A poem of thanks to a birth mother.
Once strangers, not knowing of each other,
God brought us together
To share a special bond of love
With a sweet little girl named Sarah.
You may never understand the pain
Or know the tears I cried.
My heart's desire was for a child
To nurture, love, and guide.
I may never understand the pain
Or know the tears you cried.
You said good-bye to this precious child,
Entrusting me to nurture, love, and guide.
I see your face in her pretty smile,
And love in her sparkling eyes.
She's the answer to countless prayers,
A blessing to many lives.
No longer strangers,
We share a special bond of love
With a very precious gift
From our God above.
© Copyright Karen Ledbetter. All rights reserved.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Legacy of an Adopted Child
Once there were two women
Who never knew each other
One you do not remember
The other you call mother
One gave you a nationality
The other gave you a name
One gave you the seed of talent
The other gave you an aim.
Two different lives shaped
to make yours one
One became your guiding star
The other became your sun.
One gave you emotions
The other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile
The other dried your tears.
The first gave you life
The second taught you to live in it
The first gave you a need for love
And the second was there to give it
One gave you up,
It was all she could do.
The other prayed for a child,
And God led her straight to you
And now you ask me through your tears,
The age old question through the years;
Heredity or Environment, which are you a product of?
Neither my darling, neither
JUST TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF LOVE
-anonymous
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Spot Light Saturday
As we mentioned before we will be doing spotlights of two couples hoping to adopt each Saturday for the month of November. Please contact us if you are interested.
This week meet Janie & Lyle and Amy & Adrian:
Dear Birth Parents,
We're so excited you've decided to visit our profile We are humbled beyond belief by the process and miracle of adoption. We, by no means, understand what you are going through, but we do sympathize and know that this time in your life is a difficult and confusing one. We pray for you. We hope the best for you --no matter your choice. We know that our Heavenly Father loves all of us and because of the Atonement, has seen and felt what you are feeling now. We have great respect for you and your brave decision of adoption. We hope you will take few minutes to get to know us a little better. And even if we are not the family for you, we wish you peace in your decision and a blessed life for your child.We met through a mutual friend while Lyle was in school. After six months of exchanging emails and phone calls, we had our first date. We were married a year later and have completely enjoyed every minute of marriage. Even in struggles,we’ve found more strength and have grown closer together. We are not only marriage partners, but also best friends. We cherish doing even the smallest things together like going grocery shopping or playing games. We communicate well with each other; whether it be a deep spiritual conversation or discussing friendly sports rivalry. We love to make each other laugh. While we have found immense fulfilment in our marriage, we have always felt a strong desire to share our love with a child of our Heavenly Father.
Janie is one of the most compassionate women you’ll ever meet. She has a huge heart and would do anything for someone in need. She’s demonstrated this compassion in our marriage, in dealing with extended family members, and in her church callings. She brings a unique point of view into my life with her differences, allowing us to use these differences to strengthen one another,rather than let them hinder our relationship. For example, I enjoy discussing the gospel with her and listening to her perspectives as a convert to the church. I love her greatly and feel that any child would be blessed to have her as a mother.
Lyle has been a true blessing in my life. Of all the roads I’ve been down in my life, I wouldn’t change a thing because it led me to this wonderful man. Lyle is a calm soul and a peacemaker. He is patient and understanding in all his relationships and dealings with work and the community. Family is his most important priority – that is, after his relationship with our Heavenly Father.His gentle love has encouraged me in times of need, in times of sorrow, and in times of happiness. Lyle is my biggest fan – he encourages me in my talents and he is the person I most have fun with. He is truly my best friend in every sense of the word.
When we found out we were unable to have children; we searched and prayed and were led to the decision to adopt with much peace in our hearts. In friendships and family relationships, we’ve seen first hand the various aspects of adoption.We know that for an adoption to be successful, it requires much prayer and guidance of the Spirit as well as sacrifice; although we realize that we may never understand the amount of love and sacrifice you’ve made on behalf of your child.
