Dear Families,

As the holiday season is upon us, it is a time to reflective on all the blessings in our lives. I personally am very grateful for the opportunity to know all of you and for the good fortune of being able to assist you in welcoming children into your families.

It has been a challenging year, news of Guatemala closing, continued delays in China and elsewhere. I hope, somewhere amidst the struggles, you each find a way to turn what appears to be problem into some sort of opportunity for growth and insight. Life has many lessons to offer if we remain open to discovering them.

As some of you already know, my wonderful colleague Dawn Schramm accepted a full time social work position at St. Mary’s hospital. She has been finishing up a few visits with her clients but as of January 1, 2008 will no longer be working for Children and Families First, Inc. Dawn is like a sister to me and our work style and ethic were so very compatible. I am going to miss her terribly. Given the current climate in adoption, and given how hard it will be to find someone as kind and competent as Dawn, it may be a while before I hire another social worker. Meanwhile, I will be taking over as social worker for all of Dawn’s clients. Just a reminder to everyone, my cell number is 608-576-0498. Never hesitate to call me if you need anything.

Exciting news to share is that Lori DuRussel, our Outreach and Education Coordinator who most of you know by now from taking our agency classes, is expecting a new baby in April. She tells me she is determined to keep teaching up until the baby is born and will resume teaching shortly there after. That’s Lori! Amazing! I count my blessings every day that she is available to share her wealth of knowledge and experience with all of you!

Speaking of that, please remember to enroll in the courses you need to meet the State of Wisconsin Pre-Adoption Education Requirements and to submit your completed worksheet and copies of certificates of completion when done. The State will no longer write their letter of approval until they receive verification from us that you have satisfied the requirements, and the courts are now asking for specific documentation from us in our court reports. The class schedule is listed on our web page www.cffwi.org.

A little reminder to check the status of your I171-H. I have been contacting families about four months prior to expiration to start the renewal process. Again, you can get one updated I171-H free if you reapply before the old one expires, but no sooner than 90 days before it expires. While I will try to be proactive to help remind you of this, it is your responsibility to check your dates and to contact me so I can get you the paperwork needed to do the home study update that is part of the reapplication process.

Enough about paperwork! I would like to close by inviting all of you to consider participating in a wonderful program called Women for Women International. I know many of you already generously give to charitable causes in the county you adopted from. But if you are looking for another way to promote peace and reduce world wide poverty, I would encourage you to check out www.womenforwomen.org. For $27 a month for one year you can sponsor a woman in Iraq or Afghanistan, Rwanda or Kosovo or a number of other countries so she can get the training and education she needs to move her family out of poverty. Moving women out of poverty is the single most effective change that promotes world peace.

Lastly, I want to share with you some wonderful book titles I have read this year that have inspired me and reminded me how one person can make a difference: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, There is No You Without Me by Melissa Greene and Dreams From My Father (which also is a great book for families who want to get one person’s perspective on growing up in a transracial and transcultural family) by Barack Obama. Keeping in mind that one person can make a difference, please do remember to vote in the Presidential primaries. And remember that raising happy, healthy, responsible children is an incredible way to contribute to the well being of society. Be good to yourself. You work hard. Find the joy in life that makes it worth living and worth protecting through peace.

Oh, and do send us new pictures! We are updating our web page, so feel free to send us photos that we can use!