Krahnicles 2007

Once again, we have managed to have another adventurous year. Between buying a renovation project, starting our oldest in school and youngest in preschool, all while waiting for our adoption to slowly proceed through it’s steps, we’ve quite successfully managed to stay out of trouble. In March of last year we said “goodbye” to our duplex on Metchosin Rd and “hello” to our renovation on Leigh Rd. Yes, you understood correctly. We completed our fix-ups, improvements, and repairs on the last house just in time to sell it and buy an even bigger renovation project. Upon moving in, we promptly tore apart the basement and put in a basement suite with the idea that a rental income will bring in some extra money to fix up the rest of the house. We knew that the house, a 1940’s Cape Cod style, needed a lot of work. We didn’t bargain on quite how much work it would require. So far we have completely redone one bedroom and the bathroom. Both have turned out lovely but it was not lovely getting them that way. To some of you the words “lathe and plaster” will explain it all. Anyway, our tenant was gracious enough to stay with us through the whole process, including the re-plumbing phase in which she had the pleasure of an indoor waterfall. We have learned a lot of lessons about careers we do not want… ever. In the New Year we will tackle the baby room, which brings me to the next part in our story. February 2008 will mark two years in our adoption process from Ethiopia. We are happy to finally have something to report! Early in the New Year we will travel to Addis Ababa to bring home beautiful Marie Krahn. She was born on May 18th 2007 and we hope to celebrate her first birthday here at home. We really appreciate your continued prayers and support for us during this adventure. Ryan began kindergarten this year at École John Stubbs in the French Immersion program and has been enjoying teaching his little brother and his parents French. He continues to amaze us with his endless energy and enthusiasm, not only for school, but also for his other activities. His favourite activities still include playing “super hero” with his brother, throwing rocks in the lake, swimming, and fishing with Dad. We have been impressed with what a great big brother he is and how well he and Paul get along. Paul is our little fireball. Always pushing himself to master new skills, he is anxious always to keep up with Ryan. One day while picking up Ryan from school, Leah caught him on the playground trying to convince kids easily double his size that he was bigger than they were and, in terms of personality, he was right! Paul loves preschool and is developing quite a sense of humour. He loves to tease and be teased. His language skills are in full bloom and we often joke about “Radio Paul being on 24/7”. Leah began a new job this fall at Custom House testing software systems once again and will continue work until the baby Marie arrives home. Prior to that, she was working part time at our church doing office administration work. Leah misses being home with the boys very much but we are blessed to have Auntie Erin, Leah’s new sister-in-law, looking after the boys. Both Ryan and Paul enjoy her very much and look forward to the new adventures she has planned for them. Leah is very much looking forward to being home again with the kids this spring. Jeremy plans to take some time off also this summer and we are hoping to take a trip out to Alberta to visit family and friends and also to learn how to be a family of five. Jeremy is entering his second year at Number 41 Media. He is enjoying the work, but has come to realise that IT may not be the thing he wants to do from now until retirement. We are beginning to explore other avenues including humanitarian work overseas. Our current plan is to spend the next year settling in with our newest addition while continuing to explore our options. In the meantime we are working with the rest of our family on a really awesome project aimed at building a school for aids orphans in Uganda. In the area that my sister lives, there are over 200 of these children. If you would like more information or think that you could help in some way, please let us know. It has indeed been an adventurous year with its challenges and accomplishments. We expect nothing less for 2008!

