Prayers needed

Our hearts are heavy today and I feel shaken to the core as this news has come out. I am not sure how this will affect the grandchild that is in our hearts already and waiting to come home, but our prayer is that God has a plan and is in charge. As I stated a few posts ago, international adoption can change at the drop of a hat and now we are in the midst of it.

I apologize, this is long, but if you feel so inclined take a read and take a stand of us.


Last week the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's, Children's and Youth Affairs announced their
intention to reduce intercountry adoptions by 90% beginning March 10, 2011. The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues;
1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option. Without further announcements by the Government of Ethiopia, it is our understanding that the Ministry’s plan will be initiated this week.The Ministry’s plan is a tragic, unnecessary and disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the adoption process and fails to reflect the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations. Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers and further ensure ethical adoptions.The Ministry’s plan, which calls for the processing of only five adoption cases per work day, will result not only in systemic and lasting damage to a large sector of social services, but will have an immediate impact on the lives and futures of children. Moving from over 4,000 adoptions per year to less than 500 will result in thousands of children languishing in under-regulated and poorly resourced institutions for years. For those children who are currently institutionalized and legally available for adoption, the Ministry’s plan will increase their time languishing in institutions for up to 7-years.Joint Council respectfully urges the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs to reconsider their plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families. There are many things you can do. The JCICS released today a Call to Action (again I copied and pasted from their post)March 8, 2011Joint Council: Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian ChildrenWhat You Can Do:
1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on!

2) Have you adopted from Ethiopia? Please send us up to 3 photos and 50 words or less with what you would like the Ministry to know about your child – we’ll compile the information and send a book to the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs. Send your photos and stories to advocate@jointcouncil.org by Sunday, March 12, 2011 to be included. Please note that sending photos and stories gives Joint Council unrestricted right to use the information you provide.

3) Share…Please send this Call to Action to family members, other adoptive parents, and everyone you know! Post, forward and share your adoption stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Make sure you include us in your posts so we can all hear your stories! Here’s links to our pages: Facebook, Twitter and our our blog.

4) Stay informed: Get up-to-date information regarding the situation in Ethiopia by signing up to receive information from us: click here to do so, make sure you choose “country and issues specific information” and “Ethiopia.” And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our our blog.

5) Help ensure our advocacy can continue: Joint Council is a non-profit and receives no government funding. Please join us in ensuring more children live in safe, permanent and loving families. Donate today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And if you made it this far, you deserve a reward!

Thank you for reading and please say a prayer for Courtney, Paul, Tizita and all the rest of our family. Please ask God to grant us peace and patience and the abitlity to put it all in His hands.

Happy Fat Tuesday and other ramblings

No, I don't celebrate Fat Tuesday or give anything up for Lent, but just wanted to wish you a Happy Fat Tuesday in case you do celebrate. I understand the concept of giving things up for Lent, but reflecting on the sufferings and death of Jesus for our sins is enough for me at this time of the year. Although giving up chocolate would be a true suffering for me.

John and I went to Brookfield Square on Saturday. I wanted to try and find a swimming suit for our upcoming trip to St. George. I already own a good number of suits, but they are all old and showing their wear. It is hard for me to throw out a swimming suit that has served me well and that fits my body in a pleasing way, but it is time. Maybe I should give up some old swimming suits for Lent.
Anyway I went into this shopping trip fully knowing that it was going to be rather traumatic, after all there is nothing pretty about trying on swimming suits. I took about eight suits in with me. All of them looked really nice on a hanger and I thought I could envision them on my body, but alas it wasn't until I got to the last one that I felt I could actually go out in public in the suit. I did purchase the last suit and another tankini top to go with some shorts that I already have here at home, so I felt good and did have a successful shopping trip.
The beauty of St. George is that I never feel out of place wearing a swim suit all day long, it is just that kind of a place. No muss, no fuss just lots of people of all shapes and sizes in swimwear. June cannot come too soon for me!

