My Learning Curve: No Farmers Market for my Sensory Boy
They May be Dandelions…
Looming Deadlines
Helloooooo
Mimi Breaks the Block
“There’s Nothing to Eat”
Stop. Take Three Deep Breaths.
At the Mile High Airport
Topsy Turvy Monday
I have at least six unfinished blog posts that may make it here one day, but I can’t seem to get much time on the computer and honestly, my heart just isn’t in it. My Honeybee is struggling with great sadness over the losses in her life. It is hard to be strong for her because her sadness sweeps over me and I find myself carrying it with her. “His yoke is easy and His burden is light,” these words come to me, yet this burden does not feel light today.
One of Eby's Referral Photos - such a sweet, sad boy
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer our Tuesday Topic: What Led You to Adopt? There were many great responses, so many that you really need to go to the original post and read them.
I thought it would be interesting if I pulled some quotes from the comments, so you can get a taste of the great things people shared.
“It was God. There’s no other explanation.”
“Over the months, the desire to have another biological child faded. Then it was gone; and I mean completely. Within six months we had submitted our paperwork. Our license was then expedited (and changed) to accommodate three fabulous girls. Our only placement.”
“People would bring up adoption wherever we went, even the check out clerk at the grocery store. The final straw was when my husband took me to the post office to send a package to his mother. He waited in the car and wondered why it was taking me so long. When I came out I told him how the clerk went on and on about adoption…
I have a Post-it note scribbled with little items that I need to write about, so this post is a means of crossing them all off my list!
In no particular order, here we go:
You all know how near and dear to my heart AHOPE is. By the grace of God, AHOPE saved my daughters’ lives. I’m not saying that to be dramatic; it is simply true.
AHOPE is From HIV to Home’s featured partner for our World AIDS Day 5 for 5 campaign.
Our Tuesday’s Answers will be up in just a bit….I’m working on it while packing to leave for Seattle. This is probably not the best example of multi-tasking.
~Lisa
I’m a little late today…but joining in nonetheless. Since I LOVE spending hours each week in my car, I decided to make a quick (nearly two hour each way) trip for an unexpected appointment with an oral surgeon. Fortunately, the problem was small and easy to resolve. Now on to the important topic I had planned to blog about today.
Today is World AIDS Day – a day that I hope will cause us to pause and consider the effect of AIDS in our world, particularly on continents that are not so fortunate as we are. I wish I could show you the effect of AIDS in Ethiopia, where a person cannot remain untouched by this disease. So many children are left to care for themselves as their parents die. So many grandparents are left to raise their grandchildren whose parents have died of AIDS.
I live in America, where there is food, and comfort, and ARV’s that keep my children healthy. I thank God that tomorrow I will get in the car for yet another trip to Seattle, but there I will find the finest medical care for my children, clean needles for blood draws, high-tech laboratory equipment that will give us helpful information, H1N1 vaccines, all in a place that cares about children and has medical providers who are both brilliant and kind.
From HIV to Home is launching a Five for Five event today. I will be linking to Jennifer’s blog each day during this project, but to make it extra easy for you today, here is what she posted on her blog:
Today’s project is “Agape Children’s Home” in Thailand. Located in Chiang Mai Thailand, the Agape Home for babies with HIV/AIDS opened in May 1996 as a response to the plight of children impacted by the spread of HIV/AIDS across Thailand. All of the children who come to the Agape Home to live are, or are at risk of being, HIV positive. Many of them have already lost their parents to AIDS, and there are no other options for their care.
All “5 for 5″ donations received today (December 1) will be designated toward Agape’s current building project – a village of smaller homes where children will be able to live in a more family-type situation rather than in one large facility.
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To give:
click here to be directed to our donor page at Network for Good and type “5 for 5″ in the designation box.
To share:
share the link to this page (www.fromhivtohome.org) wherever you can today – Facebook, Twitter, emails, blogs!
[Note: In honor of World AIDS Day, I am postponing our Tuesday Topic until tomorrow - if you were planning to reply, but haven't gotten to it, it isn't too late to join the discussion.]
~Lisa
December 1st is World AIDS Day. My life has been turned upside down by AIDS and its devastating effects. In Ethiopia, I doubt there is a single person who is completely unaffected by HIV/AIDS. So often I am overwhelmed by this desperate crisis in our world and I wonder what on earth I can do? But here is the secret. Each one of us can make a difference – we can reach out and care about somebody whose life has been touched by HIV/AIDS.
