Just got back from Barnes & Noble after a few hours of gift wrapping for Ethiopian Orphan Relief. Although Saturday’s wrap session was a little disappointing (35.00 over three hours), today brought the grand total to more than 175.00! It was a great way to end this fund raising calendar year for me. I enjoyed three hours alone with my husband (and a billion people who needed gifts wrapped) and I loved making a little extra to give to EOR.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Paige
from today until January 10th. I’ll process calendar orders (because I can squeeze those into my luggage) and I’ll forward all orders to independent vendors, but everything else will wait until I’m back from Florida. Thanks for a terrific first year!
Paige
We have been blessed by our two children. I just wanted to start by saying that.
If four years ago someone had told me I would have these amazing children, I would have doubted it with my entire being. Becoming parents was a difficult journey for us. It was full of drugs, shots, failures. I have never had a positive pregnancy test and really have no reason to believe that I can get pregnant. We stopped our treatments short of IVF. I just couldn’t do it on the back of six months of fertility drug injections and back to back IUIs. I was an emotional reck and a poor responder to fertility drugs. It seemed as if every month I needed more and more drugs just to get two or three follicles to mature. It was depressing to be a failure at the one thing my body is supposedly designed to do–create children.
My husband and I always knew that we wanted to adopt. We met when we were older and didn’t get married until I was 30 and he was 35. We also knew we wanted 4 kids and that we didn’t necessarily want them right away. So after I had had enough of the fertility treatment regime, we began to seriously look into adoption. We almost immediately decided on International adoption. Why you ask? Because I was not open to having birthmother involvement in our adoption. I knew myself well enough to know that I would have issues dealing with a birthmother who wanted involvement in our child’s life. Please don’t judge me by this–today I would give anything to know something about my children’s birthmother and for their to be a possibility that someday they could meet. But at the time we started looking into adoption–I was not confident enough that I would be able to handle it. I had longed so hard to be a mother and felt like such a failure as a woman that I couldn’t handle competing with the birthmother.
This was one big decision out of the way–but now we had to decide on a country. It was really important to us that we be able to bring our child home at a young age. As an educator and as a person who has studied child development I knew how important this was for development and bonding–for them as a children but also for us as parents. We were also pretty certain we did not and would not adopt from a country with extensive institutionalized care–ie Russia and China. So, this narrowed our choices down at the time of our first adoption to Guatemala, Ethiopia, South Korea, Vietnam and Nepal.
We then thought about what it meant to adoption a child internationally. I would be important for us to feel some sort of connections to their birth country and also want to learn more about and really infuse the tradtions of the country into our lives in meaningful ways. This left us with Guatemala, Ethiopia and Nepal. Nepal was an obsure choice and there was only one or two agencies working there. By the time we got around to starting the process there was a lot of political unrest and talk the adoption process closing. We certainly didn’t want to get caught in a bogged down process and therefore decided to choose a country whose process was stable.
Ethiopia fit all of these criteria. I know things in Ethiopia have changed since we complete our first adoption in Aug 2006. When we started there were only 5 agencies that were licensed to work in Ethiopia. Choosing an agency was hard to do. We felt strongly that we choose an agency that gave as much to Ethiopia as it could and were low-key. We choose to work with Adoption Advocates International out of Washington state and have never looked back.
Our adoptions were both relatively smooth and AAI was there to answer our questions every step of the way. We have since decided to complete a third infant adoption from Ethiopia and hope to start that after the first of the year. Ethiopia is a beautiful country and one steeped in the history of all of us.
Happy Holidays,
Dawn
(sticky post: this post will remain at the top of your screen until the auction expires, please scroll down for new blog posts!)
Welcome to our Holiday Auction!
Up for auction, we have 3 hours of counseling/consultation with the Red Thread Counseling Center in Centennial, CO. The gift certificate, a $255 value, is valid until May 2009, and will be awarded to the highest bidder as of Friday, December 31, 2008 at midnight (MST).
The Red Thread Counseling Center is a place where families can come for counsel, support, therapy, and consultation for issues related to adoption, individual growth, and family dynamics. The counseling center team offers the following services:
To bid, simply leave a comment with your name, your bid and the way you’d like to be contacted should you win (phone number or email address). If you’d prefer not to leave this information in a comment, please email us with your bid at info@ethiopianorphanrelief.org and we’ll post your name and the bid amount (with no contact info) so others know the current bid. 100% of the proceeds from this auction benefit our programs, as this gift certificate was an outright donation by an adoptive parent and adoption professional.
