Hi, yes it has been an age since I posted. I am currently in England visiting family (Dave is home with ALL the kids...what a star) and I am here seeing friends and family and celebrating mum's birthday.
So, am jet lagged right now, but will tell you all about the trip and post pictures soon.
:)
Bye for now....

GOTCHA DAY...........

I can NOT believe that it is a whole year since we brought these little ones back to the hotel. I so remember every detail of that day. Getting into the van and driving out of the gates with Moses in my arms. Ayana snuggled up to Dave for reassurance. Looking at them and thinking, "We made it! Here you are! Let's go!"

I thought I would do a quick series of pictures to show then and now. Here are a couple of our referral pictures. Ayana looked so sad, so scared, it broke my heart.

This picture of them together was one of my favourites in those first few weeks after referral, they just seemed so vulnerable and I was desperate to get them.

Finally, we got to go and get them and here we are. Those very first hugs......the hugs that you dream of and imagine hour after hour, day after day.

Suddenly, it is a reality and you are holding them in your arms for real.

Here we are with all the staff, this was hard for me. They obviously loved our children and were sad to see them go. I wanted to reassure them that I would love them with every fibre of my being.

This was outside the (old) foster home, sitting on the porch and hugging my babies, both together. I was so happy, my arms were full and we were about to leave and go back to the Weygoss. I just couldn't believe that it was real. I kept looking at Joanne (another mum there) and saying :"Can you believe it? We're really here!"

On the way "home" in the van, Moses was very quiet, very still. He just stared out of the window with his huge eyes and sucked his fingers.

Ayana fell asleep almost immediately in Dave's arms. We would learn that this was a stress response from her, she fell asleep very quickly over the next few days if there was something new or different going on.

You can go back and read about all our experiences in Ethiopia and the plane ride to end all plane rides.

A year has gone by. It has not always been easy, not always warm, huggy feelings of love and delight. There have been hard times as we came to grips with adding two more people to our already pretty big family. I was often over whelmed and wondered if I could handle all the laundry, the cleaning, the piles of dishes, the diapers and the sheer hard work of having a baby and toddler added into the mix. But as I reflect now, those times kind of fade as I look back on all the "firsts."

We saw Moses learning to crawl, pull himself up and take his first steps. We watched as Ayana learned to hop and jump, to bounce around like Tigger and pedal her little bike. First tastes of ice cream, first jumping into piles of leaves, first fall in the snow. First dance to the great Bob Marley (yes, my bias!)

Birthday parties, Halloween costumes, Christmas celebrations and their Dedication in front of family and friends at church.

We cried as Ayana began to say "I love you" and Moses learned to say "mama and abbaba". We laughed as they discovered playgrounds, swings, slides, beaches and parks.

Ayana has been a flower girl (I will post about that soon) and danced until midnight.

We have had rounds of immunizations, bottles of TB meds (still going on!), E.R. visits and check ups.

We have grown as a family and feel as if these little ones, so precious and so beautiful have been with us for ever. We thank God that he hand picked them to be in our family, to teach us more about sharing and loving.

I have so much that I could say, but my heart is full, I just can't put it all into words. I am content.

Tonight we will go into town to celebrate at our very favourite Ethiopian restaurant as a family...all together....forever.

Been Away For a While...

We have been away on holidays and I have been sick. And yes, I have sadly neglected this blog.

However, lots has happened that I want to catch up on. Ayana was a GORGEOUS flower girl in July and we have been to Penticton on holiday. Lots of beaches (and BC wine for me and Dave!) and playgrounds. We have been to Family Camp on amazing Thetis Island and enjoyed sunshine and great friends.

I am going to be catching up on all these things in the next few days so stay tuned.

However, I want to make note of today.

Today August 22nd 2007 is the one year anniversary of when we first saw our new little ones. Our very first cuddles. Our very first kisses. Touching that smooth silky skin and holding those tiny little fingers.

Tomorrow is our first Gotcha Day anniversary, our celebration of the day that we took custody of Ayana and Moses and brought them back to the hotel to be with us forever. A whole year.

So, tomorrow I will post about our first year...absolutely incredible.

Thanks to God for my amazing family.

Beads and braids.

I only have a couple of minutes literally, so I am just going to show you some pictures of Ayana's hair during and after my attempts at braiding and beading.

