Impromptu Small Group Meeting

Thank you so much to our friends Seth & Sarah Engelbrecht, her mother Donna, her sister Diana, and our friends Barry & Nikki O'Dell. They were willing to spend their nearly entire Sunday evening with us so we could have an adoption support group meeting. This counts as part of our four hours of in-person training that we need.

Brock and I came armed with some questions from the internet classes and books that we've already read. It was awesome to get some personal perspectives to go along with the "canned information".

We had a wide variety of adoption experiences present:
* a 19-year-old who was adopted at the age of 6
* the 60ish mother of the 19-year-old (and some biological children)
* parents of an adopted daughter from Vietnam plus a biological son
* parents of two biological children plus a soon-to-be adopted foster daughter
* a woman in her mid 30s who was adopted

We discussed attachment & bonding, especially the challenges presented when adopting an older child. We also discussed multi-culturalism and how to maintain culture and identity. We discussed malnutrition, travel, and transitioning upon return. We also got advice on "blended" families...having both biological and adopted children.

The children had a great time playing while we had our discussions. The hamburgers were delicious, the fruit salad was good (despite my son's rejection), and the ice cream cake was a sweet ending.

Thanks again, everyone (and Seth & Sarah, I hope we didn't leave too much of a mess).