Bid high, bid often and thank you!
While perusing Cool Mom Picks this morning I came acrossed a link to a new site, Redefine Christmas. The site allows you to choose an e-card (some very cool and trendy, others more traditional) and email it to friends and family who may have you on their Christmas list. The e-card asks that instead of a gift, you donate to the sender’s favorite charity instead.
It’s a great idea–if you’re like me, your family calls lots around the holidays asking what you want and you answer with “um, well, um, just get something for the kids. I have no idea.” As my friend Angie said the other day as she emailed me a list of donations to EOR she’d made as gifts to friends, family and her kid’s teachers–”It’s better than the useless bling I usually buy these people.” True, true. Another friend/supporter/volunteer said today her entire family is giving each other donations to charity this year in lieu of gifts.
(And in case you didn’t know, when you make donations via our website, you can not only choose which fund your donation goes to, but you can also choose to make the gift in honor of someone. If you do, I’ll handwrite them a card informing them of your gift. You feel warm fuzzy and cross another person and gift off your holiday to do list–not to mention get a tax deduction–and the recipient feels good to. A holiday tradition we can all wrap our heads around.)
Happy Holidays,
Danielle
We are thrilled to announce that the holidays came early here at Ethiopian Orphan Relief. Today we were notified by super volunteer (and Holland & Hart attorney) Shawn Rodda, that EOR has been approved as a pro bono client by the firm!
Holland & Hart is the largest law firm in the Mountain West, with over 400 attorneys in 15 offices in 7 states. With their firm-wide resources, local presence and coordinated efforts, Holland & Hart delivers integrated legal solutions to regional, national and international clients ranging from emerging businesses to Fortune 500 corporations.
Thank you Holland & Hart and thank you Shawn! We’re lucky to have all of you on our team.
-Danielle
Our story, like many others begins with infertility. After five years of fertility treatments and five pregnancy losses we were given the most perfect gift, a son, through domestic adoption. Our process went very smooth. We had contacted a private adoption attorney and almost three months later became a family. Our son was 12 hours old the first time we held him in our arms. I will never forget that moment of becoming a family.
We pursued the domestic route of adoption to add a sibling for Anthony. This route became heartbreaking as we had three failed adoptions. After each heartache we felt that our family just wasn’t complete yet. Our path turned to International Adoption and Ethiopia.
We choose a agency, Dove Adoptions International and worked on getting all our paperwork assembled in a orderly fashion. The waiting for our referral was so difficult. We would daily wonder “is today the day we will receive the call about our child?” After 135 days of waiting we were referred a beautiful, healthy baby girl who was seven weeks old. She was given the name of Tsegereda, which translated is Rose. She came from a city of Roses, Awassa, Ethiopia and would join her forever family in the City of Roses’s Portland, Oregon. We gave her the name of Annie Rose.
Our sweet Annie Rose just turned two years old last week. The time has flew by way to fast. On her birthday as many days before, our thoughts were with her first family. The family who gave her life and made that most difficult decision to place her in a safe place. I wish with all my heart that somehow they knew how much this child is loved by so many people. We hope that somehow a half a world away in a little village of Awassa, Ethiopia that this first family who gave her life can somehow know that our family thanks them for this most precious child.
Kim
So, every month, I make a contribution to EOR–it’s automatically taken from my account each month–I don’t even notice it’s gone. While I pledged an amount I can comfortably afford, I’ve made a commitment to double the amount each month, something that is a bit trickier to accomplish. I’ve had to be creative to come up with the extra cash. I’ve had a tag sale, sold things in a consignment shop, had a fundraising birthday for Astrid Meklit, etc. While I could simply send an additional amount, I look for ways to “earn” the additional cash, so as not to diminish my family’s bottom line. This month, the month that is busier than most, I’ve signed on to wrap gifts at Barnes & Noble. Two different three hour windows–one on the 20th, one on the 24th. Barnes & Noble allows various charities to provide gift wrapping services during the busy holiday season, and the manager in charge of scheduling saved us the plum spot on Christmas Eve. As hard as it is to carve out this extra time, I’m so grateful that Barnes & Noble offers us this way to earn a little extra money and goodwill for Ethiopian Orphan Relief. AS a bonus, My nine year old and I will have some much enjoyed quality time together–he’s become my right hand man in these various fund raising endeavors, and when I suggested that maybe his dad should go with me instead, he was crushed. He’s been doing some practice gift wrapping this week. Small rectangular books are his forte’ apparently.
