Birth Parent Gift Idea: Angel Figurines

These are great to let the birthparents know that
they truly are an angel in your life! We say
“figurines” but anything with angels is great.
Willow Tree by Demdaco has a great line
of angels that are perfect.


Great Gift Idea for: Anytime
Appropriate for: Birthmother or Birthfather

Provo FSA's Celebrate Adoption Walk

Father and son enjoying 2008's Celebrate Adoption Walk in Provo

Birth Mother's Day Celebrated in Utah County

Celebrate Adoption Walk: Provo High School Track

Saturday, May 9, 2008, 10:00 a.m.

This upcoming mother's day weekend a special kind of mother will be honored in Utah County.

Many Utahns don't realize that Birth Mother's Day is celebrated the Saturday before Mother's Day each year. The Provo chapter of Families Supporting Adoption, a national organization promoting adoption, is celebrating Birth Mother's Day by holding a "celebrate adoption walk" on Saturday May 9 at 10 a.m. at the Provo High School outdoor track.

This unique community event celebrates the sacrifices and choices of birth mothers and their important role in helping create adoptive families. Birth mothers, adoptive families and everyone whose lives have been influenced by adoption are invited to participate in Saturday's festivities.

"This walk is a way for the community to honor the sacrifices of birth mothers and for everyone to come together and celebrate how adoption changes families and changes lives," said Tony Jewkes, Families Supporting Adoption, Provo Chapter executive chair.

Families and children of all ages are invited to attend and show community support for adoption and birth mothers on this special day. Snacks and drinks will be available for all participants. Along with the commemorative walk around the track, other activities and games are planned for this Saturday morning event sponsored by Families Supporting Adoption (FSA).

FSA is a national organization with chapters all over the country. These chapters provide information about adoption and support to those associated with the adoptionprocess, including birth mothers, birth fathers and adoptive couples.

Birth Mother's Day (or First Mother's Day) has been observed on the Saturday before Mother's Day since 1990 when it was first celebrated in Seattle. There are an estimated 6 million adoptees in the United States.

Contact Info:

Dave Broberg,

Families Supporting Adoption Provo Chapter Media Contact

davebroberg@gmail

Tony Jewkes,

FSA Provo Chapter Executive Chair

TJewkes@ISPSports.com

Matching Monday

To view all the children featured on Matching Monday click here.

LDS Family Services and Families Supporting Adoption encourage you to look at all your options when hoping to build a family through adoption, including foster care.

Are these your children?

Cierra (5 years old) is a beautiful little girl who needs a family who will love and care for her. Is your family the one she has been waiting for? Please click here and read more about this sweet little girl.

Jacoby, Cabrina and Tybreana (ages 10, 8 & 7). These very handsome siblings enjoy being together.

Deddrick is 9 years old. He loves basketball, football and riding his scooter. He likes to attend church and eat at McDonald's.

Tawnie M. is 14 years old. She enjoys dancing, music and cooking. Tawnie was recently baptized a member of the LDS church.

* * *

We are learning that you have to be proactive in order to hear any more information about these children. If you don't hear anything back from an email inquiry, don't give up. Call the case worker assigned.

Please take time to look at each situation--each child. Then share their information with others. Even if these little ones aren't right for your family, you might be the link to the family who is.

Article: "Being Sensitive to Couples Without Children"

"Being Sensitive to Couples Without Children"

(Click on the title to go to the link of the original article.)

• Remember that the circumstances in which infertility occurs vary greatly from couple to couple. Infertility may result from a health condition on the part of either or both spouses. Sometimes couples become infertile after they already have a child or children. Some have married later or waited to try to have children, and some have not. Regardless, all deserve compassion and freedom from stereotypes.

• For some sensitive situations, such as baby showers, it might be wise to ask first whether a person wants to be invited. You don’t have to handle infertile people with kid gloves; just ask how they feel and if they are up to certain events. But be sure to include them in Church and family activities.

• Try not to second-guess a couple’s medical treatments or other actions. They have most likely been careful and prayerful in making difficult decisions. Trust that they have learned what is best for their family. Remember that decisions about building a family are between a husband and wife and the Lord.

• Recognize positive contributions that are not related to childbearing or rearing. Everyone needs to feel valuable, and this is sometimes hard—particularly in Latter-day Saint culture—when one cannot become a parent.

• Realize that infertile people can be sensitive to the undertones of your comments, and try to be careful about what you say. For example, saying “You’ll get pregnant if you just relax” implies that you think infertility is the couple’s own fault, when in reality it is usually a medical condition not caused by stress. “You’ll get pregnant as soon as you adopt” implies that you see adoption as merely a path to having a biological child, when it is actually just as valid a path to parenthood as pregnancy. Even reassurances such as “It will happen in the Lord’s time” can be painful for people who are preparing themselves for the possibility that they will not have biological children during this lifetime.

• Express your support and love with simple, positive, non-intrusive comments such as “I love you” or “I have been praying for you.” Your genuine care and concern are needed by those experiencing the trial of infertility.