7 Month Birthday

Yesterday marked baby Marie's 7 month "birthday" and the passing of the second month we have had our proposal! We are really happy, but also sad that we could not share it with her. I am still hopeful that her 10 month "birthday" will happen in Canada. :-). I'm still holding out for travel in February. I also found out yesterday that choices, (via kids link) has a new African program out facilitating adoptions in Zambia! http://www.kids-link.ca/country_zambia.html. This is wonderful news. Choices also mentioned that they are working on Ghana program. Kids Link was not available when we began our process. They are still providing referrals quicker than CAFAC and people who signed up as much as a year after we did already have their children home. Even now, having our child proposal this is hard to accept. It does not seem fair. I tell myself that I have to accept that things happen for a reason, but it is still hard. I am always happy to hear when families recieve their proposals, but I find myself struggling to be pleased for families going through kids link when I hear about how quick it went. This is an illogical feeling, but still very real for me. Having said that, CAFAC has been nothing but fabulous to us throughout the whole process. Their tenure in Ethiopia, gives me confidence in their process. I also know 100% that they always operate in the best interests of the children. From that perspective, I cannot recommend them enough. I also appreciate the fact that the directors, have very real, personal experience with the process; they are adoptive parents from Ethiopia as well.

Medical Papers from Nairobi

Our medical papers arrived from Nairobi! To all of you not doing Ethiopian adoptions, I'll explain: Part of the process for Canadian immigration is for an immigration medical to take place. The nearest Canadian embassy happens to be in Nairobi. In order for that process to begin, the embassy has to send immigration paperwork to CAFAC in Addis so that they can have a immigration medical done. In some cases this process can take up to three months, holding up the entire process. I was super excited to receive news of this because it means that if our court proceedings are successful in one hearing, the rest of the adoption paperwork could be completed within the next six to nine weeks! This means that we could travel as soon as the end of February. So, please pray that our adoption takes only one court hearing! WAHOO. I don't care about my two front teeth... all I want for Christmas is a successful court hearing. In fact, if it would help, I'd give my two front teeth!

Court Date

Yeah! We have a court date! On Christmas Eve this year, the Ethiopian courts will hopefully hand down the decision to grant Jeremy and I custody of Marie. The judge has the option of requesting additional hearings if he/she feels they are necessary, we are praying that this will not be the case. After the courts have granted permission we still have to wait for all the documentation to make it to the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi. After that we can go and pick her up! We are still anticipating that we will travel sometime between February and April.

6 Month Birthday

Our little girl turned 6 months yesterday! I was very proud of myself. I didn’t cry. I am just hoping and praying that we will celebrate her one year birthday with her in the flesh. I feel like we are already missing so many of her firsts, I really don’t want to miss that one. In that first year, so much changes. I look at her picture every day, and it makes me sad that already in the one month since we got her photo, she has probably changed and I am missing it. I find myself both attracted to and repelled by other people’s children around this age. I am attracted to them, because I want to know what milestones our little girl is likely approaching. I want to remember what that age is like. Even though I had the boys at that age, it is so hard to remember what it was like in any particular month, it all kind of blends together. Also, I don’t think I realized what a precious gift I had been given. I did not enjoy them as much as I should have. I did not pay enough attention to the details. I did not take enough time to cuddle them and just enjoy them… which brings me to the repelled feeling I have. I don’t want to see other people with their children of the same age because it hurts. I want to tell the parents how lucky they are, how they don’t know what a precious gift they are holding. I can’t take my eyes of them but I don’t want to hold their little ones, because I might cry or say something inappropriate. I guess in these kids, I am looking for some clue, some insight into what my baby’s life is like, but in the end there is no substitute for having her home. Having said that, I am coming to realize that God’s timing is perfect and no matter what, it’s going to be ok. God will bring her home in His timing, not mine and in the end I will be glad that it happened that way… its just hard right now. He is giving us time to get our resources together. He is giving us time to work on her room (yes, we finished the bathroom and are moving onto the baby room next weekend!) and He is giving Ryan and Paul time to settle into their routines at school. In short, our lives are getting sorted out so that we can bring A home into as stable an environment as possible. If I had it my way, she would be home already, amidst the renos and chaos. I would not have been able to go to work and get parental benefits which would throw us further into debt. We also would not have had the van yet… so it’s a good thing I don’t always get my way ... and if any of you choose to remind me that I said that I will deny deny deny!

