How to Use This Blog

A Wayfarer is a person who is traveling through......life, a particular place, a circumstance, a stage of life, etc. Let's walk the road of adoption together. The journey is so much better with company!
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Much of this information is useful for any adoption, but this blog is designed to be a
RESOURCE BLOG for ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION.
I hope this blog will be helpful to you in your adoption whether you are considering, waiting or home. I started this blog when we were adopting and found there was next to nothing on the web in any orderly manner. I set about to collect information for myself and then for others. Now, there are more sites for resources, but still not much that brings it all together. I hope this blog will serve as a sort of clearing house for Ethiopian Adoption Information. Please feel free to contribute your knowledge through commenting.
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You can search by topic in three ways. 1. Go to the "key word" tabs on top and open pages of links in those topics. 2. Use the "labels list" in the side bar or 3. use the "search bar" above the labels list. You can also browse the blog by month and year in the Posts section or in any of the above as well. The sidebar links are to sites outside of this blog. While I feel they provide good information, I can not vouch for each site with an approval rating. Use your own discernment for each. If you have more to add to the topic, please add it in the comment section of that page or post.
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And, please link to The Wayfarer Adoption Blog by putting my button on
your blog so others can use this resource too. Please link to this blog when ever you can and whenever you re-post things (or images) you have found here. Thanks!
The solid tabs are links to my other blogs for books and family. Check them out if you are interested.
Welcome to the journey!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Salad Bowl of America

 The Beauty of Diversity
 
by Chief MSgt. Ret. Bob Vasquez
                                                                                                                                               
When most people think of October they think of Fall and Halloween. They are forgetting something very important about this month: Hispanic Heritage. The following article was written by my father who teaches Character at the Air Force Academy. Take a moment to read and enjoy the diversity that surrounds us every day. - Elyse White                                                          
 
Every year around this time I'm approached by people with the same question. "Hey, Chief," they say, "why do we have to have Hispanic Heritage Month? Aren't we all Americans?" 

I never argue that a bit, but there's more to it. I'm sure you know we celebrate African-American/Black History Month in February, Women's History Month in March, Asian-Pacific Month in May, Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October, and Native American Month in November. The purpose of those observances is to educate those of us who don't know a lot about those cultures and to acknowledge the contributions that those groups of people have made to our own American heritage.

When you ask yourself what it is that makes America great, you'll find the answer is diversity. If you'll look around you (go ahead, no one's watching) you'll notice that what we call America is made up of people from all kinds of cultures, from different parts of the country or the world.

We're all different, yet we're all the same. We share the same basic values that make us Americans. We're invested in making our country and the world a better place for all of us to live. We believe in a democratic system of government where the people have a say in what and how we live.

What makes America great is that although we have different and diverse needs and desires, we've been able to combine all those differences to form one very diverse, but unified, family that allows us to be ourselves and expects us to accept each other.

We used to talk about the American melting pot. An honorable idea, but I'm not sure it's attainable. Why? Because there is very little, if any, chance that we'll all "melt", that we'll all assimilate, that we'll all be the same, and I'm not so sure we all want to be the same. I think it was Gen. George Patton who said, "If two of us are thinking the same thing, we don't need one of us." There's a marked difference between thinking the same thing and thinking with the same purpose in mind.

The concept of the American Salad Bowl comes closer to describing the culture we live in. The illustration of the salad bowl describes a dish that, as a whole, is its own entity, delicious and healthy. What gives that dish its flavor and wholesomeness is all of the different ingredients that make it one. Each ingredient adds its own contribution to the whole. Any part of it that's missing will affect the end result.

Dr. Stephen Covey has said, "Unity is not sameness, it's complementariness." If we are to be united, we have to be willing to accept, appreciate and celebrate one another's differences.

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, join the fun. Get involved. You don't have to be of or know a lot about, the culture. You'll learn a lot and you'll find a kind of gratification you can't find elsewhere. The education you gain and the relationships you develop will make you better and they'll make America better.

Together, we can go forward.

Affording Adoption

 Few who desire to adopt can pay for it out of pocket. If you can not take a second loan or adoption loan here are some ideas for you. 


Many a church will be willing to donate from the deacons or mercy fund for orphans. More will be willing to allow you to hold a fund raising event at your church. Get with your Sunday School or small group and have a dinner or garage sale.

 

Here are some resources for funding an adoption. 

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

Here is a site that gives a data base of grant programs. Resources for Adoption.

Surely Not

(This was on another blog I follow, written by someone else....yet, well worth the ponder. Copied by permission from her blog.)

______________________________

Imagine with me for a minute…

Right now, today…

you are small and alone.

You are hungry and lost.

You have no home, no parents, and seemingly no future.

You are scared, and weak, from days without food. You have nowhere to go, nowhere to be.

People walk by you but they don’t even look your way. It’s like you are invisible, nothing.

You keep walking, your feet are bleeding and sore… and yet still you manage to cling to the small bit of hope, the little voice inside your head that says maybe, just maybe, one day things will get better. Maybe one day -you will matter.

