

The Gerry's Adoption Story

We asked our recent adoptive couples if they would share a bit about their adoption stories.  Juliet and Aaron quickly responded.  Enjoy their story and getting to know them and then send us your story.  Whether it was recent or a while ago, we would love to hear it!

Hi!! This sounds like fun! Our story began last August, when our birth mom rode a Greyhound bus from Southern California to Tacoma Washington. She was homeless and pregnant and needed a place to stay. She had contacted me because we adopted our son from her three years earlier, asking if we wanted to adopt this baby as well. Of course we did!! We took her into our home for five LONG months. So, time went on and it was fun going to the ultrasound appt and finding out it was a GIRL!! and going to the OB appt's with her. So, finally she got induced and on January 4th of this year our baby girl was born!!! She is perfect and beautiful!! We love her so much!! Birth mom was awesome during labor, a pro really, just pushed her out like nothing. She recovered in a week or so and was excited to go back to California. She flew on an airplane going back. We have an open adoption so we will be seeing her this November. In the mean time, we have finalized the adoption in June and will be getting her sealed to our family in September. We are all excited to have this baby girl in our family. We have our boy and our girl now. We are grateful to our birth mom for giving us the gift of children. Let me know if you want to know more.  
 Thanks, JULIET GERRY

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Meet our New Chapter Chair -- Sarah Rawls



Hey everyone,


I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Sarah Rawls. I am the new FSA Chair for our Western Washington Chapter. We just moved here to Washington from California because my husband John is in the Army. We have been married for 4 years and have no children yet. We started with LDS family services 1 ½ years ago. We haven’t been chosen yet for a placement, but I had the wonderful chance of doing foster care in CA while my husband was at boot camp and training. It was such a wonderful experience. Now I’m excited to be in this wonderful place and to get to know all of you and hear your stories. 
 -- Sarah Rawls

Monday, August 27, 2012

Join Kids2Families and Support Adoption through an Adoption Walk on November 3rd at Seward Park, Seattle

Hi,

As you may be aware we adopted a young boy named Alex a couple of years ago.  Prior to that we started a non-profit to help displaced children around the world find families that would adopt them, and also to encourage families to consider adoption. The non-profit is called Kids2Families and you can visit our website at www.kids2families.org.

Our main fundraising event will be a family Adoption Walk held Saturday morning, Nov. 3rd.  It is going to be a 2.5 mile walk held at Seward Park in Seattle. The walk will be spectacular because the trail has a view of Lake Washington on the entire 2.5 mile loop.

Here is where I need your help.

Families who have adopted
1. Please take a brief moment to think of anyone you know who has adopted and send us their contact information so we can invite them to our Adoption Walk.  Just reply to this e-mail with their name, e-mail, address, and phone number. If you feel comfortable, give us some information about their family (number of kids, who has been adopted, etc).

Interested to learn more about the Adoption Walk
2. Let us know if you might be interested in attending the walk.  For those of you not in the Seattle are we will have a way you can participate by being a Virtual Walker.
Again, this is just an indication of interest, not a commitment at this point.  We will follow up with you soon about the walk.

Volunteering
3. We are seeking volunteers.  Please see our website at http://www.kids2families.org/jobs/ for job descriptions.


Thanks for taking the time to read this note, and please respond to the above so that you can help children around the world who don't have families find their family.  Feel free to forward this to family and friends so we can spread the word.

Warm regards,
Susan H. Lawrence