"Help I'm Alive" / Book Review

I was watching the "Canada for Haiti" show online last night (I missed it on Friday)...this Metric performance is amazing! I never really liked this song much on the radio but I love this version. I think it really captures the feeling of how tough and resilient humans are, and how fragile they are all at the same time.

I also heard yesterday that Canadian's have now raised over $60 million dollars and that our government has removed the $50 million cap so they will be matching all donations made. What great news...I hope the momentum continues.

. "Help I'm Alive" Metric

Just finished this book as well. I don't want to give to much away but it is the story of two women living in Afganistan. It was a great book. It was a little window into what life might be like for a woman in Afganistan from about 1960 to about present day. I couldn't put it down. It has highlighted for me again just how important women's rights issues continue to be in this world.

CBC News - Canada - Ottawa matching Canadians' Haiti donations

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CBC News - Canada - Ottawa matching Canadians' Haiti donations

I can't stop thinking about the people in Haiti, it is just so sad. I know times are tight but please encourage everyone you know to donate whatever they can. I was so happy to hear today that the Canadian government will match whatever donations the public makes dollar for dollar. Matthew and I made a donation to red cross last night. They are so busy it was hard to get through online but we managed to get someone on the phone after a few tries.

Adoption Radio Show

Check out this online radio interview with the author of "I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla" from earlier today by clicking on the link below. They cover lots of important questions and it was well worth the listen: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/creatingafamily/2010/01/13/youre-chocolate-im-vanilla-white-parents-raising-c

This is a really neat website. It is called "Creating a Family" and every few weeks they do a radio segment relating to adoption or fertility. Last night I listened to a different segment about adopting toddlers that was quite good. Click on the link below and then click on the year you are interested in to see what radio shows are in the archive. There seem to be lots of other great adoption resources on this website as well. The lady who runs this non-profit site was the author of "The Complete Book of International Adoption". There is also a facebook group she runs that you can link to from her website where people bounce questions off her etc.

http://www.creatingafamily.org/radioshow.html

Ethiopian Names / Amharic Resources

Here are a few links to some neat resources on a different blog:

-a list of Ethiopian names (click on a letter and search by letter): http://ethiopia.limbo13.com/index.php/ethiopian_names/

-Amharic language resource (click on the symbol you are interested in and it opens a new page where it shows you how to say and write that symbol): http://ethiopia.limbo13.com/index.php/amharic/

-She also has a good list of other resources and info on hair/skin care (see the tabs at the top of her page).

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a great 2010!
2009 was a bit of a roller coaster ride and to be honest I am happy to leave that year behind. So we will wipe the slate clean and see what the new year (and decade) will bring.

On a different note we have now reached 17 months waiting for a referral.

Viva Las Vegas

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday season.

So after a stressful year Matty and I decided we would do something different for Christmas this year and we went to Las Vegas for a week. I wasn't sure how busy Vegas would be at Christmas, turns out it was packed with people. We had lots of fun and I think it was just what we needed. Here are some pictures from our trip.

The Venetian Hotel

Get to work Matty. A little higher, a little more to the right....

The $86,000 watch we didn't buy (our net loss was $35 so I guess we will be shopping somewhere else)The Grand Canyon

At the Luxor Hotel

The not so grand husband. Now tell the ancient Egyptian what you want for Christmas like a good little boy. Ahhh...too cute!

On the strip Paris Hotel

Ok Zoltar, give me the dirt. What do you think about 2010 and our adoption? What's that I can't hear you...speak up... Sigh, I guess a quarter won't be enough to get Zoltar to give me the scoop.

Party animal...Not! (just pretending to be)

New York, New York (what this is confusing, I thought we were in Nevada)

Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0

Yesterday was the best day I have had in a long time. As many of you may have heard our adoption agency has started to make referrals again! I feel like a weight has been lifted.
Thank you to all of those who worked so hard over the last 5 months to make this happen (since the bankruptcy). Where many people would have given up, you continued to push forward and because of that many people's lives will forever be changed for the better.

A special congrats to our friends who got a referral for siblings. I want to respect people's privacy so I won't post names on my blog, but if you follow the Yahoo group you would have heard all about it. I am so friggin' happy I don't even know what to do with myself (-:

Yah, the good guys won!

Good guys 1 , Bad Guys 0

All You Need Is Love

check it out - very cool. Ethiopia joins in at 2:34 and Canada at 3:24. (double click for full screen, I think my blog cuts the right side off a little)

Retail Therapy

Here is some stuff I purchased from Amharic Kids Online. I just love the book ‘Tsion’s Life’, the colouring book, and the ‘My First Amharic Words’ book, and ...ok you get the idea I am super excited about all of the stuff.
So there you have it, this month’s attempt to use retail therapy to improve my mood and outlook was a success (-:

World AIDS Day

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on World AIDS Day that new infections are outpacing the gains from treating people with the HIV virus and millions of victims still experience widespread discrimination." (full article here)