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On Saturday morning April 2nd the SJA Adoption Ministry presented their third annual Options workshop in Hospitality Hall. The Ministry sponsors these in hopes of answering questions from people who are thinking of adoption, but have no idea where to begin. Many participants do not even know if they want an infant, older child, from here or abroad. They also have questions of age, being single or married, and cost of programs. The format for the evening is for participants to be able to visit about these options with different vendors and then to visit with parents that have chosen this route, although not necessarily with that vendor.
Jane Newell from Children’s Home spoke on Minnesota’s Waiting Children, as did parents, Barb and Martin Cruz(left in picture). Parishioners Barb and Martin shared stories about the two children they have adopted from the MN Waiting Children Program.
Debbie Wright from Hope International spoke on domestic infants, while Lisa and Kevin Chirpich told of their infant adopted from Texas and their upcoming adoption from a Texas agency.
Anne Sinnott from Crossroads spoke about International adoptions as Gabrielle and Richard Dane-Dodson told of their experiences adopting their two daughters from Guatemala.
The morning started with a prayer, light breakfast, and visiting with those who came. Conversations centered on the plan for the morning, what recipients were expecting from the workshops, and the Adoption Ministry. Seeing these twenty people with their journals, scribbling notes, looking at brochures, asking lots of questions between workshops, it seemed we had given these people lots to think about concerning their future and the future of some wanted child.
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