H2O

Water

Can't live with it.

Can't live without it.

Can you imagine having to walk one hour to the nearest pond to retrieve water for your family? Now imagine you know the very water you're about to give your husband, children and parents has mud, worms, or human and animal waste. That's the situation for about 1.1 billion people in the world today. Its estimated 5 million people die every year because of water-related illnesses.

I've partnered with World Vision for years now. I just received their summer news magazine. It's loaded with facts about how water or lack of effects our neighbors. Here are some amazing statistics.

Can't live with it.

The millionaires club no-one wants to join.

• 1 Million: Number of children killed by malaria each year
• 1.6 Million: Child deaths due to diarrhea each year
• 6 Million: People blind today due to trachoma
• 12 Million: People affected by typhoid fever each year
• 400 Million: School-age children infected with parasitic worms.
• 443 Million: School days missed a year because of diseases such as diarrhea and parasitic infections. Equivalent to an entire school year for all 7 year old in Ethiopia

Source: World Vision Summer 2007 & UNESCO

Water-Borne Diseases

Cause: Drinking water contaminated by human, animal, or chemical waste.

Examples: Diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, polio, hepatitis A

Water-Related Diseases

Cause: Being bitten by insects (mosquitoes or flies) that feed or breed in water

Examples: Malaria, dengue fever, river blindness

Water-Based Diseases

Cause: Ingesting organisms that spend part of their life cycle in water

Examples: Guinea worm, bilharzia

Water-Scarce Diseases

Cause: Having poor hygiene or washing with contaminated water

Examples: scabies, trachoma, lice

Guinea worm- When people drink water from a stagnant pond they may be ingesting microscopic larvae. This parasite lives inside the body for about one year, turning into a spaghetti-like worm. Then it escapes from the inside by puncturing the skin. Okay if this doesn't sound bad enough, it can take up to three months for the worm to emerge from the body.

Can't live without it.

Countries where less than half of the population have sustainable access to clean water:

Niger=46%

Democratic Republic of Congo=46%

Mozambique=43%

Chad=42%

Cambodia=41%

Papua New Guinea=39%

Ethiopia=22%

Source: Human Development Report 2006

Remember when your mother would try to cajole you into eating all of your dinner by saying, "You should eat those peas. There are children in Africa starving." Was it just me but didn't you think, "how was my eating green squishy peas going to help them?"

I've recently been told I'm very competitive. Yes I like to win. That's why this problem with water touches me. Its a battle we can win.

Did you know?

When a community gains access to clean water, its child mortality rate drops by half. (United Nations Millennium Campaign)

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold

water to one of these little ones because

he is my disciple, I tell you the truth,

he will certainly not lose his reward."

-Matthew 10:42

The cost to bring clean, safe water to a community is roughly $2 per person per year-that's less than a penny a day.

Quote from Richard Stearns: World Vision Summer 2006

The world spends $100 billion a year on bottled water-a surprising statistic because most people who buy it usually have high-quality water piped to their homes. Meanwhile, an investment of a mere $30 billion a year would halve the number of people who have no access to clean water by 2015.

Source: Earth Policy Institute

No me eating peas will not stop the children in Africa from starving. Me drinking the clean water piped into my house and donating the money I would've used to buy bottled water will help to provide clean water to my neighbors.

There was another time God's people were thirsty and God answered prayer.

"The Lord answered Moses, 'Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.' So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel."

Exodus 16:5-6

Super Man & Wonder Woman

We have received all of our vaccinations for our travel to Ethiopia. We feel like Super Man & Wonder Woman, ready to take on anything.

Here's our breakdown.

Rick

Hepatitis A/B Combo

Typhoid VI

Polio

Meningococcal

Yellow Fever

TDaP

MMR (Measeles, mumps, ruffella)

Kateri

Hepatitis A/B Combo

Yellow Fever

TDaP

MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)

Typhoid VI

Polio

Meningococcal

Vaccination Grand Total= $1,447.00 (minus we each need one additional shot from the Hep. A/B series)

Ability to travel to Ethiopia to meet our children=priceless.

Program Update 4 siblings

No movement, its been the same date for a couple of months. I went back and looked at the referrals. There haven't been many sibling referrals with one child being an infant. Do we continue to hold out for one infant and one under four or do we change our request? If we don't receive a referral by July we most likely won't be able to travel until October or November because the courts in Ethiopia close for 6 weeks around September.

Where's the magic eight ball when you need it?

Who Made Me?

"There is no path that does not lead to a home."

TONGA PROVERB

I was in one of my favorite stores, Job Lot, yesterday and picked up this book. I had never realized how hard it was to find books, art or dolls that featured African Americans. Never mind trying to find items that show white parents with black children. So when I see these types of items I pick them up.

This book is about a girl trying to find the answer to the question, "Who Made Me?" in the African bush. She asks the same question to different animals. Their answer ties her creator to someone like them and they share their gift that resembles their creator. The book never really answers the question. What it does do is open the door to discussion.

Its a big question. First we know what God says in Genesis 1:27

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."

First we'll explain God created Nemo & Nema. They have birth parents and adoptive parents who both love them very much. We are much more than physical beings. The experiences throughout life make us who we are too.

Our ancestors are a large part of who we are. I believe they contribute both by nature and nurture. The characteristics that we have that resemble our ancestors are the nurture part of who we are. Who hasn't had the experience when they start saying things that their parents said while they were growing up. One of my first experiences happened when I managed a Bess Eaton. I said, "Why can't people put things back where they found them?" Thanks Dad :0) My brothers and sisters tell me I'm like my mother. For good or bad our children will model our behaviors.