Ana Nelson Shaw, “Being Sensitive to Couples without Children,” Ensign, Aug 2000, 61

Finding Friday: Finding vs. Waiting

Assess your attitude.
Are you
FINDING or WAITING?


WAIT
Waiting is passive. It is being idle and is extremely unfulfilling.

W: WHAT IF?
As we wait, we may stay in a constant state of "What if?" We may put off plans and not take full advantage of our present opportunities while we sit by the phone waiting for that important call.

A: ANXIOUS
As we wait we may get restless and uneasy. We may feel a lot of anxiety and worry about things over which we have no control.

I: INSECURE
As we wait we may feel insecure and doubt our capacity to parent. We may feel unworthy and have a sense of low self-esteem.

T: TENSE
As we wait the tension may grow. If we are not careful, contention can easily enter the home and we may begin to blame and easily hurt other's feelings.



FIND
Finding is active. It is being proactive in the search for your child. It is following the principle of doing all that we can and then relying on the Lord to help all things work together for our good.

F: FAITH
It takes faith to search for your child: faith in prayer that Heavenly Father will guide us and place us in the right places; faith through fasting that we will encounter the birth mother carrying our child; faith that the Lord will direct our paths and help us find our children.

I: INSPIRATION
The Spirit can inspire us to talk with those around us about our desire to adopt. As we listen to the prompting of the Spirit, we can be divinely guided in our efforts.

N: NETWORKING
It is beneficial to talk to everyone. Using every possible channel to get the word out can expand our voice and can increase the likelihood of finding our child.

D: DIVINE INTERVENTION
Once we have done all we can do, we can rely on the Lord to intervene on our behalf. It is only through Him that all things are possible. The Lord will direct our paths.

Taken from Someone's Missing.

Birth Parent Gift Idea: Scrapbook of "All the Things I am Grateful For"

Make a scrapbook of all of the things that the
child is grateful for including the birth mother.
This is a great gift for the birth mother and a book
that will be treasured in your family as well.


Great Gift Idea for: Finalization/One year
Appropriate for: Birthmother

Matching Monday

LDS Family Services and Families Supporting Adoption encourage you to look at all your options when hoping to build a family through adoption.

Foster care is a marvelous opportunity.

Each Monday we will feature several children who are waiting in the foster care system and looking for their families. Please take a moment to click on each child's or sibling group's name and read more about their situation.

They are waiting for you.

Are these your children?

Robin is an infant in California.
She needs a family in the Southern California area.
(But if you are interested and don't live in Southern California, you could still call and find out more IMHO.)

Read about this little, tiny sweetie here.


Trenton is a 7 year old from Idaho.
How handsome is he? That red hair! You can read more about this handsome little guy here. On his link, he writes the most darling little letter about the family he is hoping to find.


Zachary 5 & Patrick 3 live in Missouri and they would like to grow up together!
Check out these cute brothers here .
This site won't allow me to give a direct link so after you go to the site search by ID number.
Zachary's ID #: 8216 (will bring up info for both boys)

Jamie is a beautiful 14 year old from Utah who is hoping for a family.

She is stunning and interested in cosmetology. Read about her here.



* * *

We are learning that you have to be proactive in order to hear any more information about these children. If you don't hear anything back from an email inquiry, don't give up. Call the case worker assigned.

Please take time to look at each situation--each child. Then share their information with others. Even if these little ones aren't right for your family, you might be the link to the family who is.

Article: "Our Struggle to 'Be Fruitful'"

Every Sunday an article, talk, website, or book about adoption and/or infertility will be highlighted. If you have some thoughts that you would like to share, please do in the comments section at the end of the post or feel free to email us.

We hope you will find these resources helpful, that you will feel a sense of belonging and that you will know, above all, that you are not alone.


Our Struggle to "Be Fruitful"

This article is written by a man, a husband and now a father. It is his perspective and his struggle. His name is Alan Harrison. He lives in Nevada. This article was featured in the June 2003 Ensign.

He and his wife had been married for 8 years when he hit rock bottom. Every year they dealt with the grief of miscarriages. After a horrible experience in the hospital, Alan decided to cut off all ties with God and with the church. Much of this article is about his fight to find peace and his family. He later came back to the church and has 2 adopted children.

Here are a few highlighted parts:
(Please click on the title above to read the whole article.)

As newlyweds, my wife, Merrilie, and I were ready to build on the covenants we’d made in the temple as well as heeding our patriarchal blessings that encouraged us to begin a family. But over the following eight years our expectations of having a family became blurred. During the first seven years of our marriage, we averaged one or more miscarriages a year. Merrilie spent much time in hospitals and doctors’ offices discussing and undergoing treatment plans. Each passing month, each hospital stay, and each medical disappointment became that much more difficult to accept.

It was one of the most difficult moments of my life. Love for my daughter flooded my heart, and it seemed as though that which we most wanted in this world was denied us. The years of wanting to have a baby compounded my feelings into inexpressible grief.

Yet it seemed I was spinning toward self-destruction. The adversary seemed to constantly remind me how unfairly I had been treated, and I often felt anger. The bishop counseled me to pray. He told me that if I would ask God, I would receive comfort and understanding. I replied that I had severed the circuit and that it was unlikely I could receive any help. With tears in his eyes, the bishop bore his testimony to me that Father in Heaven longed to help if I would just splice the severed circuit.