She was sooo good and sat for almost 2 hours while I made little box braids and threaded pink and white beads all over!

My two older girls sat with me, threading the beader, bringing Ayana little snacks and we all just chatted away. Dave came in and said that it was like being back in Africa...all the women chatting and doing hair together.

It is very much a part of African culture for the women to do just that. Very relaxing, very social and friendly...it was a fun time. So, here are some of the pictures...isn't she a little princess!

In Honour Of My Daughter.

Last week the end of year award ceremony was held at my eldest daughter's High School.

We had received a phone call that Erin was getting an award and to be there at the ceremony if we could.

So, on the right day and at the right time (amazingly enough!) there I was at the back of the auditorium with Ayana and Moses in their double stroller. Many many snacks and drinks had been packed!

Dave arrived from work and we wandered around at the back with the little ones, waiting for Erin's name to be called.

We waited and waited and basically, they came to the end of the awards and she had not been called out.

"Did we miss it?" we whispered to each other? It was possible that we had missed it as at one point, Dave was in the foyer while Moses had a temper tantrum because he wanted more fishy crackers. At the same time, I was hurrying after Ayana as she RAN to the front of the Auditorium because she had spotted her friend Bethlehem. (see earlier post about Bethlehem)

Then we heard the Principal start talking about the Overall Award of the Year. He said that this was an award that had a monetary prize attached to be used for an outreach trip next year. (Erin will go on an outreach trip to an African country, Israel or the Caribbean)

The student this year had been voted by the staff as having best overall character, co-operation and consideration among all her peers, had a very high academic standing, had participated in volunteering in her community and had a strong passion for missions and people around the world. I looked at Dave...could this award be going to Erin?

The couple that had donated the money for the award were called up on stage.

"And so, the award this year goes to......Erin W."

The whole place erupted in cheers and her friends were calling out and clapping, it was so cool.

I burst into tears of joy! I was SO EXCITED!!! I shouted and whistled and yelled "Way to go Erin! "

I am so proud of my girl.........and wanted to honour her with a special post :)

" Amazing Race"...With a Purpose.
Recently our church organised an Amazing Race for anyone that wanted to join in. You had to have a team of at least 5 people and preferably at least one child or youth...just to even things up.
Teams raced around the city, trying to beat the clock and be the first ones back at the starting house.
Each team had a camera and had to have at least $10 and was given assignments, clues and challenges.
Yes, there were the gross eating challenges (see Megan's picture of her trying to eat something disgusting without throwing up...yuck)
However, the brilliant part of the whole thing, (in my humble opinion) was that most of the tasks were designed to be helpful to someone else.
So, for example, each team would at some point arrive at a house of someone in the church community that was renovating and their task would be to pull all the nails out of the floor or rip up carpets.

Obviously, a great help to the people renovating to keep having teams of people arriving that were eager to work as fast as they could!

Another task was to go to any grocery store and see how many items of food you could purchase with the $10...you had to provide a receipt. The team closest to $10 got extra points in the final scoring. At the end, the items of food were all collected up and taken to the local HIV food bank, just a simple way of adding to their food shelves.

At the finish line, teams were given their time and then a technical genius put together a slide show of all the pictures that the various teams had taken. Everyone loved seeing other people struggling through the challenges of course, and it all finished with a BBQ and a swim...

Our team didn't win, but it was a great day, lots of fun and a great way to serve in community.

I wish Phil had been there stood on the mat offering a $1000000 prize at the end...Joshua may have worked a little harder...as you can see...he slacked off a little!

Just Chillin'
Yesterday Ayana and Moses both decided that they wanted to wear their little hats from Ethiopia.
Then Ayana ran to the bookshelf, with Moses running closely behind, and picked out her books. Moses has very definite ideas about which books he likes and so after a bit of guess work I picked the right ones for him too.
I gave them snacks and they both lay down on the floor, munching on snacks and "reading" their books. I could not resist taking pictures. They looked so comfy and content.

A Strange Little Visitor.

Yesterday afternoon I was coming downstairs when Erin suddenly called out, " Gross...what's that? Eww, It's coming inside"

OK. Something yuck is coming inside? What? Then I saw it..it wasn't fast but it was a little unusual and it was heading inside. Here it is.