Thank you again for taking the time to get to know us a little better. We pray that the spirit of peace will be with you all along the way.
With Love,
Lyle and Janie
Dear Friends,
We are so happy that you are taking the time to read about us and look at our
pictures. We know that this is a very serious decision for you. We
are grateful
for you and your courage, and thank you for taking the time to read about us.
We were married in the Houston, TX Temple in July of 2006. We met on the
internet, weird huh! Amy had just graduated with her Bachelor's in Social Work
and had moved to Mesa, AZ when she met Adrian. He was going to school for
automotive technology. We fell quickly in love and were married just a few
months later.
We have been married now over four years and have so much fun together! With
Adrian's family we do a lot of camping and four wheeling, and with Amy's we
play a lot of games. We are very sarcastic and loving towards each other and
think we are very funny! We are the best of friends. We love to go on
vacation,
even if it's only a couple hours away or camping for the weekend. We love
seeing and doing things new things. We also love spending weekends being lazy
catching up on all of our favorite TV shows.
When we were first married, we knew we wanted to have a family. When our
efforts and time in fertility treatments were unsuccessful, we then turned our
thoughts and prayers towards adoption. We both received confirmation that
adoption was the right choice for our family. Adrian's oldest brother and
sister in law were blessed to adopt four children through LDS Services and it
has been a tremendous blessing to watch other friends and family members be
blessed through adoption. Though we do not know who you are, we pray
for you and
think about you every day. Thank you for considering us as parents for your
child.
With Love,
Adrian and Amy
This week meet Janie & Lyle and Amy & Adrian:
Dear Birth Parents,
We're so excited you've decided to visit our profile We are humbled beyond belief by the process and miracle of adoption. We, by no means, understand what you are going through, but we do sympathize and know that this time in your life is a difficult and confusing one. We pray for you. We hope the best for you --no matter your choice. We know that our Heavenly Father loves all of us and because of the Atonement, has seen and felt what you are feeling now. We have great respect for you and your brave decision of adoption. We hope you will take few minutes to get to know us a little better. And even if we are not the family for you, we wish you peace in your decision and a blessed life for your child.We met through a mutual friend while Lyle was in school. After six months of exchanging emails and phone calls, we had our first date. We were married a year later and have completely enjoyed every minute of marriage. Even in struggles,we’ve found more strength and have grown closer together. We are not only marriage partners, but also best friends. We cherish doing even the smallest things together like going grocery shopping or playing games. We communicate well with each other; whether it be a deep spiritual conversation or discussing friendly sports rivalry. We love to make each other laugh. While we have found immense fulfilment in our marriage, we have always felt a strong desire to share our love with a child of our Heavenly Father.
Janie is one of the most compassionate women you’ll ever meet. She has a huge heart and would do anything for someone in need. She’s demonstrated this compassion in our marriage, in dealing with extended family members, and in her church callings. She brings a unique point of view into my life with her differences, allowing us to use these differences to strengthen one another,rather than let them hinder our relationship. For example, I enjoy discussing the gospel with her and listening to her perspectives as a convert to the church. I love her greatly and feel that any child would be blessed to have her as a mother.
Lyle has been a true blessing in my life. Of all the roads I’ve been down in my life, I wouldn’t change a thing because it led me to this wonderful man. Lyle is a calm soul and a peacemaker. He is patient and understanding in all his relationships and dealings with work and the community. Family is his most important priority – that is, after his relationship with our Heavenly Father.His gentle love has encouraged me in times of need, in times of sorrow, and in times of happiness. Lyle is my biggest fan – he encourages me in my talents and he is the person I most have fun with. He is truly my best friend in every sense of the word.
