Wrapping Up Black History Month

Below is the article "Bond Between Ethiopian, African Americans Examined." It gives an interesting viewpoint of the historical context of the relationship between Ethiopians and African Americans. Very informative.


On Monday night, a bus full of New York Abyssinian Baptist Church members drove to Washington, D.C. to join the Ethiopian community to honor the church and its pastor, the Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts III.

The event, which was hosted at the Ethiopian embassy, was also intended to celebrate Black History Month and to strengthen the historical and spiritual connections between the Ethiopian and African-American communities.

“During slavery, African Americans always looked at Ethiopia as a place that represented freedom, black culture, history and religion,” said Princeton University professor Ephraim Isaac, who spoke at the event. “It inspired the fight against discrimination and religion. When slaves were told they were inferior, they were animals or subhuman, they would think of Ethiopia.”
Isaacs, who is also the founder of the African-American studies department at Harvard, quoted Langston Hughes’ poem, “The Call of Ethiopia.” The poem addressed the freedom of not only Ethiopia, but also the entire African continent.

Sociology professor Alem Habtu of CUNY Queens College described how, as an international student from Ethiopia, he learned from African Americans during the civil rights movement.
Habtu, along with some peers, took over the Ethiopian embassy in protest of issues concerning their country after hearing Stokely Carmichael and members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) speak.

The guests included members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the ambassador of Ethiopia, Samuel Assefa.

Robert Wallace, CEO of Birthgroup Technologies, said he plans to build orphanages for children whose parents died of AIDS/HIV.

Gary Flowers, executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, addressed the need to get back to the root of black culture.

“I am, because we are; and because we are, I am,” Flowers said. “There is no individual advancement without group advancement.”

The director of communications for Ambassador Al Rutherford said the program is the first of many that will recognize the connection between the two cultures.

The evening ended with the honoring of Butts, as he was presented with a piece of artwork by a famous Ethiopian painter.

His long-term goal is to use the church’s developmental corporation to build housing and educational facilities in Ethiopia.

“We can not be chauvinistic about our connection to Ethiopia and cannot deny what needs to happen,” said Butts.

Updated Adoption To-Do List

Here's an updated to-do list for the adoption.

*Prepare girl's room (assemble bookshelves, toy box, buy second mattress for bunk beds, hang new curtains, hang new artwork, re-organize closet)
*Buy baby stuff- carseat, highchair/booster, clothes, shoes, diapers?, sippy cups
*Present lesson to Abigail's class about Ethiopia and kick of donations drive
*Talk to pastor more about how the church can help
*Buy granola bars for the begging children
*Prepare information for day care center employees about adoption/attachment/possible delays or medical conditions
*Work ahead in school and try to complete classes as early as possible in case of early referral/early travel
*"Dry run" packing my stuff and Abigail's stuff in the compression bags I bought
*Revisit and trim the packing list
*Finish as many household projects as possible and clean house
*Consider and/or organize large garage sale (whole church, whole neighborhood, whole daycare?) to raise money for travel expenses

Week 6

6 Weeks (1 month, 1 week, 4 days) of waiting for a referral... where does the time go? When I was working on my dossier, I felt like the time between when I would send a document by FedEx to be authenticated and the time when it would arrive at it's destination took weeks when it actually only took a few days. Now I feel like the weeks are flying by- 7 days feels like 3, and I am starting to get worried that I just won't get everything done.

In actuality, I've made a lot of progress on the adoption to-do list, but the problem is that I keep thinking of more things to do! But, I think that is typical momma behavior- as they say, a woman's work is never done.

Week 6 highlights:

*Got our typhoid shots yesterday. Abigail was the hero! She didn't cry, and was super-helpful by cleaning my arm with alcohol for the nurse, and then putting the bandaid on when the nurse was done. Great job, Abigail! (My arm is sore, but I don't feel like I've been hit by a truck like I did with my last batch of shots. Apparently it's the Hep A shot that can give you the flu-like side effects.)

