I am compiling information from persons involved with adoption. If you have adopted a child(children), been adopted, or placed your child for adoption, I need your stories. The compiled questionnaires will be published into a book. The purpose of the book will be to answer questions for those considering adopting a child, those considering placing their child for adoption, or for adopted persons interested in hearing others stories. The book will be sold for a nominal fee and all proceeds will go to help the children at the Foyer de Sion orphanage in Haiti. Thank you so much for your willingness to help.

Links:
Parents who have adopted children click here.
Persons who have been adopted click here.
Mothers who have placed a child for adoption click here.

So Miss Utah is coming up way too fast and I have a lot to do. The book is coming. My mom got her website guys to create a link to put on my blog that will have the full questionnaire that can be filled out by anyone! Hopefully this will really get the ball rolling.

I know that everyone has heard about the devastation of what has happened in Haiti. I feel so lucky that I was able to participate in a huge garage sale in the Lin's parking lot to raise money to send to the orphanages that we are in close contact with. Luckily they weren't hit as hard. None of the kids got hurt but some close relatives of the director, Guesno, and his wife, Marjorie, were killed or injured badly. I hope that our contribution (almost $6,000!)will be of help to them in rebuilding their orphanages. Here are a whole bunch of pictures from the yard sale. The first is my little brother Sam, he is a natural in front of the camera. The next one is my beautiful mom and Sis. Carpenter, we couldn't have done it without her. The gorgeous girl holding the sign is my sister Cassie. She was our best advertiser. The last one is just a shot of some of the costumers. As you can see... we had a lot of fun :).

Stress..

I really need to work on this blogging thing. I just started school though at BYU so it might be a while before I'm up and running at full speed. I really want to get going on my book. I will hopefully be sending out the email with the full questionnaire on it very soon. I gave a draft to one of the chairs at LDS Family Services and he is checking to make sure all my questions are legit :). I still need more emails though. Please send me your email to delaney.westfall@gmail.com and I will get you the questionnaire as soon as possible. Whether your a parent that has adopted, someone who was adopted, or a woman that gave up their child to adoption, I need your stories!

A Little More About Me

I'm eighteen years old and I live in Cedar City, Utah. I am honored to be representing such a beautiful area. I love performing and being active. As you can tell I have a crazy interracial family and I LOVE it!

Here is a little bit of info about my family... Leuben (far left) was adopted 5 years ago from Port-au-Prince, Haiti from the Foyer de Sion Orphanage. My dad (up high), Mike, is the 5th District Court Judge in Cedar City. My mom (second in on from left), Karen, runs an online business at home, waterworkout.com. Amanda (third in from the left) is living in Argentina teaching English. Sam (yellow shirt in the center) was adopted 10 years ago from Mississippi. Cassie (top right) is in Australia doing a study abroad program. Ben (far right) will be getting married soon and lives here in Cedar with us. Alycia (bottom left) was adopted 3 years ago from Port-au-Prince, Haiti from the Foyer de Sion Orphanage as well. I hope that lets you know enough :).

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

I am partnered with The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption which works with Wendy's. You can visit this site to get more information or you can just donate a little bit each time you eat at Wendy's. Every cent helps. :)
http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/

Adoption

On Saturday night I became the new Miss Iron County. I'm excited for all the new responsibilities and opportunities that come with this title but above all I can't wait to become an even stronger advocate of Adoption. My first project will be to compile a book of adoption stories. Then I hope to plan a celebration on National Adoption Day which is November 15th. I feel very passionate about this platform and I know I will accomplish great things.