When we found out we were unable to have children; we searched and prayed and were led to the decision to adopt with much peace in our hearts. In friendships and family relationships, we’ve seen first hand the various aspects of adoption.We know that for an adoption to be successful, it requires much prayer and guidance of the Spirit as well as sacrifice; although we realize that we may never understand the amount of love and sacrifice you’ve made on behalf of your child.
Thank you again for taking the time to get to know us a little better. We pray that the spirit of peace will be with you all along the way.
With Love,
Lyle and Janie
Dear Friends,
We are so happy that you are taking the time to read about us and look at our
pictures. We know that this is a very serious decision for you. We
are grateful
for you and your courage, and thank you for taking the time to read about us.
We were married in the Houston, TX Temple in July of 2006. We met on the
internet, weird huh! Amy had just graduated with her Bachelor's in Social Work
and had moved to Mesa, AZ when she met Adrian. He was going to school for
automotive technology. We fell quickly in love and were married just a few
months later.
We have been married now over four years and have so much fun together! With
Adrian's family we do a lot of camping and four wheeling, and with Amy's we
play a lot of games. We are very sarcastic and loving towards each other and
think we are very funny! We are the best of friends. We love to go on
vacation,
even if it's only a couple hours away or camping for the weekend. We love
seeing and doing things new things. We also love spending weekends being lazy
catching up on all of our favorite TV shows.
When we were first married, we knew we wanted to have a family. When our
efforts and time in fertility treatments were unsuccessful, we then turned our
thoughts and prayers towards adoption. We both received confirmation that
adoption was the right choice for our family. Adrian's oldest brother and
sister in law were blessed to adopt four children through LDS Services and it
has been a tremendous blessing to watch other friends and family members be
blessed through adoption. Though we do not know who you are, we pray
for you and
think about you every day. Thank you for considering us as parents for your
child.
With Love,
Adrian and Amy
Monday, November 1, 2010
Becoming involved in Adoption awareness month by Devin Bird
November is National Adoption Awareness Month! Now many of you reading this are aware of the countless, precious benefits of adoption, but most in our communities are not. My wife and I recently adopted and are very comfortable telling our adoption story to friends and small groups, but are a bit intimidated by speaking to say an auditorium full of high school kids about adoption. Isn’t there a happy medium? You know, a way to educate our broader communities about adoption without putting ourselves out in front of so many people. From exploring different websites and talking with friends, here is a list of some ideas we all can do to help share the amazing stories, blessings and the amazing positive impacts of adoption of the adopted children, birthparents and adoptive families (the order here goes from activities that put you least out in front of others, to activities that put you most front in center with a group):
· Show appreciation to Adoption and foster care professionals (both those who may have been involved in your adoption story as well as other front-line adoption professionals
· Ask your local library to spotlight adoption related books at the entrance to the library
· Write about adoption on your Personal Blog, on Facebook, etc. You will be amazed at how easy this is and at how many positive, delightful responses you will receive
· Encourage local schools to speak to their students about adoption (you don’t have to do the speaking, just reach out to the local schools to remind them that it is National Adoption Awareness Month and encourage them to have teachers or someone address the topic this month
· Ask your employer if you can post an article or flyer on your companies intranet or in the company breakroom
· Talk to your children and other family members about adoption. Share your adoption experience with them (or if you don’t have a personal adoption experience, invite a friend to share theirs)
· Find out about local Adoption Awareness activities for this month and notify friends and family, etc about them (we invited friends to an adoption conference to help them learn more about the experiences we would be going through as adoptive parents and they had an amazing experience and came away with a much greater appreciation for adoption)
· Recommend an adoption book to be read as part of your book club this month
Invite others to attend National Adoption Day Ceremonies/Activities on November 20th
· Write an article to a local newspaper sharing your experiences and some of the facts about adoption
· Wear a shirt with a pithy statement about adoption (e.g. adoption . . . its all about love; or adoption is the new pregnant, etc)
· Speak to a local church group about adoption and its benefits, and how they can get involved
· If you are comfortable, offer to speak to students at your local school or other organization about Adoption
· Host your own adoption awareness activity (bake sale at grocery store, movie night at your house, car wash (in areas where it is still warm, etc.)
