Andrew and I were able to enjoy a lovely conference. We quite enjoyed Elder Hales talk about Provident living and the way he described wanting to buy a new coat for his wife. But she asked, "where would I wear it?" Meaning that the places she went were in the service of others where she didn't need a fancy coat. The money for the coat would be better spent for others.
In between sessions Patience and Dallan's ward hosts a luncheon. Families bring different dishes to share and the entire ward fit around four regular (rectangle) church tables. We ate hamburgers/hotdogs, oriental salad, chips, veges and strawberry dessert. Sue DeMasters (sister from the ward) sat next to me, she fostered around 59 drug affected babies and helped them overcome the addictions from having a drug birth. She and her husband adopted several kids who are now varied in age from 24-35. She personally adopted eight kids: Caucasian, Hispanic, black and mixed. Each were affected by drugs some were removed at birth and others at older ages(5 & 11). Sue has raised all of her children in the gospel and handled each adoption differently. The first child the adoption was closed, after seeing the affect it had on her daughter she has allowed the rest to remain open adoptions. "Having an open adoption," she said, "allows the child to recognize that there was never any problem with themselves(the child). Instead the problem was always with the parent and the parent put themselves in the situation which caused them to be unable to care for a child." Sue tells all of her kids that they are required to attend and graduate from a University and the boys serve missions. Her youngest son just left on a mission for the West Indies. She was able to tell me the different signs exhibited by children based on which drugs they were exposed to and pointers to watch for later in Sarah's life so Andrew and I will be able to get the help she may need. Sue commented, "The main problem is with processing. The children exhibit normal intelligence their entire life, however, in about 3rd-4th grade they may start failing exams (they can tell you all about a story) but cannot process the information they read and answer questions about it. This can be helped by reading the story aloud or allowing an oral exam." (All of her adopted children exhibited this struggle and all were helped by Sue's persistence in recognizing when they needed help.)
Andrew attended priesthood session at the church building, which is literally next door. He loved President Uchtdorf's talk about not getting distracted.
Sarah mainly sat on our laps or played upstairs in the playroom with Zach and Marriner. She loves to help with little baby Brock too.
Love you all! Hope my sisters enjoyed Ladies Night Out!! They don't have anything like that here! :)
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