because

answer to a question: why did you choose ethiopia?
we have had 2-3 people ask us this since we made our decision.

our answer is a constant consisting of two words,
' the need ' .

and as one reader recently gently worded it, ' because that is where our daughter was' ... couldn't agree more.

parallel needs; a childs need stirred together with our need to love a child into our family.

we do offer insight here to help better inform & educate about adoption:

we know children within the U.S need families. we know this. and if you have adopted domestically, that too is beautiful; all children, no matter what part of the world, need and deserve a family. our take here is based solely on international because we are adopting from ethiopia and our feeling is the need for adoption within this third world country, is well, needier. it just is. much needier. when i say this, i do not mean need for family, i am referring to basic necessities. health care is scarce. parentless children are overpopulating the number of available caregivers. disease is abundant. the basic necessities offered within the united states for adoptable child(ren) are met, and well met at that. third world countries such as ethiopia can only hope for that kind of care for their orphanges. i could go on, but i don't want to & less is more; hence i will leave it at that.

in retrospect, within my own reflection i've come to realize that while i myself spent 4 years of my own childhood living within a third world country, it changed me. at an early age. i saw. i felt. i strongly knew the differences were huge. and, it stuck with me.


*you may also link to the following within our blog:
:we choose ethiopia:

...within love, because of human need.

airbourne

...as of today, our preliminary adoption paperwork is on its' way.

she's mine

my husband came to me today, sat down next to me on our couch & handed me the ear pieces to his cd player. he told me to listen to this song as he was 'dedicating it to me' .

God i love this man, my husband, my rock.


...there was not enough kleenex's in the world.

the morning after...

for a few months i have posted here & there about some remodeling/reorganizing we need and are doing within our home. as we approach Oct., when we will be having our home appraised for hopeful equity to help fund our adoption, we have begun finishing up the odds & end jobs to complete our projects. two of our 'to do' items were 1. turn the little bedroom into an office and 2. turn the converted garage into our new bedroom. we can now mark those two partially off the list! there is a bit more to do in each room, but half of it was accomplished last night. midnight was my stopping point. i fell asleep within 10 minutes after i took an ibuprofen, applied rubbing alcohol to my two cuts which were the result of the process of a lamp shade i accidentally broke and a door i took off its hinges- hence landing on my foot.
so , enter the title of this post. when you finish a project, one that takes hours to complete, and muscle & a sweat rag as necessities, isn't it the best feeling to wake up and walk up and look at the progress you made. it feels so good. so worth it. none of the sore muscles even matter now. the project you completed is right there in your sights and you feel awesome. and i do have to say, i actually did enjoy it all. i like knowing that i am capable of being partner within our marriage, able to leap buildings.... i mean, able to use these two hands of our 4 hands and do what i can while my hardworking husband is out earning us money. i love being part of a relationship where we work together. my husband works his butt off every day out there, and well, last night i worked mine off too.

here are the photos...
the end result photo first: former garage, we converted into our New bedroom (after clearing out the office, the goods went into here as you can see) we only have a few more drywall pieces to hang, mud it, paint it, carpet it, and move our bedroom in. cat lovers? can you spy our kitty? he is walking by the door.
this is the room where it all began. it was, until last night, a bedroom, with a bed, and alot of stuff ; guess you could have referred to it as a storage/bedroom. i did not take any before pics. just imagine a bed, and a storage area with about 3 foot of area to walk through :) we still have this dresser to move out (side view) which hubby will do before he moves in his desk.
now it will be our new office/treadmill room. we found a great find of a desk (metal, durable, really cool, on craigslist for real cheap). right now it is waiting to be moved into this room. for now i set up a 'mock' desk area to get an idea of how things will sit.
ah, the treadmill... there are no words. it involved taking a door off its hinges, a bruised toe, sweat, more sweat. i actually got my workout in by just moving the darn thing from one room to another. maneuvering and twisting a piece of equipment this size to fit thru two doorways , well, as i said, there are no words.

where our (hubby's) new cool desk will sit.

friday

Three days & we mail in our first envelope of preliminary paperwork to our placing agency.

* our information sheet
* our family photo (fur-babies included, of course)
* a 50.oo check