Why Ethiopia?

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One of the frequent questions we get is, "why did you choose Ethiopia?" In the spring of 2004 we were in Boston (Grant was running the Boston marathon) and we spent time with our beautiful and talented friend Erica Pelaccia talking about adoption options. She had been in the adoption world since college and knew a lot about the different programs. As soon as she mentioned Ethiopia, we were all in. We didn't look at any other options after that.

Her reasons:

1. The country had recently opened their doors to international adoptions so the program was new. This meant a very short wait time. We adopted Alex in six months and Almaz in seven months. (This is drastically different now! Waits are 2 - 3 years).

2. The emphasis on caring for children was high. The low number of nannies to babies meant the babies received lots of love and care.

3. Fetal alcohol syndrome is low since alcohol isn't consumed often, especially not by women.

My extra special reason:

4. My grandparents, Sam and Alice Linden had lived in Ethiopia so there was an emotional and spiritual connection. It was as if we had come full circle. Almaz's middle name is Allegra, named after my grandma Alice Allegra.

Sam and Alice Linden lived in Ethiopia in 1965 for about a year. My grandpa Sam was in construction for his whole career in Bremerton, Washington. He owned Linden Construction Company, and built many schools, hospitals and other commercial buildings in Bremerton from 1944 through the 1970’s.

They were also active members in Sylvan Way Baptist Church, which is part of the Baptist General Conference. The BGC had missionaries in Ethiopia and they needed a church, a school building and missionary offices built. So, Sam and Alice moved to Ethiopia to supervise the construction of these!

We received most of their Ethiopia memorabilia a few years ago when my Grandma Alice died. These items are a tremendous gift to us. Alex has a few spears waiting for him for when he is much, much older! My grandpa was a painter and we have three of the paintings he did while living there. They are so precious to us.

My dad recently scanned and sent me a bunch of pictures of his parent’s time there.

I may be romanticizing Ethiopia in the mid 60's but it was during the time that Emperor Haile Selassie was making many changes to modernize the country.  It was before 1974 when the socialist government took over. During the 70's and 80's it seemed like everything fell apart in Ethiopia...especially when the government tried to hide the famine that was taking place in Ethiopia in the mid 80's. We all remember We Are The World.

These pictures make it appear that Ethiopia is a healthy and vibrant country. So much has happened in the last forty years but I do believe that Ethiopia can find that health again. 

One of my grandpa's construction projects in Ethiopia.

Love this hair! Notice the Bible the girl in white is holding? My grandpa was a Gideon (you know the Bibles that are in all the hotel rooms?) and he was constantly passing out Bibles...spreading the Good News! 

 

My grandma mentioned how she always felt safe where ever she went and was never asked for money. While it is still relatively safe walking around, westerners are asked for money non-stop. Literally non-stop. 

 

I would love to know what this function is. 

My grandma and grandpa at the airport in Addis Ababa. 

My grandpa is the farthest to the right. 

My favorite of their Ethiopian pictures.

 A painting my grandpa did of a busy street in Addis Ababa.

 A painting my grandpa did of Ethiopian countryside.


I love the chance to share these pictures with you! It has been such a fun project to revive my blog during this time that I am fundraising for Mudula Water. Team Braasch has raised $6,000! Thank you SO MUCH for donating to Mudula Water! It means the world to us. 

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Celebrating Almaz's Birthday

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Almaz turns five today! I don't have a birth story but the story of when we first met Almaz is seared in my brain. This is how Almaz tells the story, "and I cried and I cried and I cried." 


When we adopted Alex it was at the very beginning of the program and the "meeting" part was completely haphazard. We got to the guest house/care center and Brian and Claire from Wisconsin said, "you're Tesfa's parents! We can show you where his crib is" and that was pretty much it. 


Two years later, the "meeting" portion was highly structured and planned. All the parents were driven over to the care center from the guest house (now two separate buildings instead of one). We all had to wait in a waiting room and each set of parents were brought in individually to the room where their child was waiting....all the time being followed by a man with a video camera. They had begun making Video Life Books for each child and this meeting was part of the Video Life Book...so precious. 


Since it felt like so much more of a production then our previous experience I think we were both pretty nervous. Almaz was sitting up on the floor playing with toys in the nursery where she had been staying with maybe 6 - 8 other babies. I swooped in instantly and picked her up. There was no warming up or letting her get use to me. 

