Due to recent events that took 30 years to accomplish, I was (very undeservedly) showered with many gifts... including...
my very first pair of
TOMS shoes, which, of course, I am obsessed with
(THESE WERE GIVEN TO ME BY MY MOTHER, JUST IN CASE I FORGOT TO WRITE THAT EARLIER. SHE's REALLY GOOD AT LAYING THE GUILT ON THICK). The business model is brilliant and is bringing change to the world. Please check them out if you haven't already! Basically, for every pair of Toms you buy, they give one pair of shoes to a child in need, especially in developing nations where being barefoot could literally mean death or a severely altered life, due to infection, simply because they lack shoes to protect them from various infections. Shoes... simple shoes... can save a child's life.
As I wade through this life, the more I realize that every decision I make can cause a ripple effect of good. This includes thinking about what I'm buying, what I'm putting in and on my body, how I treat others, and what I can do to stretch my dollar in order to give more. Want to forgo a latte for a few days? Go
HERE and see how you can better spend that money...
Another gift I received was hand-made, with love, by my sweet friend Alli. She and Zach conspired on this cool gift... and it means so much to me!!! A few of you have asked about it... so for a whole lot of money (well, maybe just some :), maybe we can commission alli to make more... we'll see! I also received a gift (don't have a pic yet!) from my friend Julie... a gorgeous scarf benefiting orphans in Kenya. Do my friends ROCK or what????
Of course my greatest gift is my children... here's the youngest, hamming it up...
We received another lovely gift to our community this week, straight from the beautiful land of Ethiopia! Tedla joined his
older brother (Wodajo), mom, and dad this weekend. They live just a couple blocks away from us. We got our kids involved in the welcoming... they had a blast!
All this Ethiopian love is causing me some serious homesickness. Yes, this is my home, but some of my heart is in Ethiopia. As many of you know, adoption is sort of like a marriage. If I were married to and Ethiopian, I would consider half my culture Ethiopian. So it is with my children. If a child comes to us through adoption, we adopt their culture as part of our own. This is very important to us. So, in that light, I've been working on cooking more Ethiopian staples. I know I will fail, but it's so good to try!!! Here is evidence...
This is a stew made with lentils. While it has Ethiopian flavors, the lentils are more Somalian. It's a good vegetarian alternative to traditional Ethiopian stews that have meat. It. Is. SO. GOOD. and can be eaten with injera...
which I attempted to make this weekend. The texture was good, but the color was not right and it was too thick b/c I have the wrong type of griddle. But, it did the job and cured my cravings!
Then I made dabo. This is Ethiopia's breakfast bread. Injera is more bitter in taste and goes well with meals throughout the day... but many prefer a touch of sweetness in the morning (most Ethiopian food is not sweet at all). Dabo is a honey/rosemary bread that is soooo yummy.
these recipes can be found in Marcus Samuelsson's book Soul of a New Cuisine. (also a gift from julie). Samuelsson was adopted from Ethiopia by people from Sweden, I believe. His cookbook paints a journey of rediscovering his homeland of Ethiopia, as well as the food and flavors throughout Africa. I love this book!
To round out our Ethiopian love weekend, we gathered with several local Ethiopian adoptive families who are at all stages of the process. It was so incredible to gather with these folks who have a similar story, and who share a love of Ethiopia and her children. What a blessing it is, especially for our children, to be building a community here! AND, as if we weren't having a full weekend already, Zach was approached at our local bagel shop on Saturday morning by a couple who saw him holding Sam. They asked if Sam was from Ethiopia, and told Zach that they are from Ethiopia and Eritrea. They had a great time chatting... and then Zach learned... that they live AT THE TOP OF OUR STREET. Watch out you poor sweet immigrant family... you now have a stalker. (Zach knows me well enough to warn them: um, my wife is going to need some real injera soon...)!
Happy June!
Of course my greatest gift is my children... here's the youngest, hamming it up...
Cute as all get out...by the way, Leah anyone?
She is the oldest of six (half bio, half awesome) or seven if you include this chick Emily who loves to talk America's Next Top Model, but could kill you with her bare hands during the commercial - she works for a...um...construction company...yeah... Any way the attention def - wanna ride bikes? - icit disorder that her parents are trying to medicate me for is setting in. Bec was born in Winston-Salem but moved around quite a bit with an Air Force doc for a dad. Her fondest memories are probably from Colorado Springs, where, maybe, some of these pictures were, possibly, taken...
Ok, side note to say that half of her family photos are at some body of water. Which totally explains her love of the beach. She LOOOOVES the beach...it's like she's ambidextrous.
They both ended up at Wake, stayed in love...Becca had plenty of fun, but also studied hard, started an organization to take Wake Students to help refugee kids in the Republic of Georgia, and graduated Cum Laude. Zach threw the frisbee barefoot, and graduated Thankya Lawdy. But when he asked her to marry him on the cliffs of Moher in western Ireland, Becca said, 'no way' out of shock, but then 'yes' after Zach expressed some embarrassment that he was still on his knee and the crowds were coming their way. They got married. Becca began her reign as most amazing mother in the ultraverse soon after. You kinda know the rest.
