January 2013 Newsletter We invite you to join our community of secular humanists and other people who love life and reason. Here, you can exchange ideas and experiences, make new friends and contribute to positive change. We also have a vibrant community of families where parents can find support in raising children well without religion. CFI Portland is an educational nonprofit organization whose mission it is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, free inquiry, and humanist valu …

Our group will be about having a good time! Somewhere for Moms to compare stories, get advice, have girls night out, socialize the babies and just have fun. Most of our kids are under 3 along with a few older ones. We we also just blessed with some brand new babies this year! Heather Bowden is the main organizers of the group and can help you if you have any advice, questions or suggestions. Our group is very lucky to have a large group of very strong organizers. Without any of them we would not …

Hello! My name is Deborah Orandon, and I am a mental health counselor in Portland Oregon and have been working with highly sensitive clients for many years in my movement & massage practices and now also in my counseling practice. (Please visit: http://www.selfawarenesscounseling.com/ to get to know me a bit better.) Discovering Elaine Aron’s Highly Sensitive Person work ( http://www.hsperson.com/index.html ) 15 years ago, and honoring my own sensitivity, was a turning point for me in being able …

Why Join: We are a group just for women on the Eastside! (East of the river) Our group is private but open to all women, this keeps our meeting times and locations private and only seen by members. To Join our group click on the "Join Us" button in the upper right section of this page under the banner.   ***Please finish reading this page first*** Our goal is to provide you with a variety of activities to help you round out your fitness and health, get outdoors (sometimes indoors), and to meet …

Urban Race, Treasure Hunt, Scavenger Hunt and an all around great event. Pdxhunt.com puts on fun events. Teams race, solve and hunt for answers. These are fun, competitive events. Think part race, part riddle and part treasure hunting and you've got it. Each event is geared towards outrageous fun. Events are challenging races that require a bit of speed and smarts to solve the clues and puzzles to be the first team to cross the finish line. Come join the fun. Most events are geared for Adults b …

This is a meetup group for anyone with interest in dirt bikes or quads. This is not a hiking group or a "row your boat" group, we like gasoline powered off-road fun.   If you're looking for people to go trail riding in Washington and Oregon with this is the group for you. If you have an idea for a meetup please let us know, all suggestions are welcome. The group is non-exclusive, anyone from everywhere... and their grandmother...  is welcome. DISCLAIMER: By being a member of this group you hereb …

The Portland Blind Cafe meet up is for those who love The Portland Blind Cafe event and the idea of eating, connecting with others and experiencing music without vision. The Portland Blind Cafe is concert, a community discussion with the Blind servers and a dinner that is held in total darkness that happens 3 + times a year in SE Portland at Tabor Space. The intent of this group is to help connect The Portland Blind Cafe goers and explore further how this event or others like it can open peo …

Are you a smart, fun PDXer Gen Xer who could stand a few more parent-friends? Do you default on the side of alternative? Maybe even consider yourself, dare I say it, the cool mommy? And I mean cool in a knows all the words to every Patsy Cline AND every Minor Threat song kinda way, not in a Rose McGowan in Jawbreaker kinda way. I don't know if you have to be Gen X, but that sense of irony seems to be peculiar to our generation, so I thought I'd try and narrow it down this way. It's not about bei …

PDX Sign Baby is a community of parents/care-givers who are interested in signing with their children (ages 0 to 4 years). We hold class/playgroup Thursdays at 2:00.  Classes are laid-back and engaging, incorporating read-alouds, rhymes, and songs, as well as time for the little ones to play and parents to socialize. While we do focus on signing, the broader mission of the group is two-fold: 1) Language Building (for the kiddos) 2) Community Building (for the parents) All members of the group a …

My husband and I had our first child, Jesse, on June 23, 2010. We quickly noticed how much being a parent changes some of your friendships when your friends do not have children! We would like to meet other couples who would enjoy an occasional evening out as well as different get-togethers with the babies. We would like to keep the group limited to babies born in 2010 to first-time parents. Our hope is for all of us and our children to build long-lasting friendships with each other. Maybe somed …

We have lots of folks from PDX metro area that are either looking to have children via egg donation and / or surrogacy, OR who already have kids via egg donation. We have quarterly meetings but thought that getting together informally would be great as well. Who should join? Anyone who is looking to become a parent via egg donation, or preparing to undergo a donor egg IVF cycle, or who is pregnant via egg donation, or is already a parent via egg donation and you live in the Portland Metro Area ( …

We just relocated to Oregon and looking to meet others that are just as crazy about their fur children as we are. We have a 4lb Chihuahua, Gunnar who is just as anxious to make new friends as us. All meetups can be held in our courtyard that is Chihuahua & small dog proofed in SW Portland. We would love to build this into a Dog/Wine/Foodie social time as well for those interested!

