and the winner is !!!!

We just had the best weekend... As you read in my last post we went to the East meets West Adoption Conference in Tampa. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend attending it if you ever have the opportunity to. Riz and I met alot of very nice people who are in all stages of the adoption process. There were speakers that covered all areas of adoption, but the highlight by far was at the end when they had a foster family from China speak.

It was so moving and beautiful that words can't adequately describe the emotion that anyone that was in the room felt. The husband and wife took their seats at the front of the room along with a translator. The wife spoke from the heart when she talked about how they became involved in the foster care program in China. She talked about how they were led to help the orphans and about how each child that they have cared for will forever be in their hearts and in their minds. She said that they will never forget any of the children that they had cared for and how the children bring more joy to them then they can express. She talked about how much they respected the agencies that help families adopt the children of China. She expressed their respect and gratitude to all the adoptive parents for opening their hearts and homes to the orphans of China.... Everyone in the room was moved to tears (or at least I was). We all wanted them to know how grateful we are to them and the other foster families for opening their hearts and their homes to the children we wanted them to know that we would forever be grateful to them for the love and care that they provided for our children.....

Me and the foster mother














Very moving......We learned so much......


In addition to all of the wonderful classes that we attended and the foster parents the conference provided Breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. There were vendor's with all sorts of neat things to buy. The organizers also arranged for door prizes. Several of the vendors donated things to be given away.














Books, CD's, Baby Clothes, and much more.. The foster parents brought with them several dolls that were all dressed in the native attire for the Guizhou Province. They were the most desired door prize and everyone was hoping that their number would be picked to win. I was very lucky and won one of the dolls.Our Friend Sharon also won a doll for her daughter Mary Alice.





I feel so lucky to have that to share with Sophia one day.




There was no real grand prize at the event ,but the one thing everyone kept eyeing all day was a beautiful handmade quilt made by an adoptive mother. The very last thing that was given away was the quilt. The suspense in the room was palpable and when they called the number the women who made the quilt number was picked it was so funny , of course she told them to draw another number and guess what? That's right my number was picked WOW! I was so lucky.... Riz had said at the beginning of the day we are going to win something with his ticket because the number on it was his employee number. I wish the pictures did the quilt justice but they just don't if you want to see it in person and get the full WOW factor you will have to come to my bedroom because that is were we are going to hang it on the wall... all in all it was a great weekend.


The Quilt










Me and Peggy (the mom who made the quilt) holding up the quilt









The detail is amazing