Five Things You Can Do
1. Read: If you only have time to read one book, I recommend There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Her Country’s Children. Written by Melissa Fay Greene, an adoptive mother, the book tells the story of one Ethiopian woman who responded to the AIDS orphan crisis with practical compassion. It is a compelling and interesting read.
If you have time for two books, get 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen. My exposure to AIDS in Africa had been limited primarily to Ethiopia, but this book broadened my education by featuring a short story about twenty-eight different people across the continent and how AIDS has affected them. 28 will give you a quick education about HIV/AIDS in a captivating style.
A reader also recommended the book, Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World, about orphans and AIDS in Swaziland. I have not read it yet, but after reading the reviews, I just added it to my Amazon cart.
2. Sponsor: For as little as $10.00 a month, you can provide care for an HIV+ orphan. Through Circle Embrace, a sponsorship program recently launched by From HIV to Home, you can join with others to create a Circle of sponsors for a child living with HIV/AIDS. Consider giving holiday gifts with a purpose by creating your own Circle. It is easy and only a click away.
3. Care: At the end of 2007, there were 11.7 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone. These are actual children, not just numbers. If the AIDS crisis seems remote to you, take a few moments to watch this video of the children of AHOPE. If you want to get even more personal, watch my family’s video of our Ethiopian adoption.
4. Shop with a purpose. The holidays will be here soon; this year purchase gifts that will benefit children with HIV/AIDS. In honor of World AIDS Day, From HIV to Home has a wonderful new necklace available. Make a donation of $50 or more and we will send one to you. I love the concept of embracing those with HIV/AIDS and the necklace looks great. All proceeds from this necklace go directly to the Circle Embrace Child Sponsorship Program.
Shop at the AHOPE Store which has everything from clothing and jewelry to aluminum water bottles.
I know both of these organizations personally, having previously volunteered for AHOPE, and currently working with From HIV to Home, and can confidently say that your donation will be put to good use.
World Vision is also an excellent organization offering gift-giving opportunities. You can give a gift to a child in the developing world in honor of your friend or family member. The options are endless, from two chickens ($25.00) to a sheep ($105.00).
5. Adopt: Consider adopting an HIV+ child. It isn’t as complicated as you might think. The last three years have seen an explosion in the number of families adopting HIV+ children. When we began the process, a handful of HIV+ children had been adopted from AHOPE, our daughters’ orphanage. Now, the children are finding families very quickly. For more information on HIV+ adoption, contact Adoption Advocates International.
Don’t wait until December 1st to wear a red ribbon. Do something today and when World AIDS Day arrives, you will be ready to tell somebody else what it is all about.
~Lisa
Note: I have had some requests from folks who would like to share this post on their blogs, in church newsletters, etc. I would be honored! Please feel free to share a link to this post. If you would like to share the actual content, please email me at thankfulmom@gmail.com
In honor of World AIDS Day, we have a wonderful new necklace available at From HIV to Home. Make a donation of $50 or more and we will send one to you. I love the concept of embracing those with HIV/AIDS and the necklace looks great – I love mine. All proceeds from this necklace go directly to our new Child Sponsorship Program, which you should also be sure to check out. We are starting small and currently have eleven HIV+ children in South Africa we are supporting.
Another place you must visit is Moms, Ministry, and More. Heidi is doing an amazing giveaway while highlighting the work of missionaries around the world. It is very creative and I have big hopes of winning the little Matrioshka ornaments and mittens from Russia. The event ends on Nov. 10th, so click your way to her site before it is too late.
This is the first weekend in a very long time that I have not gone to a faraway X-Country race, or traveled to Seattle. I have big plans…namely, finally packing away the summer clothes and their assorted bins that shame me every time I go upstairs. It is long overdue and must be done.
Have a great weekend and Embrace someone you love.
~Lisa
Confetti
Something important happened in the world today, President Obama announced the end of a 22 year ban on travel for HIV+ people wanting to enter the United States. This ban has prohibited adoptive families from easily getting their new children’s visas and bringing them home.
I can only write intelligently (or somewhat) about how the ban affected HIV+ children being adopted from Ethiopia. HIV+ children go through the same adoption process as all other children. With the ban in effect, after the child passed court, the family was issued an appointment at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. The family then traveled to Ethiopia (unless they chose to have their child escorted), attended the appointment and was told that their child’s application for a US Visa was denied based on his HIV status. At that point the family would submit a waiver along with multiple supporting documents, and pay an extra $545.00.
