Ethiopian Adoption Resouces

Here are some of my favorite resources for Ethiopian adoption and related sites:

You must read the book "There is no me without you" by Melissa Fay Green

Consider an older child or sibling group who are waiting for a family, the wait is shorter and the need is great.

agency review web site and this site, adoption agency checklist for agency selection too.
be sure to do a google search on any agency and the country coordinator's name and ask lots of questions. There is a yahoo group for the purpose of finding out about agencies, look into that too. I have posted a list of questions to ask on a few group sites. If you want my questions send me an email and I will send it to you. jillanddave@yahoo.com Decide what is important to you and use that as your guide.

Other sites with good info and adoption resources/also sponsoring children:
Adoption Health and Medecine
Orphan Doctor
http://www.kingdomkidsadoption.org/
http://awop.org/
Ethiopian Children And Orphans' Association
MELISSA FAY GREENE'S UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO ADOPTION IN GENERAL AND ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION IN PARTICULAR Informative site Ethiopia
My Ethiopian Name - A Bravenet.com Hosted Site
Sponsor a child from Ethiopia - Ethiopian Child Sponsorship
Welcome to The Ethiopian Children's Fund
Home Ethio-blended families
Adoption - Adoptive Families
AACASA Home, resource, names
Welcome To Simple Language for Adoptive Families!
Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. Home
Adoption Country Specific Information
Adoption Resource Center of Connecticut - Welcome
Hope for Orphans
International Adoption Seminars - Commonwealth Adoptions International
Adoption Advocates International -very informative site
Adoption Today magazine
Coalition of Colorado Adoptive Families 

Books for kids:
Jane Kurtz Ethiopia Reads
Ethiopia Books
Ethiopian Books for Children
My Sister from Ethiopia by Kaylie Klotzbach (Book) in Children
Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. Home

Resources on Ethiopian heritage and history:
NOVA A Walk to Beautiful PBS
EAHCS Ethiopian American Historical and Cultural Society
EthiopianHistory.Com A history of Ethiopia
Imperial Ethiopia - Ethiopia's Religions
CIA - The World Factbook
Ethiopia
Ethiopia - History
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Home
circumcision female-Traditional Practices
Southern Ethiopia - Fascinating Tribal Cultures Photo Gallery by monique jansen at pbase.com
OneWorld Magazine - Ethiopia, The Lost Ark of the Covenant
The Tesfa Foundation The hope of a community is the mind of a child

Resources for kids and families:
Welcome To The Colorado Heritage Camps, Inc.
AbshiroKids.com, kids info & gifts
Amharic Kids - Home, kids stuff
Ethiopian Kids Community Home, kids stuff
Ethiopian Kids Playground, kids stuff
KidMia - Instilling the Ethiopian Heritage in Ethiopian-American Children, kids stuff
More than 75 Culture Camps and Heritage Tours - Adoptive Families

Financing Adoption:

Adoption Financing on Squidoo
Affording Adoption a list
Adoption Assistance - Cadman Foundation
adoption funding - adoption source mortgage adoption loans, credit based adoption loans
Adoption Fundraising - Raising Money to Pay for Adoption Costs and Expenses
Adoption Grant-Loan Application
Available Resources To Help Defray The Cost of Adoption
Gift of Adoption Fund
His Kids, Too! - A Christian Charity Impacting Ukrainian Orphans
Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries - Home Page
Shaohannah's Hope
The Adoption Guide The Cost of Adoption
Ethiopia Adoption Blog, Ethiopia Adoption Blog - The cost of an adoption
Wiley, Morgan Parker Fund giving grants for international adoptions, out of date site but still funding.
Sea Of Faces Foundation grants for international adoptions
Both Hands Foundation
The ABBA fund
Lifesong for Orphans
Project Hopeful resources for families adopting HIV+ kids.
147 million
for more fundraising see separate blog post Affording Adoption




Travel information:
http://ethiopiaguesthome.com/index.php?id=2 Ethiopia Guest House
Addis Ababa Local Customs Tips by DAO - VirtualTourist.com
Addis Kidan Guest House, Addis Ababa Ethiopia on Vimeo
Addiskidan Baptist Guest House
Beza International Church where we worshiped while we were in Addis Ababa
Immunizations, Health and Environment, El Paso County, CO
International Traveler’s Health Service at University of Colorado Hospital - University of Colorado Hospital
Port Angeles, WA - Welcome to Susan Parr Travel Agency Travel Agency Extraordinaire!!! Who we used and liked.
New Flower Guest House, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Guest House Extraordinaire!! Where we stayed
Passport Health Colorado, Denver Travel Shots, Colorado Immunization Services, Boulder Vaccinations, Malaria, Typhoid, Yellow Fever Vaccine, Travel Medicine, Global Travel Health

Attachment:
Attachment Disorder Nancy Thomas Parenting Attachment.org Reactive Attachment Disorder
"Attaching in Adoption" by Deborah Gray
This is an important topic. Read all you can while you are waiting for your child referral and court date.