*Completed and sent off all the paperwork for the Oxford Adoption Foundation loan that I have been awarded. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the adoption to be finalized in Ethiopia, and the loan will be funded, with disbursement directly to Gladney. So, my Gladney costs left to pay before travel have just significantly decreased! Yea!

*Was blessed to receive a random package from Abigail's teacher, Ms. Barbara. She has been following along with our adoption journey, and has invited me to teach Abigail's class about Ethiopia, which will "kick off" the donation drive at Abigail's school/day care. Anyway, last week she pulled me aside as I was picking up Abigail and handed me a shopping bag. She said she had been at some stores, saw some great deals, and picked up a few things to give to the orphans. The bag contained clothes, art supplies, and toys. Thanks Ms. Barbara!

*Started the F.B.I. It's been really great to learn about other Gladney families, as well as having the opportunity to see a more realistic picture of referral to court, and court to embassy times. If you know of other Gladney families that are not on the list, please let me know! I am hoping that once I move past the time where this info would be helpful to me, that someone who is further behind in the process might take over the maintenance of the list, and hopefully it can be kept going to be a reference for Gladney families. All you need is a Google account!

*I've had lots of fun seeing the responses to the polls I have posted. If you haven't voted yet, please do so, and please feel free to leave a comment with your rationale! Do you all know something about summer vacations that I don't know? I'm wondering if the Gladney caseworkers all take a summer vacation and that's why no one has chosen June 1-15 as the time frame to receive my referral?

Well, that's about it on the home front. We're off to take Abigail to school, and then I have to call the township and find out why I haven't gotten any info about enrolling Abigail in first grade. All the other parents have gotten info packets and are doing stuff... Hmm. A mystery.

APB!/Forensic Blogging Adventure #1

Okay Ladies and Gents, I am doing a little experiment in forensic blogging, and I need your assistance! This is a call to the public in response to the APB I am putting out on my referral.

Now, before I start, let me just say that I am not over-eager for my referral (it will happen in God's time, and the good Lord knows I have a lot to do between now and then.) I am, however, very curious, and hoping to successfully plan my summer/fall class schedule and vacations. So, don't take this as a "I want my referral!" post, but rather a "Hmm, can I accurately plan on taking a trip to the Blog Union or taking 4 classes this summer?" type post.

Okay, disclaimer aside...

My goal is to figure out a few things:

a) How long is the recent wait for Gladney families requesting a toddler girl, with or without correctable medical condition?
b) How long is the recent wait for a court date for Gladney families?
c) How long is the wait between passing court and embassy date for Gladney families?
d) How many people are on the Gladney wait list ahead of me?
e) For those ahead of me on the wait list, how many are requesting a toddler girl?

First step- visiting the most up-to-date, organized, and informative Gladney blogger I know: Amy "Momma to many, and now home with Nathan" Breedlove. She lists blogging Gladney families in the left sidebar (scroll down, it's there- or stop and check out her blog first:)

First question, readers, is this: who else do you know that is a Gladney family, besides those on her blog, and where are they in the process (most interested in waiting, referral, court date, and traveling families). The key to successful forensic blogging is the amount and quality of your information!

So help me out fellow bloggers and blog-readers! I know you know much of what I don't know, you know?

Take a guess...

Here are some questions for you to ponder... (Keep in mind I went on the wait list 1/16/08 and I am requesting a todder girl, under the age of 36 months, with or without a minor medical condition, with a preference for a girl 12-14 months at age of referral.)

more at twiigs.com...

more at twiigs.com...

more at twiigs.com...

Jealousy

Alright, I might ruffle some feathers here, but I trust that my regular readers will not be offended:)

I'll be honest: until I started educating myself about transracial adoption and parenting a black child, I never heard of "white envy"- an idea that basically espouses that black kids want to be white and that is the reason why they want straight hair or lighter skin or whatever. From the reading I have done, it seems that this idea is not really "true"- Dr. Wright, who wrote "I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla," debunks this myth in her book, and for a further discussion, I recommend you read her book.

Now, I ask you, has anyone ever heard of "black envy"? Because I think it's real, and I think Abigail has it.

