Monday, April 28, 2008
encouraging link
There is a great blog post on this blog by another mom (not the one who has this post). I did nto feel right in copying it to mine but if you follow this link and scroll down to a post called to have a family or something very similar read that one. It is really good and encouraging. http://wewillbringthemhome.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
CBI and progress
Monday I called the CBI office to check on our finger print cards. They were no where to be found. Later the nice lady called me and said she found them and it looks like they should be done this week. FBI too! Well, against all odds, they are in today! FBI still pending but Fri looks like a good possibility, hoping anyway. We pick up police clearance tomorrow. Dr. papers Fri and Mon. Review the final Home Study report Tuesday. Then off it goes to the state for approval and then we get a referral! Then we send our I600A (Homeland security/immigration forms for pre application for orphan adoption- Colorado now requires a completed home study to send this in. Lots of people just got theirs sent back because it did not have the home study in it) and the dossier (yes, we have to paperwork for that done) for certification and authentication, then it goes to Ethiopia and to their courts. We are praying that all court process' clear by the first of July. This would clear us to travel late summer. If it happens it would be against all odds. This we pray for. So far everything has been faster than expected. Holding my breath and praying. If not we go late fall. Going at all is what counts really. I just do not want my little boys to wait too long for their mama and daddy. How is it that you can love someone so much and you don't even know their name, or who they are. It is an amazing thing.
Jill
Jill
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Ethiopia birthplace of humanity
This is very interesting science. The Bible upholds a lot of this as well, the garden of eden was likely in the area of Ethiopia which is refered to as Cush in the Bible. King James version uses Ethiopia some 45 times. Moses' wife was thought to be Ethiopian. Dave read a book called the Seven Daughters of Eve. It was about the study below. Some of the oldest human remains have been found in Ethiopia. Whatever you think..... it is at least interesting.
Jill
DNA studies map human migration
The pattern of genetic mutations offers evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and went on to colonize most of the world.
By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 22, 2008
Scrutinizing the DNA of 938 people from 51 distinct populations around the world, geneticists have created a detailed map of how humans spread from their home base in sub-Saharan Africa to populate the farthest reaches of the globe over the last 100,000 years.
The pattern of genetic mutations, to be published today in the journal Science, offers striking evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and -- along with their descendants -- went on to colonize North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, southern and central Asia, Australia and its surrounding islands, the Americas and East Asia.
A second analysis based on some of the same DNA samples corroborated the results. Those findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature, demonstrated that the greater the geographic distance between a population and its African ancestors, the more changes had accumulated in its genes. The story of human migration revealed by DNA "complements what's known through history, linguistics or anthropology," said Jun Li, a University of Michigan human geneticist and lead author of the Science study.
Both research groups relied on DNA from blood samples collected by anthropologists around the world as part of the Human Genome Diversity Project, a controversial effort from the mid-1990s to gather genetic specimens from thousands of populations, including many indigenous tribes. Previous studies have relied on data from the International HapMap Consortium, which cataloged DNA from 269 people of Nigerian, Japanese, Chinese and European descent. "Instead of saying a particular person's genome is from Africa, this kind of data allows us to say which part of Africa they were from," said Andrew Singleton, chief of the molecular genetics section at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., and senior author of the Nature report.
In both studies, the researchers analyzed more than half a million single-letter changes among the approximately 3 billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up the human genome. Those changes -- called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs -- begin as random mutations and accumulate over time as they are passed from one generation to the next. Each time a small group left its home territory to found a new population, the migration ultimately led to a unique pattern of SNPs. Comparing those patterns, the researchers were able to show that humans spread around the globe through a series of migrations that originated from a location near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
With the expanded DNA data set, Li and his colleagues were able to make finer distinctions among groups that were previously treated as homogeneous. In Europe, for example, the researchers were able to distinguish between Orcadians from present-day Scotland, the French, Tuscans and northern Italians from what is now Bergamo, Italy. In the Far East, population geneticists had previously surmised that northern and southern Han Chinese were distinct populations and that the Japanese islands were populated by northern Han. "Now we have direct evidence that that's true," Li said. Singleton's group also studied collections of SNPs called haplotypes that tend to be inherited en masse, as well as DNA segments known as copy number variants that appear with different frequencies in different individuals.
By creating a catalog of normal genetic variability among different groups of people, the studies will help medical researchers pinpoint the role of genes in specific diseases, said Singleton, whose lab is part of the National Institutes of Health. A third study, also published in Nature, compared SNPs in 20 European Americans to those in 15 African Americans and found that, on average, a higher proportion of the European American SNPs were likely to be harmful. Overall, the African American genomes had more SNPs, reflecting the fact that they are descended from an older population, said senior author Carlos Bustamante, an assistant professor of biological statistics and computational biology at Cornell University.