And remember, as November passes, some of the greatest work we can do is to be mindful of those children still waiting to be adopted and the amazing families who participate in foster care programs and provide Christmas gifts and financial donations to organizations that work tirelessly on behalf of these precious children.
(some of the websites that helped to formulate these ideas include: adoption.com; childwelfare.gov
· Show appreciation to Adoption and foster care professionals (both those who may have been involved in your adoption story as well as other front-line adoption professionals
· Ask your local library to spotlight adoption related books at the entrance to the library
· Write about adoption on your Personal Blog, on Facebook, etc. You will be amazed at how easy this is and at how many positive, delightful responses you will receive
· Encourage local schools to speak to their students about adoption (you don’t have to do the speaking, just reach out to the local schools to remind them that it is National Adoption Awareness Month and encourage them to have teachers or someone address the topic this month
· Ask your employer if you can post an article or flyer on your companies intranet or in the company breakroom
· Talk to your children and other family members about adoption. Share your adoption experience with them (or if you don’t have a personal adoption experience, invite a friend to share theirs)
· Find out about local Adoption Awareness activities for this month and notify friends and family, etc about them (we invited friends to an adoption conference to help them learn more about the experiences we would be going through as adoptive parents and they had an amazing experience and came away with a much greater appreciation for adoption)
· Recommend an adoption book to be read as part of your book club this month
Invite others to attend National Adoption Day Ceremonies/Activities on November 20th
· Write an article to a local newspaper sharing your experiences and some of the facts about adoption
· Wear a shirt with a pithy statement about adoption (e.g. adoption . . . its all about love; or adoption is the new pregnant, etc)
· Speak to a local church group about adoption and its benefits, and how they can get involved
· If you are comfortable, offer to speak to students at your local school or other organization about Adoption
· Host your own adoption awareness activity (bake sale at grocery store, movie night at your house, car wash (in areas where it is still warm, etc.)
And remember, as November passes, some of the greatest work we can do is to be mindful of those children still waiting to be adopted and the amazing families who participate in foster care programs and provide Christmas gifts and financial donations to organizations that work tirelessly on behalf of these precious children.
(some of the websites that helped to formulate these ideas include: adoption.com; childwelfare.gov
Adoption Poem
Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone
But still miraculously
My own.
Never Forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it.
Author: Unknown
November is National Adoption Month!
November is National Adoption Month and this month we want to raise Awereness about adoption and the blessings it can bring into lives.
Spotlight Saturdays! As we celebrate adoption this month we will be spotlighting couples in our area who are seeking to adopt. If you are interested in taking advantage of this please contact us at dallastexasfsa@gmail.com .
Continue to look for lots of fun articles and information on adopion on our blog throughout the Month!
Spotlight Saturdays! As we celebrate adoption this month we will be spotlighting couples in our area who are seeking to adopt. If you are interested in taking advantage of this please contact us at dallastexasfsa@gmail.com .
Continue to look for lots of fun articles and information on adopion on our blog throughout the Month!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Conference update...
We just wanted to give everyone a heads up on the agenda for this coming weekend. We have a great line up of speakers and pannelists and we are very excited for this event! We look forward to seeing you there!
Friday: (church dress)
6:30- 7:30 pm Keynote Adress by President Duane Gerrard (Dallas Temple President)
We will be holding this meeting at:
14740 Meandering Way, Dallas, TX 75254
8pm Temple session for those who are endowed and wish to attend.