This girl is so in love with black people! She could look at pictures of Ethiopians for hours, and keep up an endless stream of how beautiful their eyes and smiles and faces are. She loves black skin of all colors, and is always asking to touch it because "it looks so soft and shiny." (This is odd in public places, and I hope we have not offended anyone when she has made her request in a voice loud enough to be heard by others.) And black hair... she has never seen a black hair style she did not want to imitate. Ballies, cornrows, locks... she cries when my attempts at braiding her hair fail (which they inevitably do since her hair is just not the right texture to hold a braid.)

Every time we see a referral picture, every time we click to see Micah, Pacey, the Owlhavens, the Quinns, or baby Ian she ooohs and ahhhs and asks if her sister will look just like these beautiful kids. When we read her favorite book "We're Different, We're the Same" she always chooses the eyes and skin and nose of the black characters as the most beautiful (and sometimes even as the one she looks the most like.) This girl has black envy. I love it!

Horizon House Prayer

I saw this on another blog. I was touched, and wanted to share. Here is the daily prayer recited at Horizon House

In the name of the Father (beh semeh ab)
the son (beh wold)
and the Holy Sprit (beh menfes kidus)
One God (ahadu amlak)
Amen. (ahmen)

Our God, we pray to ask you to please bless this bread and this water,
we pray to ask you to please provide to those who are hungry and thirsty
and give to them with your blessings,
Amen.
Let those who are working hard for others and those with giving hands be blessed.
In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Week 5

Another week down of waiting. The weeks are really flying! Let's see, what adoption stuff did I do this week?

* Bought a nice blend of a croc/sneaker at W*lmart for $8. I think they will work well for walking and be easy to keep clean. Plus, they are pink, so... You know:) They are happy!

* Picked up more travel/trip stuff at said store. Got a great deal on clearance V-Day shiny pencils (they have hearts on them.) Thought this would be great for the orphanage.

* Finished all 10 required hours of Hauge training.

* Did I tell you I ordered the bunk beds? Can't remember if I told you, but I did. They should arrive some time around Easter.

* Stalked the Breedlove's blog and Jocelyn's blog. Cutie pie babies!

* Decided that rather than trying to explain to non-adoption people what a referral is, that it is much easier to say "I am waiting to be matched with a child." People get that.

* Bought mirrors.

So, I am making some progress on my adoption to-do list. There are some things that I simply cannot do until I have a referral, others that I can't do until I have a court or travel date, but there are still some things I can finish up before then. I forsee a trip to Sam's and then a little rendezvous with some suitcases for a packing "trial run." And I definitly foresee more lists:)

Adoption Counting- Like Pregnancy, but Different.

When I was preggers, everyone always wanted to know "how far along" I was. I always responded in the number of weeks pregnant that I was, but most people were looking for a quick "5 months" or whatever. This created a problem, because people who heard "oh, I'm 20 weeks" would listen and translate that to 5 months and assume I had 4 months to go. In actualality, because pregnancy is a 40 week process (or 37 weeks in Abigail's case), 20 weeks meant I had about 5 months to go, not 4. (This is because of when you start "counting" the pregnancy- it's all medical stuff, and I won't bore you, but suffice it to say that I counted by weeks, others counted by months, and this created mass confusion.)

So, now with the adoption, I find myself in another counting dilemma. I am tracking my wait for a referral in the number of weeks I have been on the wait list. But my anticipated wait is predicted in months, not weeks (3-5 months, to be exact.) So, it's not really accurate to say "at least 12 weeks for a referral" because months are not exactly 4 weeks (more like 4.3 weeks.) It is more accurate to say at least 13 -14 weeks of waiting before a referral.

All this to say, should I switch and start counting my wait in months instead of weeks? I don't know. All this silliness.

You are my sunshine...

Abigail got a pillow in the mail from her Gaga and Pepaw that says "you are my sunshine." It also plays the tune- a song that Abigail frequently heard as a toddler as it was my second-favorite lullaby (can you guess my favorite lullaby?)

Anywho, by popular demand, here is Abigail practicing to sing a lullaby to her sister:)

Warning! This video rated "H" for Ham!