After loving on her a few minutes Grant got his turn.

These pictures clearly show she wasn't too interested in us! Look how she is pushing away from Grant and can't even look at us....crazy white people. 


We had to leave the nursery so the next set of parents could go in. We went on little walk through the compound and every time someone familiar came by she reached for them and would smile. "get me away from these people!" 

Since we could both tell she was pretty uncomfortable with us Grant decided to try and make Almaz laugh. He used the same tactics that worked on Alex as a baby and made crazy funny faces. This didn't work with Almaz. Huge backfire on that one. 

"and I cried and I cried and I cried." 

After about a week she did start warming up to us, captured here in my favorite picture from Ethiopia. 

She was so mentally exhausted from her time with us in Ethiopia that she slept almost non-stop on the long trip home. 

Almaz wouldn't let me out of her sight for about six months after arriving home. Really. I couldn't even go to a different room without her screaming. 

Alex feeding Almaz, but her eyes were always on me. She fought for her place in our family and after a pretty rough transition is now a very confident, self-assured, happy, loving, sweet girl. 


Thank you for letting me share these memories with you! 


I think about Almaz's first mom often, but especially on days like mother's day, her birthday, and any big milestones. Not only do I want the very best for her but I want the very best for all of Ethiopia....that somehow Ethiopia would be lifted out of poverty. The problems are centuries old; with tribes fighting each other, corrupt government, clear cutting of forests causing soil erosion and more. It all seems overwhelming. But we can all do our part, however small or large it might be. 


Please consider giving $5 today to Mudula Water in honor of Almaz's 5th birthday. 

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Ethiopian Photo Contest

A company called Amharic Kids is having an Ethiopian photo contest. The prize money goes to the favorite charity of the contributor. Two of the ten photos have been submitted by people who would donate the prize money to Mudula Water. Please take a moment and vote for one of these two photos. Voting ends Tuesday, Nov 22. Thank you!!! - Anna 


Or, donate directly to Mudula Water here. 

What's In It For Me

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Since I am spending quite a bit of my time and energy on this fundraising campaign I’ve been reflecting on “what’s in it for me.”

PRIDE AND ENERGY
When someone tells me that they’ve learned something about why easy access to clean water makes such a difference, especially if they’ve mentioned that they or their kids have watched this video, I feel a sense of pride well up. Like what I am doing makes a difference. My life is full of laundry and grocery shopping and making/cleaning up food, so working on something important outside of my house and family has infused with me energy and that energy has transferred to all the other areas of my life.

A POSSIBLE TRIP TO ETHIOPIA
Ethiopian Airlines has donated plane tickets to Mudula Water to be used during this initiative. One of those tickets will be given to the person who raises the most money for Mudula Water to travel in November of 2012 to see the completion of the project. Grant and I have been to Alex’s birth village of Durame twice and met people who were part of his Ethiopian Story there. This was an incredible experience! We recently were watching video of these meetings and conversations and know that this information will be invaluable to Alex someday.

When we traveled to Ethiopia to adopt Almaz we were able to meet people who were part of her Ethiopian Story but we met in a town (Hosanna) about an hour or so from Mudula. It would be amazing to travel to Mudula; to actually see where she was born and the spend time with her first family. I would also travel to the villages where we sponsor kids through Compassion International and I’d go back to Durame to reconnect with folks there.

We hope to travel with Alex and Almaz when they are around 12 and 14 or so. Making a trip and reestablishing connections now will make that trip in seven years even more meaningful.

THE ABILITY TO “DO SOMETHING”
We traveled to Ethiopia to adopt Alex in 2005, right at the beginning of the program when everything was new and rules were fuzzy. After our time in Durame we were encouraged by the Ethiopian gentleman who was traveling with us to purchase gifts for someone connected to Alex’s story. We ended up giving money to a trusted individual in Durame to facilitate the purchase of gifts which, we found out later, was a cow, some new clothes and bed sheets and blankets. Let me be very clear: this is NOT okay!

If individual people are given gifts it makes it much easier for those in desperate situations to make bad choices regarding children in the hopes that there might be some financial pay-off. For example: if you have five children – one who needs medicine, no husband, very little food, and pregnant with another baby, it makes the idea of “trading” your youngest baby for food, money and medicine infinitely more understandable. People in desperate situations do desperate things.

