National Conference NEWS: Keynote Address Live Streamed

Former BYU Cougar, 2001 Heisman Trophy Candidate, current BYU Coach ...and Adoptive Father, BRANDON DOMAN will be this year's keynote speaker. You won't want to miss it!

Even if you are not able to attend the conference, we still want to include you! Brandon Doman's Saturday morning keynote address will be live streamed on the Internet from 9:30 to 10:40 a.m MST.

You need only click THIS ADDRESS to enjoy the keynote address with those at the conference. The Internet video will be about a minute or two behind the live event from the Davis Conference Center.

Here is the entire url in case the link above fails you: http://stream.lds.org/2222-123456

Join us!

Share your Conference Photos & Moments

We know you will have a great time at this year's National Conference!

Share and connect with others at the conference and those that couldn't make it this year.


Find us on Twitter: @NationalFSA

Use #FSAconf in your tweet to connect with others at the conference.

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NationalFSA

Upload your photos from the conference to share with others (make sure you have permission from each person in the photo to post it on the facebook page) as well as favorite moments, quotes and things you are learning.

Boise FSA is MOO'ved by Adoption

Boise FSA entered a float in the Meridian Dairy Days Parade (local city parade). Our theme had to be dairy related, so we chose,

"We are 'MOO'ved by adoption".

We had a truck hold up our sign, gear, and people that needed to ride.

Then we had a 4-wheeler pulling a children's train of 5 cars. The kids got to ride in the cars and wave to the people. Then we have walkers and strollers to pass out candy, adoption pencils, and frisbees to the crowds.

We orders the yellow FSA shirts, so that everyone coordinated. We really feel like it promoted positive feelings for adoption in our community. It's really fun to hear people in the crowd cheering excitedly and announcing that they are adopted too. Our Float won 3rd place for non profit floats. Yea!

National Conference NEWS: 2010 Award List

Congratulations to the following for their outstanding service in the adoption community.
(Awards will be given at the 2010 National Conference.)


Gladney Center for Adoption
Hall of Fame Award

Mark & Elizabeth Pierce
Friends of Adoption Award

Loralee Freeman
Friends of Adoption Award

Virginia Arnold
Friends of Adoption Award

Sherrie Bass
Friends of Adoption Award



FSA Chapter Awards for Outstanding Service

Nevada Chapter

Oregon Chapter

Utah Logan Chapter

Utah Provo Chapter



FSA Outstanding Service Awards Chapter Awards for Individuals and Couples

Doug & Marianne Zaugg, Colorado Chapter

Todd & Rebecca Harrison, Northwest Region Chairs

Tawnia Singleton, FSA Advisor Seattle

Tara Larsen, FSA Advisor Seattle

Mike Todd, Canada

Colton FSA Goes to the Beach and Wants S'more!

Our FSA social activity at the beach this past weekend was a total hit! We had a good number of people out and found the perfect location to accommodate our growing families. The weather stayed cool but was still warm enough for us to splash around. Later in the day the waves reached fantastic heights! The monster waves were a slight shock at first but the teenagers and adults sure enjoyed the rush! They also made a great little pool area for the little ones to play in and build sand castles around. We cooked some delish hot dogs in the fire pit for lunch and enjoyed one member's specialty melted chocolate s'mores for dessert! They were so YUM!


Our little ones (ever the missionaries!) easily made friends with the families around us. This provided some of our members with the opportunity to explain to those families who we were and why we were gathering. It was all very casual conversation but always nice to bring adoption in a positive light to the forefront of someone's mind - after all isn't that what FSA is all about? All in all we had a pretty fun, relaxing beach day and can't wait until our next social activity planned for August!



~ Your Friends at FSA Colton

National Conference NEWS: Art Exhibit

Call to Artists and Those who Love Art

We are looking for art to put on display during our annual Families Supporting Adoption Conference this July 30th and 31st. We all have been touched by the miracle of adoption and know how bitter and sweet that journey is. This is an opportunity to share a piece of your journey with others.

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• All types and mediums of art and crafting
• Photography
• Sculpture
• Poetry
• Paintings
• Quilts made for birth parents from adoptive couples or quilts from birth families to children and adoptive couples
• Children's depictions of adoption through drawings, painting, clay, etc.
• Turn a photo into a coloring page and have children color or paint them (befunky offers this options as well as a bunch of other really cool options for photo editing.)
  

Deadline: July 30th

If you're planning on displaying some art please email Rebecca with a photo of the art work, and a little about it so that we can best prepare for your piece. However, you won't be turned away if you bring something the day of. Please remember that all art pieces must be appropriate for all audiences and are subject to refusal if inappropriate.

Children's art and other submissions can be dropped off before the conference starts on Friday, July 30th at 9 a.m. at the Registration Desk. Please include the artist's name and phone number on the back of the piece

Please email Rebecca at jrmstaley@filertel.com with any questions.

San Diego FSA Sets at the San Diego Fair

Erin Packard, Chairperson

This year San Diego FSA set up a booth at the San Diego Fair. "This was our first year at the fair, so it was definitely a learning experience. We were kinda tucked in a corner next to the Narcotics Anonymous booth (who, I must say, were some of the nicest and most polite people I have met) and the Eckankar booth," Erin Packard, San Diego's FSA Chairperson commented.

