GFA Kickoff Events - Happening Now!

Lion Dance at GFA
Chinese New Year Party

Throughout September, Gladney families are coming together across the U.S. at local GFA Fall Kickoff events. These social events give families a chance to get involved in their local adoption community and meet other adoptive families.

 

The GFA Kickoffs include visits from Gladney Leadership, introductions to local GFA board members and announcements of upcoming events including Chinese New Year Celebrations.

 

To find the date of your area's GFA Kickoff event click here.





 

China Winter Tour

Gladney Center is very excited to be part of the CCCWA "Celebrating Culture and Experiencing China" Winter Tour from December 23, 2012 - January 2, 2013. Gongzhan Wu, from the Gladney Center, will be joined by NCFA President Chuck Johnson to lead the tour that will begin with four days in Beijing. From there, tour participants will travel to several cities throughout China, including Xi'an, Chengdu, and ShangLi. The full itinerary and a list of frequently asked questions can be accessed at www.gladneyasia.org. All families with children adopted from China are invited to be part of this trip. It is possible for older, mature children to attend the trip unaccompanied by a parent.

If you are interested in participating, talk with your family today and start making plans! The best time to purchase international plane tickets for this trip to China will be during the months of September and October. So, dust off your passports and get ready for the trip of a lifetime!

 

For more information please contact Gongzhan Wu at gongzhan.wu@gladney.org.

Teen Service Trips Provide Lifelong Lessons

Community Service hours are a requirement these days for teens, whether for school, scouts or religious education. From serving meals at a local soup kitchen to traveling to foreign countries and helping local people, the lessons teens learn are both rewarding and lifelong.

Gladney has had a number of opportunities for adoptees to give back to the adoption community, including one recent Teen Service Trip to Colombia that Gladney President, Frank Garrott wrote about in his blog. Click here to read Frank's blog and see wonderful trip photos.

Autumn Moon Festival

The Autumn Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival, is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar. This year, it will fall on September 30th. With the moon at its fullest and brightest, it is an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest.

 

Gladney familes brought handmade lanterns to the September 2010 NYC harbor cruise with delegates from the CCCWA.

The Festival is one of the most important holidays in China and other Asian countries. It is a time for farmers to celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season and for family and friends to gather for reunions. When the full moon rises, they watch the moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. Brightly lit animal and fruit lanterns are often paraded around by children.

 

According to a folk tale, mooncakes are eaten during the Festival in commemoration of the successful overthrow of Mongol rulers in the 14th century. Group gatherings had been banned, so, the Chinese inserted messages in mooncakes of their plans to attack the Mongols on the night of the Autumn Moon Festival.

 

Fun celebration ideas for children include: reading stories related to the Mid-Autumn Festival about Chang'e, the Goddess of the Moon and the Jade Rabbit, making paper lanterns (click here for instructions), and eating mooncakes.

 

For the October Asia Program Newsletter, we would like to feature stories and/or photos from our families celebrating the Autumn Moon festival. Please send contributions to Lydia at ljjmacci@aol.com.

Adoptive ParentTrainings: On-line and In-Person

 

Education and training are an important part of the international adoption process. Although no parent can anticipate every issue they may encounter, beginning to prepare even before the adoption is complete will make for a much more successful transition to parenthood. All families adopting through Gladney's international adoption programs are required to complete a minimum of 10 hours of training, the content of which meets the standards of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Information on registering for this training is provided to adoptive parents in the "Gladney Approval Packet" once the home study has been completed. Gladney also offers a live 2 day workshop called "Pathways" which is required for all families planning to adopt a child over the age of 2. Your caseworker can provide you with more information on both training series.

Our Featured Photo

This month's featured photo was taken at the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, China.

 

Each month we enjoy selecting photos taken in Asia for our newsletter. We invite our familes to share their landscape photos, taken during their adoption or heritage trips. Beginning this month, we will be placing the monthly featured photo in our blogs. Please email Lydia ljjmacci@aol.com if you have a photo you would like to have featured.

Gladney Family Cheers on Friends in Dragon Boat Race

On Saturday, August 4th, a New York Gladney family cheered on friends who crewed a dragon boat representing their school district's Special Education PTA (SEPTA).

 

The Dragons on the Hudson races, held annually during the Peekskill Celebration, hosts Cancer Awareness teams in the morning and local organization teams in the afternoon. The SEPTA team, who rowed together last year for the first time, won their race in record time!