If you are so inclined, consider calling your local bookseller (I know Borders offers the same opportunity, and I imagine others do too) to schedule a gift wrapping session for Ethiopian Orphan Relief. We’d love the help, and honestly, at this point in the season, I know I welcome the “break” this will give me. While the holidays are all about the family I love, it’s awfully nice to spend a few hours thinking of others. Take a break like me too!
Paige
Just a brief message to remind you that all holiday orders should be placed by Friday, December 12. It’s too late for custom orders to be delivered on time, but we have lots of terrific gifts in stock, including calendars and notecards. Don’t delay–place your order soon–I’m eager to mail you a package!!!
Paige
Baby showers are a terrific way to usher a new baby (or bigger kid) into a family. Traditionally intended to help supply the nursery, baby showers today are less focused on onesies, and more focused on making a new little one feel welcome.
Adoptive family showers may be a little trickier to plan than a traditional baby shower. Without a clear due date in sight, it can be a little challenging to select a date, rent a space, or issue “save the date” cards. Although some adoptive families welcome a shower before they know who their new tot might be, for others, a house full of nursery items (or skateboards and bunk beds) may be too much to deal with during the wait.
In my family, we had two different types of showers. Our first adoption was a domestic placement. We were called about our son on a Wednesday night and met him on Monday morning. Our friends were overjoyed for us and planned showers after Elliott’s arrival. At both, Elliott was the (sleeping) star of the show. He modeled new clothing (okay, we sort of draped it on his sleeping body), cuddled up with new blankets, and opened a sleepy eye to gaze at a new book or toy we were excited to show him. It was a great way to show him off, celebrate his arrival, and receive the most adorable socks ever.
Our showers for Astrid Meklit were held a few weeks after our referral, but before we brought her home. At each, we opened the gifts, modeled the clothing (my husband looks smashing in a sun hat), cuddled the blankets, etc. and again, the baby (who was then living 7984 miles away) was still the star of the show. Her referral pictures were passed around and we all looked forward to the day she would join our family. Although a little hesitant to celebrate before our court date, I’m glad we had the chance to celebrate with our friends. It made the thought of the baby 7,984 miles away that much more real.
Recently, I read of a new mini-trend in adoptive baby showers. It seems that friends and family are so eager to celebrate, showers before referrals have become popular. At these showers, there is an emphasis on buying the types of items that are universally appreciated (diapers and wipes, blankets, etc) but not necessarily for the new family. Often these showers are held to benefit an orphanage or agency in the child’s country of origin. We didn’t have a separate shower, but everyone brought a donation for us to take to Ethiopia, as well as a gift (or gifts) for our darling girl. By the time we were finished with the various fetes, we had a full suitcase of books for Ethiopia Reads and all sorts of over-the-counter medications and ointments for Toukoul.
If you are waiting to adopt, be clear about the type of shower you’d like to have (NOT in a Bridezilla way) but in a manner that conveys what you’re comfortable with, when your loved ones bring it up (and they will, oh how they will. Our surrogate grandma-in-waiting, Anne, was so excited about planning Astrid Meklit’s shower, she called or emailed almost every day to see if we had received our referral. We didn’t see her or talk to her for almost a week before we received Astrid Meklit’s referral, and it felt odd to call so she could make plans to celebrate us).
If you are planning a shower for an adoptive family, make sure to ask what they’d like to do, and consider planning a pre-shower for donations (either physical or financial). Don’t forget to plan a welcome event for older children. The family may want to have a shower before they come home, or a get-to-know-you event once the big kid arrives, but either way, a party to celebrate the arrival of new child (no matter the age) is a great idea.
There’s no right way to plan a shower. Whether ladies only or for couples, months before the arrival or months after, a party to say, “hooray–you have more people in your family!” is always welcome, always treasured.
Paige