Life Books:
Adoption Lifebooks
Heritage Makers
"Before You Were Mine" a great book on bringing God's story for your child into relationship with his physical story. On making a life book from a Christian perspective.

Resources for Adoption Paperwork:
Adoption Home Study Resources - 1-800-HomeStudy
Adoption Tax Credit - How to Claim the Adoption Credit
Colorado Bureau of Investigation
i-600instr.pdf (application-pdf Object)
Immigration Offices and Procedures in Colorado
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - Office Locator Office Detail
USCIS Home Page
ChildCitizenshipAct_022701.pdf (application-pdf Object)

Resources for Paperwork after you are home:
PostAdoptPaperwork.pdf (application-pdf Object)
Child Citizenship Act Program Update
USCIS Home Page
Special Requirements for Children Under Age 16
Application for a Social Security Card
New Rules For Getting A Social Security Number And Card
Colorado State Judicial Branch - Self Help - Forms

Hope this helps!

one year ago

One year ago--the last week in January-- I was team teaching through the minor prophets in a woman's Bible Study. (This is something I love to do and miss greatly. Someday the season will again come. ) We were studying the book of Jonah. You know, prophet is self absorbed and ignores the call of God on his life. Ok, we have all been there..... But, in reading it and studying to teach it, I heard things in a different light, which sometimes happens. Instead of the gospel missionary and the really hard hearted prophet there was me. Ok, I don't really think of myself as hard hearted. But, doing all of God's will for me.......well maybe I don't really listen well enough, or maybe I am afraid of it, or maybe I am just too comfortable to go out of my way to do what i know is mine to do. Well, i heard in my head a question from God; "What is it that I have asked you to do, that you are not doing?" Ok, we had just put adoption on the back burner yet once again. This time for no apparently good reason. I knew in the same instant I "heard" the question what the answer was. We began to look more seriously at the answer to that question right away. Adoption.
Can God's hand be any less evident in this adoption? (I know that his hand is evident in everyone's lives, no matter the circumstances or time lines, and it is just amazing to trace it!)

Both boys came to the same orphanage THE SAME WEEK I "heard" God's question for us.
They were "temporarily" referred to two different families to hold them for us while we got our paperwork in order.
We knew we wanted two boys, God led us to the country and agency.
The were released for referral the same week we were ready for referrals.
God impressed on my heart which of the boys available were the ones for our family before we even knew about the paperwork dilemmas which would later come up.
(there were three, one did not have his papers ready in time and God was
already working to place him with the family he belongs in, and he is home with
them now!!!)
They passed court together the first time through, and before the long court closure.
We traveled to get them and brought them home exactly 5 months to the day of signing up with our agency.
Laws changed and waiting lists got longer, waits got longer just after we brought the boys home.

I know that even when things are tough God is still working, he never leaves us and we are never out of his plan for our lives. It is great to look back and trace his fingerprints on events and particularly fun when they are so easy to trace.

We have had the boys 6 months this Friday. And, I read all about what to expect. I think the boys may have read it too because they do it like clockwork. :) Right now they are "testing" to see if this is permanent, if we are going to send them away and if we mean what we say about loving them with love and boundaries, etc...... Figuring it all out still. This means lots of patience for Mommy! Ha! Not without the strength of the Holy Spirit in my life. I am a naturally IMpatient person. But, in Ephesians, which i am reading right now, it says that the power of God dwells in those who are Christians. This same power that created the earth and commands the wind and waves, who raised Christ from the dead and superintends over every aspect of our lives. Ok, that is BIG! And BIG is just what I need.

In church we are going through how we are to be about worship with all of our lives, it is not a Sunday morning phenomenon. I have been saying this for a long time... but it is good to delve into what that means. You may know the catechism question. What is the chief end of man? A: "To glorify God and enjoy him forever"..... what does that mean anyway? Well, that is what we are investigating in these sermons. You may also know the verse Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Well, I got the mind part as I am a theology driven person. (for example, tracing the hand of God in our adoption story) Heart and soul, well there is something I have heard about and striven for and so often felt, but where to put that I have been wondering about (for example, being awed by God's work in our adoption story). Strength; we just learned that this is a physical response, something that I have NEVER thought of before. Somehow I just skipped it. Ok, theology is number one here in my life and mind, then how to move the 'I know it" to the heart and soul "I feel it", well that was where i stopped. But, when the Holy Spirit indwells you, he illuminates life and the Bible so you understand it (mind), then you feel something about what you understand and that heart and soul needs to be expressed and that is where strength comes in, the physical response to all God has done in and for us. Thinking about this I can see that when my attitude is glorifying to God when I cook and clean and love my family and my world then that is one form of action/strength, but what else, I KNOW there is more, I am yearning for it, but what is it? Ok, the pastor has not even gotten to this one yet, so i am eager to hear what he has learned and will teach us, and to study it myself too. Anyway, this co-insided with my study of Ephesians and the power of God living in us. Which is co-insiding with my need for God's strength to keep up with these boys (and the rest of my little family too!) and attachement and transition, etc.... WOW! What a journey.