New Stuff

Until we found out how big/old she was, I tried to hold off buying things for our little one... I satisfied my cravings with window shopping. Since then somehow I have developed a magnetic attraction to stores for little kids... I can be shopping for groceries and mysteriously find myself in the clothing section... and then in the baby section... and then in the baby girl section... I have found some cool little things though. We have found a little soft photo album to put our pictures in and send to the CAFAC foster home. Hopefully the staff will have some time to show her the pictures and let her play with the book. I have also bought a baby carrier. It is pretty awesome. It can hold a kid up to 40lbs (which begs the question: why would you want to carry a forty pound kid?) front, back or on the hip. Yesterday we took a reprieve from working and went to Royal Roads to play with the kids. They had a blast and when Paul got tired I was able to piggyback him in the carrier. We just have to be careful that he doesn't think its for HIM! It worked awesome though. Much less strain then other ways of hauling around a kid who is really big enough to be walking :-). The other bonus is that it is compact which will make it easy to take with us. I also have found a kids cd of music from Africa including some from Ethiopia! Its really neat, the kids like it and so do I. And then of course there's the clothes... I enjoyed shopping for each of the boys when they were born, but not nearly as much as I have enjoyed shopping for our daughter. Some of my friends bought little outfits for me for my birthday knowing that I would love that way more than anything for me. I don't quite have everything she will need, but I am probably pretty close!

Updates

Many people who love us and care about us, have been asking about updates. This is the information we have: We will recieve updates about our file every 1-2 weeks. CAFAC will let us know when we reach a major milestone in the process, but for the nitty gritty details, we just have to trust that they are doing their job and that things are being processed as quickly as possible. In terms of updates on how our daughter is doing, we may recieve one (possibly two) updates during our wait. These will typically come at three month intervals. Some of you have asked me for pictures etc or why I have not posted pictures on the blog or somewhere else. We will not be doing this both out of respect for our daughters privacy and out of respect for the Ethiopian authorities that ask that this not happen. Please keep in mind that officially, she is not yet a part of our family. Today, we got an update from CAFAC that basically said that documents are being put together to begin the process. Essentially, stuff is happening but no milestones (such as a court date) have been reached... and so we wait. Since I have started work life for us has become insanely busy. The boys are handling the transition quite well... probably better than we are. Jeremy and I feel like we work 7 days a week between actual paid work, our Uganda project, renovations and parenting. Already we are dying for reprieve. We struggle through and are barely holding it together knowing that it is only for a designated amount of time. I miss my family though. I miss my sons and I miss my husband and I miss my friends. Stuff falls through the cracks, stuff that never used to and it bugs me. I get dizzy just watching us. Sigh. I try to spend time every day looking at our baby's picture to remind myself why we are doing what we are doing.

Acceptance Papers

Today we signed our acceptance papers for our child proposal. We also got the immigration ball rolling again. Wheh what a process. I am told that our part is minor compared to what has to be done in Ethiopia. Apparently it is a big job running from this office to that office, having this paper stamped and then that one etc etc. We are truly grateful to have someone on reliable on the ground to wade through all the red tape for us. I have been doing a bit of research into the Kembata Region (where our daughter was born). There is not a ton of information out there, but from what I understand it is very remote. It is one of the regions of Ethiopia that relies heavily on Entebe (false banana) and is called the green hunger zone. This is because the land is very lush, but there is still abject poverty and a lot of hunger. The area is very densely populated and the land gets divided among sons. Generations and generations of farmers dividing their land has lead to very little land for each family. Consequently, the land has been severely degraded because of over-farming. Entebe is a crop that takes around five years to fully mature. After it has matured, it has to be processed in back-breaking labour before it can be consumed.... its now bedtime for us working folk (yes I started work), so I will post more later

A Proposal

TODAY WE RECEIVED OUR PROPOSAL!! That's right. We have a very special little girl coming to us. She is 5 months old today! Her birthday is May 18th. She weights approx 15 lbs and she is in good health. She is absolutely gorgeous :-). Now the real wait begins. We still have to wait for immigration and for the Ethiopian courts to legalize the adoption. We have been told that this process takes between 4 and 9 months. Jeremy took the afternoon off from work and we took the boys out for ice cream even though it was raining. I don't think it has really sunk in for them yet. Tomorrow or the day after, Jeremy and I will go out for Ethiopian food to celebrate. A couple of days ago my sister in law asked me what I wanted for my birthday (which is coming on the twentieth) and I told her that all I really wanted was our child proposal. I knew was going to be soon, but I didn't really think that it would actually come in time for my birthday. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me... Yeah... I'm just a little giddy. Sorry for the super giant font... can you tell I'm a little excited?

