Community Calendar

Yard/Garage Sale: The Archbald Borough Main Streets Committee is organizing a large yard and garage sale to be held Saturday, July 9, 8 a.m. to noon. Interested residents should bring or mail $5, along with the sale address, to Colleen at the Archbald Borough Building, 400 Church St., by Friday, July 1. Call 876-1800 for more information.

Car Cruise: The Coal Crackers Cruisers Car Club will hold car cruises on the first Friday of the month, 6-9 p.m. through September at Advance Auto, 161 Brooklyn St., Carbondale, featuring food, music, a 50/50 raffle, trophies and door prizes. Call 876-4034 for more information.

Church Dinner: St. Michael's Orthodox Church will hold a takeout-only chicken or ribs barbecue dinner (food courtesy of Kundla's in Hamlin) Saturday, July 2, noon to 3 p.m. at St. Michael's Center, 403 Delaware Ave., Jermyn. Chicken dinners are $10; rib dinners (1/2 rack) are $12. Call 876-1456 by Thursday, June 30, to place an order. A limited number of dinners will be sold at the door.

Civic Center Camp: Dickson City Civic Center's summer day camp has begun its 10-week session. The camp is open to children from kindergarten through the sixth grade weekdays 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. weekdays with extended hours for working parents. For more information call 383-1813 or stop by the center at 935 Albert St. Dickson City.

YMCA Camp: The Greater Carbondale YMCA Summer Day Camp Program is under way. Camp hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Campers will partake in gym and teambuilding games, science and art projects, cooking and swimming. Every Wednesday and Friday, campers go on field trips to either a local attraction or park. Some of the trips include Camelbeach, the Wayne County Fair and Merli Sarnoski Park. Visit www.greatercarbondaleymca.org for a complete list of trips and the registration application. The camp will run though Friday, Aug. 26. The cost is $105 per week for members and $135 per week for non-members. Additional before- and after-care hours are available.

Mayfield Refuse: Due to the Independence Day holiday, refuse and recyclables in Mayfield Borough will be collected Tuesday, July 5.

Health Fair: The Greater Carbondale Chamber of Commerce will host its inaugural Beauty, Health & Wellness Fair Thursday, July 7, 3-7 p.m. at the Greater Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, 27 N. Main St., Carbondale, featuring information tables by wellness product vendors, doctors, specialists and fitness studios. There will be presentations on stress relief, the benefits of yoga, chriopractic care, posture and taking charge of your health. Many of the vendors will have items to give away or raffle off. Sponsors include Marian Community Hospital and Dr. Donna Buraczewski. Call 282-1690 for more information.

Gotcha Day 2011 Reunion on Cape Cod | Barista Kids

It was brutally hot in Guangzhou. We landed at the airport and were taken directly (and unexpectedly) to the government building where our babies would be brought to us from various orphanages in Southeast China. Though most of the trip had been meticulously planned and executed, we were learning to roll with the punches. And this was a pretty big punch:  we’d been told that, after landing, we’d check in at the White Swan Hotel with plenty of time to unpack and prepare diaper bags for the babies’ arrival. But there we were in 103-degree weather, being shuttled from the tarmac to the Cultural Center, sans diapers, wipes, clothes, bottles, formula, or toys.

We were 18 families from all over the US who traveled to China en masse, meeting up in Beijing for four days of sightseeing, Peking Duck, and shopping. Then we split into two groups to collect our little ones, mine heading south to Guangdong Province.

That fateful day, we waited in the Cultural Center for well over 2 hours. There was no air conditioning. The toilets in the bathroom were holes in the floor.  Anxiety was mounting; husbands and wives bickered nervously. And for the 1,000th time, I looked at my sister-in-law, Shaye, with love and gratitude for making this amazing journey with me — while my husband remained in Montclair, recuperating from emergency surgery and trying his best to ready our new daughter’s room.

All of a sudden, we heard them enter the building:  babies crying, caregivers speaking Chinese, a glorious, terrifying hubbub of bodies, languages, and confusion.  They began calling out baby names in Chinese and English, carrying them into the room where we awaited. “Fu Yu Diaz,” Shaye and I heard, and we sang out together, “That’s our baby!” In an instant, I had become a Mother.

Fast forward 7 years … to our 4th annual “Gotcha Day” reunion on Cape Cod, organized as always by the creative and talented Jennifer Felix, mom to 8 year-old Grace Rose. Frequently celebrated by American adoptive families, Gotcha Days commemorate the magical, emotional day moms and dads “got” their child.  This year, it was cold and rainy and the group was smaller; just 6 families. Our annual meet-up on Corporation Beach was moved to a paint-your-own pottery place followed by pizza. It didn’t matter.

All us parents marveled at how tall the girls had gotten, and how beautiful.  Our little one, Lucy Rose, was the youngest at 7; the others had all turned 8.  Ava, Lindsay, Grace, and Liann hailed from New England; Elisa and Lucy, EnJay.

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