Fun time had by all

The Minnesota Playgroup’s first outing was a big success. And we couldn’t have had more perfect weather. The kids thoroughly enjoyed getting wet, which gave us adults time to visit. The first to arrive was Laurie and Terry with their two children, 6-year-old Noah and 3-year-old Tiegen. Like Garrett, they were adopted from Uralsk, Kazakhstan in 2005. Coincidentally, they have the same placement agency as we do. That means Noah was in the same preschool as Garrett at the exact same time. (Because it was over three years ago, the boys didn’t recognize each other nor did Terry or Laurie recognize Garrett.) Another happy coincidence, both started out in life with the same name: Nurlan. Plus, they're neighbors—their town borders ours. Small world, huh? And we met online of all things.
Next was Stacy and her little bundle of joy, the ever “delightful” Delaney. Stacy and I share the same home study agency, Crossroads Adoption. We were both in the Vietnam program, but pulled out once we learned they had lost their in-country contacts and orphanage connections. Stacy switched to another agency and within days she received the “call.” She flew down to Cincinnati one Friday to pick up her little sweetheart and was home by Monday.
Then there was Andrea, Steve and their two children Alex and Karina from Moscow. Almost 6, Alex is very smart and full of profound statements like “your house is small” and “everyone dies don’t you know, but come back some day.” He also loved our fur kids, which made Garrett very mad. In fact, I saw a mean side that I’d never seen before. He kept telling Alex to go away and refused to let him pet or feed Cody.
Here's Cindy and 17-month-old cutie Trey from Vietnam. She was in country during the political problems that occurred a few months back between our government and Vietnam. In fact, she was stuck in country for 60 days, unwilling to leave her son as the two governments wrestled the situation. At some point (I didn’t get the full story), Trey was awarded a visa and passport to travel. (I love happy endings.)
Last, but not least was Suzanne and her 8-year-old daughter Sylvia from Russia. Sylvia was a little shy at first, but jumped right in after she “got” the idea that you’re supposed to fall on the slip ‘n slide. Don’t you love how she’s striking a pose here?
All in all, everyone had a good time and agreed to another play date sometime soon. So again, if you're interested in joining us next time, drop me an email at karen_pere@yahoo.com. The more, the merrier.