Time for a New Picture

Looking at the picture on the Blog, I realized how much the boys have grown in the past year. We took a new picture... actually we took about 50 new pictures... and this was the best of the bunch. Apparently the boys have gotten a lot more wiggly in the past year as well. It was thanksgiving... I thought turkey was supposed to make you sleepy???

We're Next

We got a note from CAFAC today. Apparently we are next in line to receive an infant girl proposal! This is good news for thanksgiving. We still don't know how long this is going to take, but it should be soon. So you can expect to get an excited phone call from me sometime soon! I also found out that I will start my job on the 22nd of this month, I am going in to sign the contract today. We spent Thanksgiving at Auntie Sylvia's this year. We feasted on turkey with friends and family and had lots of time to reflect on how lucky we are. This friday, at Saanich Baptist we are having a"sharing the bounty" event for women. We will be putting together toiletry bags for women in need in the local area. We are also collecting supplies for me to take as an orphanage donation in Ethiopia. I will be giving a quick talk about it (5 minutes or so). We would love to have you out! It takes place at SBC, from 7-9 on October 12th. Bring some sample size toiletries and/or some orphanage donations (if you forget what we need, see my earlier posts). The more the merrier.

The Fourteenth Month of Waiting

October 1st marked our entrance into the fourteenth month of waiting. I am hoping that with the Ethiopian New Year behind us, there will be some action... soon! We received our second round of shots. We also have confirmed what we suspected; they are not covered by extended medical.... ouch.

Happy New Year!

Ethiopia has entered the third millenium! Yesterday, the Ethiopian calendar (7.5 years behind our calendar) turned over from 1999 to 2000. The Guardian did a very good article with an audio slide show showing people in London and in Addis celebrating. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2167505,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=travel Because of the celebrations the Ethiopian courts will be closed for the remainder of the month. I had previously thought that this may adversely affect our process, but the CAFAC staff disagree. In an email update yesterday we were told, "Despite court closures- it is still the response time by Nairobi Kenya’s CDN IMM office that decided when a family can travel. So for those of you worried about the closure affecting child proposals or travel times if you have an adoption in process, please be assured this will not likely impact you." There was also information regarding wait times. Currently the wait time for infant girls is 14 months. Originally, we had expected to have a child proposal this month, but after calling the staff yesterday, it sounds as though we won't hear anything now until October. This is due in part to the New Year celebrations etc. I do know for sure that families whose paperwork arrived in August have begun to get proposals. That means that there are only 4 or 5 more families ahead of us. We are trying very hard to be patient. The staff at CAFAC, have been wonderful and we have been assured that we are in the home stretch of our wait. Yesterday's email also had some very good explanations as to why the wait is so long. I have included it below. "Sometimes there is a misconception that there are millions of children that are orphaned or in trouble so it should be an instant process to receive a proposal. As has been the case for several years with many country programs - at the time a family applies for a child under 12 months of age, their child is not yet born. The child they will eventually be matched to is not part of the statistics that are given by World Health Organization, Unicef, etc.

The infant under 12 months of age not being born yet is the case for most families when they send their paperwork to Ethiopia. Most matches to our families in this age range are 1-4 months of age when proposed. A sequence of events must occur in the child’s life before they can be placed for adoption: birth- loss of birth family through abandonment/death of birth family - legal process to be declared available for adoption - matches to specific agency and family. While there are millions of children in crisis and orphaned all over the world- these children that exist now are not all available for adoption, and are almost always school aged.

