finally.

Making Ring Slings

I like to sew but one of my favorite things to make is ring slings. And recently I’ve been making a lot of them and giving them away to parents who are in the process of adopting.

For those of you unfamiliar with babywearing, it’s amazing. It’s a great way to bond with your baby, it allows you to have your hands free while you carry your baby around with you and in general makes life with a baby a little easier.

I originally thought I would sell my slings but honestly, I don’t really like to sell my stuff. It’s much more fun to sew when I’m not trying to make a profit. Instead I posted on an adoption forum that I am on a message stating that if anyone wanted a ring sling to contact me and I’d make them one.

So far, it’s been great. I’ve got about 20 slings to make and I’m done with about 9 of them. But there’s no rush – most of the people waiting for a sling probably won’t hear about their baby until late winter or early spring this year.

I’ve been gathering up fabric to use and I’ve got quite a bit. My brainstorm that bedsheets would work was a good guess, they make great slings. And then there is my freecycle stash. A lady I picked up fabric from must have bought stuff by the bolt because I have yards and yards of material that will work. And I’ve got lots of scrap material and ribbon that is adding a few finishing touches to each sling – just to make them a little different from each other.

Here are some I’ve done that I really like:

Big News in the world of Adoption

This came from a fellow adoptive parent’s blog: (I’ve added a few things in italics.)

People, this is HUGE. Follow this link to read a press release about a bill introduced in both the Senate and the House last week. If this bill passes it will remove the HIV waiver, the TB testing and the need to get a COC (certificate of citizenship – which is expensive and time consuming). Long story short, right now parents wanting to adopt an child that is HIV+ need to fill out extra paperwork and jump through way too many hoops to bring them home. Also, all children need to be TB tested before receiving their visa allowing them into the US. Basically it will allow our children to be treated like just that, our children. While they are recognized as our children they treated as though they are immigrants. This bill will allow them the same rights as children who are born overseas to American parents – rights such as being allowed to run for President and to serve in the US military. They won’t be denied scholarships or passports or at the most extreme not being deported for minor juvenile offenses (yes, that has happened). PLUS, and for me this is a biggie (I agree with Amanda on this – changing the age limit is HUGE. Children aging out of the system before they are adopted is an incredibly sad and scary situation for them to be in.) – children would be eligible for adoption up to age 18 (right now it’s 16 with younger siblings).

Once the bill is closer to a vote I will be posting here asking EVERYONE (that means you) to please, please contact your Senators and Representatives insisting on their support.

May 7 is World AIDS Orphan Day

I started writing a post about this but Erin says everything I want to say and says it much better. And huge bonus, she has graciously let people copy her post and link to her blog.

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Tomorrow, May 7,  is World AIDS Orphans Day. World AIDS Orphans Day is a grassroots campaign to draw attention to and advocate on behalf of the millions of children orphaned by AIDS.

Here are some of the staggering facts. Please read them… please really stop and think a minute about these statistics.

• There are over 15 million children orphaned by AIDS living around the world RIGHT NOW. 15 million is the equivalent to the number of all of the people living in New York, Paris, and Bangkok combined. That is an awful lot of children.
• Well over 12 million AIDS orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa, alone.
• Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia.
• At least 10 million more children will be orphans by AIDS by 2010.

Do you know how many TOTAL global confirmed cases of the swine flu there have been? As of today (May 6), there have been 1,516 cases. Do you know how many people, world wide, have died of the swine flu as of today?? 31. And look at all the hype… all the action… all the caring.

Do you know how many people around the world DIED of HIV/AIDS in 2007? An estimated TWO MILLION people. That is over 5,400 people a day, dieing of HIV/AIDS. It has been estimated that now, in 2009, 6,500 people will die every day from AIDS, and an estimated 6,000 of those people will leave behind children when they die.

So today, another 6,000 children will be added to the already 15 million children world wide who have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis.