Would you have been just a little freaked out? Especially as I had JUST finished reading in the local paper that there were an unusual amount of "exotic" animals escaping and the S.P.C.A. was inundated with calls. I was convinced from my viewpoint off the stairs that this was a baby crocodile!

Dave came running when he heard us shouting and it turned out to be a little salamander...not a baby crocodile.

Erin was brave enough to take a couple of pictures but we let Dave do the honours of catching and releasing it!

That is my exciting news for the day!

Braiding Hair and a New Friend...
Recently I discovered that there was an ESL student at our older kids school from Ethiopia, named Bethlehem.
We made contact with her and I asked her if she would be willing to come over and show me how to braid Ayana's hair. Of course, we also just wanted to get to know her.
She agreed and a couple of weeks ago she came round to our house (we were delighted to discover that she only lives three blocks from us) and played with Ayana and Moses and also braided Ayana's hair for us.
I try to watch and learn. I even video taped Bethlehem braiding so that I could play it back in slow motion. I took tons of pictures...but somehow I just can't get the feel for braiding Ayana's hair. I have no problem with Caucasian hair, I can do braids and french braids etc, but whenever I try to do cute little corn rows, what a disaster. Needless to say, Bethlehem was an expert. She deftly parted and expertly twisted and braided with such speed. I asked her to slow down to show me but I confused her and she had to start a row all over again. I eventually was just content to take photos and watch Ayana's hair being transformed into a cool design.
Ayana was in her element, all that attention! She also had so much fun as Bethlehem sang little songs in Amharic to her and let her play with her beautiful necklace and hair clips. (That reminds me, I have to replace her necklace because it got broken :( )
Bethlehem comes from Addis Ababa and so we chatted about that and she also offered to come and do a coffee ceremony for us . I think I'm going to ask if she can cook...mmmmm....that would be fun for all of us girls to do some cooking together.
We will definitely take her along to our favourite Ethiopian restaurant when we next go, she said she would love that.
















So, all in all a great experience.
Bethlehem has agreed to come over every couple of weeks and braid Ayana's hair for me. She will make a bit of money, Ayana will have awesome looking hair all the time and we have a new friend...win win!
What was Moses doing during the 2 hours that Ayana's hair was being done? Well, he was desperate to have his hair done too. So, when she had finished, Bethlehem kindly put a few little clips in his hair....he was so proud. It was very funny.
Here is Bethlehem with Ayana and Moses, just before she left. (Note Moses' cool hair accessories)

Sweet Moments...

Just a couple of lines to share something with you.

This morning we received an email from friends who are presently in Addis picking up their child. They said he is shy and timid, with a rare but lovely smile.

I was reflecting on how scared, shy and terrified Ayana was when we picked her up.

Totally terrified. Breathing in little shallow gasps, with a frozen smile on her face. It was heartbreaking. I wondered when it would end.

A few moments ago, Ayana was attempting to ride a little bike she has and she laughed as she wobbled around. She is now boisterous, loud, energetic and full of laughter most of the time. She looked up at me and said with a huge grin,

"Mama, Ayana so happy!"

Oh, sweet, sweet moment.

An Amendment...

Well, a very good friend (hello Val :) ) told me that the enclosures on tramps actually have a higher accident rate than if you use a tramp without the enclosure!

So, before I get any comments that may need moderating..lol..just to let you know...we don't let the kids on there without supervision.

AND we've told them (the older ones) not to rely on the net.

AND safety rules still strictly enforced.

AND we've told them tht if they hurl themselves against it (this is mainly for Joshua and his crazy friends!) that they will not be on there any more.

So...I think I've covered my bases there :) :)

And a comment...

Two sets of our neighbours really don't like us! We are a very noisy family. It can't be helped with 5 kids that are healthy and active and are loud to begin with. Anyway, one set of neighbours doesn't speak to us any more at all, the lady actually ignored me and turned away today when I waved over the fence and said "hi".

Strangely enough, it's since Ayana and Moses have come home and we introduced them as our beautiful new children that they haven't spoken to us. Mmmmmmm, I hesitate to attribute this to them as racism but I can't help but wonder. Makes me sad...and not a little angry.

Another set of neighbours across the street also ignore us now, I mean, they don't even smile at us any more.

Don't you find this sad? Anyway, as I said to Dave this morning as we were talking about it, it's their loss! We have wonderful friends that love us and we love them and that's what it's all about.

