Memorial Weekend

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  I hope you're enjoying time with family and friends, maybe watching a parade, visiting a cemetery, barbequing or enjoying a picnic.  We'll all be remembering those who have died in service to our country.  We're so thankful for those serving in our country's military and for their families. 

Here is a photo Jeff took in January of several of the widows enjoying a celebration at the opening of our Widows and Orphans Home in Adama...

I love this picture!

Joy, Abebe, Tezera and Jeff are due back to Addis on Sunday evening.  We're looking forward to hearing about their week in the west and also about any updated paperwork they were able to get for many of our children. 

Here are several links you might find interesting...

Finding The Cause Within You

@Ordinary Hero Blog

"Research confirms that a huge majority of people—more than three out of every four adults—say they want to make a difference in the world; they want their lives to account for some lasting, positive outcome. But the statistics further point out that most people hold onto that hope as something they may experience in the future; it is not a present reality for them. In other words, many of us do not know the cause that will give our lives genuine fulfillment."

Parental Claiming

@Families.com

"Claiming is not the same as bonding, they may be part of the same process and flow one from another. Claiming a child is not an emotional issue, it is a decision that doesn't happen gradually. Claiming a child is an unconditional commitment parents make from the beginning."

Adoption: Movement or Trend?

@meghmiller.com

"While talking with a friend about our adoption recently, she made a comment that adoption just seemed so trendy—all these upper-middle class families running around with their brown babies talking about hundreds of millions of orphans, minus one..."

Hope Lives Here

@melissafayegreene.com

"Those of us secure and healthy in America must do what we can for them. We can send money; we can sponsor a child; we can help sponsor one of the hole-in-the-wall orphanages. We can lobby our representatives to send the promised aid. We can pay attention to the life of Haregewoin Teferra. What she has to teach us is this: the zeroes in all those enormous numbers are not zeroes at all. They are children."