My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
If this would have slammed me in the face before I hopped out of bed today, instead of six hours into my day, it would have been a MUCH better, loving, productive day. With a lot less hurt. Maybe for you too?
Ethiopia, what I've seen and experienced of it, is beautiful. And ugly. It's no different then most places I've been...with regard to beautiful and ugly.
There are some really poor people struggling to survive and yet, thrive in knowing what's important in life. Thrive with little distraction. Thrive in their thankfulness for the "smallest" blessings. Thrive with clear minds unmuddled with how to redesign a deck. Yup, sometimes I go to sleep trying to envision how to fix my deck.
I don't see myself as materialistic. I don't really care about stuff. But still, our culture makes it difficult to embrace a simple life without ostracisizing ourselves from that culture. I struggle with that. A lot.
In no way am I saying that my country or my culture is better than another. In fact, as much as I appreciate the freedoms and opportunities one can find this country, there is much that saddens me. I'm posting this video below because I don't believe that life and death issues are legitimately tied to culture. And if it is, I don't agree that I have to value or respect it. Because FIRST, we are humans, created and loved by God. Then, we can be Americans, Ethiopians, mothers, fathers, teachers, bankers, soccer players, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, male, and female. Whatever it is that you want to be. So in all the things that I love about Ethiopia and its people, this is the ugly that I wish did not exist. And, I might add, that Ethiopia is incredibly diverse--especially in the southern region where there are about 50 different ethnic groups. Like many horrible issues going on in the world, these tribes alone do not represent Ethiopia.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine if your son or daughter was born in one of these three tribes and deemed cursed because the birth wasn't "planned" and marked by a sacrificial goat? Can you imagine your son or daughter, as a helpless infant being tossed in a river to drown? It would be that easy. Hinging on ONE thing---where he or she was born. It breaks my heart because it's not truth. And if it were something less consequential at stake, I could laugh it off and embrace it as culture. But not a life. Not one of MY beautiful (and loving, resilient, active, funny...) boys. Fortunate enough to be born up the road.
Yes, D loves his breakfast burrito. He'd eat five. This video, however, is not a serious burrito standoff. More like a silly standoff. BUT first, here's my SERIOUS plea to all prospective adoptive families...
PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH.
Please use an agency that meets the standards needed to adopt from a Hague Convention country -- even if you are adopting from a country that doesn't require it. Adopting a child is serious stuff. We always want to be on the up and up. We NEVER want a living birthparent to be coerced into relinquishing a child. There are too many legitimately needy children and babies out there already.
Let's keep families together.
And for those babies and children who have no other option, let's keep JOINING families together. As a community of adoptive families, we're in this together. One negative story can deny the chance for family a thousand times over.
There's no agency without a disgruntled family or two, but "agencies are denied when there is 'clear and convincing' evidence that they have violated conditions set by the Hague convention, regarding the adoptability of children." Sketchy agencies and people exist in the adoption world -- just like they do in government, business, churches, etc. There are approximately 180 accredited agencies in the U.S. No need to support those who are denied nor those who don't care to apply. Fast. Easy. Nice. Not good enough! Search out an agency that is child-centered not client-centered. Yes, they should be nice to you, but ultimately, we need to be MOST concerned with how they operate in Ethiopia (or any other country).
On a lighter note, thank God for breaks! Aaron is an incredible father and husband. During HIS two weeks off, he did much of what I do. Am I glad to do it? Yup. But it sure is nice to mix it up a little. This morning, I just realized how incredibly refreshed, positive, and inspired I feel. These boys are so fun. They're silly. They love one another. Here's 3.5 minutes of our burrito standoff from the other morning. No, we don't use plastic bags for bibs. Just can't find ours from the trip!
So, Christmas marks the first plane trip since we came home from ET in July--uh, can you believe we've been home for six months?! Anyway, my parents took the family to the Orlando area for a week.
The boys were REALLY excited to get back on a plane, although I'm not sure why. Considering their first and last plane trip was over 30 hours long! I suppose they were also excited about hitting the beach (AKA "the big sandbox") and getting to see their cousins every day for a week. :)
Here's Old Town Kissimmee. First roller coaster. First ferris wheel. First tea cup. Check out D on the motorcycle. It's like he was born to ride and be naughty. The adults had to get our money's worth out of the Super Shot!
Our next visit was to Gatorland. Yes, awesome. Lots of gators and other animals. Water playground. Normal playground. A choo-choo ride. Gators eating chickens.
On another day, we hit Green Meadows Petting Farm . Another choo-choo ride. A hayride. Learned how to catch ducks. Milked a cow! Saw a Zorse. The boys had a brief ride on a horse. Help baby chicks and baby ducks. The boys saw an ostrich egg and wanted to eat it.
Christmas day was spent at Seaworld. I was quite mistaken in assuming that Christmas would make for a quiet day in the park. At night, however, we were often all alone looking at exhibits and accidentally petting dolphins...
On the waterfront, at night, they made real snow and blew it across the boardwalk!
Here and there, we just relaxed. Enjoyed ditching our jackets and long pants some of the time.
