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When Ben and I came to Abrazo, we asked about whether our home study which was originally done by LDS Family Services would translate to Texas standards and the chicks indicated that they had worked with LDSFS home studies before. So I know that there are other members of the LDS faith out there somewhere in the greater Abrazo family - maybe even on the forum. Thought I'd see if I could drag you out of the woodwork by creating our own spot in the chapel potluck.

I know for me I'm not one to make a big deal about my religion. I certainly don't want to be the "Mormon forum-member". But if other faiths have a place to talk about baptisms and other events then I sure as heck (big language for a Mormon I know) want a place to beam about taking our baby to the temple this summer.

Cheers (hear clinking of my sprite glass), :lol:

Suzi

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You're in good company here, Suzi... whether or not they choose to come out of the Forum shadows to share their faith (if you build it, they will come! And you did, so perhaps they shall?) Abrazo has been blessed to work with some truly remarkable Mormon families over the years (just like you) and we're thankful for their presence in our program. Hope you meet some of them, here!

P.S. Make mine a Diet Sprite, please. ;)

P.P.S. For those who are not of the Mormon faith, perhaps Suzi can share with you about the very special sealing that takes place after those adoptions are finalized, and what this means to our Mormon families?

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Here I am. :D I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was baptized when I was 15 years old and have been greatly blessed for being a member of my faith. I was definately a lost soul with not much guidance in my life. I never thought I would be having such a wonderful life. Our first two adoptions of Katelyn and Emelie were through LDS Family Services. We waited 21 months for Katelyn and 7 months for Emelie from the time of activating our file. For Brayden it was evident that we needed to follow a different route and we were led to Abrazo. It has been such a good experience because Abrazo wants to know how your child (children) are progressing. I love Camp Abrazo, the forum and the upcoming Elite event!

In the Mormon faith we believe that we can be together forever as families. Our relationships or time as a family does not end at death. As worthy members we believe that we can go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I have been to the temple and been sealed to my family. It is the greatest feeling to know that no matter what happens we will be together.

Here is the official website of our church www.lds.org or if you're curious about anything go ahead and ask.

Heather :)

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How timely-- yesterday's Mormon Times carries an inspiring guest blog entitled: Moments That Take Our Breath Away.

An online examination of the changing doctrine of the "Law of Adoption" appears here; is this applicable, in some sense, to the sealing of families that now goes on or is this something different?

Abrazo has often found that members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints tend to be more flexible when it comes to adoption expectations. Here, read an interesting column from one such adopter explaining her position. Our experience, in the adoptions we've done with Mormon families has been very positive, overall, in marked contrast to the negative allegations made in recent years against well-known Mormon agencies such as Focus on Children (site of the Samoan adoption debacle) and LDS Family Services.

(P.S. Another question for our LDS members: when are the terms "LDS" and Mormon interchangeable and when are they not?)

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Okay wow that was more than I expected... several conversation pieces... stereotypes and persecution, mormon vs. lds, temple sealings, racial diversity.

Let me start with Mormon vs. LDS. The word Mormon generally refers to the church or someone who belongs to it. This was a derogatory nickname given in the early days of the church. In the spirit of making lemonade we came to one day call our own choir the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and today it's not generally taken offensively. Compare Mormon to black - not a bad word in and of itself but sometimes noted for no reason or with a tone ... they're mormon you know.

The name Mormon comes from the Book of Mormon. Mormon is kind of like King James. He brought together writings that others did and abridged and compiled them, therefore the book carries his name. We don't worship Mormon anymore than christians worship King James.... after all the subtitle to the Book of Mormon is "Another Testament of Christ". Mormon is also the author of one of the books in the book of Mormon.

The true name of the church is the The church of Jesus christ of latter day saints ... or LDS church for short. I prefer LDS to any other nickname or title and our church encourages us to use the full title because so many people falsely think we are not christians. We are assuredly Christians. The Mormon Times link Elizabeth posted is a publication that is not directly church written. It is put out by a bookstore type entity that is owned by the church but anything that comes directly from the church has the full official name on it.

It used to be much harder to be LDS. 150 years ago people were killed and driven from their homes etc but 50 years ago you could lose your job, miss out on raises and promotions, lose friends, be disowned by your family etc. I think LDS families are open more often racially because religious persecution and racism are very similar. My great grandfather said he'd rather see his daughter dead than be married to a Mormon (she married him anyway). I think what people have come to see is that members of the LDS faith are family centered, fun loving, giving, responsible citizens, good neighbors and overrides a lot of old feelings.

Elizabeth is right we get to take Collin to the temple after going to court for a very special temple sealing. I hear people of other faiths talk about getting married by a judge and then later getting married before the church - similar kind of thing. I hear "forever family" being used about having been to court for finalization. For us going to court for adoption finalization simply means family in the eyes of the law. Taking Collin to the temple to be sealed means we are a family for time and all eternity. This is something that kept me going the last 6 years was living here (for the first time in our 12 year marriage) close to the Portland temple where we were married thinking ahead to taking our child there someday. It's a simple ceremony but beautiful in its promises and meaning.

