The Connecticut Community Project

Community Project Profile: Lisa and Juli

I thought I would start a new feature for this group by giving faces and names to some of our members. One of the most important things I want to come out of this group is to give all of you a sense of community with others who are gay and lesbian parents (or those considering parenthood, or those not considering parenthood but interested in our community). Our monthly gatherings help facilitate this sense of community, but I also think gaining a sense of who else is in our group, when we're not together, will also be instructive.

I'm kicking the Community Project Profile off with a close-up of two of my dear friends, and their babies, who are members of our group. I asked them to write a little something about themselves, and I'm also providing some pictures to familiarize you with them. Let me say that I take extra pride in Lisa and Juli and their two babies because I set them up on their first date, not so many years ago...

Lisa (below, right) was born in England and moved to Wallingford when she was 5 years old. While she's moved around some (California, Arizona), she just can't stay away from CT. Juli was born and raised in East Haven and then left for school in Texas and Virginia for 8 years before returning to CT.

The couple officially met with help from Kim and Kristin via soccer connections shortly after a sudden death penalty shootout ina tournament. After two attempts on Juli's life by Lisa serving shellfish for dinner and then trying to provide red cough syrup (food allegies/intolerances for Juli), they decided that they would become a serious couple!

Less than 2 years later, they made the decision to have children by in vitro ferilization, using Lisa's eggs and Juli carrying. They had their civil union on August 15th, 2008, two months after getting pregnant. Lisa is at home right now contemplating a new career path and taking care of Riley and Chase (born 2/4/08). Juli will return to work as the Assistant Director of a child guidance clinic (AKA: clinical social work).

A Famous Lesbian in our Midst...

Many of you know Rachel Pepper from her amazing book, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians (or at least those of us that read it from cover to cover to figure out how to get pregnant do).

However, what you may not know is that Rachel is living here in New Haven, and is a member of our Connecticut Community Project.  And, you also may not know that Rachel is a regular contributor to Curve Magazine, and has graciously shared her most recent article with us.

You can see her article below and you'll love it, I promise. Much thanks to Rachel, and to Curve Magazine, for sharing this piece with us.

To give Rachel kudos and feedback on her book or this article, contact her here.

Download curve_article_pepper.pdf

Download Curve_Pepper.pdf

Our beach trip, and other things

We had an impromptou gathering at the West Haven beach last week after work. I work not too far from the beach, and its an easy place to meet the kids after work for fried food and kite flying. Given the late notice, it was great that we had nearly 15 people show up. The kids are really starting to know each other and play together, which delights me to no end.

Pictures are here, and the password is ourfamilies.

We also ran into Jody and Mendy, Rachel Pepper, and some other folks in the CommunityProject at Hamden's Earth Day celebration. Its nice to start to see other folks we know out and about and share our connection.

I'm still planning that our next gathering will be at Lake Compounce in Bristol on Saturday, May 10th (let's say 11:00). Its a great place for kids (and adults) of all ages, so it seems like a good place for us all to get together. I'll send out an invitation of sorts so I know who to expect, and we'll set up a meeting place and exchange phone numbers so we can find each other.

Finally, I can't help but share this article. From now on, everytime I think its hard to be a lesbian parent, I'll think of all this couple must have gone through in the past couple of years. I've got nothing on them.

A nice (non-chain) children's bookstore

I've also been meaning to write about a nice children's bookstore I discovered in Cheshire last week.  Its called the Alphabet Garden, and its located in the Watch Factory Shoppes in Cheshire.  It had lots of things that my girls loved--a reading area, a play area, and (for me), a small section of books for adults.  Best of all, it was located next to the Funky Monkey Cafe and Gallery.  There's also a toystore across the way (can't remember the name of it now), that seemed to be a nice place that kids could actually try-out toys.

The whole experience was great--stop by and check out all three, if you get the chance.

New Haven AIDS Walk

The New Haven AIDS Walk is this Sunday on the New Haven Green.  It looks like the registration begins at 1:00, along with the speakers, and the actual walk begins at 2:00.

Let me know if you're interested in meeting there as a group, either for the walk itself, or to support those doing the walk.

Spring Gathering

We had our 2nd get-together for our Community Project group yesterday, and fortunately the weather was beautiful and the kids got to hang out together outside (well, at least the 2-year olds did). As you can see from the pictures below, we had a great mix of newborns, 2 year olds, and some kids that were 7 and older. I'm also happy because the group is comprised of single parents, 2-parent families, 3-parent families, and couples who don't have kids yet, but are thinking about it. It really is a nice mix of people.

I talked to several people at the gathering that know of other people that might be interested in our group. Please do give others this website, or my email (kristinmattocks@yahoo.com). The more, the merrier.

I'm thinking our next event may be a trip to Lake Compounce for opening day on May 10th. Its a great family amusement park with stuff for kids of all ages (though obviously the water park won't be open yet). Maybe we'll also have a playdate for those interested on April 26th at a local park in Hamden (Basset Park). Let me know if you have any other ideas for future activities.

Thanks again for a great event yesterday--I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Invitation to next CCP gathering

Our next gathering will be Saturday, April 12th at 4:00 pm. Hopefully the weather will be beautiful and we can sit outside and enjoy the first days of spring. Our backyard is very kid-friendly, so the kids will have plenty of space to run around and play.