Welcome! We're in such magical times and I'm so excited about the possibilities and potential that awaits us, the earth, humanity! Now is the tijme to clear yourself of lower energies no longer serving you and "baggage" you may not even know you carry around. All the changes are in response to this shift, a calling out from our sun and from the center of this galaxy if not the universe. Fear based thinking is just that. I for one will not utilize my God-given, innate creative faculties (thoughts …

This ECKANKAR Meetup is about learning how you can get meaningful answers for yourself. It's about discovering tools that can help you gain more understanding of your life and help you live it better, calmer, and happier as a more aware Soul. It’s also about those special experiences so many people have had that can't seem to be explained and that have so much to teach us, such as: Hearing a sound no one else hears Visions Dreams seeming important or more real than life Out-of-the-body and near …

I decided to create Spanish BabyTime because I have not been able to find a Spanish playgroup for my little girl now 1 year old that provided what I was looking for. The purpose of this group is to expose little ones to español through song, play, rhymes and reading books out loud. If your first or second language is español or you would like your child to learn or hear another language come join us. Our mission is for our children to learn español with other children through fun and play. Every …

Are you an expat wishing to connect with other French-speaking families? Do you speak French but find yourself speaking English most of the time to your children? Do you want your children to interact with other French-speaking children so they can practice the language? Do you love the French language and just want to hang out with French-speaking families? Then this group is for you. Any member can suggest a meetup, anywhere (park, coffee house, museum, hike, your home, etc.). So, think about …

I searched for bilingual Korean/American for baby group and found none in Portland, Oregon. So, I decided to start one to see if anyone would be interested in teaching the Korean language to their babies. I speak fluent Korean and English.  I am a mom with 6 month old twin boys. I started reading Korean story book and also singing Korean children songs. I am hoping to meet more moms and dads who are willing to share ideas and also participate in children play-time in Korean/American language. Yo …

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This is a group for any new parent that is interested in meeting up with other families for affordable activities in Southeast Portland, like going to story time at the library, having picnics in the park, coffee & walk meetups, and play dates in our homes. We also have events for just the adults, like Moms' Night Out, book club … and anything else that looks like fun! Children of all preschool ages are welcome, but most events are ideal for children born between August 2010 to July 2012.

Oregon Fathers for Equal Rights is a group of people working together to promote equal rights for all parents. We are parents who love our children and believe every child needs and deserves to be loved by and have equal parenting opportunities from both Dad and Mom. We actively seek to bring awareness to issues surrounding fathers, families, and their children; help influence logical and enforceable changes in our legal system to offer responsible Fathers and parents equal protection under the …

This is a meet-up for families with interest in the French language. This is a place for families with children who are learning French to come together in one place. We can create social events like dinners, picnics, or even camping in a French rich environment. We can organize group conversational classes for kids and teens. The sky is really the limit. I thought I would start this group to see if there was a need to organize with so many French educational institutions here in Portland. Lets …

We adult survivors of child abuse in all of it's various forms often struggle with low self esteem, depression, poor sense of boundaries and other issues that make us vulnerable to other forms of abuse including domestic violence and sexual assault. A person who is a victim of one form of abuse tends to become a victim of another form of abuse. Healing from these various forms of abuse is a long term process that can take years, a lifetime. We survivors often exhaust those around us with our sto …

Thriving. Real. Unique. Engaged. Moms is a group for women who are mothers of babies and young children, to get together and find support from other women who enjoy being mothers but also want to be out in the world. We will discuss topics such as • How to let go of guilt • How to stay in balance • How to achieve your personal goals while still being the mother you envision • How to create time for yourself to avoid "mommy-burnout".

Hello moms of Portland. This group is for Russian, Russian/American and any other nationalities who want to expose their toddlers and young kids to the Russian language. I am Russian born but raised here in the US and would love to meet with other parents to be able to speak more Russian with all our children. I would love to find moms who want to have playmates where speaking and learning Russian is encourages and I'd love to find mom who can read stories in Russian and do Russian songs and eve …

Looking for kids and parents that like to play in the outdoors in a respectful manner. Encouraging learning and reflection in an outdoor setting while just hanging outside in a beautiful place, paddling a river or lake, backpacking/skiing in the wilderness, or learning about wild foods and survival. Ideally when this group is large and varied enough, I'd like to have some events organized and led by families in age groups ie toddlers 3-6 yo, 7-10 yo, 11-14 yo, 15-19 yo. Please give me suggestion …

Whether you are a person living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes or simply want to learn how to be involved, this community fitness gathering will provide you with ongoing opportunities to exercise and socialize. Friends and family are welcome!

Childhood trauma can have a profound impact on our physical, emotional, and social well-being. Healing from these longterm effects requires a strong commitment to oneself, an understanding of the effects of trauma and how they can be healed, and a lot of good support. Being part of a group of fellow survivors and learning about trauma recovery together can be deeply helpful to this process. My name is Lee Scher, MA, LPC, and I'm facilitating this group following the same format used very success …

This is a group for anyone interested in having playdates with other Mandarin-speaking children. It doesn't matter what level you or your child's Mandarin is! We will get together for playdates and outings, where our goal will be to speak Mandarin to the children as much as possible. Look forward to meeting everyone!