We did get a fantastic deal at Sears. Unusual for us, we seldom fall into deals. John had forgotten the Sears charge, but since the swim skirt cover up I had found was only $14.99 we figured we could use cash. The cashier asked us if we wanted to apply for a charge card, told her we had one, she said it didn't matter and if we applied the skirt would cost us 74 cents. First, John and I protest, because if it sounds too good to be true..., but she insists and we take the two minutes to answer a few questions and we pay for the skirt with three quarters and get a penny back to boot. Not a bad deal even for us!

So, all in all a great day of shopping. Top it off with a pizza and pitcher of beer at Marty's and you have the ending to a perfect day.

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday in whatever way you choose to do that and Blessings to those of you who give something up for Lent. I am going to throw out those old suits now.

Waiting, Wishing, Wrapping up a fine week

A bit of "W" alliteration for today's post.

Waiting - Still waiting patiently for word on our next grandchild. Courtney posted on FB a few days ago that she and Paul are on month 20 of their paper pregnancy! These paper pregnancies certainly try one's patience much more than having a baby the physical way. Even my going three weeks past the due date with Alissa doesn't seem all that bad comparatively.

Wishing - Just wishing the wait would be shorter rather than longer.

Wondering - Simply wondering what our grandchild will look like, aside from the brown eyes which is a given. Wondering if he/she is already in the Care Center and how old he/she will be when we finally meet. Wondering if our grandchild has any idea how anxious I am to finally give that first hug and start to build our memories.

Winter - Just a note to winter. Enough already, bring on the warm springlike weather and take all the snow with you on your way out.

Wrapping up my week in Preschool - We did not have school on Monday due to a teacher conference so I have had a short week, but it has been a great week all the way around. Rachel Fischer is spending this week and next Monday in my classroom as a part of her Early Field Experience. She is a sophomore at MLC studying to be an early childhood teacher. It has been my pleasure to have her in my classroom. She is going to make one awesome teacher. I hope she can walk away with at least one or two good ideas from me. I am at my best when I have someone observing me, so I have been on top of my game this week and it has shown. I think I have to pretend there is someone in there watching my every move each day! Here is Rachel with one of my classes.
Walking - John and I have been walking three nights this past week. It felt so good to be out there walking again. I hope we can continue on our streak and make a nightly walk a part of our day.
So, there you have it.

Note to my future grandchild: I cannot wait until I get to hear your name and see your picture. I know that when that happens, this wait will seem like nothing. Besides anything worth having in life is worth waiting for, right? I also hope you will be able to be a part of my Preschool class just like your sister Tizita has been for the past two years. It is such a special time when Tiz and I share moments as not just a grandma and granddaughter, but also as a teacher and student. Stay happy and healthy, we will meet you soon.

Happy Birthday Courtney!

Here is a picture of me and my sweet firstborn, Courtney Lynn. This was taken 33 years ago today right after she entered the world at 12:15 A.M. at Lakeland Hospital in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.And here she is at 3 months old.

And this is Courtney with our long lost Elkhorn friends, Patti and Tom Kovach. They live in Elyria, Ohio now as far as I know, but we have not been in touch for years. If anybody out there recognizes these two let me know. I do have a reader from Elyria and I was hoping it might be Patti!

I am going to try and scan a few more pictures, but I know my luck will run out soon, so enjoy what I was able to get up here.

Be sure and read my previous post about how we celebrated the birthdays!

Birthdays, Forts, Concoctions, Beer, and other tidbits

First of all, I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Courtney who will be 33 years old tomorrow and to my wonderful Son in Law Paul who turned 38 on Feb. 25. We just had a fantastic weekend celebrating their birthdays with them. It all began on Friday with a taco dinner followed by a night out with Alissa, Nathan, Courtney, Paul, Kev, Vikki, me, and John. We had a few beers and many laughs at Bismark's. If you're not nervous, you are not living, we decided that was our new motto and we will have it put on shirts for Christmas. We stayed out until 1:30! What a night. Before we went out on Friday there was some dress up time. Here the girls are modeling some swimsuit tops and winter hats. Lots of laughs happening here.

On Saturday we had a Tizita filled day. John and I took her outside for a nice long adventure down at the park. When we returned Courtney had constructed the coolest fort ever according to Tizita and we all spent time in the fort with Tizita.