In context of USA agencies that are similar to CAFAC in length of time with a program in Ethiopia, and with more than 60 families coming home each year- web site information on wait times for Adoption Advocates International, Wide Horizons, Children’s Home Society, and Spence Chapin, - are given as 5 months to one year, and appear to be the normal wait times for proposals of infants under the age of 2 years old for agencies who are not new in Ethiopia.

At present: CAFAC proposals for infants up to 18 months of age are taking from 10 – 14 months to be made. The difference in time seems to be a reflection of how many CAFAC applications in any given month were received in Ethiopia, and as the order documents arrive to Ethiopia is followed in the issuance of proposals, this impacts the time frame for any one family’s proposal. Infant proposals seem to be the ones that present the longest wait times- and we empathize with the struggle waiting families have as time goes by and they do not have a match yet.

With Ethiopia ‘s program as each family waits for their match there will also be the usual issues with children who do not pass health screenings, or lab testing to be matched to a waiting family, and must be refused adoption placement altogether, and other issues which might mean they cannot be matched to CAFAC families.

Our next largest group of match requests are for families who want siblings under 36 months of age. The wait time for many of these families also fluctuates- between 8 – 13 months as well. Keeping in mind that siblings must be born in this time frame, PLUS have been kept together by their family of origin, have losses within their birth family that bring the child into care, it is more easy to understand waits for matches. Relinquishment for adoption is still viewed as a last option, after all other options have been considered, by all those involved with any child’s case.

Other match requests for preschool aged children, or older siblings are usually met in under 12 months - and often we have more children from

4-10 years of age offered then we have applications for. Families approved for older children are finding that they get proposals in 2-8 months.

We have been pleased to see that many families’ response to slower time frames have allowed them to consider opening up their age ranges through a simple addendum process, so they can be considered for infants/ children who are older. For the children who are or will be matched after this change, this decision means the world to them. "

Part way through our process, we considered changing our age range. However, in the end we felt that it was important not to alter the birth order of our children, by inserting a sister before one of the boys. All along, they have been told they are getting a baby sister... to suddenly have a big sister would be a really big adjustment for them (not to mention us!).

PS For those of you following the renovation saga, the tile on the tub is up but not grouted. The drywall needs one more coat and sadly we still have no sink or flooring. The big thing for me will be to be able to shower again! Hopefully that will transpire this weekend. Oh yeah, we still have to frame in a closet, so I guess we are not really close to being done with the drywall. The upside to this reno is all the "character" Jeremy and I have been developing. I'm going to eventually post before and after pictures... we just have to get to the after part...

The one year mark and a van.

Good news and bad news. I always like to hear the good first so hear it is. My Oma and Opa have given us a VAN!!!!!!!! We are so thankful because getting a van has been a major stressor for us. Our little honda is wonderful and we love it but there is no way of fitting three carseats in it. Kids are required to be in booster seats so long now that we really don't have another choice. Oma and Opa are getting a new van, so we can go pick up their old one after September 10th. The only trouble is figuring out how to get it from Calgary to Victoria... That however is a managable problem! What an answer to prayer. The bad news isn't really bad news. Its just that September 1st marked the one year mark for us waiting. Our paperwork arrived in Addis a whole year ago. Saturday was a sucky day for me. Currently the wait for baby girls is 13 months so it *should* be this month that we get a proposal. We'll see.

