Hannah and Kyle...

This is Hannah......
This is Kyle... K Y L E.. he can spell it himself.

We spent the morning yesterday having breakfast at Buzz Cafe together with their mother Kristen. Yummy food and great company and I have to say they are really good sports at amusing themselves while Kristen and I drank huge peppermint lattes!!!

PATCHES

This is Patches. Patches is the dog at Big AHOPE. He was very well behaved and very loved. I like that they have him. Perhaps since Little AHOPE has moved to a bigger compound, they will get a pet. The kids liked taking pictures of Patches... I have lots.

Kolfe...

In June, I posted about Kolfe. Kolfe is a government orphanage for boys who are too old for adoption. While I have no doubt the people in charge at Kolfe are doing there absolute best-- it was probably the bleakest place we visited. Gladney(the adoption agency who took us there) does do a scholarship program for some of the boys in order to help them gain skills to support themselves. This is a great way for a little money to go a long way in making a change in these young men's lives. We felt awkward taking photos, but they seemed happy to have visitors and encouraged us to take them.

Community Outreach 2009

Once again, we did our Community Outreach program for the holidays. A big thank you to Near North Montessori, Claire Parker, Sarah Ryan, Alexa, Debbie, Liz, Megan, Lonna, Julie, Silvia, Mary Catherine, Sue Mitra and Stephanie Melone!!!
We passed out gifts and clothes to 102 kids this year!!

The horrible picture of me was taken by my friend Steph who came to help me on distribution day to show all the packages on the stage-- and you can see how I actually look at school!!

Tulips in December...

I got these beautiful purple tulips from a friend this past week. It is so nice to have a bit of spring sunshine in this very cold, wintery weather. Have I mentioned that due to my car difficulties, I have been walking and taking the bus?? Yes, it makes our typical Chicago weather seem colder.

Jane Kurtz-- Author Extradionaire

Jane Kurtz, author and former resident of Ethiopia sent me a beautiful box of books in the mail after seeing my article about the work, our school did for Ethiopia Reads. She co-founded the organization. Anyway, I really like her books and their pictures. Plus Ethiopia Reads did a special with her new book, Trouble where if you pre-ordered it, they would send it with a note to any gift recipients you wanted. Several little people got a copy of it in the mail for the holidays-- plus I purchased Trouble for my god daughter and Silly Mambo for my god son as one of their gifts they will get on Christmas Eve.

If you are looking for books, support this author, she's awesome.. she even inscribed each book for me.. and there is one from American Girl as well, I might use that for book club this spring at school.

Annual Cookie Baking...

Completed another year's cookie baking extravaganza!! We made 7 kinds this year, including 6 X the recipe for the candy cane cookies... I literally spent the entire afternoon rolling pink and white ropes to make the canes! My hands are permanently stained from red food coloring. A big thank you to Jay for entertaining all the kids and Kp for keeping me supplied with coffee and grilled cheese. I seriously think I might make one or two dozen if we didn't do this insanity every year. If you live nearby, stop by for cookies and milk. :)

Bad Day in Bedrock... and a surprise in the mail!!

So today was not a good day... the last two weeks before the holiday break are always difficult. I do a large community outreach project to help get gifts for many of our students... and the organization is enough to send you over the edge. Then today, I had a little girl who spent an hour running around the school from us and we eventually ended up on the floor. Then to end the day, another student started picking up chairs, banging them on the file cabinets and systematically destroying his classroom and throwing it at me and his teacher... which led to an extra hour of paperwork and then my little Neon which I just got back last night decided it was no longer going to tell me how much gas I have or what speed I'm going...

So as we say at school, it was a bad day in Bedrock. But when I got my mail, I had the nicest surprise-- a handwritten letter in snail mail from a young lady who I met this summer, who is now adopted and living in the states!!!! She told me about her pets, and siblings and that she got an American Girl doll for her birthday-- how fantastic is that??? Oh and she is reading Swiss Family Robinson. Her English writing is awesome and I can't wait to write her back-- and send her some of my favorite books. What a treat to hear from her.. it really made me smile-- I stood by her bed this summer and she showed me pictures of her new family and I told her that I would keep in touch with her in America, and I am so happy that I get to do that.

So maybe tomorrow will be a better day, keep your fingers crossed.

WORLD AIDS DAY

33 million people are infected with the HIV virus. 22 million of them are in the continent of Africa. What can you do to help? Read. Share. Get tested. Sponsor. Donate. Adopt. Everyone can do something.

www.ahopeforchildren.org

BTW: Totally stole this post, picture and all from Jenny's blog... fighting with a dead car and a flooding kitchen with the Roto Rooter man this evening!!