Please help

I know that I mentioned this the other day on my blog but Haregewoin Teferra has passed away and left some children in need of help.

This next letter is taken directly from Melissa Faye Greene's website (the author of "There Is No Me Without You," also a friend to Haregewoin and to the children at the orphanage that now need our help).....

"Dear Friends,

By now you may have learned the shocking news that Mrs. Haregewoin Teferra has died suddenly after a short illness. We don't know what caused her death; she felt sick for a couple of days, went to the doctor, came home without a diagnosis, felt sick again, and that was the end.

We are grieving, yet we have no time to spare: 59 children survive her, many of them toddlers and babies, the majority HIV-positive.

Worldwide Orphans--the New York-based organization that has overseen the medical care for Haregewoin's children for many years--has stepped into the breach. They have assumed full custody of the 42 HIV-positive kids and are prepared to take responsibility for the 17 HIV-negative children, as needed. Most of the latter are babies and toddlers; they're still at the foster home; their caregivers have stayed on; and the Atetegeb board is attentive to their health and safety at present.

These heroic measures come at high cost: we estimate $300,000 will be required in the coming year (about $4,600 per child) to cover food, healthcare and medicine, education, clothing, and caregivers. Once their basic needs are met, the children’s paperwork will be sorted out; some may be eligible for adoption, others may have extended families in a position to allow the children to return. But that is for the future.

The crisis is now: keeping these children fed and clothed, paying the salaries of loving caregivers to act as stand-ins for their late parents, making sure there is no break in the life-saving healthcare provided by WWO.

Haregewoin lived with these children seven days a week, 24 hours a day, for ten years. She is irreplaceable. The smallest ones, of course, have no idea what has just happened.

Please let us work together to act as foster parents in absentia for these little ones and to provide financial sustenance to the adults on the ground in Addis with them.

Thank you in advance for any amount you can give.

Online contributions can be made at http://www.wwo.org/.
Specify Campaign for Haregewoin's Children.

Or checks may be sent to: WWO511 Valley Street Maplewood, New Jersey 07040
Sincerely, Melissa"

Retail Therapy

Today marks the second day in a row I could go outside without a jacket. If you don't live in the Midwest, this is a big deal. I believe it is only the 3rd time so far this year I have been out without a jacket. Finally. It amazes me how much sunshine can affect ones mood. So that said I decided to get out of the house today and enjoy. I stopped at my favorite local coffee shop for my favorite Large Iced Americano. YUMMY! From there I decided I was going to go grab a few things to bring with us to Illinois this weekend. We are going to visit some very dear friends and their adorable children so I wanted to get some fun stuff to bring the kids. No worries some good Wisconsin beer will be purchased so the adults can have a little fun too. :) While I was wandering around the store I felt pulled in a few directions and not really sure why.

So on top of what I purchased for the kids and the house, I bought this hinged picture frame. When we travel to bring home Peanut, we may be blessed enough to meet members of her first family and we are allowed to give them a hinged picture frame with pictures of us and of Peanut.

On my way to the back of the store, I turned down an aisle and saw this clock. I just mentioned that we should get a travel alarm clock and bam here it is.

Lastly on the way to the checkout I went down the aisle that sold hair dryers. I didn't really need to go down that aisle but happened to find this on sale and figured it would be perfect for travel. It has dual voltage too.

Retail therapy does wonders sometimes. I avoided the baby section since I am going to an AWESOME baby resale with my friend on Saturday. Cute baby clothes and no husbands to stop us from all that adorableness.

Don't get me wrong, my heart is still heavy with everything that is going on and to top it off the sad news found here http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/blog?op=view&id=64 but I can't drown myself in Hazelnut Apricot cake forever. Okay I could but that would be a bad idea. So please keep all the little kiddos in Ethiopia in your prayers as well as the care givers and the people making all these decisions. I pray for the best interests of the children. And if you haven't read "There is no me without you", you should. It is a sad day in Ethiopia. She was truly an angel on Earth and her presence will be greatly missed.

A couple random updates

Preschool: I appreciate everyone's advice. A friend of the family gave me a lot of helpful info about the preschool we would like Peanut to go to and how we don't register for that until March of the year she is eligible. And we know that if we weren't to make it in to the 3 year program she could just go to preschool at her daycare. They have a curriculum that includes, math, writing, Spanish, art and more so that would be fine too and then we could go for the 4 year old program at the school we would like her to attend the next year. Huge sigh of relief that I can enjoy Peanut being a baby and not have to worry about this just yet.

Adoption Process: We got word today that our approval paperwork has arrived at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. YEAH! That is a big relief to know that it is there and that we don't have to go tracking it down. Our fingerprints expire on May 2oth so if all goes well we won't need to worry about being back in the country before the expire. However, we can apply for our one time free refingerprinting in March and I plan on doing it. We have to send a letter to our CIS office with a copy of our I-171H form and they will schedule an appointment for us. Hopefully we will be back home with our sweet baby girl before May 20th but since so much is out of our control and unexpected things come up I would rather be safe and do it then delayed and frustrated.

Reading: Not sure why I haven't picked it up until now but today I started reading "There is No Me Without You" by Melissa Faye Green. I am really just trying to process it all. I literally just picked it up a few hours ago and have read 100 pages so far. It has made me think and long to see with my own eyes the place of my child's birth. I long to do more, to do my part yet I don't know what that looks like right now. I am anxious to keep reading and learning. I am curious what my heart will tell me. Maybe sponsor a child...not sure. More thinking to do here.