Matching Mondays: Idaho Edition

Click here to read about last week's Wednesday's Child. Don't forget to watch the video segment.

Finding Friday: Email Blitz

Send an email to your contacts explaining that you are approved to adopt and you are hoping to grow your family through adoption.

This is a sample email I found on the FSA web site.

Dear Family and Friends (and family & friends of family & friends),

A miracle happened for us in 2006 when Isaac joined our family through adoption. The love and support you gave us at that time was deeply felt and appreciated. We have been so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have kept us in your prayers. We started our paperwork for another adoption in January of this year and have since been approved to adopt again! YEAH!! We are again asking for your prayers and assistance. Since our chances of adopting increase with exposure, we want to remind you about Designated Adoption. Designated adoption is when the birthparents and adoptive parents find each other through a third party.
That is where you come in!

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

• Forward this email to everyone in your address book. If you have a blog (Blogger, Typepad, Facebook, Myspace, ect.) copy and paste this email to a post.
  
• Link our Internet profiles on your blog accounts.
  
• Bookmark our online profile(s) for future reference. (http://2adopt.blogspot.com)
• Have our pass-along cards with you at all times.
• If you know of a woman who is thinking about placing her baby for adoption, or doesn't quite know what to do, please give her one of our pass-along cards or our web address. You could also post our cards on bulletin boards wherever you think a potential birth mother or someone she knows might see them. (Dorms or Collage Campus)
• Create a signature line at the bottom of your emails that has our web address included. This serves as a constant reminder of our hope to adopt.
  

Much Love,
Ben, Amanda & Isaac
ouremailaddress@email.com

Spotlight Wednesday: Mandy and Jake

Jake, Mandy, and Luke

One of the first things I loved about Jake was his sense of humor. He loves to make people laugh and has a remarkable talent for putting people at ease so that they feel comfortable and accepted. People often comment to me on how funny he is and how much they like to be around him. Teenagers and kids in particular are drawn to him because he’s not afraid to remember what is like to be in their shoes. Amongst our 25 nieces and nephews, Jake is a big favorite. He is also a hard worker and knows how to get things done and have a good time while doing so. He is the 6th of 8 children and was raised on a dairy farm. Chores were part of his daily life growing up and in his words, “there wasn’t much time just for fun so we had to learn to have a good time while working.” He still knows how to enjoy what he’s doing no matter what the task. Jake is currently employed as a bulk fuel tanker truck driver. He delivers locally and we are blessed to have him home every night. He works hard to provide for us and does a remarkable job of it. He received his bachelor’s degree in history and would someday like to pursue a career in this area. Right now, he feeds his love of history by listening to any historical audio CD he can find. His combined love of history, hard work, and sense of humor makes for a lot of laughs, a sense of accomplishment, and a continued desire to learn and grow everyday.

I better tell you a little about Mandy; she’s awesome. Mandy is such a genuine person that I was instantly attracted to her. However, my lack of skill with talking to women made for a drawn out get-to-know you period of dating. This was actually good because we became such good friends first and then the romance just iced the cake. Another attribute of Mandy’s is that she is so accepting of anyone around her. She moved around the country a lot while growing up and had the chance to meet and make friends with all types of different people. Mandy also loves to read. She will frequently read a novel in just a few days or in the case of Harry Potter books, just one day. I love to make her smile because she has the best smile that just warms up the whole room.

It was almost two years ago now when our lives irrevocably changed with one phone call. We had applied to adopt and had been waiting for over a year for that very opportunity when we received a call from our social worker. He told us he had a letter for us from a birth mom who had chosen us to parent her newborn son. Joy, as we had never known it before, filled our hearts and we were overcome with it. Following that call, we were able to immediately go and meet our son Luke. He was small, but strong, and we both felt an instant bond and love for him. Luke is now almost 2 and is a happy toddler who loves books, animals, has a desire to please and entertain, and is constantly learning and exploring the world around him. He is still the joy of our hearts, and we love him so much. We honestly couldn’t love him any more if he was our biological son. Yet in the midst of our joy, we recognize the difficult choice that his birth mom made and the trust she has placed in us. We were humbled to say the least and our hearts go out to her in her sacrifice. She has a special place in our hearts and in our home. We continue to keep in touch with her through pictures and letters. As Luke gets a little older, we fully plan on telling him just how special his birth mom is and how blessed we are to have him.

I wanted to thank Mandy and Jake for being so willing to be spotlighted, I wondered if I was going to have to stop Spotlight Wednesday.

Matching Monday: Idaho Edition

Click here to read about last week's Wednesday's Child. Don't forget to watch the video segment.

Finding Friday

Walking out to my car after work, I noticed the cutest sign in the rear driver-side window of the car right in front of me. I could kick myself for not taking a picture of it with my cell phone but here is my attempt to reproduce it for you.

My first reaction was why haven't I thought of this. It's such a great idea. Businesses use their vehicles all the time for advertising. Plus you gets lots of exposure without the added expense because most of us drive quite a bit anyway.

Spotlight Wednesday

Would you like your profile and/or success story to be spotlighted? Please email dynamicdiner@gmail.com. If you have a success story, please write up about one page and include a picture. Otherwise, I can find your profile off itsaboutlove.org.

Matching Monday: Idaho Edition

Click here to read about last week's Wednesday's Child. Don't forget to watch the video segment.