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World AIDS Day 2007

  

 If you are already a World Vision sponsor thank you SO MUCH for your giving to help children around the world who are in need.

Today is World AIDS day and World Vision has been working tirelessly to help the orphans of the AIDS pandemic that is sweeping across Africa. Most of you know that I volunteer as a Child Ambassador for World Vision. God has blessed us that we are able to sponsor 5 children around the globe and being a Child Ambassador gives me the opportunity to share with even more people about these precious children. The numbers are staggering and we can’t give up on saving this generation. Each day 6,000 children are orphaned to the AIDS pandemic. That’s 2.5 million new orphans every year. Globally 61% of the people who die from AIDS are women.

The little girl above is from Swaziland where an entire generation of middle age people has been wiped off the face of the earth. In Swaziland the life expectancy has dropped to 36 years old. 40% of the population in Swaziland is HIV positive and there are 80,000 AIDS orphans. 

I ask you to stop and think about that for a moment. It’s not just numbers. Each number represents a child. These children are not worth any less because they live in Africa or Haiti or India. The biggest problem is that these children do not live in countries like America that are filled with social services and programs for the poverty stricken.

In many countries in Africa an ENTIRE generation of adults has been decimated by the disease.  Below is the information of 10 children’s picture folders that I just received. These children are not available to be sponsored through any other way than through me.  The link above will take you to the photos of all the children listed below. If you want further details about the child, just post here or email me for the information. For $35 a month you can make a difference in the life of one of these children and their community by partnering with other sponsors here in America. You can always go to my personal World Vision web page and do a search for children from other countries. http://worldvision.dwimble.com/

I have not done this post to make anyone feel guilty, but just to ask you to pray today for all the people around the world suffering from the AIDS pandemic. On a global level it’s the children that are suffering the most due to the actions of their parents and other adults around them. And I ask you to consider sponsoring one of these children. Either for your family or in honor of someone else this Christmas season.

  1. Owethu from Swaziland. Female. DOB October 22, 2005. She lives with her mother and has no siblings.  She is in satisfactory health.

  2. Sakhile from Swaziland. Male. DOB July 4, 2005. He is an orphan who lives with relatives and his siblings. He is in satisfactory health.

  3. Amani from Kenya. Male. DOB December 1, 2000. He is an orphan who lives with relatives and his siblings. He is in satisfactory health.

  4. Stephanie from Haiti. Female.  *now sponsored :)*

  5. Aluncedo from South Africa. Female. DOB October 25, 1999. She is an orphan who lives with her grandmother and sister. She is in satisfactory health.

  6. Geraldo from Mozambique. Male. DOB March 7, 1999. He lives with his father and siblings and is in good health.

  7. Aphelele from South Africa. Male. DOB January 4, 2001. He lives with his mother and sisters. He is in satisfactory health.

  8. Telma Jorge from Mozambique. Female. DOB July 7, 1998. She lives with her parents and siblings. She is in satisfactory health.

  9. Longelech from Kenya. Female. DOB October 9, 2001. She lives with her parents and siblings. She is in satisfactory health.

  10. Gemechu from Ethiopia. Male. DOB January 1, 2004. He lives with his parents and sister. He is in satisfactory health.

Stephanie Longelech Geraldo Albino   

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Nadia Goes Mobile!

We’ve had Nadia four months now, and it has been about the most wonderful four months of our lives. She has come a long way in that time, from not being able to sit up on her own to walking. When we got her she was nine months old, but from a mobility standpoint she was only at about five to six months equivalent in development. In the first month she caught up to most children her age, and now at thirteen months she even exceeds most of the “norms” for her age. What a blessing! She’s now a little monkey running around everywhere…we couldn’t be happier.

Here’s a nine minute video of her three-and-a-half month journey to walking. We hope you enjoy it.

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Nadia’s First Thanksgiving

Nadia's First Thanksgiving
Nadia's 1st Thanksgiving (click to see album)

We were home for Nadia’s for First Thanksgiving and Grandpa Greg and Grandma Brooke drove up from Houston. My Grammie joined all of us for dinner and my first turkey was delicious (thank you Alton Brown 🙂 ).  We had all sorts of tasty side items made by Grammie and Brooke. Nadia entertained everyone with her cute self. On Saturday we all went over to Roger and Paula’s for a wonderful dinner. YUM!