Also after finalization we can have Collin blessed in church. It's a father's role generally to perform this baby blessing. Ben was asked to do this once for a nephew named after him. It will be so nice to see him exercise this responsibility for his own child. Adopting and being LDS is really quite cool because there is a lot of extra stuff... finalization, temple sealing, baby blessing. Poor suckers who birth their babies just get one event. ha ha ha

Edited by suziandben
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Good explaination Suzi.

Elizabeth, I do not know the answers to all your questions but I will do my best to find one.

I know in the old days when we adopted Katelyn. ;) LDS Family Services did not have open adoptions. We were on a first name basis like most angencies. We met Katelyn's birthmother and sent letters and pictures and gifts. Now I know that they do have open adoptions and they leave it to both parties to decide.

We were very open to open adoption even though it was differnet at first. I wished we could have more openess with our first two adoptions.

Heather :)

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The name Mormon comes from the Book of Mormon. Mormon is kind of like King James. He brought together writings that others did and abridged and compiled them, therefore the book carries his name. We don't worship Mormon anymore than christians worship King James.... after all the subtitle to the Book of Mormon is "Another Testament of Christ". Mormon is also the author of one of the books in the book of Mormon.

Suzi,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions about your faith. I found your post(s) very interesting. I just wanted to point out that King James did not bring together/compile the books of the Bible. He was the one who had it translated into English in 1611.

You may not have meant that King James was the one who brought together writings as Morman did for the Morman Bible, but the way I read your post, it could have been taken that way. I didn't want there to be any confusion.

Thanks for letting me clarify. Now back to the topic at hand...

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The name Mormon comes from the Book of Mormon. Mormon is kind of like King James. He brought together writings that others did and abridged and compiled them, therefore the book carries his name. We don't worship Mormon anymore than christians worship King James.... after all the subtitle to the Book of Mormon is "Another Testament of Christ". Mormon is also the author of one of the books in the book of Mormon.

Suzi,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions about your faith. I found your post(s) very interesting. I just wanted to point out that King James did not bring together/compile the books of the Bible. He was the one who had it translated into English in 1611.

You may not have meant that King James was the one who brought together writings as Morman did for the Morman Bible, but the way I read your post, it could have been taken that way. I didn't want there to be any confusion.

Thanks for letting me clarify. Now back to the topic at hand...

Thanks Suebee. I meant to compare that my copy of the Bible has King James name on the cover. i failed to note that his role was different.

To us the Book of Mormon is not a "Mormon Bible". It's another testament of Christ, it's scripture but not the Bible or a Bible. We use the Bible. I'm reading from the Old Testament these days about King Solomon building the temple. Not sure if others feel different but it's one nickname I can't quite embrace.

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The name Mormon comes from the Book of Mormon. Mormon is kind of like King James. He brought together writings that others did and abridged and compiled them, therefore the book carries his name. We don't worship Mormon anymore than christians worship King James.... after all the subtitle to the Book of Mormon is "Another Testament of Christ". Mormon is also the author of one of the books in the book of Mormon.

Suzi,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions about your faith. I found your post(s) very interesting. I just wanted to point out that King James did not bring together/compile the books of the Bible. He was the one who had it translated into English in 1611.

You may not have meant that King James was the one who brought together writings as Morman did for the Morman Bible, but the way I read your post, it could have been taken that way. I didn't want there to be any confusion.

Thanks for letting me clarify. Now back to the topic at hand...

Thanks Suebee. I meant to compare that my copy of the Bible has King James name on the cover. i failed to note that his role was different.

To us the Book of Mormon is not a "Mormon Bible". It's another testament of Christ, it's scripture but not the Bible or a Bible. We use the Bible. I'm reading from the Old Testament these days about King Solomon building the temple. Not sure if others feel different but it's one nickname I can't quite embrace.

I definitely see the distinction between saying Book of Mormon and Mormon Bible...thanks for pointing that out.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am so excited about general conference coming up in a few weeks. What is there not to love about watching church on TV in your PJs? Do you have any favorite family traditions???

We make blueberry muffins and hot chocolate. A year ago I took some to a family from church as a reminder of general conference. They were off and on coming to church with 6 children. It's the grandparents raising the kids and the grandpa still comments on those muffins (not that they were memorable - just remembers the thought I'm sure).

I was supposed to substitute in primary today for the CTR5 class - I haven't taught since before Collin was born - I was anticipating an interesting day teaching 5 years old with a 4 month old in my arms. As it turns out I'm sick as a dog! No church for me today. :(

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Oh you missed out Suzi! :blink:

I'm glad that my calling (job) right now is the newsletter and program.

