An Army of Thousands

We have been home from Ethiopia for almost 10 months and I am still unable to completely digest what that experience taught me. People say a baby changes everything and they are right, but what if your baby comes from a part of the world that feels forgotten. This will also change everything. I look at my daughter's face and realize she could have been one of the forgotten. Now I understand the huge efforts of the many Charities working in all parts of Africa, yet the suffering continues. I tell people about what I saw and about what I have since learned through books and research, but it doesn't seem to impact them in the same way it has me. Is this because I have an invisible and forever tie to Africa through my daughter? Maybe so.
I am unsure how to process all of this, what do I do next? how can I help? how can I be a good example to my daughter that we cannot sit back and let this continue?
Why is it that mothers in Ethiopia are dying after child birth because of lack of food and water. Yes, we can adopt these now motherless children, but the problem will just persist. I have to believe there is another way!
I have to believe that we ALL, all of us families adopting from Africa, are adopting for a bigger reason. I know the saying, "I may not be able to change the world, but I can change the world for one child", but why can't we also try and change the world? We are now An Army of Thousands, thousands of families who have or are adopting from Africa. One may not be able to change the world, but what about THOUSANDS????????

what Ethiopia Taught me.......

AIDS, STARVATION, CHILD SOLDIERS, GENOCIDES, ORPHANS....
*These are the IMAGES that come to mind when I think of AFRICA
*HOW can I Help?
*HOW can I make a DIFFERENCE
*I THINK....... I am NEEDED HERE....
*They have so little....AND I have so MUCH
*often there is a LEVEL of SUFFERING here that is UNIMAGINABLE
*But it is hard to reconcile the CHALLENGES many Africans FACE
*with the JOY I see in The People
*but the IMAGES spilling out of my T.V. showed ONLY MISERY and I was FOOLED
*I BOUGHT into the LIE....that CIRCUMSTANCES defines HAPPINESS
*in Places where Despair SHOULD thrive....I found adults DANCING and SINGING
CHILDREN playing soccer with a ball TIED of TRASH
*RELATIONSHIPS and FAITH provide JOY
*my NEW REALITY....my JOY should have NO regards for my CIRCUMSTANCES

I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head to my HEART

I NO longer want to NEED the "NEXT THING" to have JOY

Africa NEEDS our EFFORTS and PARTNERSHIP

Because it is Africa that has TAUGHT me that POSSESSIONS in my Hands.....
will NEVER be as VALUABLE as PEACE in my HEART

for ME......

I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Happy 2009!

Well, new year another adoption.....just a joke. We are hoping to start another adoption from Ethiopia in this new year. The when is still unknown. What we do know is that we love our baby girl from Ethiopia and would love another. I know this year will bring lots of fun times as Gabre grows. She will get more teeth, learn to talk, start to run, loose the bottle, have her 2nd birthday and much much more. We are so looking forward to 2009!

After Presents

After presents we went to the Barton Creek Spa and Resort for a breakfast buffet. Gabre loved the gingerbread pancakes. We took lost of picture, about 60, and just a few turned out. Gabre was not in the mood for family pictures. I would say her favorite part of Christmas was walking back and forth in this huge hallway at the hotel, as you can see from the Big smile on her face in the first picture. Overall Gabre had a Wonderful 1st Christmas with her Mommy and Daddy!

Merry Christmas!

Baby Gap!

This is one of Gabre's Christmas pictures. Doesn't she looks like an add for Baby Gap?
We are staying home for Christmas. We think she is going to enjoy opening gifts, although she will like the bows and paper better than the gifts this year.
Gabre is finally walking, but still goes back to crawling when she wants to get somewhere fast. She loves to go go go.

I have been tagged

Two soon to be Ethiopia adoption mamas, Erin and Chistina, tagged me.
1)I have been a vegetarian since middle school.
2)I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
3)I prefer a landscape of Sky scrapers to Mountains. My favorite is NYC, of course.
4)My husband's nickname for me is Pumpkin.
5)I adopted my first dog from the CCAA in NYC and she was half bald, but I loved her anyway, my Madison.
6)Currently I only watch CNN.
7)My red hair is real!

I tag.........
Lisa
Lory
Shawn
Kelly
Steph
Chantelle
Mindy

Our Journey to Ethiopia

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun in Denver

Gabre and I went to Denver a few weekends ago. Gabre got to meet her cousin Maci for the first time and see some of her Ethiopian buddies. The pictures say it all.


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MeleKame Lidete Gabre!!!!!

Happy Birthday Gabre!

I cannot believe our baby is 1 today. She is truly a little miracle to us. Today we honor her, her birth mother and her birth country.

Gabre,

Today is your First Birthday and 142 days since you have been in our arms. You are our greatest joy. We love the sound of your giggle. We love the way you pose for pictures. We love the way you fake cough. We love that you greet us with a big smile every morning. We love that your first word was "Dog" or really "Daw". We love how you reach your hand out to greet all new people. We love that you have a loud voice and us it, a lot. We love that you like a good meal or really any meal. We love the sad look on your face when we have to tell you "No No". We love that you perfectly fit in our arms from the moment you were handed to us. We love your tiny feet. We love your curls. We love your beautiful eyes. We love You!

Daddy and Mommy

Got Ethiopian Food?

We had an early dinner at our local Ethiopia restaurant yesterday to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year. This was Gabre's first taste of her homeland food. She LOVED it. As you can see from the below pictures she went to town. We are so lucky to have an Ethiopian restaurant and the owners are so kind to us. They hold and play with Gabre while we eat. We feel right at home.

Here are some cute pictures.

Melkam Addis Amet! = Happy New Year!

Today is Ethiopia's new year, 2001. The Ethiopian calendar is made up of 12 months, each lasting 30 days, and then an extra month is tagged on lasting just 5 days (6 in a leap year). Most of the world's calendars are in fact based on an ancient Egyptian calendar so there are many similarities. Ethiopia is 7.5 years behind the Gregorian calendar because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church didn't agree on the date of the creation of the world, so they started off from two different points many hundreds of years ago.
We are going to the local Ethiopia restaurant today to celebrate our daughter's heritage. We will be welcomed with warm arms. We continue to be amazed at the warmth all Ethiopians have shown us, from our time in Addis Ababa to our return. They have open hearts for all.

Happy New Year Gabre!!!!!

Hello again!

I have not been a very good blogger as of lately. I have been doing a lot of work on my computer and when I have had some extra time I have not felt like even looking at my computer. The good thing is I have lots of pictures saved up to show you.

Gabre is doing great and we are planning her 1st birthday party, to be held next Saturday. We are having her party a few weeks early, her Birthday is on Sept.23. The party is going to be lots of fun with friends and animals. We are having a petting zoo come for all the kids. Gabre loves animals, I think she gets that from her parents, and it is also a good learning experience for all the kids.

I cannot believe we are already planning her 1st birthday, WOW! She has changed so much in the last month alone. She has found her sense of self.......and how to get what she wants. She can be sooooo loud when she wants something she cannot have. I have a feeling everyone will always know Gabre is in the room and in the world.
She is no wall flower.

Here is to NOT being a Wall Flower!