There was lots of mixing ingredients going on, too.

Tizita took this picture of Gigi and me as she was leaving.

So, I just want to wish Courtney a very Happy Birthday tomorrow. I know she will enjoy her breakfast in bed prepared by Paul and Tizita!

I wrote some nice posts on her two previous birthdays so if you want to read up on details of her birth, just check out those previous posts.

So, this is why I do not decorate cakes for a living

A few weeks ago I saw a recipe on FB for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. The recipe sounded so yummy, so I decided to make these cupcakes for Courtney and Paul's birthdays which we will be celebrating this weekend. Of course, we will have the traditional ice cream cake made by my mom, but I thought these would be a nice addition. Well, after two hours of putsiness (not sure if that is how you spell it or if it is even a word) here is the finished product. First step, the homemade from scratch cupcakes. I don't think I have ever made cupcakes from scratch, never saw the need, but the dough for these tasted very yummy. The cupcake dough has three sticks of butter in it! So, anyway step one was not too bad.

Step two was preparing the filling which tasted just like chocolate chip cookie dough, but has no eggs so no need to fear any kind of whatever it is you get from raw eggs. More butter in this filling, too. I had to cut out a little of the cupcake and put the cooled filling in. It was easier than I thought it would be. I pictured the cupcakes crumbling apart, but they cut easily and the filling was the consistency of playdough and I am great with playdough.

Then it was time to frost. I had purchased a kit that included some bags and tips so I could try and make the frosting a little bit fancy. I don't have much patience for this kind of thing and only a few of them look really nice, but they make a nice arrangement on a plate and I am thinking with all that butter, they should certainly taste very good.

Here's a little mouse or maybe a bear that I made for Tizita.

So there you have it. I will let you know how they tasted later.

Note to my future grandchild: I look forward to making sweet treats with you someday soon. Your future sister, Tizita loves to bake with me, but mostly she likes to create her own recipes so her finished products are not always edible. Maybe you will be more interested in making some real treats, but if not, that is okay, too. We will have you in our thoughts and prayers this weekend when we are all together celebrating your mama and papa's birthdays.

Career Day at St. John's

As part of our spirit week at St. John's today was Career Day. I was originally planning on going as a teacher wearing my everyday "teacher" clothes, but this morning I decided I should really try and get a bit more creative since I know some of my kids will dress up and I don't like to disappoint them or their parents. At 5:45 I was racking my brain which is less than adequate when it comes to costumes in general. Just ask my girls about their poor excuses for Halloween costumes as they were growing up. I guess I could have gone as a gypsy since that is what I always resorted to for the girls, but I don't think being a gypsy is even politically correct anymore and I don't even want to be one. I figured the least I could do was dress as something that I really wanted to be yet in my life.
Well, that limited the choices. I thought of a traveler, a beach bum, a retired lady with lots of money, a children's author, a scrapbooker, but all seemed a bit complicated so early in the morning. Finally, I remembered a shirt that John has that says, "This is what a really cool grandpa looks like." No, I don't want to be a grandpa, but I do want to continue to be a grandma to hopefully a few more little ones, so all I had to do was change that P to an M. Duct tape would do nicely. Took me all of two minutes and the shirt became my career choice for the day.

Here are my little twins. One hopes to a clown in the circus and the other wants to be a florist. I thought those were both some pretty unique ideas.
This is Dr. Laura. Maybe not a real original idea but both her parents are doctors, so it is a family thing.

Here is a little dental hygenist with all her equipment.

And, my personal favorite, a future paleontologist complete with bones, teeth, claws, tape measure, map, magnifying glass, and paint brush. It was really a cute, creative idea.

The remainder of my kids were mostly just dressed as kids with a handful of Packers and soldiers thrown in.

I certainly wouldn't win any awards for most creative, but I really do hope to continue grandmaing long into the future.

Note to my grandchild that I am waiting for from Ethiopia: I cannot wait to expand my grandmothering when you arrive home. I just know it will be double the fun with two little ones to love on and spoil. I pray you are happy, healthy, and that you know in your heart that someone cannot wait till you get here and join our family.