The result of being orphaned by AIDS is heart-breaking for these children. From the World AIDS Orphans Day website:

• In addition to the trauma of losing a parent, orphans are often subject to discrimination and are less likely to receive healthcare, education and other needed services.
• In HIV affected households lacking community support, food consumption can drop by 40% putting children at risk to hunger, malnutrition and stunting.
• Impoverished and often without support to educate and protect them, orphans and vulnerable children face increased risk of HIV infection. (And there are already an estimated 2 million children currently living with HIV).
  
• Orphans are often easy prey to many forms of exploitation: forced labor, prostitution and child soldiering.

In the United States, if a child loses a parent to accident or illness, it is considered a terrible tragedy. Such stories are covered by the media, communities mourn and show their support, etc. In Sub-Saharan Africa, parents dieing is a normal part of life. It is still a terrible tragedy for those children, but it happens so often that no one else really pays any attention.

And do you know what makes this really, truly horrible? Do you know what makes my gut twist and my heart ache? HIV IS COMPLETELY TREATABLE.

If a person contracts HIV in the United States or another country where there is treatment readily available, they have an excellent long term prognosis. Most HIV+ people receiving treatment now have close to normal life expectancies and can live in good overall health.  With treatment, HIV+ children can be healthy and happy. They can go to school, grow up, go to college, have (healthy!) children, and live long enough to raise them and beyond. Without treatment, an estimated 50% of HIV+ children will die before the hit their second birthday. My Solomon was almost one of those 50%.

HIV does not have to be a death sentence, and yet for thousands of people every day, it is, because the world doesn’t care enough to really do something about it.

Can you imagine for one minute if some terrible disease struck the United States (or whatever country you live in) and was killing thousands and orphaning thousands every day? Can you imagine if another country had treatment that could lead to good health and a long life, but it just was too expensive or too difficult or too much trouble to get that medicine to us? We wouldn’t stand for it.

So why do we stand for it now?

I can’t wrap my head around what 15 million orphans looks like. I can barely wrap my head around the 100 or so HIV+ orphans that I am trying to find adoptive families for. The numbers are staggering, and so is the need for action. Children are the future of our world, and I shudder to think about what this world will be like with so many millions of children growing up without the love and security of a family… and way too often growing up without adequate food, education and medical care.  Where does that leave all of us?

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision, US said,

“I believe that this could very well be looked back on as the sin of our generation. I look at my parents and ask, where were they during the civil rights movement? I look at my grandparents and ask, what were they doing when the holocaust in Europe was occurring with regard to the Jews, and why didn’t they speak up? And when we think of our great, great, great-grandparents, we think how could they have sat by and allowed slavery to exist? And I believe that our children and their children, 40 or 50 years from now, are going to ask me, what did you do while 40 million children became orphans in Africa?”

I know that it feels like the problem is way too big for us to really do anything to make a difference, but I know with all my heart that touching the life of just one, just ONE, child can truly make a difference. And if everyone touched the life of just one child, we could reach them all.

Here are some ways that you can help touch the life of an AIDS orphan this World AIDS Orphans Day.

- Get educated. One of the biggest roadblocks in getting people to care and take action is the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. This is not a disease that only strikes those who “deserve it” (yes, that is really how some people think!). This is a disease that strikes men, women and children… it strikes heterosexuals and homosexuals, it strikes people of all races and social classes and it strikes people in all countries. HIV/AIDS is a HUMAN problem.

Fear is another big roadblock. HIV can not be transmitted in any casual way, and people that are HIV+ are not a threat to those around them. HIV can only be transmitted through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles).

I have written a ton about HIV/AIDS, and you can find those posts here. Once you are educated, join my Tell Two Campaign and share the truth about HIV/AIDS with others.

Two excellent books to read about the HIV/AIDS crisis and the orphan crisis are There is No Me Without You and  28 Stories of AIDS in Africa.