Nemo & Nema will have biological ancestors in Ethiopia. We may or may not know anything about their biological ancestors. Not knowing one's biological history isn't a foreign concept only applying to adopted persons. Slaves brought to North America after a few generations also lost their biological ancestral history. I pray we are able to learn about Nemo & Nema's biological family. We'll share and celebrate their birth culture. Together we'll learn about Ethiopia.

The above quote, "There is no path that does not lead to a home." was in the book. At first I didn't really believe it. Then I read 2 Corinthians 5:1 "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands." Then I realized it is true. We're all on paths. We all will live eternally. In the end it is rather simple. Our paths lead us to one of two eternal homes.

Adoption story

The blog Leave It To Avery has recently posted their adoption story. It really captures their story and I wanted to share with all. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Avery and Heather thank you for sharing your story with us. I pray God continues to bless you and your family. To see their story click here.

Good Friday & 6 month waiting date

1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the day that marks when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for our salvation. Catholics are also supposed to meditate and pray between the hours of noon to three o'clock in the afternoon. These are the hours Jesus hung on the cross.
Good Friday is called good because on this day Jesus was crucified for our redemption of our sins.

Today we've officially been waiting for 6 months. Our agency tells people who are waiting for siblings they can expect their wait to be anywhere from 1 to 6 months for siblings. Unless you are requesting one child to be an infant. Then the wait can extend beyond 6 months. (That's us)

Every two weeks our agency has a conference call that updates families on who's next on the list. This is done by giving the date the next family sent in their dossier. A dossier is all of the required paperwork the country, in our case Ethiopia, to process an adoption.

It's relatively easy to calculate how much longer you have to wait if you have specific request for infant. Example, if you are waiting for a female infant and you sent in your dossier in November of 2006 and they tell you the next person on the list is June, 2006 you can estimate your wait to be another 5 months.

When you're in the siblings category there are to many variables to take into account. It's not so easy to determine an estimated date. What makes it a bit easier is we know very few people ask for siblings groups. The next family on the list is September, 2006. We're October, 2006. I almost come out of my skin when I say that but I try to stay cool. We've had so many highs and lows. At this point I'm shoving everything down deep. I'll break down when we get "the call."

Of course we don't know how many families there are between September and October. Nor do we know what their requests are. Although I secretly hope they're very specific. Like-two siblings-one male under 12 months and one female under 24 months. See the more specific you are with your request for siblings the narrower your odds of being matched. The major unknown is what children will be brought to our agencies orphanage.

As we continue to wait we've found a song that expresses our prayer for our children. To hear it click here.

The Gift

"Tis the gift to be simple,

Tis the gift to be free,

Tis the gift to come down

Where we ought to be.

And when we find ourselves

In the place just right,

Twill be in the valley

Of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd

To bow and to bend

We shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight

Til by turning, turning we come round right.

-Shaker Hymn, 1848
It was 1992 when I first heard of the notion to ‘pray for God’s will’ and I didn’t like the idea very much. I had told my Nana about a job I wanted very much and had interviewed for. Her response was, "I’ll pray you receive the job if its Gods will." I went home and told my mother about what had happened. We laughed together at my reaction, which was, "No pray I get the job." To heck whether or not its Gods will. I didn’t get that job but I did get a better job in the end. That was my first lesson in searching for God’s will for my life.

Flash-forward to 2002 I had another lesson in praying for God’s will. Rick and I had spent the year with doctors testing to see if we could have biological children. This time I was a least smart enough to pray, "Lord, I don’t trust myself to do the right thing because my desire to have children is so strong. So please work through my husband for your will to be done." This was my prayer at the beginning of our journey.
After about a year we had our appointment scheduled to hear our final test results as to whether or not we could have children without medical intervention. Rick and I talked about what we were willing and not willing to do. I knew my flesh was weak. I was so afraid my desire to have children would compromise my agreement with Rick. One day I was driving to work and silently prayed, "God I can do this with your help. I need to know this is your will. If it is when I come home from work tonight and I find Rick reading about Abraham in the Bible I’ll know its your will to do what Rick and I agreed to. God it can’t be two nights from today that I find him reading the bible. It can’t be him reading about anything else. If it is, it will give me enough wiggle room to discount our agreement here and now." Off I went to work and forgot about my Morning Prayer. When I came home Rick was no where to be seen. Upstairs I called for him and he answered downstairs. At the top of the stairs I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Reading." Me, "What are you reading?" Rick, "The bible." At this point I remembered my Morning Prayer and knew the answer to my next question without asking. Me, "What are you reading in the Bible?" Rick, "I’m reading about Abraham." By this point the hairs on my arms where standing straight up. I thought, "Well Rick doesn’t know about my prayer-I still have wiggle room." As the night went on I realized that if God was going to answer my prayer in such an amazing way I couldn’t throw it in his face. That night I shared what happened with Rick.

A few days later we went to that fateful appointment. As we sat across from the doctor who shared the news I was filled with a joy and peace you just can’t explain. Here I was being told that the best science could tell (taking into account my husbands and my agreement) we would not have biological children and I couldn’t have been happier. I felt like the light of the world was within me and I was full of love. My God had spoken to me clearly. Cared enough to answer a quite prayer. Of all the things going on in this world He took time to assure me HE was in control.

That was good enough for me.