Haiti

My heart is just breaking for the people of Haiti right now. If you haven't made a donation yet, you can do so by texting "Haiti" to 90999 and a $10 donation will be added to your cell phone bill.

As of yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced:

"We've raised more than 10 million dollars from more than one million donors through the SMS Haiti relief campaign. It has become the single largest mobile donation campaign ever."

I'm amazed! And every time I think about it I still shake my head. What a new era we live in that $10M can be raised through a simple text message.

Our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, facilitates Haitian adoptions. A few days ago they sent us a link to the God's Littlest Angels blog. GLA is an agency/orphanage they work with in Haiti. It's been amazing to read Dixie's first hand accounts of what has been happening in Haiti since the earthquake.

GLA also has a US office in Colorado Springs, CO. Soon they'll be sending a shipping container to Haiti with supplies. If you'd like to send them a monetary or material donation, there is an address on the website.

Right now it sounds as if adoptions are on hold indefinitely. I know that many are attempting to petition both governments to allow children to come to the US on emergency visas, but I don't know how that is going. No one seems to know at this point the fate of all the adoption paperwork - the months and months of paperwork! Because so many buildings were completely destroyed, it is assumed that a lot of paperwork was probably lost with them.

I don't seem to be one for prayer much these days, but I'll be saying many for the Haitian people, the orphans, and the parents here in the US who are trying to bring them home.

Things to be happy about.

1. Our agency gave out referrals for 4 sweet little boys on Friday. They are still in negotiations to sign on with 2 more orphanages in Ethiopia. (I thought this was already a done deal, but it isn't...but they're very close...which could mean more referrals soon.)

2. Charity: Water hit water at their first drill at the Abenea school in Northern Ethiopia yesterday. They've raised $420,000 in the past few weeks, but need to raise $1.5M. Go HERE to donate and watch to watch video of their progress.

Give 5, save 20

My wonderful friend Danielle runs a non-profit called Ethiopian Orphan Relief. Please go HERE on the EOR website and donate $5. The whole $5 will go to help orphans in Ethiopia. Besides good kharma and a warm fuzzy feeling, you will also receive a 20% off coupon for Macy's. Fall is in the air, go buy yourself a new sweater, some warm winter clothes for the kids, do some early Christmas shopping. But make sure you go and donate now.

(seriously, go! it's only $5)

Bring Clean Water to Ethiopia

My friend Lori just sent this to me. Spread the word. Donate.

www.borninseptember.org

Two weeks in...

It's been 2 weeks since our dossier was sent off to Ethiopia. Hopefully it's arrived safely and been translated at this point. I'm afraid I won't have many updates now until we get our referral.

I'm keeping busy this week volunteering for the Democratic National Convention. (Check our other blog this week for pictures.) Marc has just started back to school (teaching, not attending). I'm also updating our Etsy site. I should have some new products later this week and am working with my friend Danielle of Ethiopian Orphan Relief to figure out some sort of discount or money donated to EOR with each purchase. Stay tuned...that should be happening in the next few weeks.

Eden Reforestation Project - Ethiopia

A must-watch video about the past deforestation and much-needed reforestation of Ethiopia:


Tesfaye from Chronicle Project on Vimeo

The Eden Project is working to plant trees in Ethiopia. Read more.

Ayden's Friends - be one!

My post today is completely off the subject of adoption. I know the readers of this blog have a heart for others though - especially children - so I hope that you'll read this post and consider helping out a sweet little boy named Ayden. Ayden is the son of Tracey, a loving mommy I've come to know over the past year. Here's their story...

When you are three years old, you should be able to explore every inch of the world around you. You should be able to walk over to your mom to give her a huge bear hug and should be able to jump up to give your dad high fives. However, if you were born with Cerebral Palsy, as Ayden was, these simple pleasures enjoyed by properly developing 3 year olds can be enjoyed only with the assistance of special equipment, costly equipment.

One of these pieces of equipment is called a gait trainer, which Ayden uses at his physical therapy sessions, but the gait trainer belongs to the physical therapy center and must stay there. The freedom that Ayden enjoys at physical therapy sessions is halted at home because the cost of this piece of equipment is too astronomical for his
parents to be able to afford one of their own.

Even though the gait trainer has been recommended by his doctors and therapists as a vital piece of equipment to improve his quality of life, their many requests have been denied by Ayden's insurance. If you grant this wonderful little boy with his gait trainer, you would be truly giving him the whole world and giving him the chance to learn to possibly walk on his own two legs one day.

That letter comes from a great little website that some of Ayden's friends have set up. You can visit the site to read more about Ayden, see what donations have already been made, and to make a donation yourself. Even $1 will help.

I've also set up an ebay listing for one of the gorgeous necklaces that Karen makes for us. Bid with your heart, not with your wallet because ALL of the proceeds go to Ayden's Friends. Winning bidder gets free shipping and lots of love and gratitude from Ayden. Be sure to pass the link on to your friends and let them know what it's for. (Darn that eBay, they only let you raise money for certain charities, so I had to keep the listing kind of vague.)

How can you say no to a smile like this?