It is getting dark outside- inside your fear is growing. Where will you go?

Your heart is beating faster, and your fear becomes overwhelming, consuming your every thought. Then you see it, a dirty, broken cardboard box and you bow your head thanking God for His provision. For you have found it- shelter. Safety, if only for one night.

You slip underneath it, hugging yourself, vowing once again not to cry- because by now you know tears are a waste of your strength. Your eyes become heavy, despite the sweltering temperature. As you begin to drift off to sleep you pray, hoping, dreaming, of a family of your own one day...of a place where you will matter...to someone.

Somewhere else in the world is a family...

They are just sitting down to dinner together.They are smiling and their laughter fills the room.

Dinner is served and they bow their heads and they pray- thanking God for their many blessings… their home, their job, the food that is set before them.They lift their heads and go back to the laughter and the joy.

They talk of their upcoming vacation plans, the lunch date they shared with a friend today and the movie they plan to see this coming weekend.

More laughter, more excitement, more. As the leftovers are scraped into the garbage can and the table is cleaned up, hot bubble bathes are taken by all.

Evening settles in, and the family slips under their down comforters preparing for a good night's sleep.

Before turning out the lights, the husband leans over to kiss his wife good-night. She shyly smiles at him and begins to tell him that she has been feeling that perhaps God is calling them to adopt.

The room grows quiet as they are both lost in their own thoughts…

their minds are flooded with questions, concern, and then inevitably -fear.

How could they manage?
Another child?
Why, they already have two!
Where would they put the child?
Who would share a room?
How could they afford to adopt?
Would they be able to take that vacation?
What would people think?
What if the child, you know, caused ‘problems’?

As their eyelids become heavy, they begin to drift off to sleep...
and they think to themselves ‘surely not’.

Surely God knows this is not convenient.
Surely God wants them to take that vacation they deserve...
Surely he knows how busy they are.
They have plans and they have dreams.
As sleep overcomes them, the temperature in their master bedroom is perfect…
and their pillows are fluffed to perfection.

Life is good for them, just as they had planned...
Because after all, they matter...
Too much...

to themselves.



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

One Year Home--well a bit more than that really

ONE YEAR HOME:

The boys had a round of immunizations on Monday, (a delayed start due to snow and ice. :)
One of them is just the wimp of all wimps when it comes to these things. He screams and then limps around moaning for a few days. Ok, it hurts in the muscle after, but NOT THAT BAD.  And yes, I give them the pain killer for kids.


We are thrilled that K has gained in weight and height so that now he is in the middle upper of his range for his age! He came to us quite not even on the charts. N has gained also but did not have as much to catch up to and being younger is just smaller. However he is giardia free and both are ring worm free. These two things took about a year to clear up. We are so thankful for their health and beautiful attachment and bonding. WOW! What a blessing. Ok, I am not going to say perfect, because, after all, there is no such thing and no matter what we do all our kids will have some sort of issue...... that's life and we accept it. But, wow they are doing great. Look at their photos just above here when they were in ET, this was taken in July, only weeks before we picked them up. They are the boys in the middle K in pink and N in blue with stripes. This would have been about a year and a half ago.  And the photo just a few weeks ago proudly wearing Bronco style, K on the left and N on the right. K has had the most dramatic change on the outside, but N is not to be left behind, his inner change has been wonderfully dramatic as well!
Amazing.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Arriving in Ethioipia, visa, etc

Hannah posted this on our group site. It is great info. I think a lot of it is scattered here and there on this blog, but this is more concise and therefore helpful. Thanks Hannah!

Here is the information we used when traveling (from KC and Jill K.) with notes added from us.