Thank you to all my friends that have welcomed Ayana and Moses and love them to bits.

Trampoline Fun...
We had a fantastic trampoline that was given to us by Dave's brother. It was old, having been through their four children, but we loved it.
Unfortunately, the canvas ripped right down the middle a few months ago and we mourned it's loss in our back yard because it is such great fun. The kids spend hours out there and we haven't had any disasters or accidents on it.
Last week, Dave and I decided that we just had to buy another one with the warmer weather coming up. We knew our older kids would love it and we thought it would be a fun, healthy outdoor thing for Ayana and Moses too. (We got the enclosure part too for safety, just in case you're wondering!)
So, off to the store went Dave with Josh and Megan and they brought back two enormous boxes...guess what Ayana and Moses immediately did...sure enough they climbed into those boxes and had a splendid time, squealing and laughing while Dave and the others put the tramp together.














The thing that really made me laugh was that Ayana could hop in and out without any problem, but Moses couldn't get out by himself. He could only manage to drape one leg over the side and then he would cry and shout, "tuck, tuck" for "stuck".
Of course, as soon as you went and got him out, Ayana would run over and hop back in, causing Moses to try and get back in and again cry and call out "tuck!"

So, here is a picture of Dave and Josh setting it up. Then a happy family portrait of all the kids on the completed trampoline. Fortunately, you can't hear all the arguments and the "debates" about where it should go and whether it was level etc.



















We have a cute little video clip of Moses and Ayana jumping around and falling over. Ayana tries to hold Moses up, very cute. I can't figure out how to post it though, so until I do, you will have to imagine it! :)
PS: You may be wondering what my role was in the whole setting up of the trampoline episode? I was the official photographer...someone has to do it...right? :)

An Evening Out...

We recently went out to this great little Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver called Fassil. (It's rapidly becoming our favourite actually.) We were meeting some people off the forum (great to meet you S!) and also people from the Vancouver group. We had great food and good conversation as usual.

Ayana sat very well, colouring, playing with her little friend T and wandering about a little bit. The great thing about eating at an Ethiopian restaurant here is that the two little ones can just run around and nobody cares. Moses however, took this to a new level on this evening....he was hilarious.

He knows that they adore him in the kitchens. He kept running in there and the staff would cuddle him and laugh, giving him bits of injera every time.

I would run in behind him and they would tell me to leave, that I should just sit and relax, they would watch him.

So, I would go and sit down, only to hear him shrieking with laughter and see him running out of the kitchen holding great rolls of injera that they were feeding him with.

He ran into the area behind the desk and poked at the computer, and the owners daughter would just laugh and play with him.

Two minutes later he would be back in the kitchens, getting more food. Back to the daughter to play. Back to the kitchen. This is all before the food arrived for us!

Here he is at one point, injera in hand behind the bar!

He then started moving chairs out of the kitchen and dragging them through into the restaurant. Of course, I put them back and told him not to touch, but the owners just laughed, "Let him play, he's fine" was all they said.

Basically, he could have done anything and got away with it because the owners thought he was so adorable, I looked like this big meanie trying to set limits!

When the food arrived and he was put in his high chair...he was already almost at bursting point with all the injera he had been fed. (It was a bit of a struggle strapping him into his car seat later...that tummy was very full!)

It just made me laugh to see him having such a fun time and I was more relaxed because the owners were so great with him.

It is impressed upon me every time we go to this restaurant how much the Ethiopian people love children and how very welcoming they are. They hug us when we go in and again when we leave and tell us to come back soon. The owners wife told us to come down on a weekend and hang out with their family.

Whenever there are other (Ethiopian) people in the restaurant, they also laugh with the kids as they run by, wave to them and chat. I never feel as if we are annoying them because our kids make some noise or run back and forth to the bathroom a million times.

What an amazing culture our children come from. We are so dedicated to making sure they grow up very proud of their heritage. After all, it is a great heritage to call one's own.