- Sponsor an AIDS orphan. There are many wonderful organizations out there that allow you to sponsor a child for a very low cost per month. Doing so makes a great difference in the life of that child, and getting to know the child you sponsor through pictures, updates, letters, etc. will have a great impact on your life as well. I promise. Two wonderful organizations that I work with are AHOPE for Children (which supports AHOPE Ethiopia, a home and community support program for HIV+ children in Ethiopia) and Hardthaven, a home for AIDS orphans in Ghana. I know that financially times are hard for many right now, but we  live better than most people in the world and would have to sacrifice very very little to sponsor (and truly help) an orphaned child.

- Consider adopting. Adoption is only an option for a tiny percentage of the 15 million AIDS orphans around the world and it is certainly not the solution to the AIDS crisis or the orphan crisis, but for the tiny percentage of children who do get adopted, it changes their world and their future dramatically (and for the adoptive parents, it is equally amazing).  There are agencies and programs placing healthy and special needs orphans from all over the world with new families. If your heart may be open to adopting an HIV+ child, I have about 100 amazing children of all ages waiting for a second chance at love, family and life.

You can read here why I believe in adoption, and you can read here why I feel so passionately about adoption for HIV+ children.

- Support From HIV to Home, an organization that helps provide care for HIV+ orphans and supports and helps parents adopting HIV+ children. They have a wonderful program to help raise money for parents adopting HIV+ children called Kids Walking Kids Home.

- Support Project HOPEFUL, whose mission is to “encourage, educate and enable parents adopting children with HIV/AIDS”.

- Visit the World AIDS Orphans website for other ways to touch your heart, get educated and get involved.

Please feel free to share this post anywhere you see fit. Thanks for reading.

One Month Update

On Monday, Milo will have been home for a month. It’s a little hard to believe it’s already been a month. Some days it feels like he’s been with us forever and some days it feels like we just got off the plane.

People have been asking us if we’ve had any issues since coming home…no, not really. He is so young that it feels very similar to bringing Lexi home from the hospital. We didn’t know Lexi all that well when we brought her home. We knew we loved her and we knew she was ours but we didn’t know her eating habits, her sleeping habits, what she liked to do when she was awake – we had to figure all of that out as we went along. Same thing with Milo. Although with Milo we had the advantage of observing and talking to the people who cared for him for the first 5 months of his life so I feel like we were a little more prepared.

Since we’ve been home he’s started to show his personality a lot more. When we first met him he was pretty quiet and just observed and took in his surroundings. He wasn’t withdrawn, just very quiet. Now…well…now he’s found his voice. He loves to shriek and squeal. He thinks Lexi’s brand of comedy is freakin’ hillarious and will laugh a full-on belly laugh for her. He still sucks his thumb but now likes to blow raspberries while sucking his thumb. He makes that ppllbbbt noise all the time. His feet are one of his favorite toys. When he’s happy, he’s very happy.

He let’s us know when he’s hungry. And when he’s hungry, he wants food NOW. There is not much patience when it comes to food. Food issues were an issue we knew was a possibility with an infant and I’d say that while he’s not nearly as obsessed with food as other adoptees, he’s does have some issues with food. He mostly just needs the reassurance that he will get fed when he’s hungry.

We’ve had a few days where he needs to be held a lot but I’m not convinced that it’s adoption related. I think he just really likes to be held and some days he wants it more than others.

His sleeping his great. He naps decent during the day but at night he goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 and then sleeps until about 10. Gets a bottle and then goes back to sleep until about 6:30. Another bottle and then back to bed until about 8. We’ve had the occasional night of waking up at 2 or 4 wanting another bottle or waking up due to gas but all in all, I am not complaining one bit about his sleep.

I’m so glad we came home in the spring because he really likes being outside. There’s just so much for him to watch and observe.

Lexi seems to really like having a brother. She talks about him quite a bit. She asks where he is when he’s napping and always wants to kiss, hug or hold him. And when the social worker came to our house for a post-adoption visit, Lexi was very concerned that she was coming to take Milo back to Ethiopia.