By using a computer algorithm, researchers determined that 12% of the SNPs unique to African Americans were "probably damaging," compared with 16% of the SNPs found only in the European Americans. He and his colleagues surmised that the discrepancy could be traced to the relatively small and homogenous group that first inhabited Europe. Any harmful mutations they brought with them would have spread more quickly through the isolated group. Such effects have been observed in European subgroups, such as Ashkenazi Jews and Icelanders, Bustamante said. The results suggest that larger populations could be vulnerable to "founder effects" as well, he said. The studies were funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation and private foundations.
karen.kaplan@latimes.com
Jill
DNA studies map human migration
The pattern of genetic mutations offers evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and went on to colonize most of the world.
By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 22, 2008
Scrutinizing the DNA of 938 people from 51 distinct populations around the world, geneticists have created a detailed map of how humans spread from their home base in sub-Saharan Africa to populate the farthest reaches of the globe over the last 100,000 years.
The pattern of genetic mutations, to be published today in the journal Science, offers striking evidence that an ancient band of explorers left what is now Ethiopia and -- along with their descendants -- went on to colonize North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, southern and central Asia, Australia and its surrounding islands, the Americas and East Asia.
A second analysis based on some of the same DNA samples corroborated the results. Those findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature, demonstrated that the greater the geographic distance between a population and its African ancestors, the more changes had accumulated in its genes. The story of human migration revealed by DNA "complements what's known through history, linguistics or anthropology," said Jun Li, a University of Michigan human geneticist and lead author of the Science study.
Both research groups relied on DNA from blood samples collected by anthropologists around the world as part of the Human Genome Diversity Project, a controversial effort from the mid-1990s to gather genetic specimens from thousands of populations, including many indigenous tribes. Previous studies have relied on data from the International HapMap Consortium, which cataloged DNA from 269 people of Nigerian, Japanese, Chinese and European descent. "Instead of saying a particular person's genome is from Africa, this kind of data allows us to say which part of Africa they were from," said Andrew Singleton, chief of the molecular genetics section at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., and senior author of the Nature report.
In both studies, the researchers analyzed more than half a million single-letter changes among the approximately 3 billion As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up the human genome. Those changes -- called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs -- begin as random mutations and accumulate over time as they are passed from one generation to the next. Each time a small group left its home territory to found a new population, the migration ultimately led to a unique pattern of SNPs. Comparing those patterns, the researchers were able to show that humans spread around the globe through a series of migrations that originated from a location near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
With the expanded DNA data set, Li and his colleagues were able to make finer distinctions among groups that were previously treated as homogeneous. In Europe, for example, the researchers were able to distinguish between Orcadians from present-day Scotland, the French, Tuscans and northern Italians from what is now Bergamo, Italy. In the Far East, population geneticists had previously surmised that northern and southern Han Chinese were distinct populations and that the Japanese islands were populated by northern Han. "Now we have direct evidence that that's true," Li said. Singleton's group also studied collections of SNPs called haplotypes that tend to be inherited en masse, as well as DNA segments known as copy number variants that appear with different frequencies in different individuals.
By creating a catalog of normal genetic variability among different groups of people, the studies will help medical researchers pinpoint the role of genes in specific diseases, said Singleton, whose lab is part of the National Institutes of Health. A third study, also published in Nature, compared SNPs in 20 European Americans to those in 15 African Americans and found that, on average, a higher proportion of the European American SNPs were likely to be harmful. Overall, the African American genomes had more SNPs, reflecting the fact that they are descended from an older population, said senior author Carlos Bustamante, an assistant professor of biological statistics and computational biology at Cornell University.
By using a computer algorithm, researchers determined that 12% of the SNPs unique to African Americans were "probably damaging," compared with 16% of the SNPs found only in the European Americans. He and his colleagues surmised that the discrepancy could be traced to the relatively small and homogenous group that first inhabited Europe. Any harmful mutations they brought with them would have spread more quickly through the isolated group. Such effects have been observed in European subgroups, such as Ashkenazi Jews and Icelanders, Bustamante said. The results suggest that larger populations could be vulnerable to "founder effects" as well, he said. The studies were funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation and private foundations.
karen.kaplan@latimes.com
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Where we are at
You may wonder, well more likely not really, but then again, if you are reading this you might just wonder............. We had our last home study meeting on Sat. April 12th. Now our adoption case worker will write it up. It will take her about two weeks. We are still waiting on the CBI and FBI reports and the child abuse registry to come back. We anticipate seeing those mid to late May. I do not see why it takes so long since there is no record of any kind on any account. :) Oh well. We are also waiting for Dr. papers, we anticipate those next week. Once those are in then it can go to the state for approval, takes a few days. Once it is back we hope to have some little boys "placed" with us. Then we add the home study sealed report to the dossier (which is also ready minus the police report, which should have been here by now. I will have to call Monday, and the Dr. letter - next week) Then we can send that to be certified by the state and then authenticated by our agency and then they will send it to Ethiopia. Then Ethiopia will do their court routine and then give us an invitation to come with an Embassy date. Then we will buy expensive tickets and go to Ethiopia to gather up our boys and see their birth country and then come home, all of us together at last. When will this happen you ask? Well if things are fast, we have a very, very, small, slight chance of going late summer. However, that would mean they would have to be done with the court routine in Ethiopia before July 15. The more likely is late October or November. Court holiday is July 15 to September 30 this year. The girls will miss an awful lot of school if we go then. We will see.