Kibaale, Uganda, East Africa.
You may recall a couple of posts back that I talked about going to Uganda as a family to have a look at and help out in a couple of organisations that we support.
One of the main places that we visited was a school and community project in the Rakai district called Kibaale. The school that my children attend founded the project at Kibaale, it is very much a part of our family life as we support it financially, pray for it regularly and talk about it all the time.
Rakai is only known internationally because it is the home to the first known AIDS cases in Africa. This is like the heart of the pandemic.
There are literally thousands of child led homes here. Children as young as 8 up to 14 or 15 taking care of their little brothers and sisters. They would approach us for some money or a bit of food. I could not wrap my head around this coming from our culture. I kept thinking,
"Surely someone at least watches out for them.." but no....nobody does. There are just too many children that live that way. If the kids can get into the school at Kibaale, they will at least have a meal.
Here is an excerpt from my journal:
There are millions of children orphaned by AIDS here in Uganda.
I knew this as I came, and yet I am not prepared to see children lower their heads and whisper,
“My father is dead. My mother is dead. I live with my sister.”
“ I am 11. I take care of my brothers and sisters. Can you give me work for food?”
In the district of Rakai, I have learned that there are thousands of child led homes.
“But who actually takes care of them?” I asked the school community worker.
“They look after themselves the best they can. They get a meal at school.”
“That’s it? They get one meal at school?” I responded in total shock. “What about during the school holidays?”
The worker looked at me.
“I think that’s why kids here do not like school holidays, life is hard."
Every year, our school holds a sponsored 5K "Kibaale Walk" to raise money for the community school in Kibaale. The kids get very excited about this. 100% of the money raised goes directly to the project and it basically provides the operating cost of the school (over 800 students) for the entire school year. As if that isn't enough, there are other great incentives closer to home too. This year, the Middle School staff said that if the students in the MS raised a certain amount, the staff would all spend the night locked into the basketball court...students raised money with enthusiasm! There are prizes of class pizza parties, non uniform weeks and extra gym time. Most years, there are also fund raising goals of teachers having their heads shaved...so you can imagine...it is a fun event too.
This year, my children each raised a record amount... THANK YOU to the family and friends that so generously supported this incredible project in Kibaale. The school as a whole (K-12) raised WELL OVER $100,000.00. In one day! One event! Now, isn't that fantastic!!!!!!!!! Way to go to all the P.A. kids that walked in the rain!!
(If you want to check out the Kibaale project, log onto their website at http://www.paoutreach.net/pages/kibaale/kibaale_home.htm It gives details of the project and ways that you can get involved i.e. sponsoring a child. 100% of all money donated goes directly to the Kibaale project)
While in Kibaale, we also had really fun times with these kids that just love to dance, laugh and sing.
The people are all incredibly friendly, and so hospitable. Everyone we met wanted to shake our hands, they hugged our children, they invited us in. We could certainly pick up a few tips in our culture about how to welcome people graciously.
One of the staff there told me that as they do not have much financially, what they give to each other is their time.
"Time is a gift," she said, "so when you come and sit in my home, I give you all the time you want."
I loved that. "Stuff" and getting the supper ready are not as important as the time taken to just sit and chat with friends.
I just love Africa.

28

In a previous post I talked about going to hear Stephen Lewis speak and the tremendous impact that he has had globally in the fight against AIDS.
During his speech, he mentioned that there was a book coming out that was absolutely "astonishing" and incredibly written. Praise indeed.
He said that it was the most well researched writing on AIDS to date...if you want to learn all about the pandemic, read this book.
It is called 28 and is written by the renowned Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Nolan (a Canadian!) living in Jo'Berg, South Africa.
Her years of living in Africa and researching AIDS in many of the African countries has given her a unique insight that many people do not have.
She has titled her book 28 because to date there are 28 MILLION people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa alone. That's 28,000000...a lot of zeros there.
Check out this link to read more about Stephanie Nolan and her work in Africa. There are lots of links on the right hand side when you open this, that you can go to. They are incredibly moving to read/listen to/watch.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/generated/realtime/aidsStories.html

