On Saturday May 13, 2006 following the garage sale, we met with other adoptive parents at Fassil, an Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver. It was a great time to meet new people and share our adventures. The food was, of course, delicious and thankfully healthy. We have plans to make more trips into Vancouver to eat. The owner was very friendly and even shared one of the recipes [Injera] with me. I have attempted the cooking at home once and I plan to do lots more of it. To say the least, I have finally built up some ability to handle spicy food without a trip down Choking Lane.
Last night [May 17, 2006] we went into Burnaby. We picked up 50 pairs of Robeez shoes from the Robeez plant / head office [thanks L. for the great idea!!]. They donated these for us to take with us to Ethiopia! They are absolutely adorable and range in all different sizes and styles.
After picking up shoes we went to a 2-hour class called Bringing Your Baby Home held by AFABC. It was basically review for us as our educational components were so thorough. It was still good to go and refresh ourselves. We have many months to go before we pick up our baby so reminders are always great. It was again HUGELY stressed how important it is that there be limited contact with other people for the first 3 weeks we are home [this is in addition to the 2 weeks we spend with the child in Ethiopia]. People are to be introduced slowly and in small amounts. The look but no touch rule really needs to be enforced to create the bonding and attachment that comes so naturally when the relationship is biological. When we do start to let others hold / touch our child, we must make sure that it is still us who meets all the baby's needs. This gives stability and consistency that we are the primary caregivers. The children there are used to numerous caregivers and do not attach themselves in the same manner you are desiring to do as a parent.
On another note, CAFAC [one of our adoption agencies] also has a separate organization called CHOIR that does child sponsorship. Right now they have one program for children 8 years and older. In a couple of months, another program will begin for children starting at about 2 years old. Lyle and I have been looking for an organization to sponsor a 5th child, the new addition being from Ethiopia [our others are in Rwanda]. The agency we use now does not facilitate a program in Ethiopia. We would like a sponsor child from Ethiopia so we can visit the child while we are there, and create a long term relationship / penpal partner for our child as it grows older. [We can do a second visit if / when we do our second adoption!!!] There are a few organizations in Canada that do facilitate this however, when we found out CHOIR is through CAFAC it seemed perfect for us, and much easier to arrange our meet the child.
We encourage all you who may be interested in sponsoring a child to check out CHOIR. We definitely know how wonderful the organization is. If interested in a younger child, I'll definitely update the blog when the new program is started. The web link to CHOIR is on the right titled Sponsor A Child.
Aside from that ... I am so anxious and excited to have our baby. Everyday I dream of having our baby at home. The dossier has only been in Ethiopia since May 9 and so it's still early. Once I'm used to this sitting and waiting for days on end, that excitement will probably turn into nail biting anxiety and frustration. I'll be like a nine month pregnant mother when they say "just get it out of me!!".
Last night [May 17, 2006] we went into Burnaby. We picked up 50 pairs of Robeez shoes from the Robeez plant / head office [thanks L. for the great idea!!]. They donated these for us to take with us to Ethiopia! They are absolutely adorable and range in all different sizes and styles.
After picking up shoes we went to a 2-hour class called Bringing Your Baby Home held by AFABC. It was basically review for us as our educational components were so thorough. It was still good to go and refresh ourselves. We have many months to go before we pick up our baby so reminders are always great. It was again HUGELY stressed how important it is that there be limited contact with other people for the first 3 weeks we are home [this is in addition to the 2 weeks we spend with the child in Ethiopia]. People are to be introduced slowly and in small amounts. The look but no touch rule really needs to be enforced to create the bonding and attachment that comes so naturally when the relationship is biological. When we do start to let others hold / touch our child, we must make sure that it is still us who meets all the baby's needs. This gives stability and consistency that we are the primary caregivers. The children there are used to numerous caregivers and do not attach themselves in the same manner you are desiring to do as a parent.
On another note, CAFAC [one of our adoption agencies] also has a separate organization called CHOIR that does child sponsorship. Right now they have one program for children 8 years and older. In a couple of months, another program will begin for children starting at about 2 years old. Lyle and I have been looking for an organization to sponsor a 5th child, the new addition being from Ethiopia [our others are in Rwanda]. The agency we use now does not facilitate a program in Ethiopia. We would like a sponsor child from Ethiopia so we can visit the child while we are there, and create a long term relationship / penpal partner for our child as it grows older. [We can do a second visit if / when we do our second adoption!!!] There are a few organizations in Canada that do facilitate this however, when we found out CHOIR is through CAFAC it seemed perfect for us, and much easier to arrange our meet the child.
We encourage all you who may be interested in sponsoring a child to check out CHOIR. We definitely know how wonderful the organization is. If interested in a younger child, I'll definitely update the blog when the new program is started. The web link to CHOIR is on the right titled Sponsor A Child.
Aside from that ... I am so anxious and excited to have our baby. Everyday I dream of having our baby at home. The dossier has only been in Ethiopia since May 9 and so it's still early. Once I'm used to this sitting and waiting for days on end, that excitement will probably turn into nail biting anxiety and frustration. I'll be like a nine month pregnant mother when they say "just get it out of me!!".
2 comments:
Glad you got some Robeez slippers. Thats awesome. I am waiting for mine in the mail. Very anxious to see what they look like!!!
MMMMM The Ethiopian Restaurant sounds wonderful.
Louise
I am feeling very strongly that this post was not written by Lyle.
50 pairs of shoes? I'm guesing you didn't take the CRX, those would probably overflow into the front seats, haha!
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