Seriously? How could you not love this hair.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Melkam Addis Amet!
Happy 2002, Ethiopia! Hope the year brings good things for you!
(Hint: Consider joining Mer's Mocha Club by clicking on the banner to the right of the page. $7 a month doesn't seem like much to make such a difference, does it? Plus it is a little embarrassing that only my parents joined... like I'm the uncool kid at school... oh no! Flashbacks!!)
(Hint: Consider joining Mer's Mocha Club by clicking on the banner to the right of the page. $7 a month doesn't seem like much to make such a difference, does it? Plus it is a little embarrassing that only my parents joined... like I'm the uncool kid at school... oh no! Flashbacks!!)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Meron's Mocha Club
For those of you in the Ethiopian blogging community, most of this is old news. You've seen this video and heard of Mocha Club. Well, for the rest of you, here is an e-mail that I just sent to 27 people:
Okay, I don't usually ask for money. But this is important. Everyone I e-mailed knows our family or has been touched by Ethiopian adoption and, since I tell everyone I know every detail of her life, you all know Meron. You know what light she brings to the world and the amazing potential she holds. She is funny, smart, beautiful, loving, kind, ambitious, stubborn and just all around amazing. And the thing is, when I look at the faces on the news of kids starving and dying of preventable diseases, I see her staring back at me. Those things that make her such an integral part of the world... those aren't there because of Nathan and I. All of those things she was born with. That means... all those people you see that make you feel sorry for them, well, it's worse than just a sad thing. When I think of the loss to the world that would occur if something happened to Meron it is unfathomable. In Africa alone, 5500 people per day die of AIDS, and 2,800 children PER DAY die of Malaria. Both of these diseases are preventable and, once you have them, are treatable. And there is no difference between those 8300 kids and my kid.... other than that I am blessed to be able to dress her in far too many expensive clothes and give her all the food and medical treatment she needs. 8300 Merons leaving the planet every day? That takes my breath away... and I think we all have a responsibility to do what we can to help prevent it. Join Meron's Mocah Club and give $7 a month to support HIV/AIDS and healthcare in Africa. $7 a month... the cost of 2 Mochas. This will help provide medical attention, prevention education and small business loans and job skills training. So, not only will people receive the life saving drugs they need, they will learn to prevent the spread of diseases and will be given tools and opportunity to become contributing members of society agian. Check out my club:
http://mochaclub.org/joinme/meronsmochaclub
Right now, everyone who joins gets one of their shirts free. Here are the tshirt choices - http://www.mochaclub.org/images/all_mocha_tshirts_titles.jpg.
So, Mocha Club is this website where you give up $7 a month - the cost of 2 mochas - to support a project in Africa.$7 doesn't seem like much, but it is huge. For example, $7 can provide clean water to 7 Africans for one year. I sent this e-mail to 27 people. What could $189 a month do?
Thanks!!
Okay, I don't usually ask for money. But this is important. Everyone I e-mailed knows our family or has been touched by Ethiopian adoption and, since I tell everyone I know every detail of her life, you all know Meron. You know what light she brings to the world and the amazing potential she holds. She is funny, smart, beautiful, loving, kind, ambitious, stubborn and just all around amazing. And the thing is, when I look at the faces on the news of kids starving and dying of preventable diseases, I see her staring back at me. Those things that make her such an integral part of the world... those aren't there because of Nathan and I. All of those things she was born with. That means... all those people you see that make you feel sorry for them, well, it's worse than just a sad thing. When I think of the loss to the world that would occur if something happened to Meron it is unfathomable. In Africa alone, 5500 people per day die of AIDS, and 2,800 children PER DAY die of Malaria. Both of these diseases are preventable and, once you have them, are treatable. And there is no difference between those 8300 kids and my kid.... other than that I am blessed to be able to dress her in far too many expensive clothes and give her all the food and medical treatment she needs. 8300 Merons leaving the planet every day? That takes my breath away... and I think we all have a responsibility to do what we can to help prevent it. Join Meron's Mocah Club and give $7 a month to support HIV/AIDS and healthcare in Africa. $7 a month... the cost of 2 Mochas. This will help provide medical attention, prevention education and small business loans and job skills training. So, not only will people receive the life saving drugs they need, they will learn to prevent the spread of diseases and will be given tools and opportunity to become contributing members of society agian. Check out my club:
http://mochaclub.org/joinme/meronsmochaclub
Right now, everyone who joins gets one of their shirts free. Here are the tshirt choices - http://www.mochaclub.org/images/all_mocha_tshirts_titles.jpg.