We also have a great show here on CBC called "The Hour" and Stephanie Nolan was interviewed there recently. (Incidentally, another favourite speaker of mine was recently interviewed, Tony Campolo, it was a very good show...)
Check this link out too, she is well worth listening to.
In this link, make sure you also check the related video files...you will be able to hear Stephen Lewis speak (free!) and there is a clip on children living in Northern Uganda...one of the hardest places in the world to be a child.
http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1549
Do take the time to check these out, please.
Just as an aside, an important aside, but an aside nonetheless...Dave and I went to see the movie, "Amazing Grace" the other night.
I actually wasn't that keen as I'd heard it was "slow" and "ponderous".
For people who don't know the premise, it is about William Wilberforce, an English politician in the 18th century (I know, it sounds boring, hear me out!) who devoted his ENTIRE life to the abolition of the slave trade in England. His friend, William Pitt, who becomes the Prime Minister is completely supportive of this dream and at one point, Pitt asks Wilberforce,
"Do you think that just because there are only 2 of us, we can't change the world on this issue?"
I almost cheered out loud! I LOVED this movie. I want to buy it because for me it embodied what can happen when God puts a dream and a passion into someones heart. Wilberforce just kept going, defeat after defeat, but he couldn't let it go.
Stephen Lewis says something similar when asked how he keeps going.
He says that he does get exhausted at the enormity of the problem and the seemingly endless defeat, with little hope of glory, but you grit your teeth and carry on because you have to.
We have to educate ourselves and be smart about the ways that we can be involved and make a difference. We too, need to grit our teeth and carry on because 28,000000 is all made up of 1's.
People die one at a time.

A goat for Christmas.
In 2005, our family traveled to Uganda to work in an awesome project there that our school founded and continues to run.
There are over 800 students in the project and we of course made friends with many of them when we were there. The little ones always tug at your heart strings, laughing, playing, singing in divine harmony even at an early age, dancing and hanging on to you every time you set foot on the compound. I usually hang out with the younger children, but during the time I spent there, I gradually came to love a few of the older students. A couple in particular stick in my mind and I think of them often.

One boy (probably 14 or so) would come to our door every day and wait for me. When I went outside he would ask me how I was, in a very shy voice and then ask if he could sing or dance for me that day. Of course, I would ask him to and he would sing beautiful songs for me or perform a traditional dance. He would then bow gracefully, smile and head off to school. On the last day we were there, he waited for us for a long time as we got ready to go. He took my hands in both his hands and he sobbed, great tears running down his face. He whispered to me, "I will never forget you, you are so kind to listen to my songs. I wish you my mother". His mother had died. I felt so bereft leaving him.

Another boy also stole my heart. He invited us back to his house to meet his grandmother. Our whole family slogged up the side of a mountain in the heat of the day to get to his house (it was HARD work!) He walked that distance to school and back every day, barefoot, not seeming to notice the rough terrain. We passed coffee fields, maize fields, banana plantations and finally made it to his tiny little hut where he lived with a couple of brothers, an aunt, a baby nephew and an old grandma. We had a great time, just hanging out with half the village watching in shy fascination. They played soccer and volleyball using the traditional African ball made of plastic bags tightly wound together. During our time at the project, this boy stuck to us like glue. Wherever we went, he would appear. He showed us round the tiny village, introduced us to his family, hung out outside our house and played with Joshua every moment of the day. I wanted to bring him back to Canada. I wasn't able to sponsor him, but we made a promise to ourselves to send him things, to send presents, money through the school etc to help him when we could. He always writes and says thank you and how he misses us. Last Christmas, my elder daughter sent the project some money in my name, requesting that they purchase a goat for him. This will bring him income as he sells the milk, or the kids etc. (Or food if they are desperate) Today I got a picture of him holding his goat with a huge smile on his face. Here he is.

If you are not sure of the impact that we have on these amazing kids when we sponsor or support in any way, let me share with you an excerpt of the letter that he wrote to me. (Of course, I realise it is more personal because we have met and are friends.)

"How are you dear Lesley? How is Canada? I got a goat, I send thanks to you, thank you so much...I love you so much. I love your dear family so much. How is Joshua and his sisters...I am so happy for what you done for me and my family.... My dearest , I love you"

My dearest...I love you too.

