I am not going to write these "a year ago today" posts all week. This is my last one for this week as the rest of the story is pretty stressful (and not anything that many families will experience), but I will have another "a year ago today post" on Nov. 4, which will be a year from when Belane finally arrived home (and I will have tips on surviving those early days home with a new child). If you want to reminisce and reread the posts from our first weeks together (and our drama in Ethiopia) you can follow the links at the bottom of the page.

But today I am thinking about... more

A year ago today, Belane was in my arms again. Most (if not all) adoptive parents spend a whole lot of time imagining (sometimes agonizingly so) about what that first meeting will be like, and what it will feel like to finally have that child you have dreamed about in your arms.

Sometimes, the parents only have one or two blurry pictures of their child, and do not even have a real accurate idea of what the child looks like. Many parents find that their child is either larger or smaller than they imagined, or has grown/aged a lot since that referral picture. Most adoptive parents do not have a very accurate idea of what their child's personality is going to be like, how he will greet... more

A year ago today we arrived, for the second time in 2006, at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In the wee hours of the morning on October 21, 2006, Josh and I drove out of our driveway, leaving my Auntie at our home with Marcus, Shane, Ben, Maggie and Amanda, and the other kids settled in at friends' homes. I remember that it felt very unreal to be on our way to Ethiopia again, as we had just done this trip back in February, and yet at the same time it felt like a life time had passed since we had met Belane.

I was beyond excited to be on my way to her. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve! At the same time there was a lot of stress, as we knew we were traveling... more

I am going to squeeze one more post out of the letter "W" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Waiver - While this is not an adoption topic that will affect the majority of families that adopt internationally, it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and is something that is affecting more and more adoptive parents all of the time.

The "waiver" is an extra step to the immigration process that is required for a child that is HIV+ (there is also a waiver required for children who test positive for TB). At most embassies, a medical is done as part of the immigration part of the international... more

In case you have not heard this yet, on Sunday in Alabama, a family that checked into an RV park was told that their two year-old son was not allowed to use the pool, showers or common areas of the park because he is HIV+.

Silvia and Dick Glover are foster parents to little Caleb, and are in the process of adopting him. Silvia mentioned in casual conversation with someone in the park office that the boy is HIV+, when they were discussing his adoption. Shortly thereafter, they were told he could not swim or use the showers or common areas of the... more

In my last post, I wrote all about AHOPE, how I got involved with them and how I became committed to HIV+ children in Ethiopia.

Now I am going to write about how you can help the children of AHOPE.

I am the volunteer supplies coordinator for AHOPE. As you can likely imagine, housing and caring for 80 or so HIV+ children requires a lot of supplies. AHOPE relies heavily on donations for items such as clothing, baby care items, school supplies and basic medical supplies. And because it is very costly to ship things to Ethiopia and AHOPE would have to pay fees to receive the packages, they rely on traveling... more

Today I am going to write about something that I am passionate about, and something that is very near and dear to my heart. Today I am going to write about AHOPE.

AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace. AHOPE Ethiopia is an orphanage for HIV+ children in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. AHOPE Ethiopia is a NGO (non-governmental organization).

AHOPE for Children is the non-profit corporation licensed in the state of Washington that funds AHOPE Ethiopia. AHOPE for Children is also recognized by the U.S. Treasury... more

I mentioned this a while ago on my personal blog, but forgot that I hadn’t mentioned it on here yet.

Our family has been having an amazing experience thanks to Make A Wish.

We had several people, including staff at Belane’s clinic, mention that kids who are HIV+ automatically qualify for a “wish” through the Make A Wish foundation.

It all seemed a little too good to be true (and you know what they usually say about stuff that sounds too good to be true), so we didn’t get our hopes up. But I gave a call after some prompting from friends and family just to “feel things out”, and they jumped all over working with us.

To make a long story short, Belane wished to... more

Hey everybody! Sorry I was “quiet” over the weekend… I don’t even have anything overly exciting to share that we did…we hung around, braided hair, watched movies, played games, did some cleaning, went to church and just had a lot of family “down time”. Kind of nice! O.K., Angela asked about the next “Day in the Life of Me”…well, I missed February because I was in the middle of my “A Year Ago Today” posts, but I promise I will jump back into it for March (as long as you promise not to give me too many “oh my goodness you are nuts” comments).... more

It has been a sad couple of days for me…my Belane has started sleeping in her own bed…alone…happily.

Earlier in the month I wrote a six-part series on sleep and adopted children. Here is what I wrote at the end of the last post about Belane…

She has now been home for just over two months and I think she is doing great. Over the next few weeks I will gradually cut back the time I spend laying with her at night until she is going to sleep like everyone else. When she is sleeping all night without waking up anxiously checking... more