We're private.

A few weeks ago I posted that we'd be taking this blog private for awhile. To me, the blog is a place for me to keep track of what's going on with the adoption. It keeps me organized, it keeps family and friends abreast of our progress, it allows me to vent and whine and cry when something goes wrong. It's also a place where I can share information about fundraising, philanthropic organizations, charities, etc. A journal and a newspaper combined, where others can catch a glimpse of what's happening in our world.

That said, the restrictions on this blog have become more and more numerous over the past few months and I feel as if I can't really share anything that I want to.

There are things that are very understandable - like not posting pictures or names of your child before you pass court. No problem!

Then there are things that I can kinda sorta understand, but don't agree with - like the "no fundraising" rule. The powers that be in Ethiopia believe that families should have the money for adoption up front. They don't want people fundraising to afford the adoption. I can understand their point. They want to know that the family has the means to support the child they're adopting. But really, who has THAT much money just sitting around? Rumor (semi-confirmed by various sources) has it there are people in Ethiopia (the ET embassy maybe?) that look online for people who are fundraising and that one person even lost a referral because of it.

Then there are things that I just plain disagree with. For example, our agency shared this CNN article with us about famine in Ethiopia, but told us not to post things like this on our blogs because of the image that it would give people about the country. First of all, if someone did NOT know about famine in Ethiopia before visiting my blog, they've been living under a rock. Secondly, many of us use our blogs to incite action in our friends and family. We want them to feel like they should make a donation or do something....or at least understand why we're doing this. We will forever be tied to Ethiopia through our children and we have a responsibility to help.

Several people have asked if we were going private because there was a problem. No, no problem - don't worry. I just don't want my big ol' anarchist (haha) blabber mouth to get me in trouble, so I thought I'd lock this diary for awhile and just give a few people a copy of the key.