"Come out, attend and befriend!"

Today was another great day in meeting new adoptive families and getting together with families we are already friends with. The weather was extremely unpredictable but we were blessed with nice weather in our area! It was a nice potluck picnic on the beach. Every time our family leaves an event, our children are thanking us for the day. Any event we've either attended or hosted it's been pleasantly calm with the amount of children and their different special needs. The parents understand the diversity and if there is anything that is behavioural, we all understand. I can't express enough how wonderful adoption events are. If your children lack friendships within the "normal" society, there is plenty of friendships that include support and understanding within our adoptive community. I find as an adoptive parent having friends with other adoptive parents are not only a support, we can just be without explanations. My son above in green with his besty are two peas in a pod. It's so awesome watching these two play WITH a care in this world. This was developed through our adoption community. We care and support each other. How wonderful is that!? I would like to thank Cathy Gilbert, our Adoption Support Coordinator for our Island because she makes sure that every month there's something for everyone to attend. Either it's a picnic, a dinner, a support group or a workshop - she's always planting the seeds to help our adoptive families connect with each other. I remember the day fondly when Cathy and I first met.....she came over, we discussed our family and I signed some papers. Sound familiar? Signing papers!? lol Now here we are.......years later practically family. This is where I've written previously; not only has our family grown adopting children, it has grown within our adoptive community. I feel we're all family connected through our similar journeys. It's a wealthy feeling knowing we have so many individuals in our life that understand and genuinely love. SO come out, attend and give your family that feeling of acceptance they need.

July 22nd we are going to have a potluck dinner here. (Outside designed) This is in between our camping trips! So I do understand summer is completely crazy busy for most but if you can, set this date aside. Bring something to share, a bathing suit and towel for a wet and wild water balloon competition. (I am partaking in this game) The potluck is from 3 to 7pm.

The salad roll picture above is a platter I made today. I experiment with food. "Beware" Usually I make these with prawns inside although the ones above are featuring mango's. In previous posts I explained that I deleted over 200 posts a few years ago, those posts consisted of tons of different recipes I would make. Lately, actually hardly ever have I written about food or recipes that I make. I'm not exactly sure why that is but I do want to share the "Mango Salad Rolls" I made! Yum......for me I like taste, that explosion on my taste buds! SO these little puppies are not only satisfying to your taste buds, they are a healthy choice!

Mango Salad Rolls created June 1st at 10:30pm

Rice paper
Chopped romaine lettuce
Diced orange & yellow peppers
Minced fresh garlic cloves
Diced cucumbers
Grated cheese
Grated carrot
Diced mango's
Thai sweet red chili sauce

Basically heat water in a frying pan, add rice paper one at a time for a few seconds (until the paper becomes soft) remove and lay flat. Add all ingredients above into the middle of the rice paper, tuck in rice paper sides and roll tight. When you're making the night before, make sure you cover your salad rolls with a clean damp cloth or damp paper towel. You don't want your salad rolls drying out. Then cover with saran wrap.

My "motto" is to experiment and taste your own food. With food I can cook traditional but I love to create. Rice paper is designed for salad rolls I'm sure but it would be great with anything inside. Bon Appetite!

Now what's better then friends and food? Life's too short to answer that slowly! My parrot keyboard continues to write, "Come out, attend and befriend!"