Stephen Lewis.
We have just had the amazing chance
to hear Stephen Lewis speak,
twice in a row!
He was speaking locally and we got tickets for one event and then heard that he was speaking the next night only 30 mins away! So, we bought tickets for that too. (tickets were not that expensive either!)
I have to applaud this great man as being one of the most incredible speakers I have ever heard in my life. (I also love hearing Tony Campolo who actually says similar things)
I am sure that you know who Stephen Lewis is, but I will just say (in case anybody is not sure) that he was the UN Special Envoy to Africa for HIV/AIDS for five years, among many, many other positions politically/globally and important posts in Unicef etc. He has worked in Africa for almost 50 years and he says that he loves that beautiful continent so much, it has his heart. Check out his foundation at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/ He has initiated great programs like Granny to Granny which I don't have time to write about, but is so great..check it out!!!
As well as being knowledgeable and super, super smart (I couldn't even hazard a guess at this guy's IQ!), he is very funny, very current, and very compassionate. There were several times that he seemed to choke up as he was relaying stats or stories of his work and believe me, I was crying through a lot of it.
He gave stats like:
Half a million women die in childbirth complications every year. There is absolutely not one reason why this should be. In a world that knows so very much about obstetrics, about getting women into urban areas from rural areas if there is a problem, about the drugs needed when necessary intervention is immediate etc, this should not happen.

Over 75 % of recent infections of HIV in Africa, which if not treated will develop into full blown AIDS, are women and young girls. Gender inequality, says Mr. Lewis, is at the heart of the pandemic. New research out of South Africa suggests that the % may even be in the 90's.
Again, you may have heard this before, but one of the most unsafe places to be in Africa if you are a woman, is in a marriage. They have very little, if any, sexual autonomy and these young girls are infected by their husbands, and then often abandoned to cope, along with caring for their children.
Of course, we are battling against cultural values here, where for many African cultures, as a woman, their esteem and reputation/self worth is tied up in being married and having children.What can they do? Nothing.

There are almost 15 MILLION orphans in Africa with a CONSERVATIVE estimate being that the figure will rise to almost 20 million by 2010.
In Liberia, when he last visited, they had over two million orphans (I think that's accurate from my memory) and they just couldn't cope.
Something that really struck Dave and I was that he said that would be like Canada suddenly having to cope with over 2 million orphans this year. We couldn't possibly cope either and that is with a highly developed infra structure and being one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
There were many more stats and some horrific, mind boggling ones like the U.S spending on the Iraq war was now over 9 BILLION....A MONTH! When I think of figures like that, it just makes me so mad.
Anyway, as you can see, I could go on and on. He had some heart wrenching stories. He had some encouraging stories (not many of these actually) He praised Canada's citizens for their compassion and their concern and condemned Canada's Government for their foreign aid practices and not meeting promises.
Many, many more things to say, but I don't have space or time (and I'm sure most of you have things to do too!) However, Dave and I talked into the night (both nights!). What can we do? What should we do?
We know that this is our heart, our passion, our calling to be involved with African orphans in some way.
For now, we will continue to take sponsorship of children in Africa very seriously. We will continue to support the organisations like HOPE International and Compassion that work tirelessly to make a difference. We will teach our children about the world and their spiritual, moral, HUMAN obligation to do whatever they can wherever they are. We will try to make ourselves aware of what in the world is going on in our world. We may at some point end up working in Africa, we know and talk about it endlessly, that is our big dream.

I want to be just like my daddy...
The other day my daughter Megan and I were quickly running through Wal Mart (story of my life lately, I'm always running somewhere! :) ) and we spotted some perfect little boots for Ayana and Moses.

Doodle Bop boots for Ayana and Bob the Builder boots for Moses. Don't feel bad if you do not know what these are! I confess that before Ayana and Moses arrived, I had not heard of the Doodle Bops. I remember Bob from when Josh was little. Ayana loves the Doodle Bops, a singing, poppy, dancing group for kids. (I'm not as convinced, they are very irritating, but oh well...) When we got home and showed them their new little boots, they were delighted and insisted on putting them on there and then..even though Ayana was all ready for bed and Moses was nearly ready, just in his diaper. He tried to pull his boots on the wrong feet, saying "b, b, b, b" for Bob. Here they are proudly showing off their new boots.

Moses is obsessed with wearing his daddy's shoes. Many times a day I find him desperately trying to walk in Dave's enormous shoes, often falling over after a few steps.

It is very sweet the way that he loves to go into the closet, haul out a pair of shoes, spend a few concentrated minutes pulling them on, struggle to stand up, only to fall over and start over again.

Notice the delicate balancing act..."if I stay bent over like this...I might stay standing!" (Also note the odd shoes, he doesn't care if they are a pair, just as long as they are way too big)

Here he is attempting to walk in Dave's shoes.

I have to say, Dave is the most awesome guy, wonderful husband and fantastic daddy...those are big shoes to fill little guy!