Holiday Party Adoption Style & BDay Celebration

Last Sunday was a busy, busy day for us. We are now members of a local adoption group. The group is not affiliated with our agency, but many of the members have worked with them. The party didn't start until 1pm, but we live over an hour away from where the party was being held so our day started pretty early. Before we left, we made chicken dip to take to the party with us.

We were one of the first to arrive; I guess it's the teacher in me that likes to be early. Our good friends (we started the process at the same time and were matched and had placements within a month and half of one another) were there not too much later. Our SW is also part of the group. Everyone was so nice to us and asked us to tell our story. There was another couple in our homestudy education classes that we were anxious to learn more about. We knew that they had been matched early in the process and placement was to take place in August. But, us nor our friends had known if it happened or not. Well, it did! We were so excited when they walked in with their baby boy. They had a look of shock on their faces also. They too couldn't believe that we had all been matched and placed so quickly. Between they three of us, we have a July, August and September baby new to the group.

I can't believe how fast time flew by when we were there. It was so much fun catching up with everyone and meeting new people. The group had brought in clowns that did face painting and made balloons. They also had a ornament making craft area and tons of great food was provided by everyone.

To help raise money for the group, a raffle of eight or so items was held. We bought six tickets and placed them in six different bags trying to win differnt things. It was so funny, because we literally bought the tickets two minutes before they drew for the winners, but we ended up winning two prizes.

The first was a baskey put together by M.acy's. It had a little bit of everything in it. The picture doesn't do this prize justice. The best thing of all was that it included a $50 gift card.

 
The second prize was an autographed NFL football signed by Johnathan Joseph. He is one of our defensive backs. My DH was really excited about this one; he loves anything sports related.

After leaving the party, we had a second party to attend. It was my nephew's 3rd birthday party. The theme was "Go Diego." My sister is a great party planner, so everyone had a great time. Here was Baby C after our busy, busy day.