Adoption Conference/Pumpkin Carving

In true Halloween fashion this post has a scary twist, it is written by Heath! I hope I don't drive away our reader.

This weekend we had the great opportunity to go to an adoption conference and hear from several speakers about the many parts of adoption and how we can be better prepared for the process. It was a fantastic meeting and the speakers were great. Adrienne had talked to most of them online already so for her it was nice to put faces with stories. Anyway they were all helpful in the information they gave but it was obvious that they had prayerfully prepared to speak to us. Heavenly Father had guided them to the words we needed to hear and prepared us to hear them. We heard from a couple of families who had been through the adoption process who gave tips on how to be proactive and not passive in finding our baby. A couple of case workers talked about the details of the process and one gave a very wonderful talk about dealing with infertility. It really broke through the shyness barrier and helped everyone voice their emotions. Finally a birthmother spoke about the process from her point of view and told the story of how adoption changed her life. It was truly inspiring to hear her testimony of adoption and we all left hoping to be a part of a story like hers. In the end we all left with a smile on our faces and the spirit in our hearts.

On the following day we spent the afternoon with Ben, Mer, Syd, Malla, and Ty. We had so much fun playing till our bodies could play no more. The girls on the other hand were running on pure sugar (it being Halloween and all) so when we ran out of gas they just ran around and around-literally. We carved a pumpkin and by we I mean everyone handed me the pumpkin and said go ahead and blow our minds. It's hard to be creative with that kind of pressure. I do my best stuff when nobody is expecting it. Anyway, we all liked the idea of the mouth and eyes from the cat on Alice in Wonderland. So, a quick Google search brought up a suitable image that was then carved into the pumpkin. In the end I don't think it looked much like a cat, even with the ears, but it did look scary. After all the fun we had long drive home again. What a good weekend.

Sydney is hollowing out the pumpkin while I'm making the template.

Look at those chubby cheeks. Just love little Tyson.

What a fun day.

Sydney didn't want us to leave.