Saturday: (cassual dress)
Session will be held at:
the Midway Building,
6545 W Plano Pkwy,
Plano TX 75093
Schedule for Saturday
8:45 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 9:15 Opening Prayer, Spiritual Thought by Janie White
9:15 – 9:50 Agency Updates by Eric Fernelius
9:50 – 10:10 Musical Numbers by Julia Bancroft, Katy Texas Stake“Follow Him” and “He Heals”
10:10 – 10:25 Break
10:25 – 12:15 Birth Parent Panel and Q & A
10:25 – 11:45 Panel
Panel Participates: Jacqueline Schnau, Amanda Phipps, Kati Budge, Kendra Mitchell
11:45 – 12:15 Q&A
12:15 – 1:00 Lunch
Break out sessions:
1:00 – 1:20
A. Language of Adoption by Amanda Phipps
B. “Who You Are Is Not What You Have Done” by Jacqueline Schnau
1:20 – 1:50
A. How Healing Comes Through FSA by Janie White
B. Mix and Mingle
1:50 – 2:10 Break
2:10 – 2:55
A. Adversity is Exercise for The Soul by Melanie Davis
B. Birth Parent Dating, “Who to Tell, How to Tell, and When to Tell” by Kendra and Cody Mitchell
2:55 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 4:00 Blessings of Openness Video
Agency Representative/Priesthood Support Sessions
1:00-1:25
Representing the Group – Lorelei Perkins, Volunteer Coordinator/Agency Representative Coordinator
1:25-1:50pm Overview of Agency Services, powerpoint
1:50-2:00pm break
2:00-2:30pm Planning with the Priesthood – Eric Fernelius, Adoption Supervisor
Making plans today – Lorelei Perkins
2:30-2:45pm Individual planning session with Agency Reps and Priesthood leaders
2:45-3:00pm Reporting back of planning and monthly reports
3:00-4:00pm Presentations to your stake – Lorelei Perkins “Faith Precedes the Miracle”
Friday: (church dress)
6:30- 7:30 pm Keynote Adress by President Duane Gerrard (Dallas Temple President)
We will be holding this meeting at:
14740 Meandering Way, Dallas, TX 75254
8pm Temple session for those who are endowed and wish to attend.
Saturday: (cassual dress)
Session will be held at:
the Midway Building,
6545 W Plano Pkwy,
Plano TX 75093
Schedule for Saturday
8:45 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 9:15 Opening Prayer, Spiritual Thought by Janie White
9:15 – 9:50 Agency Updates by Eric Fernelius
9:50 – 10:10 Musical Numbers by Julia Bancroft, Katy Texas Stake“Follow Him” and “He Heals”
10:10 – 10:25 Break
10:25 – 12:15 Birth Parent Panel and Q & A
10:25 – 11:45 Panel
Panel Participates: Jacqueline Schnau, Amanda Phipps, Kati Budge, Kendra Mitchell
11:45 – 12:15 Q&A
12:15 – 1:00 Lunch
Break out sessions:
1:00 – 1:20
A. Language of Adoption by Amanda Phipps
B. “Who You Are Is Not What You Have Done” by Jacqueline Schnau
1:20 – 1:50
A. How Healing Comes Through FSA by Janie White
B. Mix and Mingle
1:50 – 2:10 Break
2:10 – 2:55
A. Adversity is Exercise for The Soul by Melanie Davis
B. Birth Parent Dating, “Who to Tell, How to Tell, and When to Tell” by Kendra and Cody Mitchell
2:55 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 4:00 Blessings of Openness Video
Agency Representative/Priesthood Support Sessions
1:00-1:25
Representing the Group – Lorelei Perkins, Volunteer Coordinator/Agency Representative Coordinator
1:25-1:50pm Overview of Agency Services, powerpoint
1:50-2:00pm break
2:00-2:30pm Planning with the Priesthood – Eric Fernelius, Adoption Supervisor
Making plans today – Lorelei Perkins
2:30-2:45pm Individual planning session with Agency Reps and Priesthood leaders
2:45-3:00pm Reporting back of planning and monthly reports
3:00-4:00pm Presentations to your stake – Lorelei Perkins “Faith Precedes the Miracle”
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