Oh, and he’s putting on weight like crazy. We go to the doctor on Monday and my guess is he’s over 13 pounds. He’s actually putting on body fat in his legs and arms. And the muscles in his back and legs are gaining some strength. Today he spent a good portion of the afternoon attempting to roll over.

It’s been a good month.

A lot to say but not sure where to start.

Now that we are back home and not sick and not jetlaged I’ve been wanting to write about our trip and having Milo home but there is so much to say, so much to share, I’m not quite sure where to start.

First of all, thank you. Thank you to the people who brought us stuff for our rummage sale. Thank you to the people who bought stuff from the rummage sale. Thank you to the people who sent donations towards Kevin shaving his head. Thank you to the people who prayed for us. Thank you to the people who asked us about updates and listened when we were excited about updates and when we complained about wait times. There is no way we could have done this alone. So thank you.

About Ethiopia.

Ethiopia was amazing. It’s how I pictured it to be and completely different than I thought it would be. I can’t really explain it but even though I’d never been there before, everything felt very familiar. When we go back (and we will go back at some point) I want to see more of the country. Our trip was obviously focused on Milo so there wasn’t much sight-seeing or touring. What we saw was mostly out the bus window.

We went shopping at a small mercado. It was obviously designed for tourists. Then we drove through the real mercado. The small mercado was one or two streets of shops, all containing similar jewelry and wall hangings and clothes. The real mercado was huge. Single streets devoted entirely to textiles or shoes or cleaning products or clothes or electronics.

Hosanna

We drove down to Hosanna and saw where Milo lived when he was first brought into the care center. Up until recently, children were relinquished to a care center in their local area and then after a few weeks (sometimes months) transferred to the care center in Addis where they waited for a family. While we were in Hosanna we met one of the nannies who cared for Milo. We showed her a recent picture and she was very excited to see how happy and healthy he looked.

Hosanna is “the country”. It’s about 3-4 hours south of the city and looks like the pictures you see of Ethiopia. There are wide open spaces and traditional round mud and straw huts. There are donkeys carrying yellow jerry cans to fill with water and young kids driving cattle down the road.

The CHSFS bus makes the Hosanna trip every Sunday so I think we were an event for the kids along the way. They ran to the edge of the road, waved and wanted us to take pictures.

The Plane Ride

Let’s face it 20+ hours on a plane just sucks. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was typical plane seats with minimal room and food that was pretty bland. The ride home however was great. We lucked out and got the bulkhead seats and a bassinet which meant we had leg room and Milo could sleep in a bed. And jet lag wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Milo

Milo seems to be adjusting to life in Minnesota pretty well. He sort of naps in the morning, takes a decent nap in the afternoon and only half wakes up at night for a couple of bottles. And by half wake up, I mean he wakes up, cries and then can barely keep his eyes open to eat.

It’s been fun getting to know him. He’s smiley and happy and for five months old is pretty good at letting us know what he wants.

He likes to be held but is content to hang out on the floor and play with toys.

He thinks Lexi and the dogs are fascinating.

He sucks both thumbs at the same time.

He thinks being naked is really funny. And bath time is a blast.

Along with being naked and bath time he also thinks that spit bubbles, burping, blowing raspberries and chewing on his burp rag are also amusing ways of passing the time.

He took to a bottle right away and gets MAD if he not being fed as soon as he starts to fuss for food.

He likes to be bundled up in blankets and is a total sweat bomb when he sleeps.

He likes riding in his sling. He seems to prefer the ring-sling over the others but I think it’s because he’s a little too short for the other ones.

More updates will come. Like I said – lots to say but not sure where to start.

Leaving Ethiopia

Today is our last day in Ethiopia. We head to the airport in about 8 hours. It’ll be sad to leave but I’ll be glad to be back home in a familiar place with both my kids.

I’ll be posting much more later but for now here’s some highlights:

· Going to Hosanna to meet people who are an important part of Milo’s life.