She pointed out that she got some pointers for how to get a higher traffic area next time, and some ideas to spruce up the booth (and even win prize money to go toward their chapter!) "Even though we were not as busy as I would have liked, we had some really positive conversations. I was also able to do some good networking with the people at the county foster care booth," Packard says.


From conversations with adults that were placed for adoption as infants to couples considering adoption in the future, the day was filled with memorable conversations.

The booth was run by people who adopted through LDSFS, Angles Foster Family Network, and a private attorney--each bringing something different to the table.

What a fabulous way to network and get involved in community outreach!

Finding Friday: Making and Posting Fliers

This week's Finding Friday post comes to us from Colorado's FSA and is written by Brianna Olsen. It is a simple way to help you spread the word about your desire to adopt by making and posting fliers.

Our fliers are actually a free item we got from the company we ordered pass along cards through, and they are actually over sized postcards. We realized that these giant postcards make great fliers! They are the size of a half sheet of paper, so you could easily make them at home. We were limited in our design options, but you don't have to be. These fliers would be great to put a picture of your family on, say that you are hoping to adopt, and list your blog or email address. Print out a lot of them and you are set!

Once you have them printed, you just need to find places to put them up. Most public places may have a bulletin board where you can post notices, just make sure you ask someone to get it approved before you post it.

Here are some places to hang up your fliers:

-church buildings
-grocery stores
-library
-hospital
-school counseling center
-gas station
-college campus
-bowling alley
-post office
-break room at work
-mall

-rec center

What are you waiting for? Go design some fliers and get started!

Cedar City FSA's Adoption Celebration Luau

Cedar City FSA's Adoption Celebration Luau
by Bridget Crane

We've been having the Luau for the past six years to celebrate National Adoption Month in November. Every year we have 160-180 people come. This year we had close to 200!


We send out invitations to everyone who is or has been involved with FSA. We encourage them to bring family and friends and ask that they RSVP. April, the secretary at our LDSFS, cooks the most delicious Hawaiian food for everyone to enjoy. Then we pass around sign up sheets for salads etc. Other things were donated by businesses in the community.


We had activities for the kids including a fishing pond, pinata, and stuff to make little leis. Most of the items needed for these activities were donated by businesses in the community. We even had a hula performance.


We had a short orientation presentation about the new itsaboutlove.org website.


Laurie Hansen, a very well known CNM in Cedar City, and her daughters came and sang "From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Yours" by Michael Mclean. We are lucky enough to have so many great people involved in adoption and willing to join us for this celebration.


This is a very successful activity for us every year. It is something that Families Supporting Adoption look forward to every year. It is a time to celebrate adoption and enjoy the company of those who love it as much as you do. It has grown and we hope it will continue to grow every year.


Did I mention the food is AMAZING?



Learn more about the incredible things this chapter is doing by visiting the Cedar City FSA Blog.

Article: "Couples find peace, through adoption agencies"

Recently the Universe.byu.edu web site featuring a wonderful article on adoption called "Couples find peace, through adoption agencies."

Click HERE to read the full article.


Here is a profound statement shared with The Universe from a birth mother:

“I strongly believe in the blessings that come from the sealing covenant,” ShaNae said. “And as a young, unwed mother, I knew I would be unable to offer those blessings to my daughter at this time. However, I knew she deserved them, and I was going to do everything in my power to ensure she received those blessings, even if it meant letting her go.”

Win a Pair of National Conference Tickets

*This giveaway is closed and the winner has been notified via email.


The National Conference is quickly approaching.

We thought that with all the excitement of the conference, it would be a great idea to have our very first blog giveaway and we are staring big!

We are giving away a PAIR of National Conference tickets to a lucky blog reader ($70 value)!

You might be thinking, "Oh no! I already purchased my tickets!" Don't worry! We will refund you for two of those should you win.

If you would like to enter this giveaway, here is what to do:

• Leave a comment on this blog post.
  
• Include your email address in this comment.
  

Extra Entries are Available:

Leave an additional comment with your email address for each extra entry.

• "Follow" The FSA National Blog.
  
• Subscribe to The FSA National Blog.
  
• follow @NationalFSA on Twitter.
• Tweet about this giveaway, using @NationalFSA in your tweet! (This can be done once per day.)
• Become a fan of or "like" Families Supporting Adoption on Facebook.
• Blog about this giveaway on your blog, linking back to this post. Leave a link to your post in your comment.
  
• Add one of the Families Supporting Adoption blog buttons to your blog.
• Email your family and friends about this giveaway send your email to fsablog at gmail dot com.
  

Don't forget to leave your email address so we can contact you should you win. Entries will be accepted until Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM MST. The winner will be announced the following day via email. The winner has 48 hours to respond. If they fail to respond, a new winner will be selected.

Good Luck!

The Fine Print:

This giveaway is for two full National Conference tickets only. The winner will be responsible for travel to the conference and hotel accommodations. This blog is run by a member of the FSA National Board who is responsible for the National Conference. This board member was not compensated for this post. Winner will be randomly selected using random.org.