A shot in the arm, and one in the pocketbook

Last night Jeremy and I got the first installment of our shots. We have two more trips to make to the travel clinic before we are through. Last night we had three shots each. Next time, we will get two and the last trip will just be for dukoral... thankfully a drink not a shot. We still have to decide if we are going to travel outside of Addis, if we do, we need to take malarial prevention [sigh]. All in all these immunizations cost a whopping $1000. Yikes. We are still hoping our extended medical will cover most of it. The bathroom reno is slowly crawling forward. Toilet and bath are both functional. The drywall is partially up. We are hoping to have tile on the shower over the long weekend! Yeah for showers! Then we just have to frame in the closet, finish the drywall, mud the drywall, prime and paint, install the sink, tile the floor, put the door back up, and put up and paint the trim. Unfortunately, the only time we have to work on it is between the kids going to bed and our tenant going to bed (The bathroom is located right over her bedroom so we are trying to be respectful and not work too early or too late). Speaking of work, it looks like I am going to be looking for a job. With the bathroom reno costs and the unexpected sewer problems we had earlier this year, coupled with the remaining adoption costs, we are unable to keep ahead of the game on one income. So, Ryan is going to school, Paul is going to preschool and Mommy is heading back to work. I have just begun the process of looking but I'll keep you updated. It's heart breaking for me, to think about leaving the boys all day, but I am trying to keep a positive attitude about it. Not very many people are as lucky as I am to be able to be home with the children as long as I have. It's also not forever. Short term pain for long term gain right? Hopefully when the adoption is complete, both Jeremy and I will be able to take some parental leave, and we will all be able to be together while we learn how to be a family of 5 together.

Ryan is 5!

Its hard to believe but it is true. My oldest baby is FIVE years old today. He is going to kindergarten in a couple of weeks. I know it is cliche but time really does fly. We have probably hit the 1/4 mark for the time that we will have that sweet boy in our home [trying not to cry now]. We have a tradition in our family, when the birthday kid wakes up, they crawl into bed with us and we tell them the story of the day they were born. This morning I was thinking about our baby girl... and what we will have to do to modify that tradition for her. We are coming up on the one year mark since our paperwork was recieved in Addis... September 1st. I called the adoption agency this morning to find out if there has been any movement on our file. There are still a couple of outstanding placements to make for families from July... sigh. She said it could be any day now, or it could take another couple of months. In other news, we ripped apart our bathroom. Yup its gutted... completely and utterly. We have finished re plumbing all the fixtures. The toilet is back in (huge relief). The bathtub is installed but not tiled (no showers) and the sink still remains elusive. This whole process was a MUCH bigger undertaking than either of us thought. We thought we would be a couple of days without the bathroom and everything would be back to normal. HA HA HA. My mom has been gracious enough to let us stay with her for the last TWO WEEKS (thanks mom) Not only has it been a more intensive project than we originally anticipated, it has been much MUCH more expensive... and then there was the flooding incident... which we are still too close to to laugh about. Ask us in a couple of weeks about the river we created flowing down our tenants bedroom walls... Anyway, I think this process has just sealed the deal for me having to look for full time work. With any luck, I will find a job and work until the baby arrives. Then perhaps we can all take some time off together as a family and just BE. Until then, it will be a fine balancing act. Be patient with us. Soon we will emerge from the bathroom victorious and I will have more time to post blog updates!

An Update

I called CAFAC this morning for my monthly update (I know that if there was any big news they would call me, but phoning once a month is an uncontrollable compulsion). I feel like a bit of a broken record, but for those who don't know this is the way it works: For infant girls (which have the longest wait times), there is a backlog of requests for proposals. Families whose paperwork arrived in Ethiopia at the end of last July are now receiving proposals. Our paperwork arrived on September 1st 2006, so have to wait for the remaining few proposals in July, all the ones in August and then it is our turn. There is no real formula. Sometimes the proposals trickle in slowly, sometimes they arrive in large groups. But since it is now July and they are working on the July proposals from last year (still), we are not expecting one until at least September. I did ask a few other questions though. I wanted to know if the wait time following the proposal was still 4-6 months. I was told that yes, we should count on six months and if it happens sooner to view it as a bonus. As hard as our current wait is, the wait after we receive our proposal is going to be MUCH harder. Then we will have a picture, some information, a real little person waiting for us. Some families are able to travel in only three months, but for this to happen, everything must go exactly as it should which means a minimum number of court dates, for all the immigration processes to go smoothly etc. I am not really anticipating that this will happen for us. Every year, Ethiopian courts close for the summer, this year they are also closing for September to celebrate the new millennium (The Ethiopian calendar is different, currently it is 1999). I assume that this will mean a backlog for the court system. I wanted to know if we would know when our court dates etc are, or if we would just be waiting blindly. I was told, that as much information as CAFAC has, we will have also. Sometimes they do not know until after the fact, but they will keep us informed as much as they can. I also asked how much notice we will have before we travel. I was told that we can anticipate a minimum of three weeks notice. Most families have a month to prepare. This is good as Jeremy has to take time off from work and we have to arrange for Ryan and Paul. Not to mention the price of airfare! I'm hoping that there is only going to be a couple more times I have to call for a monthly update...