Get off the plane in Addis Ababa as quickly as possible and go right downstairs into the VISA line just to the right of the stairs. Have your passports and hotel/guest house address ready.
Visas cost $20.00 each in American Dollars, exact change, crisp bills, and bills newer than 2003 is appreciated and helps move the process along. (Note: If the VISA office is notified of the correct number of passengers arriving they will have enough people there to move the line. In our case they were not and there were 3 people to process several families. Though 3 sounds like a lot it is not as all 3 work on 1 VISA at a time and everything is hand written. When they saw it was taking quite a while they were so sweet to get my daughter and I chairs for us to sit.) There is a bathroom under the stairs, bring your own toilet paper. (Note: Traveling with small children I would try to go on the plane before de-boarding! )Get in line for immigration with all of your documents as soon as you leave the visa line. Stay in the middle line. The line to the left is for Diplomats and to the right is for Ethiopians.
(Note: There is a card to fill in for each person entering the country. We began to fill it out and then the lady at the window just finished it up for us. If you just go to the window maybe they will fill them out for you.)You can/should exchange money after you pass through the immigration station.
The bank has windows inside and outside of the immigration area. You will need your passport
number for this and any time you exchange money with a bank (Note: This was very relaxed and I think much better than trying to travel in country to exchange money. With 2 sick boys we were very glad we had exchanged our money here.)Keep your receipt (the bigger one that you sign) when you exchange money at the airport or you can't change birr back to US dollars when you leave or just leave
money as a donation. Do not exchange money on the street. Collect your luggage and put it on a free
cart. Decline help from the “porters” i.e. DO NOT let anyone bully you into
taking your bags and loading them on a cart, unless you are interested in help and willing to tip them. (Note: Declining is not a one time, "No thank you.", to put it mildly. We would not have minded tipping but on our return trip we were actually charged and it was a hefty price, per bag, even for US standards. If traveling alone you will need to use their services, just be prepared to pay.  I think I remembered paying about $10 US it was a fixed price. It is per bag something like $3 per bag--not worth it in my opinion--JK). You may have to show your luggage ‘receipts’ from the airline to airport workers before they let you leave the area
with your bags. A customs agent (or someone) will ask you about declaring money before you leave the airport. Once outside the baggage area there will be a large number of people with signs to pick up guests. Find your driver (IAN staff should be picking you up to take you to your Guest House unless you have arranged otherwise. --JK) (Note: Our experience here was CRAZY, but unlikely to happen again, but next time we travel we will have our driver secured before travel.--H) Once you are at the hotel call the IAN staff to let them know.  Confirm your return flights as soon as you  arrive in Ethiopia or within a day or two. (You can do this at the Hilton Hotel--JK). Ask your hotel or guest home to help you do that.
From Matt (IAN Parent): 
If you are arriving at night and you have a window seat, once you enter Northern Ethiopia start looking out the window. Ethiopia is home to one of only 4 or 5 active lava flows in the world and you can see it at night really easy, pretty dang cool.
Upon arrival in Addis I had to go through customs, buy my visa, exchange money, not too bad. Remember that there is really only 1 flight that leaves/arrives at a time so it's never really that busy. Being 6' 6" I was able to stretch out my stride and beat a vast majority of people to the visa line, but even if you are last in line it's probably just another 20-30 minutes. It's probably best to exchange money at the airport, really easy. I exchanged some at a bank as well, not hard, but about 3 different steps and windows to go to before completion.
Once I exited customs my driver (Ayela) from New Flower met me at door with a sign and took my bags. You get introduced to the poverty right after exiting the airport as about 3-4 guys try to help you with your bags in the parking lot in hopes of getting a few Birr.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Another great doll

Ok, for those of you, who like me are a bit doll crazy..... I realize that is a narrow crowd. :)



I was at Walmart today and looking to see if the new Disney princess was out yet, and I saw the most wonderful doll for such a good price. You can find some of them listed at the Madame Alexander link here these are labeled Favorite Friends.  Madame Alexander has marketed a doll line at Walmart ( Being a collector of MA dolls, I have mixed feelings on this) it is called Friends 4 Ever, the exact same dolls as the Favorite Friends dolls on their site. They are 18" dolls and look the same size as the American Girl dolls. They have the cutest modest clothing on and for sale next to them. They made an African American doll, an Asian one, a Hispanic one and then the regular blond (two versions both with blue eyes), brunette (light and dark both with brown eyes) and red head (with green eyes). I LOVE them. My favorites are the African American and Asian dolls and the one with light brown hair and brown eyes and a pink hair band. Beautiful dolls with unique faces. I would love to have one or two..... They are affordably priced at 24.95 or there about depending on your store. My daughter has a Madame Alexander in this same style but a much earlier model and not this line. She is well made and sturdy for play. Maybe not as quality as the American Girl Doll she has, but really comparable. Better than some of the others out there. Well, happy doll shopping. :)


UPDATE:
Last year Madame Alexander came out with another 18" doll line called Mia Bella. They came in about 4-5 different dolls, African American and Caucasion. Cute dolls. They are marketed at Toys R Us, this year, and include a large variety of dolls including Asian American and Hispanic.  It is a different set of dolls than the WalMart ones, but still Madame Alexandar. You can see them at the Toys R Us link. They are currently selling for 19.95 and usually run 29.95. My Grandma told me she saw the add and she took the add to Walmart and they gave her the price on the Walmart dolls. :) She said they also have clothing there, different ones than at Walmart. :) Thanks Grandma!
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The content on The Wayfarer:Ethiopian Adoption Resource Blog is for informational purposes only. We are adoptive parents, but we are not professionals. The opinions and suggestions expressed here are not intended to replace professional evaluation or therapy, or to supersede your agency. We assume no responsibility in the decisions that families make for their children and families. There are many links on this blog. We believe these other sites have valuable information, but we do not necessarily share all of the opinions or positions represented by each site, nor have we fully researched every aspect of each link. Please keep this in mind when visiting the links from this page.
Thank You.

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I post a lot of links. I do so because I feel that the particular page has good information and much to offer. I do not necessarily support all that each site has to say or promote. I trust you to sift the links for information you feel is worthwhile to you. Each person's story and situation are unique and different things will be useful or not useful to each one in different ways. Please use your own discretion when accessing links and information.