On another note. Phoebe is sick. Fever, laying in bed, runny nose, sore throat. I think she will be home tomorrow. She just had a sore throat yesterday and we went to our home study meeting, went to Park Meadows Mall for fun, and Bible Study. After Bible Study we saw how much worse she had gotten in just a short time. She and I stayed home today.
At Park Meadows we went in the Pottery Barn Kids shop. We saw a great idea for the boys to have double loft beds, when they are bigger. And, decided on a room theme. We are going to do a zoo theme, or jungle/safari animals. They had the cutest felt animals. I made the birds today and we are going to make the alligator and giraffe too. I am using flannel. Maybe I will even make up some other ones like a lion. Lion is the symbol for Ethiopia, that could be fun. I am looking for two solid blue (slate or country blue, not too navy, not really pastel sky) quilts that are either tube sewn (stripes, lines) or squares or a non flowery matilese. I have not found any affordable ones. If you do let me know! Reversible is ok. The other colours I plan to use are light taupe and chocolate.
Have a great week.
Jill
On another note. Phoebe is sick. Fever, laying in bed, runny nose, sore throat. I think she will be home tomorrow. She just had a sore throat yesterday and we went to our home study meeting, went to Park Meadows Mall for fun, and Bible Study. After Bible Study we saw how much worse she had gotten in just a short time. She and I stayed home today.
At Park Meadows we went in the Pottery Barn Kids shop. We saw a great idea for the boys to have double loft beds, when they are bigger. And, decided on a room theme. We are going to do a zoo theme, or jungle/safari animals. They had the cutest felt animals. I made the birds today and we are going to make the alligator and giraffe too. I am using flannel. Maybe I will even make up some other ones like a lion. Lion is the symbol for Ethiopia, that could be fun. I am looking for two solid blue (slate or country blue, not too navy, not really pastel sky) quilts that are either tube sewn (stripes, lines) or squares or a non flowery matilese. I have not found any affordable ones. If you do let me know! Reversible is ok. The other colours I plan to use are light taupe and chocolate.
Have a great week.
Jill
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Announcement of Adoption
Good News to share!
We have decided to adopt our sons from Ethiopia! Oh yes, I said sons. We hope to bring home two boys, under the age of 5, to join our fun family. Yes, I said adopt! Why? you ask. Ok, it is obvious we have two biological children, hence the question. We want sons, you can not guarantee that with a biological birth-yet; we believe that the world is overpopulated for the current and practical distribution of natural resources and wealth; we know that there are children in the world, a great many, who do not have a loving family to call their own and every child deserves a family of their own; we are Christians and have taken to heart God's desire that we as Christians care for the orphan, and adoption as a means to do so fits well with our other beliefs and desires; we have wanted to adopt for, well, as long as we have known each other and the time is right. You may not agree with all those reasons, but they don't have to be yours. :) Yes, I said Ethiopia. Yes, that is in Africa. Why? you ask again. Well, why not!? Every child deserved a loving family of their own. There are other factors concerning stability and such too. After beginning our research on the country, we are totally sold on the incredible nation of Ethiopia! Take a look at our links if you are interested.
We are all so very excited and hope that you can share our enthusiasm too. I have decided to keep a blog so that others can easily access information about our adoption as they have interest and time. I should be able to update while we are in Ethiopia as well. Yes, we hope to all travel and see the country while we are there.
We began to look for an agency and research countries in late January. In late February we decided on Ethiopia. In early March we decided on International Adoption Net (IAN). We applied and began our home study. Most people we tell are very supportive and want to be part of the adventure in some way. Scroll down for some ideas of how you can be involved IF it interests you.
We have decided to adopt our sons from Ethiopia! Oh yes, I said sons. We hope to bring home two boys, under the age of 5, to join our fun family. Yes, I said adopt! Why? you ask. Ok, it is obvious we have two biological children, hence the question. We want sons, you can not guarantee that with a biological birth-yet; we believe that the world is overpopulated for the current and practical distribution of natural resources and wealth; we know that there are children in the world, a great many, who do not have a loving family to call their own and every child deserves a family of their own; we are Christians and have taken to heart God's desire that we as Christians care for the orphan, and adoption as a means to do so fits well with our other beliefs and desires; we have wanted to adopt for, well, as long as we have known each other and the time is right. You may not agree with all those reasons, but they don't have to be yours. :) Yes, I said Ethiopia. Yes, that is in Africa. Why? you ask again. Well, why not!? Every child deserved a loving family of their own. There are other factors concerning stability and such too. After beginning our research on the country, we are totally sold on the incredible nation of Ethiopia! Take a look at our links if you are interested.
We are all so very excited and hope that you can share our enthusiasm too. I have decided to keep a blog so that others can easily access information about our adoption as they have interest and time. I should be able to update while we are in Ethiopia as well. Yes, we hope to all travel and see the country while we are there.
We began to look for an agency and research countries in late January. In late February we decided on Ethiopia. In early March we decided on International Adoption Net (IAN). We applied and began our home study. Most people we tell are very supportive and want to be part of the adventure in some way. Scroll down for some ideas of how you can be involved IF it interests you.
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