The weather was cold and wet and we even saw a few snow flurries on Thanksgiving, which was fun. All in all it was a great time. Today we plan on putting the tree up, which is really going to entertain Nadia.

Her new thing this weekend was to talk on her cell phone. I don’t know where she gets this from 😉

Chatting on the phone Taking a call

Grammie and Nadia

Grandma, Grandpa and Nadia

Paula and Nadia

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Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

Nadia after four months with us, at 13 months old. Nadia at nine months old in China

I couldn’t be more grateful to God for giving us such a wonderful child. She fits our personalities and into our family so perfectly. Today marks 4 months since they put Nadia in our arms. I will never forget that day. We woke up in Beijing WAY TOO early. Our bags had already been picked up and we got ready and I kept looking out the window at the insane amount of traffic and people on the street so early on a Sunday morning. We exchanged some of our US money for yuan and then all the moms, grandmas and siblings in our group posed for a photo. We traveled to the airport full of anticipation.

The plane landed in Nanchang and we loaded into another bus for the hour long ride to the hotel. Once there Mike went with some other dads to the store to get formula, rice cereal and bottled water. I was frantic running around the hotel room for no reason. I had packed the diaper bag before we left Beijing just in case we were short on time. I washed my face, brushed my hair and double checked everything. The guys got back and then it was time to load up to head to Civil Affairs. It was SO HOT!!

We rode the tiny elevator to the 24th floor. We entered the room and there they were! I was scanning the babies looking for Nadia. I thought I was going to pass out from the excitement. I kept thinking, “It’s really here, It’s really here.” Then I thought, “I can’t see her…there’s too many people, where is she?” Then I saw a nanny and she was holding Nadia’s hand pointing towards me saying ,”Mama, mama” Then I thought I was going to faint again. When were they going to call our name? When? When?

Then it was our turn and they handed the sweetest baby in the world to me. She just stared at me and looked around possibly wondering why all those babies were crying. As many have told me after seeing the video it was about the only time they have ever seen me speechless. HA HA! Once she went to Mike she was hooked and shortly after that she went to sleep. (if you haven’t seen the video – click on the video tab to see it in detail)

Our lives have changed in the most awesome way since that day 4 months ago. We adore being parents and it seems like Nadia has always been with us. She couldn’t sit up on her own when we got her at nearly nine months old. Three weeks later she started to crawl. Soon after that she was pulling up and cruising. Now at nearly 13 months she is on track with most babies her age and even ahead of many. She is incredibly smart and analyzes EVERYTHING. When we are out in public or in big groups of people she is watching, watching, watching. Then some time down the road she surprises us by imitating something that she observed.

Other things I’m thankful for on the extra special Thankful Thursday:

  • For my wonderful husband Mike – he is the best daddy too!
  • For our family and friends who have just surrounded Nadia with love since she came home.
  • For having a great church to attend freely.
  • For my work with World Vision and KIDS HOPE USA. I am grateful to God and to Mike that I am able to work with both of these ministries to serve children while still spending my days with Nadia.
  • For the staff at church who don’t mind that Nadia joins us at staff meeting each week.
  • For my cousin Jen and our lifelong bond. I love you and I am so thankful that we are so close.
  • For all the cool people I have met since starting our adoption journey. So many people I would have never come in contact with otherwise that I now know.
  • For our country’s military people. I know that this is such a hard time of year to be away from your family and I am grateful for your service.
  • For all the aid workers around the world (World Vision and others) who sacrifice so much of themselves for the people that most of the western world has forgotten about.
  • For getting to see Jess P. next week! That makes 3 times this year and I think we are setting a record.
  • For our house and clean running water that is safe to drink. Spend 2 weeks in China (or lots of other countries) and that is a serious thing to be grateful for.
  • For tasty food! I had to throw this in since it’s Thanksgiving. But I am truly thankful that I have a family and a refrigerator full of food that I am about to start cooking for this evening.
  • And for all my other blessings too numerous to mention.