National Adoption Awareness Month part 2

(How cute is little Miss Maya in her wooly hat?)

(One of Dave's many talents. How can you not have fun at his house?)

GOOD TIMES and GOOD FRIENDS...

I was just going to put up a few pictures of a fun weekend we just had visiting friends (one of which is a fellow blogger). But, since these friends were made because of adoption, it only seemed fitting to make this part of the National Adoption Awareness post(s).

When we began our process to bring child #2 home, we had no idea how many great friends we would make through the adoption community. There is a special connection with other adoptive parents, an understanding and commonality that can only be shared amongst each other. It's great to have others who get the issues we face - no explanations necessary. Priceless. Yep, all because of adoption, new friendships are formed. What a bonus!

I value these new friends for two reasons - one, they're fun to hang out with and two, it's important to build those relationships for our daughter. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Allie to like every child we put in her path; however, I think that our keeping the conncections going with other families like ours makes the chances of her making a lifelong friend highly probable. These special friends will be able to offer Allie things that only they can - true understanding. When our kids hit the teen years, and are struggling with identity or peer issues that relate to adoption, they will have someone who understands - again, no explanations necessary. So, as we are having a good time with our new friends, we are also offering our children the foundation of lifelong friendships. Another bonus!

This past weekend we were able to go on a mini road trip and visit with friends who we've met through adoption. We were able to spend time with three families, two of the families were from Allie's travel group and one family is Stephanie's from Forks & Chopsticks. All three families live within a short drive of each other, so it made visiting all three possible.

On Saturday we went to Stephanie's house and hung out with her hubs (Joe) and their girls (Leah & Maya). They were gracious hosts. Stephanie showed us her impressive culinary skills with a brunch menu to die for - arugala (sp?) quiche, baked french toast with orange and pecans, fruit cups with a honey and yogurt drizzle, YUM-O. We hung out and chatted for hours and then packed the cars and went to an orchard to wander around and feed the animals. Of course I couldn't leave there without buying a few apple cider donuts for the ride back to the hotel (holy moly, they were scrumptious). After we wandered the orchard we went back to the hotel to rest and then Stephanie's family met us back there and we went out to a Chinese resturant for dinner. We had the luxury of Joe ordering the delicious spread, which included steamed fish - we'll be ordering that again. (I've learned that it's unlucky to every flip a fish. I need to ask Joe if this holds true for fish sticks.) Anyhoo, we had a great time hanging out with the Forks & Chopsticks gang - and Brent and Leah play exceptionally well together (hmmm, long distance relationship brewing?). We really look forward to reciprocating the hospitality and having them down for a visit.

On Sunday we went to the home of one Dave & Donna (from Allie's travel group). Bill & Adrianne, also from the travel group, were there too. The dinner was delish, and the kids ran around and tore up the house like mad. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or Bill (who led the kids in a parade). There was lots of laughter, lots of eating, and lots of funny story telling. Dave and Donna were wonderful hosts - they encourage you to kick your shoes off, grab a drink and relax.

Yep, good times with good friends...