The LONO and other great topics.

On Friday we received a phone call from Sunrise [provincial agency] that our Letter Of No Objection had been issued from the Province of BC to Nairobi. Today we received a copy of it in the mail. Another step completed ... each one making the dream more real and exciting.

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I've also been trying to find the Ethiopian meaning of Mikiyas' name. I received an email back from someone in the US with the same name:

Yes, the name 'Mikiyas' is a name from the bible (the Amharic translation). The original Hebrew version is spelled 'Micah' (itself a contracted version of 'Micaiah'), and it means 'who is like Yahweh', where Yahweh refers to God (since the Jewish never refered to God as 'God', as it was considered blasphemous). So I guess you can take 'Micah' to mean 'who is like God'. Micah was a prophet in the old testament that predicted the destruction of Jerusalem.

This is also the same definition for the English name Michael. If my brother is reading this ... don't let this go to your head!

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We have continued to get ready for Mikiyas' arrival. No, there is no travel date yet. On Sunday Lyle was painting baseboards [we started over a year ago when we moved here]. I was washing Mikiyas' bedding and the clothes that we will take with us for him to use in Ethiopia. We also bought a few of the last remaining items we need for Mikiyas' arrival. Doing things like this have been good because it helps me make sure I haven't forgotten anything ... which I realized I forgot to put plastic pants on our packing list. Got those set aside now - phew!

We've also decided that we will go to Ethiopia two days early. It will be during that time that we will visit our sponsor child and his family. We've also been asked by some friends in Vancouver to visit their family that is still living in Addis Ababa. That will allow us not to feel like we are cramming too much in after we've picked Mikiyas up.

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So now that Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt have adopted another child, which really is great news, I've been hounded with comments and questions again. "Do they buy their children?" "Do they do it right?" "Why do they get them so fast?" And the ones I hate the most "Trying to be the next Angelina?" and "What country are you going to shop from next?". Most of the more insulting questions are said with a sly smile as people are not trying to be rude, they're trying to be funny. But it's insulting. No, you really are not the only person to think of that stupid comment!! No I don't think it is funny!!

First off, I truly believe that Angelina and Brad are doing things properly. For one, the media doesn't always know every little thing that goes on in a family. Much to their dismay, they really don't know. Who knows how many months ago Brad and Angelina filed their papers to start the next adoption. Another thing to think about, adoptions in the US are months and months shorter. Some as short as 4 months. Things are simply different there. And for Angelina, she is doing updated homestudy reports - the same we will be required to do when Mikiyas is home - and so a lot of her paperwork continues to be up to date.

Last night Lyle and I watched Blood Diamond. It was hard to get through. I cried a few times. Lyle found it hard many times to watch. People can say "it's of the past" but it's not. Stuff like that is still VERY real. And it continues in generations. Some of those children are still alive. Those families are still continuing to get over their horrific memories. This morning in continuing my thoughts of the movie, I recalled that Leonardo DiCaprio was lead to do humanitarian work, and he was very attached to one particular child. My thoughts continued ... Angelina Jolie. She started her humanitarian work and adoptions following Tomb Raider 1 which was filmed in Cambodia.

I have heard of people who are lead to adoption after watching World Vision, or movies like Hotel Rwanda, Power of One, Constant Gardener and now there is Blood Diamond to add to the list. If people who watch the movies are lead to international adoption, how can we be so judgmental to a star that is inspired from their first hand experiences?

I do acknowledge that there are people, not just stars that adopt for the wrong reason. Maybe a fashion statement; social acceptance; to be different ... but why ridicule a woman who has honestly brought some world awareness of issues that NEEDED to be brought.

Bono from U2 has brought an amazing amount of awareness to AIDS in Africa. So if he decided to adopt a child, would we ridicule him? Probably not because his humanitarian work came first.

On another note, does Angelina buy her children? No. She goes through the same processes as others in the US. Does she get to jump the line because of her large monetary donations? I don't know. But you know, if her thousands of dollars help thousands of children of families over the next ... I don't know, 50 years? ... then sure, she can jump in front of me on the referral list. Maybe that isn't fair to some waiting parents, but it doesn't matter WHO she is, it's WHAT she has to offer. Some non-popular regular person who donates a whole lot of money may be bumped up in line too. We just don't hear about those adoptions because they're not movie stars. But again, I don't know if she jumps a line or gets special treatment because of donations. I'm just saying, if it's saving lives, she can jump in front of me in line. It may not be right or fair by the process view, but it's right morally in my book.

Besides, I have God on my side and that far outweighs any dollar figure. We'd have been matched with the perfect child God had chosen for our family no matter what. And that perfect child for our family is Mikiyas.