A few years ago, there was no way of knowing how long a family would wait for the waiver to be processed and the visa approved. Often the waivers sat for a long time on a particular desk in the USCIS office in Nairobi; according to one agency representative, this resulted in an average processing time of five months for the waiver. Due to the efforts of Project Hopeful and EACH, the waiver time was successfully shortened to ten business days, which was a dramatic improvement. However that still lengthened a family’s stay in Ethiopia and prevented children who had been adopted by US citizens from coming home to their families as quickly as possible.
Today this ban was lifted, which benefits all families adopting HIV+ children internationally. As President Obama stated, the ban was “rooted in fear rather than fact”. I should note that it was President Bush who signed this into law in July of 2008 as part of approving legislation for reauthorizing funding for PEPFAR. President Obama states he is now “finishing the job.”
You can read more about it in this Washington Post article.
We are particularly happy for our special friends who are bringing home a sweet little girl we adore!
~Lisa
Today, May 7th, is World AIDS Orphans Day. Here are some statistics you shouldn’t miss:
Over 15 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS – equivalent to the number of people living in New York, Paris, and Bangkok combined. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, over 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic.
Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia. By 2010, the number of AIDS orphans worldwide is expected to reach at least 20 million.
(You can read more at the World AIDS Orphans Day website.)
6,000 children will be orphaned by AIDS today. Could you love one?
From HIV to Home
Which leads me to what I want to share about these children today. Before a child can be an orphan, he is born to a mother. Can we even imagine how would it feel to give birth to your child knowing that you were sick? You might not know with certainty that you had AIDS, and you probably wouldn’t find out for fear of the consequences of the diagnosis. But if your husband had already died, his body wasted, you would know that chances are good that you also have this dreaded illness.
What will become of your children? Who will love them, feed them, care for them? If you are very fortunate, your own mother or auntie will take them in, but they may already be gone. Your greatest hope may be to leave them in the care of an orphanage and pray that they will be adopted.
I have seen this story repeated many times among my friends who have adopted. One of the things that drew me to adoption was thinking of the women in Ethiopia who knew that they would not live to see their children grow up. What could I do for them? How could I honor them? I thought a lot about what I would want for my children if the situation was reversed. I would want them to be:
Loved
Safe
In a Christian family
Fed
Clothed
Educated
Adored and cherished
I could do that for these sisters I had never met – I could honor them by loving their children. I could assure the children of their Ethiopian mothers’ great love for them, piecing together fragments of family memories and intake reports to help them create their own life stories.
And so, their children became mine, and I pray that my efforts would please these women whom I will never meet in this life. Their children were orphans – but no longer. God placed them in our hearts and in our family.
You may not be called to adopt children, but there is so much you can do. You can sponsor an HIV+ orphan in South Africa, contribute to a grant for a waiting child, coordinate a small walk-a-thon, or give a donation in honor of your mother on Mother’s Day. The options are endless, but you have to take a moment to help.
Check out our website:
Our family loves the AHOPE bracelets which feature the name of a child living at AHOPE in Ethiopia. We wear them so we don’t forget the many HIV+ orphans in Ethiopia, and we pray for the specific children on our bracelets. Not long ago Boo began wearing a bracelet with the name Kidist on it. We talked about praying for Kidist, especially that she would be healthy and that God would give her a family.
Soon after Boo began to wear it, I read a post on an HIV Adoption list from a woman who said that she was adopting Kidist and her brother! We were so excited to hear this good news. I emailed the mother and she sent me a wonderful reply. Better still, she sent an email to Boo, who was excited to email her back. She asked me to send her a photo of Boo wearing the bracelet – so sweet.
We must remember these children and pray earnestly for them. Every child needs a family to love them. Honeybee tells me about the children who pray to be adopted and wish that they will be chosen, but as they get older, their hope begins to fade. Children who are HIV+ can live long and healthy lives when they have excellent medical care; the kind of care that is available in America.
Through my work with From HIV to Home, I have a small list of HIV+ children who are waiting for families. Some of them have grants available to assist with the expenses of the adoptions.
6,000 children will be orphaned by AIDS today. Could you love one?
~Lisa
