The Only People Who Finish the Race are Those Who are Given a Start!

This past Friday and Saturday, FSA was proudly represented at the San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The theme for this year's fair was "Race to the Fair." Prize money is awarded to the booths that best incorporate this theme with their booths. We pulled out all the stops and did our very best to find a correlation between "cars" and "adoption." We think we did a pretty good job.

Here is our booth, adorned with racing flags.

Congratulations and a big THANK YOU to Emily B. of Kansas City, MO for making such a great banner. And thank you to Ben P. of Carlsbad, CA for printing the banner for us. Thanks to Emily S. of San Marcos, CA for painting this license plate for our booth decor.Thank you to Peggy Shepherd of the National FSA board for helping to create key chains for our event to distribute to all the fair goers.

Thanks most of all to Amanda, Nicole, Alexx (and daughter,) Becca, Christine (and hubby,) and Erin for serving at the booth. Even if we do not win a prize in the end, it was worth the effort. Saturday traffic near our booth was pretty slow, but Friday was fairly steady. Both days we had opportunities to have positive conversations about adoption, discuss the services we provide, interact with many great members of our community, and witness individuals indulge in such delicacies as deep fried kool-aid and chocolate covered bacon. All in all, the weekend was a success.

Adoption Training Meeting

LDS Family Services and Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) invite you to attend an,

Adoption Training Meeting

Wednesday, June 15, 2011
7:00p.m.-8:00 p.m.

Followed by a Mix and Mingle from 8:00-8:30
This time will be a great opportunity
to meet and Q&A with
others involved in the adoption world.

Penasquitos Stake Center
12835 Black Mountain Road
San Diego, CA 92129-3656


We will be covering the following topics:

“Transracial Adoption”
and
“Special Needs Adoption"


This meeting is for anyone who is interested in adoption, has been, or currently is involved in the adoption process, and all adoption advocates.

***For couples currently in the adoption process through LDSFS, this class can be applied to the required hours of adoption training. If adopting through another agency, please confirm with that agency if they will also accept these classes for their required training.

If you have any questions regarding this meeting, please feel free to contact Amanda Beebe at sandiegofsa@gmail.com

Philip Rivers 5k Walk & Fun Run

Philip Rivers 5k Walk & Fun Run
Saturday, June 11, 2011
NTC Park at Liberty Station
5K run will begin at 8:15 am and the walk will begin at 8:30 am
Proceeds benefit the Rivers of Hope Foundation

The Rivers of Hope Foundation is a non-profit charity started by Philip and Tiffany Rivers in 2010.

The organization's mission is "to help children in need of a forever family find permanent loving homes and their own sense of self-worth by developing and coordinating resources and programs to create community awareness, recruit adoptive families, provide financial aid for adoption and assistance for foster children and orphans."

What better way to start your day???

If you would like to participate in the event or serve as a volunteer please visit the official website @

http://www.philiprivers5k.com/

Race to the Fair -Banner Contest

We are very happy to announce that our FSA chapter will have a booth at the San Diego Fair again this year. Our booth will be located at the in-field pavilion on June 10th and 11th.

Each year prize money is given to non-profit organizations for the "best booths" in the pavilion over the course of the fair. One of the best ways to win is to have a booth that correlates with the theme of the fair. This year's theme is "Race to the Fair."

In keeping with the theme, we have had adoption key chains made to distribute, and have come up with a banner idea, but need YOUR help to make it complete.

The banner specs are: H 27" L 72" and will read,

"The only people who finish the race are those who are given a start.'"

We are looking for someone who can take this phrase and add graphics to make it really stand out. If you are interested, or have a family member who may be willing to design our banner, please forward this information to them.

Please send all entries to Erin Packard at packardkids@hotmail.com
Entries must be received by Thursday, June 2nd.
If your design is chosen, you will receive a free ticket to the San Diego Fair.
***If you are outside the San Diego Area, we will give you something equally awesome.

Birth Mother Group Now Available

Thank you to all of those who came to our Birth Mother Brunch this past Saturday. It was a great day with great food, great stories and great company. For those of you who missed you were just that . . .missed and we hope to see you soon. In fact we have scheduled a Birth Mother's group on May 26th from 6:00PM-8:00 PM at LDS Family Services.
For those of you who don't know, a Birth Mother group is a chance for Birth Moms to get together, share their stories, and discuss things that tend to be specific to that part of the adoption process. The 26th will just be a meet and greet, but in the future we will try to schedule specific topics. Here is the other plus, there will be food!!

We hope to see you there!

LDS Family Services Bldg.
5675 Ruffin Road
Suite 325
San Diego CA. 92123
Meet in the Conference Room
Light snacks provided

Birth Mother's Day Brunch

The Saturday Before Mother's Day is National Birth Mother's Day.
To honor our amazing birth moms, we had an amazing brunch at the home of a sweet adoptive mother, and master chef, Maggie. We had homemade pancakes with homemade syrups, bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, fruit, and juice. It was a feast! We ate and talked, and talked, and talked. Next, we had a touching presentation from our new FSA chapter chair, Amanda, during which time she shared THIS article about the making of the song, "From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Yours," by Michael McLean. Each birth mom had the opportunity to introduce herself to the group and share her story. It was a wonderful day and a privilege to be with so many heroic women.

FSA & LDSFS Ladies

Two Cute Birth Moms

BUT...the day would not be complete with out a little swag to take home.

Each Birth Mother received a gift bag filled with goodies. A special thanks to the following donors:
The Body Shop
Deseret Book Store
True Birds
Thank you to all of the Birth Mothers and Adoptive Mother's who made our first Birth Mother's Day brunch a success.
And a VERY special thank you to our FSA secretary, Jenn, for personally making each bag (with matching bookmark to boot) and for collecting and assembling all of the items for the bags.

Faith and Infertility

In the April 2011 Ensign there is an excellent article,
"Faith and Infertility" By Melissa Merrill. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the couples were familiar faces from our national FSA board.

In the same issue of the Ensign, is the following beautiful poem about Adoption.

Just the Same
By Diana Lynn Lacey

Sometimes—
God sends rain
Straight from the sky
To nourish the young flower
and it grows.
Sometimes—
God sends rain from the sky
To the mountaintops,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the flower
and it grows, just the same.
Sometimes—
God sends a child
Straight from His realm
Into a mother’s arms
and love grows.
Sometimes—
God sends a child
From heaven to another’s arms,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until he reaches the arms of his mother
and love grows, just the same.