Post-Adoption Issues

Upon some light reading this week about the Ethiopian Government using wasps' to kill aphids that are killing trees, I thought I should learn more about Ethiopia's natural resources. I will pass on the "Cliff Notes" of what I have learned to you and discuss animals and the ecosystems of Ethiopia in my next few posts. As parents of Ethiopians I know we want to learn all we can about the country, but we also have real time constraints on us as well! When we traveled in the Awash region of Ethiopia, we noticed that the tour guide and guidebooks tended to concentrate on small animals and birds as the big game had not been seen in the region for a while… [more]

We love books at our house. They are everywhere in fact. Some may call it clutter, but I like the books everywhere. It means the kids are using them! Two new books I want to share are Fire on the Mountain by Jane Kurtz and Silly Mammo: An Ethiopian Tale by Kily Mammo. Fire on the Mountain is one of the first books we checked out from the library after deciding to adopt from Ethiopia. I finally broke down and bought it last weekend at the culture camp I have been going on and on about! This book is written by Jane Kurtz. For those of you new to Ethiopian adoption, Jane Kurtz has many books out that are Ethiopian related. She grew… [more]

I was fortunate to meet an Ethiopian photographer named, Andarge Asfaw. He had a booth at the Heritage and Culture camp we attended last weekend. His book Ethiopia From The Heart was one that I could not pass up. The pictures in it brought Ethiopia alive in my mind and I do so want to go back again, now more than ever. Andarge was incredibly helpful when describing his pictures to me. I was trying to get a feel from where the pictures were taken as he had traveled extensively to photograph as many areas as he could. Two pictures stunned me. One is called Suluta Girl and can be found at his website. This picture just jumps out at… [more]

This past weekend we attended an Ethiopian Heritage and Culture camp in Virginia. I will be writing about all that I learned for a while. I cannot convey what this weekend meant to us as a family and to Mita and Enu. One of the firsts was sitting in on a coffee ceremony. It was one of the things we missed on our trip to Ethiopia in 2008. This ceremony was cut down a bit on time, but had all of the qualities of an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. It usually lasts for hours, we did ours in about 45 minutes. I will share some of what I learned and show you some pictures. I also picked up a great children's book explaining the origin… [more]

Reading back over some former posts I realize that I have fallen into a common trap that we in the developed world tend to do sometimes. I have talked to much about Ethiopia's problems. The famines, the draughts and the government issues. This week I have heard some really positive stories going on in Ethiopia and I am happy to share them all with you! First up, the educational system in Ethiopia is getting a really neat opportunity to work with Microsoft's Cloud system with over 250,000 laptops. I will not pretend to understand all the technology but from what I read this new system reduces the need for most hardware and software and allows teachers to download lessons and keep records more easily… [more]

I got a great new book in the mail today and I cannot wait to tell you about it. My kids cannot wait for me to tell you about it either as I won't let them color in it until I get pictures of it! Needless to say this review is being written today and not tommorow! Explore Ethiopia: A Coloring Book by Stacy Bellward and illistrated by Danette Malerich, is a fun, educational and affordable book to add to any child's library, but especially to the library of an Ethiopian family or adoptive family. The activities are as easy as coloring a picture of an Ethiopian woman carrying water and as advanced as learning Amharic words and vocabulary. Being very… [more]

Crayons, markers, glue, glitter are all things I try and stay away from. I am a mom who does not like arts and crafts I admit it. I do, however, appreciate art and want my kids to learn by making things and playing with texture, colors and their imaginations. On top of my refrigerator I have all the glue, crayons, markers, tape and scissors my kids need to have some artsy fun. My two home-grown kids have enjoyed making things, drawing pictures and in general making a mess since they could hold a crayon. When we brought Mita and Enu home I noticed that they did not just set down and draw pictures. They looked to see what Meg was doing… [more]

In my early morning reading of emails, I noticed the following article from the BBC: UN 'runs out of aid for Ethiopia'. The article mentions several reasons why this is happening and also points out how things could be made easier. I will not go into the details since the article is an easy read, and I do recommend that you read it. After seeing this email I jumped over to the World Food Programme page and found some really educating (but not boring) information about the horn of Africa and why exactly things are so hard for them right now. Again, I stress that this is a good thing to watch if you have a child from this… [more]

Since school is out and all the summer activities have started (summer school, VBS, Scout Camp, etc.) I have felt like Ethiopia has gone to the wayside lately. We missed our monthly Ethiopian Adoptive Families group this month simply because we had had a long week and the kids needed some down time. I haven't cooked Ethiopian food in a while either. I did add some berbere to spaghetti the other night, when I couldn't find cayenne pepper in my pantry. It had quite a kick to it too! I am extremely happy that I have made reservations at an Ethiopian Culture Camp being put on by AbshiroKids.com this summer. I have talked about some of their products before on this blog… [more]

We traveled as a family to pick up Mita and Enu. This is not the usual way of doing things, but it is what we as a family needed. So it was Hubby, me, Meg, Elle and Grandma. We had so many plans to travel with the girls and see the sights of Ethiopia. Once we landed in Addis and met with our agency's supervisor we realized that our plans were a bit overdone. Some things we had not considered. Our new girls were not used to going on family vacations. We should have realized this. In fact they had never been out of the city of Addis Ababa. For those of you without kids currently, a trip… [more]