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ALTERNATIVES IN MOTION

NEWS LETTERS

MARCH 2005

Dear Friends, 

I hope this letter finds each and every one of you back-on-track after all of the holiday hoopla. It’s hard to believe it’s over and we are beginning a new year. 2005! WOW! It seems just a year ago we were welcoming in a whole new millennium…but, no, it’s five years ago. How did that happen? Could it be true that the years speed up as you get older?

2004 was a difficult one for us. We lost two very great women when the Lord called them home. My mother and Bette & Anne’s mother are both sleeping in His arms. We want to thank those of you who took a minute to pray for us as we watched them make that climb home. So many of you were in their hearts for years because they had seen you at many of the family functions that they attended. Thank you for all the kind words you had when you saw them at those times. AIM families and AIM clients and AIM children were important to them and we were blessed to be able to honor them and their love for adoption by dedicating the AIM Family Holiday Party to them.

This past year has brought about several changes for AIM. We’ve asked for prayer and you’ve been faithful as you prayed for several of our staff through medical crisis after medical crisis. We’ve also had to say good-bye to some staff persons that have been a part of AIM for a very long time, and we’ve redistributed several positions within to maintain the flow of our work. Through all of this, the Lord has been there. He has seen us through each medical crisis and brought physical healing. In the midst of the internal changes in 2005, He has blessed 14 babies with stable loving families since the beginning of January. He has continued to use AIM as a means to bless young mothers who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy by sending them to us. He also guides the most wonderful, loving, generous Christian families to our doors. God is so good.

As we continue through 2005, know that each and everyone of you are important to us. We love to hear from you, we want to know when you have triumphs and when you need prayer. We are continually gathering information and resources to help our families with parenting issues. Do not hesitate to contact us. We have a lifelong commitment to you.

NEWS ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER…

Or, should we say “plans for the newsletter”? Our snail-mail address list is in excess of 1000 and grows by 10% every year. The cost of an average newsletter is $1.25 for paper, ink, printer, manpower, and postage. The cost of one mailing will pay two months housing for a young mother and her children while she makes a plan for her unborn child.

We have recently asked recipients of our newsletter to send their email address in order for us to be able to build an address list to save time and money. You have responded beautifully and we now have a mailing list nearing 500. The great thing about sending email addresses, is that you can send Grandma’s addy, your sister’s, your best friend, your home address, and work address. We will send a copy of the newsletter to as many addresses as you want. An added bonus is that we quite frequently send little reminders via email about upcoming events or just a note to say that we are thinking of you. If you are not on the list, you won’t stay up-to-date with us.

We presently continue to send letters through the post office because we are still working out all of the bugs, updating new addresses, correcting ones we have logged incorrectly, etc. We will continue to send these newsletters in that manner through December, 2005. At that time, January of 2006, we will assume that everyone who wants to receive our newsletters will have contacted us. After that date, the only way you will be able to get a newsletter is through our email system or directly from the website. In some rare occasions, we will honor a special request to have the newsletter mailed directly to your home…such as a situation where you do not have access to the Internet. Please send us a note, in writing, with this request.

To be sure that your name is on the list, check your email and see if you have received a copy of this newsletter. If you have not, send a request to add your email address to our list of contacts. Send the request via our email address at alandry@aimadoptions.org and one to dsowders@aimadoptions.org. Anne usually does the newsletter but Denise sends out sporadic messages from Jan. Sending your address to both persons will help us be sure you get all correspondence/news that we send. Do it today, don’t put it off. We want you to know what’s happening at AIM.

ASTROWORLD FUND RAISER…

STAFF NEWS…

It’s off to Acapulco for Jan, Alan, and the family during Spring Break. Since the older three have spread their wings, gotten married, and left the nest…Jan and Alan are still making vacations a family affair by inviting everyone along! Last year it was a cruise and this year it is a trip to Alcapulco. Fortunately, they will have Alana with them…she teaches Spanish at Westfield High School. We don’t want Jan to ask where the ladies room is…only to end up in Panama.

Charlotte and Pat are beginning to sense the approach of the “empty nest” syndrome as Kathleen prepares for high school graduation and anticipating her college career. They have spent the last 12 (or so) years as soccer parents traveling all over to try to keep up with Kathleen’s astounding success. Now what? Incidentally, Kathleen was the first baby that Winnell Byrd placed when she opened Prince of Peace Adoptions.

Denise and Dave have welcomed a new family member. Their only son, Matt, has married his high school sweetheart, Melissa. This is a new roll for Denise…mother-in-law. We think she is doing okay with the title…but we haven’t asked Melissa how Denise is doing with the roll. Hmmmmmmmm. You know, Matt is the “only son”. Please send all mother-in-law jokes to dsowders@aimadoptions.org.

Kelly is also anticipating her daughter’s high school graduation and the beginning of her college career. But, she isn’t worried about the empty nest syndrome. When Lindsey leaves, she leaves behind her younger brother Tyler. Kelly tells us that parenting a teenage boy is a whoooooooooole new world for her. Pray for her.

Dee is experiencing some family growth. Her “baby” is expecting her 2nd baby in September. Mindy is almost as busy as her mother. Besides her roll as wife and mother and expectant mother, she is also a college student. WOW! To be young again. Full of energy. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Well, you know what we mean. Speaking of age, Dee just welcomed her first GREAT-grandchild.

Ron and Anne spent their first weekend in The Shack. For those that don’t know, The Shack is a two room…well, shack…that they have refurbished on their 3 acre “country estate” in Midway, Texas. They have a queen sized bed, a fold-out couch, and 4 blow-up mattresses. Bodies were wall-to-wall but there wasn’t much sleeping because the kids had never spent the night that far away from civilization. The coyotes yipped and the wolves howled and the kids moaned…all night. Middle-of-the-night trips to the ladies room was a family affair.

Subliminal message #3…Your email address…AIM…NOW

OUR GROWING FAMILIES…

People are always telling us that we must have the best jobs in the world. Funny, we don’t think of this as our job. This is our calling and our blessing…one that allows us to be able to participate in one of the most loving acts someone can ever do…planning for their child through adoption. Because of our personal life experience with adoption, we endeavor to do this with sensitivity to the birth family’s journey. At the same time, we are able to witness the peace and comfort that is present as the birth family and the adoptive family begin their relationship. And, then the joy when…

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO…

We want to give a great big “thank you” to everyone who helped make Christmas possible for so many of our clients. We received an overwhelming response to our plea for help. We were able to help a little over 100 families this past year with gifts for themselves and their children, with Christmas trees and decorations, with holiday food, and with winter clothes. More than 80 persons picked out several thousand items at the giant garage sale. All items are free for the taking for our clients. Several adoptive families came to help decorate for the annual client holiday party…and then showed up with even more families the following day to help host the party. Lunch was donated and catered by Erma and Shola. The meal of ham, turkey, dressing, rolls, and green beans was great! The green beans were so impressive that several persons often went back for seconds, thirds, and fourths. Can you imagine green beans so good that anyone comes back for seconds for ONLY green beans?

FURNITURE DONATIONS NEEDED

We have furnished so many apartments this past few months that we are low on furniture. If you are replacing good used beds, dressers, chests, tables, chairs, or sofas
…please consider our client’s needs.

AND, do we have a dad or two who would be willing to pick up donated furniture from time to time?