Local Reunion ARC families
1 August 2005
REUNIONS
This year has been a busy one for Adoption ARC families. In August, 2005, we held a local reunion at the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The even was extremely well-attended by many of our families in the five state area. ARC Staff Tara Gutterman, Kamra Scott and Sue Young along with adoptive parent volunteers, Andrew and Mary Kasper made this reunion a success with their hard work and bringing in delicious food and drinks. We also want to thank John Lepiarz and Lisa Lewis, adoptive parents who are professional clowns and put on magnificent show for us. The Museum is a great place for the preschool to age 10 crowd to play, explore, and pretend. The best part of the day was seeing the families together- happy children being loved and cherished.
The Dutch Families hosted reunions in both 2005 and already in 2006. I was privileged enough to be a part of the March, 2005 reunion held in Utrecht, Holland. Close to thirty of our families and children came out to mix, mingle and have fun. The event was planned by Ed and Gertie Mantel and Nancy and Ron Stavenuiter as a way to ensure that adoptees in The Netherlands from the United States stay connected. I was presented with a magnificent photo album book that proudly is displayed on the Adoption ARC coffee table for all to see and admire. While in the Netherlands, I visited the Hague and met with the Ministry regarding our special reverse international adoptions. I also spent a considerable amoujnt of time in Amsterdam- what a gorgeous city! I was spoiled by Paul de Leeuw and Stephan Nutge r at their home and at Paul's show. I was also spoiled by the Mantel family and the Stavenuiters as the shuttled me from Amsterdam to the reunion. Of course, I visited the Anne Frank Home, which was incredibly moving and I was particularly impessed with the Dutch country's tolerance toward all people. Thank you for inviting me. This year, there were more families and lots of fun as you will see by the photos.
The German Families with the great work of Dr. Peter Franz and family got together just this past weekend. Dr. Franz who has five children, two through birth and three through adoption has hosted this reunion for eleven years now. Each year, the reunion gets bigger and more detailed. Some of our waiting German families were good enough to email me great photos of the children just having a ball! Dr. Franz was good enough to invite and spoil me in 1999 and I was so impressed at all of his hard work which he brushes off stating that this is so important for his children- to know where they came from and to have other friends who look like them. On Peter's mantel place, he displays photos of his childrens' birth parents. This year, as always, Peter invited some African American army people to join the group for discussion and also some teaching about hair care
This year has been a busy one for Adoption ARC families. In August, 2005, we held a local reunion at the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The even was extremely well-attended by many of our families in the five state area. ARC Staff Tara Gutterman, Kamra Scott and Sue Young along with adoptive parent volunteers, Andrew and Mary Kasper made this reunion a success with their hard work and bringing in delicious food and drinks. We also want to thank John Lepiarz and Lisa Lewis, adoptive parents who are professional clowns and put on magnificent show for us. The Museum is a great place for the preschool to age 10 crowd to play, explore, and pretend. The best part of the day was seeing the families together- happy children being loved and cherished.
The Dutch Families hosted reunions in both 2005 and already in 2006. I was privileged enough to be a part of the March, 2005 reunion held in Utrecht, Holland. Close to thirty of our families and children came out to mix, mingle and have fun. The event was planned by Ed and Gertie Mantel and Nancy and Ron Stavenuiter as a way to ensure that adoptees in The Netherlands from the United States stay connected. I was presented with a magnificent photo album book that proudly is displayed on the Adoption ARC coffee table for all to see and admire. While in the Netherlands, I visited the Hague and met with the Ministry regarding our special reverse international adoptions. I also spent a considerable amoujnt of time in Amsterdam- what a gorgeous city! I was spoiled by Paul de Leeuw and Stephan Nutge r at their home and at Paul's show. I was also spoiled by the Mantel family and the Stavenuiters as the shuttled me from Amsterdam to the reunion. Of course, I visited the Anne Frank Home, which was incredibly moving and I was particularly impessed with the Dutch country's tolerance toward all people. Thank you for inviting me. This year, there were more families and lots of fun as you will see by the photos.
The German Families with the great work of Dr. Peter Franz and family got together just this past weekend. Dr. Franz who has five children, two through birth and three through adoption has hosted this reunion for eleven years now. Each year, the reunion gets bigger and more detailed. Some of our waiting German families were good enough to email me great photos of the children just having a ball! Dr. Franz was good enough to invite and spoil me in 1999 and I was so impressed at all of his hard work which he brushes off stating that this is so important for his children- to know where they came from and to have other friends who look like them. On Peter's mantel place, he displays photos of his childrens' birth parents. This year, as always, Peter invited some African American army people to join the group for discussion and also some teaching about hair care