So, Mocha Club is this website where you give up $7 a month - the cost of 2 mochas - to support a project in Africa.$7 doesn't seem like much, but it is huge. For example, $7 can provide clean water to 7 Africans for one year. I sent this e-mail to 27 people. What could $189 a month do?
Thanks!!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Oh how far...
Okay, I realize that I have been a little emotional in recent bloggings. I get a little sentimental around milestones with Meron, and you're just going to have to deal with it. She turns 2 in October, and I'm sure I'll have another bout then... so if it irritates you, you might want to avoid the first half of the month. To counter balance all of the mush, I thought I'd discuss just how far we have fallen in our parenting ideals. For Meron's first birthday, we made her entirely sugar free cakes. She wasn't allowed sugar, gluten, anything processed, anything unwholesome in any way. I was sitting next to her while eating lunch today (at 10:15am because she woke up at 6 and won't take a nap until she's had lunch..and mama's gotta SLEEP!) and realized that the girl was eating ketchup using a twizzler. Yup. Worst. mother. EVER. To be fair, she did have actual food on her plate, including fruit. But she wasn't eating that. She was eating a ketchup dipped twizzler. Wow.
Why was she eating twizzlers at 10am, you ask? Because she is teething. She's finally getting her four eye teeth, and they HURT! On top of that, she has a cold and a lot of sinus pressure... so I can't even imagine how much that makes her teeth hurt. I had the same cold last week, and Nathan bought some licorice to eat on my "birthday surprise road trip to Sioux Falls." As I was eating it, I was thinking how lovely it felt to bite something so very solid, as it alleviated some of the pressure from my sinuses. Meron saw us eating (read 'sneaking') it and begged for a piece, which we naturally gave her since we were half way into a 3 hour car trip and things were getting dicey. She found it just as fantastic on her gums. So.... we put our leftover licorice in the fridge and I have been giving her a piece when her teeth seem to be hurting really badly. Yeah. All of the little steps made sense... not so much the end result of the girl eating ketchup with her twizzlers.
FYI...Our camera is broken. We did get a disposable water proof camera to document Mer's first big swimming pool experience (she's only been in the kiddie pools, never one where she could actually swim). When we get it developed I will post pictures, and you can all tell me that it is merely prudent to have Meron in a bathing suit which has a built in inner tube inside an inflatable fish wearing water wings. Nathan seems to think it might be perceived as over protective....
Why was she eating twizzlers at 10am, you ask? Because she is teething. She's finally getting her four eye teeth, and they HURT! On top of that, she has a cold and a lot of sinus pressure... so I can't even imagine how much that makes her teeth hurt. I had the same cold last week, and Nathan bought some licorice to eat on my "birthday surprise road trip to Sioux Falls." As I was eating it, I was thinking how lovely it felt to bite something so very solid, as it alleviated some of the pressure from my sinuses. Meron saw us eating (read 'sneaking') it and begged for a piece, which we naturally gave her since we were half way into a 3 hour car trip and things were getting dicey. She found it just as fantastic on her gums. So.... we put our leftover licorice in the fridge and I have been giving her a piece when her teeth seem to be hurting really badly. Yeah. All of the little steps made sense... not so much the end result of the girl eating ketchup with her twizzlers.
FYI...Our camera is broken. We did get a disposable water proof camera to document Mer's first big swimming pool experience (she's only been in the kiddie pools, never one where she could actually swim). When we get it developed I will post pictures, and you can all tell me that it is merely prudent to have Meron in a bathing suit which has a built in inner tube inside an inflatable fish wearing water wings. Nathan seems to think it might be perceived as over protective....
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