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Every year our adoption agency holds special events for the families that have adopted from or in the process of adopting from the countries they deal with. On Sunday they were holding a Birth Culture Awareness event for Russian, Ukranian and Kazakhstani adoptive families. They were to have dancing, singing and crafts. All they asked is that you bring your own lunch and they will supply beverages and dessert. Oh yeah, there was a small fee to pay, no big deal.

I thought it would be a good idea that my husband and I go so we can meet some families that have gone thru the process and get some information. Good idea right ? WRONG!!!
It was not what I envisioned at all!!!!!

When we got there we found out they were holding it indoors. It was supposed to be held outdoors as long as the weather was nice, which it was. When we got inside the building we signed in and payed and they gave us name tags. Don't know why because it's not like people were going around introducing themselves. There were about 6 big round tables setup and they were all basically full. I looked at my husband and said "so, where are we going to sit ?" We managed to find a table that was not full and sat down to eat our lunch. I started scanning the room and noticed how everyone was keeping to themselves. There really was no mingling and no one was really there to encourage the mingling. There were volunteers but they weren't doing anything.

The email that we received stated that there would be singing and dancing. We never saw any dancing but we did hear music from Russia and the Ukraine. There should have been some music from Kazakhstan as well but the musicians didn't know any. At least the kids had fun dancing to the music.

The email also stated that there would be arts and crafts for the kids. I thought that would be something I would do as well. HA!!! It turned out all it was was making a puppet out of a paperbag. There was a puppet to make from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. I was thinking arts and crafts on a bigger scale than what it actually was.

There was only one bright spot to the day. A couple that was sitting at the table with us lives in the area and came to the event even though they didn't adopt. It turns out that the guys wife grew up in Kazakhstan so they were telling us about the country. They basically told us stuff that I already knew from doing a lot of research on the internet but it was nice to hear that it was all true.

We decided to leave after about 2 hours since we were having such a grand time . I told my husband I am not sure if I would go back next year. All I kept saying on the drive home was how disappointed I was about the whole event. On a scale of 1 - 10 I gave it a 4.

If there is a next time I will go not expecting anything and hopefully will be surprised of the outcome.