Adoption: Made Possible Only Through Loss

Adoption, by definition is a relationship that can only be formed after a tremendous loss. Before she comes home to us, our daughter will have lost her entire family. In all likelihood, she will have to struggle for survival in less than ideal orphanage conditions. Following that, she will spend time (between 4 and 9 months) in the CAFAC foster home. This is better care than an orphanage could provide, but it is still institutional care. When we bring her home to Canada, she will loose everyone she has any connection with. She will loose her country. She will loose access to anyone who can speak to her in Amharic. Everything will smell, taste and look different. She will also be jet lagged and will have to re-align her biological clock with a new time zone. When she comes to us, she will be in shock, having suffered more losses in her little life than most of us will experience in our entire lifetime and she will not have the language or emotional maturity to express herself. I have asked myself many times whether this is fair. Whether it is ok. Whether adoption is ethical. Adoption nay-sayers claim that it is not. They say that it is wrong to rob a child of his or her cultural heritage, to remove children from their homeland. The answer I have come up with is this. No, it is not fair. In an ideal world, all families would be able to stay together, and children would be raised by their biological parents. In an ideal world, parents would not die of AIDS, children would not suffer from malnutrition and mothers would not have to make the impossible choice of abandoning one baby with the hopes that she will be able to feed the others. But the world is far from ideal, and in this broken, troubled world, an inter-racial family halfway across the world is better than none at all. We cannot do anything about our daughter’s losses, except to hold her, cry with her, help her heal, and help her learn to trust us. No, we cannot give her roots, but I hope someday, we will give her wings.

The Least You Need To Know About Ethiopia

Ethiopia is located on the horn of Africa. It has been land locked since Eritrea gained independence in 1993 (after a long bloody war). Ethiopia is culturally diverse. It’s 75 million people are divided among over 80 different ethnic groups, although most belong to either the Oromo, Amhara, Tigray or Somali groups. The official language is Amharic, but there are over 84 other languages spoken. Secondary school is taught in English. Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world. Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia and since then it has been referred to as “the cradle of humanity”. Ethiopia also has the distinction of being the only African nation to never be colonized, although it was briefly occupied during the second world war. Ethiopia’s capital is Addis Ababa, which means “new flower”. Before then, the capital was moved whenever the region ran out of wood for fuel. Since the introduction of the fast growing Eucalyptus, the capital has not needed to move. Addis Ababa, is home to Africa’s largest open air market. Hopefully we will get to go shopping during our trip! Historically, Ethiopia was ruled by an Emperor (purportedly a decendant of Soloman and the Queen of Sheba). A coup in the 70’s overthrew Haile Selassie and a communist dictatorship ruled. Ethiopia held its first democratic election in the early 1990’s, though the international community is divided on how democratic recent elections have actually been. Ethiopia has three distinct climatic regions determined mainly by elevation. The coolest zone: above 2,400 m where temperatures range from near freezing to 16 °C; the temperate zone at elevations of 1,500 to 2,400 meters (4,900–7,900 ft) with temperatures from 16 to 30 °C; and the hot zone below 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) with both tropical and arid conditions and daytime temperatures ranging from 27 to 50 °C. Addis Ababa is located in the temperate zone. The topography of Ethiopia ranges from several very high mountain ranges (the Semien Mountians and the Bale Mountains), to one of the lowest areas of land in Africa, the Danakil depression. The normal rainy season is from mid-June to mid-September (longer in the southern highlands) preceded by intermittent showers from February or March; the remainder of the year is generally dry. Ethiopia uses the Ge’ez calendar. The calendar is divided into 12 months of 30 days each. The current year in Ethiopia is 1999. The new year usually falls on September 11th, so this September will mark the beginning of a new millennium in Ethiopia! The main religion in Ethiopia is Christianity, with most of those falling into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. There is also a large muslim population. Judaism and Animism are also practiced. Ethiopia’s economy is based largely on agriculture. The biggest export crop is… you guessed it… coffee. Fifty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Becoming landlocked with the loss of Eritrea and lack of infrasturcture (only 15% of roads are paved) make trade difficult. The following statistics are from UNICEF: Ethiopia has 4 800 000 orphans ranging in age from 0-17. The average life expectancy is 48. The GNI per capita is $160 USD. 23% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. 33% of exports are used to service debt. Female genital mutilation has a prevalence of between 69 and 76%. 43% of children (age 5-14) are involved in child labour. Only 22% of the population has access to improved drinking water. 38% of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight. 47% of children under 5 suffer from moderate to severe growth stunting. I would like to credit all the sources for this information… but I can’t. I have learned so much about Ethiopia in the past year that I can’t keep track of where it has all come from. Having said that, I have copied parts from Wikipedia (mostly the bit about climate) and UNICEF. Hopefully you have learned something about a country that I have never visited, but where part of my heart resides.