· Watching the nannies take care of the kids

· Hanging out at the guest house (with candles because of zero power)

· Watching School of Rock

· Going to Metro Pizza (it’s almost as good as Punch Pizza)

· Playing with Lily, the dog that lives at the Guest House

· Finally taking Milo home on Tuesday. No more saying goodbye at the care center.

· Beautiful weather. In the morning it’s a little cloudy and breezy and about 70 degrees. It gets hot around lunch time and then the evenings are cool again.

A couple of things I won’t miss:

· Flies.

· The cats. Seriously, two cats somewhere in our neighborhood would sound like it was a fight to the death every morning around 2ish.

If everything goes as scheduled we should be home by about 4:30 pm on Friday. (We’re leaving Ethiopia at 10:30pm Thursday). See you then.

hi from ethiopia

we’re here. i don’t have much time because we’re sharing a computer with others so grammar and spelling are out the window at the moment.

after a very long flight, we got in thursday night. our travel group is great. it’s been fun finally meeting people that i’ve been “computer friends” with for so long.

today we met milo. he’s tiny. very tiny. but he’s beautiful. he’s got a great smile and is completely content to just snuggle in and sleep in our arms the entire time. although this afternoon he was a little more active – laughing and trying to roll over. he also showed us how he is capable of sucking both thumbs at once.

it’s amazing to see how loved he and the rest of the kids are. the nannies take such good care of them and you can tell they will miss our kids.

we’ve been to the care center twice. do to a power outage we got a very brief orientation before meeting our kids and then got to go back in the afternoon because they couldn’t do another presentation.

we see him again all morning tomorrow.

jet lag is killing me. it’s about 11:30 here and my body is wondering why i am trying to sleep at 3:30 in the afternoon.

internet has been spotty so i’ll try and update wehn/if i can.

T-12 hours

Bags packed? Check.

Bags piled by the door? Check.

Grandma in town to watch Lexi? Check.

Lists of instructions printed? Check.

Ride to the airport? Check.

Completely unable to sleep? Check.

Looks like we are ready to leave for Ethiopia.

And the Randomness Continues…

• This is funny. Funny and sad. I’m not a fan of Ayn Rand. But I’m  fan of Colbert and I love this: … when millions are losing jobs, losing homes and losing hope, there is nothing more important than putting yourself first.”
• This weekend is all about the packing. I kept telling myself I wanted to be packed before this weekend but then I cam up with about 482,000 other things to do. So this weekend is packing and laundry. Well, technically, it’s laundry then packing.
• One weekend and two work days left until we are on a plane.
  
• One weekend and 5 days left until we meet our son.
• I got this update on Milo from a friend who is in Ethiopia right now: “He is beautiful and healthy and has a great smile.  He is tiny – especially his little legs and bottom, but his tummy is a good size.  No signs of any sickness at all. You may want to bring some pretty small diapers (perhaps newborn size). He spent some of the time here sitting in his bobby chair, so if you don’t have one, get one, he really liked it.  He was pushing up and holding his head up really well.  Also, he REALLY likes to be held, so that is a perfect fit for a sling wearing momma!!! You will see for yourself soon – but really, nothing to worry about at all.  He was hanging out without a diaper and had no messes, so i think any intestional issues have certainly cleared up!”

Our Time in Ethiopia

Lots of people have asked what our trip will be like. It’s going to be a whirlwind. For those of you curious, here’s a sample itinerary:

Wednesday – fly out of the Cities.

Thursday – Land in Ethiopia around 7:30. Check in at the guest house

Friday – Orientation, meet with case worker, medical staff and meet Milo (briefly)

Saturday – Hang out with Milo for the morning, shopping in the afternoon, dinner/show

Sunday – Travel to Hosanna

Monday – More hanging out with Milo, tour AHOPE and sight seeing

Tuesday – Going away celebration for the kids, Embassy appointment, Milo is in our care from now on.

Wednesday – Hanging out with Milo and other families

Thursday – Morning cooking class, Packing, hanging with Milo, head to the airport

Friday – Land in Twin Cities around 4:30.

It’s going to be one busy week.