We have a Relief Society Ensign study group. We get together once a week and discuss the conference talks. I also started another group called Self Reliance (Money saving tips). I taught a class with others on how to use coupons or any other food and grocery saving tips. The next class may be about learning how to cut kids hair. Scary!

I went to CVS and used their Extra Bucks program. Walgreens has good deals too.

Heather :)

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Wow great idea! My ward has a lot of budget strapped families in it and something like that would be awesome. I actually have cut Ben's hair for the entire 12.5 years we've been married. My sister has taught kids haircutting classes for church a few times (including live demo on her sons) but she lives in Maryland so I only see her every few years. Cutting kids hair is a little more interesting due to the squirm factor but I am sure I will cut Collin's hair as well.

The scariest was cutting my father in law's hair for the first few times. Years ago (probably 10) my mother in law had carpal tunnel surgery so my father in law asked me to cut his hair. He's a very successful business man and I was freaked out that I would give him a really bad hair cut. He said don't worry the difference between a bad hair cut and a good hair cut (for a man) is about 2 weeks. ha ha Actually after cutting his hair a few times my mother in law came to me... this is a classic everybody loves raymond moment... Dad paid you a compliment. Oh really? Yeah he said he'd like me to cut his hair like you do!!!! :o LOL

I'm not much of a hairdresser I just know how to get things even.

My calling is primary substitute. Usually my calling is primary teacher... every week teaching. So sub is great right now. I was supposed to teach a week ago and there were so many sick kids that there was one kid in each of three classes so they combined them into one class of three. The other two teachers... one says man I made a great activity... the other says I brought treats... I said take it away ladies! I"ll get out of your way. ha ha

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love general conference!!! Since I'm a tax accountant come the first weekend in October I'm always working on 10/15 due date tax returns and come the first weekend of April I'm of course working on the 4/15 deadline. So i'm always working on that saturday and listen to general conference as I work on the internet. I just love it and today's sessions were no exception!

Course my favorite general conference was April 2008... feeling stressed about whether I should wait to leave my job until we got further in the process with Abrazo or were matched or taking placement... or quit right after april 15th as I had planned and felt prompted to do. One speaker was talking about something unrelated entirely to what was on my mind but he quoted a scripture that included the phrase... "move forwrad not backward". The words he was reading were even put on the screen... it was like Heavenly father had put up a billboard message ... SUZI GRADEN MOVE FORWARD NOT BACKWARD YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS JOB! He was so right.

Can't wait til tomorrow's sessions.

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Today was a first for us. We actually got the kids to listen to conference. We picked out some words that they had to listen for and when they heard them they got a piece of candy out of the candy bowl. Katelyn said "conference was not as boring as she thought" and she wanted to give money for people who are stuggling. Another game we found on the internet was conference bingo. We put Skittles on the spaces instead of pennies. I think the kids have actually learned something.

Today Emelie was watching a commercial for Feed the Children or one of those. She was so excited and wanted to give her money. She said "lets call"! "now now"! She got all the bills out of her piggy bank and gave it to me.

We are going to give to our church's humanitarian fund. We've got the money in the envelopes all ready to go!

I'm glad my children are learning the lessons of giving.

Heather :)

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Do you use the term "BMW" in your part of the country (big Mormon wagon) ... Just call me supermom I moved into the ranks of BMW drivers this weekend!

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I have never heard of that. I guess its one way to have a BMW.

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I have never heard of that. I guess its one way to have a BMW.

Really? WOW... that acronym is a staple out here. So, how many families in your ward (congregation) have 15 passenger vans? We usually have a few families around us that have one. Maybe you guys are short on BMW's out there.

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The biggest family we have in our ward is 7 kids. They must be having fun in Oregon! haha

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We Baptists have a few 15 passenger vans and our best friends have the one step down (I can't remember how many...just not qualified as a "commercial" vehicle!)!!!

I love the BMW term though!

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The biggest family we have in our ward is 7 kids. They must be having fun in Oregon! haha

Oh it only takes 5 or 6 kids to need a BMW... mom and dad, their 5 or 6 plus 5 or 6 friends. OR responsibility in boy scouts! LOL

Ben drove my car today. I NEVER thought that would happen. He HATES vans. He actually loves the comfort of my car. Wow. Now back off that's my Collin-mobile. :lol::lol::lol:

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Suzi,

I'm sure you will let Ben know that is "The Collin Mobile" :lol:

Tracey

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  • 3 weeks later...

A big shout out to Matt & Melinda who just joined the forum... WELCOME WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks Suzi! Yep, we're LDS too. Does a Denali (suburban) count as a BMW? :D

oh yeah baby! I'm impressed you've found your way around the forum in NO time. I had to have an in-person tutorial to figure out what is what around here. LOL!

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