It took many years for me to understand that for those who remain worthy and who strive in righteousness, promised blessings do come—but in accordance with the Lord’s timetable, not ours.

Article: "None Were with Him"

"One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.

"Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, “I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].

"As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,” for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."

~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, None Were with Him



Happy Easter.

Finding Friday: Get Involved with FSA

Brad and Brenda Horrocks are the Co-Vice Chairs on the FSA National Board.

{Finding Idea: Get involved with FSA.}

Our little family has been blessed with two beautiful girls through adoption. Little did we realize how our children would come to us when we were approved as adoptive applicants in 1998. This is our story.

After our home study was approved, our LDS Family Services' caseworker encouraged us to be assertive in finding a birth parent to make our adoption happen. Eagerly, we began to spread the word among our family and friends that we were wanting to adopt and were surprised how much support we felt. During this time, we felt impressed to become more active with LDS Family Services and the Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) organization. We became FSA board members in our local chapter. Although this was a period of many ups and downs, we trusted that the Lord would guide us to our birth mother.

While attending an FSA activity, an adoptive mother approached us and asked if she could give our names to her uncle who had a single and pregnant girl working for him. This young woman was interested in placing her baby for adoption. The adoptive mother said that our names had instantly come to her mind. We enthusiastically agreed to allow her to forward our names to her uncle. We felt that something special was about to happen. A short time later we were notified that this birth mother had chosen us to be the parents of her precious child. On the 14th of July, our little daughter was born and the next day her birth grandmother placed her in our arms. Words cannot express the joy we felt as we gazed down at this long-awaited gift. We gained a testimony that it was through our prompting to serve with FSA that led to this miracle.

As soon as we could, we applied for adoption a second time and were approved. Having a testimony of being proactive and listening to the promptings of the Spirit, we began to find unique ways to let others know that we were seeking to adopt again. We created an online adoption profile on several adoption-related Web sites. We then sent an email to all the names in our email address book requesting everyone to see our new profiles and to keep us in their prayers.

In just a matter of days, a co-worker who got our email announcement told us that her daughter's friend was single and pregnant and happened to be living with them. She was 10 weeks along in her pregnancy. This co-worker showed her our online profile and she wanted to meet us. Following a successful face-to-face meeting, our adoption case worker called us into the office where he handed us a colorful letter stating that this birth mother had selected us to be this child's parents. After a long seven-month wait, our second daughter was born on the 31st of October. We often wonder what would have happened if we decided not to be assertive in making our adoption happen.

We have come to understand through these experiences that the Lord's hand is always stretched out to bless His children. We have also learned that after we do everything that is possible, the Lord steps in and helps us. Appropriately, our family's motto comes from D&C 123:17: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed."

*Camden, the little boy in the family picture, came to the Horrocks through "finding tools" as well--through parentprofiles.com. He wasn't born when this story was written. Congratulations, Brad and Brenda on another beautiful addition to your family.

Taken from "Someone's Missing," Introduction

If you are interested in becoming more involved with FSA, please send us an email and we can certainly help you! We need you and your unique talents.

Birth Parent Gift Idea: Adoption/Inspirational Music

We cannot forget the adoption songs from Michael McLean and other artists! There are some great songs that are very appropriate (not just the adoption songs although, we seem to be
partial to them).


Great Gift Idea for: Face-to-face/Placement
Appropriate for: Birth Mother or Birth Father

Michael McLean Celebrates Adoption with the St. George Chapter

The album pictured contains McLean's popular adoption song from the birth mother's perspective, From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours.

The St. George FSA chapter hosted a special musical fireside at the St. George Tabernacle with Michael McLean to celebrate National Adoption month last November. The fireside was a tremendous success. The tabernacle was filled to capacity with over 1400 people 30 minutes before it began. Brother McLean did a fantastic job sharing about the miracle of adoption through his humor and musical talents. Our hearts were touched and filled with an increased measure of hope and gratitude for adoption. There was also a private reception before the fireside for birthparents and their families. Brother McLean took great steps to talk to them individually and thank them for their act of love. We thank him for his willingness to serve and making this such a special event.

Tamra's Story

UFCF's Chalk Art Festival

Every year the Utah Foster Care Foundation hosts the annual Chalk Art Festival to benefit children in foster care throughout the state of Utah. The Chalk Art Festival attracts thousands of visitors and artists from around the state and even the country.

The Festival helps the Utah Foster Care Foundation in creating awareness of foster care in Utah as well as the foundation's outreach programs. These outreach programs aid in finding temporary and permanent homes for children in foster care.


Here are some of the highlights from last year:

Being an artist at the Utah Foster Care Foundation's 7th annual Chalk Art Festival is about so much more than just drawing beautiful murals on the streets of The Gateway and winning awards. It's about supporting Utah's children in foster care.

Volunteers and artists are needed for this year's Festival.
June 19-20th at The Gateway in Salt Lake City.

Click here for more information and to register as an artist or volunteer.