An Event

Orphanage Donations

When we travel to Ethiopia, we are hoping to take a suitcase full of donations for orphanages. One of the things on the list of needed items is blankets for cribs and twin beds. With that in mind, I am going to host an old fashioned quilting bee. Before you stop reading because you think you can't sew, come anyway. There are lots of jobs for people who think they can't sew too. If you have fabric (either cotton or flannel), that would be very much appreciated. I haven't set a date yet, because I'd really like to find a time that works for the majority of people. I was thinking sometime in early august? You will have to ignore the state of my house (yes we are still under renovation... sigh). Email me to let me know if you are interested and if you think you can spare some time.

For those of you who can't see yourself participating, but would still like to contribute, I have included a list of other things that we are told are needed. The items need to be new. If you are considering donating one of the bulkier items, talk to us first because we only have so much space!

Orphanage Donations Needed Cloth diapers Disposable diapers Crib mattress covers Baby duvet blanket covers Nipples /bottles Fitted crib sheets Cloth crib quilts (not knitted) Scabies/lice remedies- creams and shampoos Hydrocortizone crème and “Peneten” Diaper Rash ointment Zincofax Ointment for Diaper rash Shoes for kids up to age 6 years. Clothes for children up to 10 years of age Socks (all sizes) Hair elastics/ pik combs/ hair clips/pony tail holders/hair brushes Collapsible play pens Twin bed sheets Twin bed quilts Giant Lego blocks/ dump trucks/dolls Towels, face cloths, tea towels, wash cloths Medicines If you are bringing in cash donations these could help to purchase one or more of these items: mesh for the staircase and observatory from the second floor. change tables for baby and toddler rooms cupboards and shelving for all children's rooms Filing cabinet or something for files at clinic playpens at least 6 - nylon so can be wiped down easily. Garbage cans for all rooms and bathrooms Laundry baskets for all rooms Cleaning supply room with locked cabinet A generous supply of buckets, mops etc for cleaning staff. . 6 excersausers for toddlers highchairs- 6 at least. Toy box and toys for each room and outside Decorations for rooms- ie alphabet, pictures Bulletin boards of pictures of families in living room Baby scale for clinic possibly a small 'tub" for every child to have under their bed for their clothes etc. CHOIR PROJECTS:

all school supplies, Crayons, coloring books, pencils, erasers, pens Art Supplies Sports equipment –like soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs, Skipping ropes, and other children’s games Stickers, beading projects, Clothing for kids from size 3 – 14 Shoes for ages 3 years old to 16 years old