Countdown.......one more day to D Day!

Thursday is the only whole day before Workshop Day on Friday, Nov 21st. We are at 100 registrations - a bit over, actually. The whole team is ecstatic - given that this time last week, we had 20 registrations......very understandable!

We have such good speakers and a nice set of skits planned. It looks like we have lots of counselors and teachers with interest but little exposure to the topic. The best crowd to have - all ages of children will be impacted....pre-school onwards to PU colleges (+2 - last couple of years of school).

We have a nice team that has been working their...working very hard for the past two months. We have a nice website up at www.sudatta.org, a booklet as a resource for educators and the workshop. After the 20 registrations expectations were set (in my mind only....the seniors seemed very confident that last moment registrations would pour in!), I was getting ready to write-off all the work as 'investment with no return'! So the walking on clouds feeling now is very welcome.

From the nit-picky detailing in the invitation/press release/booklet/skit to the actual organization of the venue, time/date details, this has been a great experience. In some ways, it is maturing for me as an adoptive parent and event organizer. The seniors in the team have been there and done this....so the support was great. Looking back, it seems like I did so little.

Regardless of how the workshop goes, I think I would do this again....and again...with breaks! If we begin to work with stakeholder groups like this - doctors/hospitals, lawyers, government/policy setters, educators/counselors and of course, primary among them all adoptive parents....there is a chance that the scene will tilt into the plus side...children being brought LEGALLY and ETHICALLY into the adoption process, children being informed, secure and supported in their young lives, children being assisted in the search for birth parents (by adoptive parents and the State) and completing their biological circle with their little children - biological and adopted.

It strikes me how much people want to contribute back to adoption as a cause....not because it is a social sector 'cause' for us but because it has brought so much joy into our lives. At the end of the day....it is our need to have children in our lives and family building, however it is done, is joy. Most days....without sick children. Thankfully that is only one day for me this week....it would have to be the day of the workshop! :-D