This perpetuates all sorts of problems and is frequently the reason why international adoption programs and agencies are scrutinized and shut down or why the process drags on so long while officials verify that stories are correct. In the end, all of this ends up hurting the children who are stuck in the process instead of at home being loved.  

So, clearly, no gifts for Almaz’s first family.

Being part of the process of bringing clean water to Mudula is something I CAN do. It will raise the quality of life for 10,000 in Mudula and the surrounding communities; meaning more girls can get an education, fewer people will get sick and die from water-borne illnesses and women can begin small businesses. Easy access to clean water changes everything for a community. And I CAN do that for Almaz’s first family.

VIRTUAL HUGS
Each time a donation comes in I feel like that person has given me a great big virtual hug and said, “this is important to you so this is important to me.” I have this imaginary line of people in my head that are all standing shoulder-to-shoulder for this important initiative. And it is a beautiful thing.

With a full and thankful heart,
Anna

PS - The vagueness of “their Ethiopian Story” is intentional. We’ve chosen to share Alex and Almaz's birth history with them and allow them to choose with whom and when to share it.

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Adoption Ramblings

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In honor of Adoption Awareness Month (all of November) and OrphanSunday (today) I will recognize the month/day by a little adoption rambling. These certainly aren’t all my thoughts about adoption but they are the ones that have been germinating lately.

We are not heroes:
There was nothing altruistic in our decision to adopt. We had been married for seven years. We wanted to be parents. Grant is quite possibly the most level-headed man on the face of the planet (for better or for worse) and he knew that if we pursued adoption we would end up with a baby. If we pursued fertility treatments we may or may not end up with a baby. That was it. Nothing more. Occasionally people say things along the lines of, “what a wonderful thing you’ve done” or “your children are so lucky/blessed.” I want to scream NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Usually I just smile and shake my head and say, “oh, no, we are the ones who are blessed.”

We have many other friends who have chosen adoption instead of (or before or in addition to) biological children. They, also, are not altruistic. They just can’t imagine life any other way.

God did not hand-select our children for us from the beginning of time:
I don’t intend to get into a theological debate here, but if the world were perfect our beautiful children would have been with their beautiful families in their beautiful country. But the world is not perfect. There is war and famine and illness and rape and extreme poverty and unplanned pregnancies. God did not make all those things “happen” just so wealthy westerners could be parents. The amazing and awe-inspiring thing about God, though, is that he can redeem even the most horrible and difficult situations (war, famine, illness, rape, poverty, unplanned pregnancy) and bring beauty and joy out of trauma and tragedy. Seeing this played out repeatedly (in my life and others) is the most important thing that has shaped my faith journey and my relationship with Jesus.

If you are thinking about adoption (special needs, waiting children, from the foster care system or internationally)…..
do it! You don’t have a perfect house or marriage or perfectly-mannered bio kids at home. All you need is an open heart and the willingness to “enter into the grief of a child and stay there until God heals.” From a Jen Hatmaker blog entry: “Could you direct your diligence toward becoming a healing parent, even if that just means listening and affirming and acknowledging and holding a child through the storm? Can you be miraculously, fantastically present for a child that is positive you too will disappear one day? Do you have the gumption to be oh-so-very consistent with boundaries and discipline, understanding that requiring their respect supplies them with the very security they crave in a parent who is actually in charge, freeing them up to be a kid instead of a survivor?” 

If you have friends or family members who are considering adoption or have recently adopted:
Please read this blog entry by Jen Hatmaker “It Takes a Village.” I’m pretty sure she crawled inside my brain and my heart for a few weeks before writing it. 

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My life, my world view, my faith journey were all rocked because we chose to adopt internationally; which is why this water project is so important to me. And I love that it has become important to so many of my friends and family (and the random unsuspecting stranger).

Thank you for joining me on this journey! Anna


ps - I can’t speak to the situation of a domestic infant adoption. I’m sure there are parallels but I can only speak from my experience.

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Talking to our kids about wealth

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We are wealthy. Our kids were born in a poverty-stricken country. I’m highly aware of these facts and this juxtaposition every time I talk to our kids about money.  

Since I’m guessing my opening sentence was a bit jarring for you, I’ll take a minute here to explain my definition of wealth: we have everything we need and some things we want.
1. Need: I am able to go to the grocery store and buy everything on my grocery list for sustenance. I am not dependent on food stamps or food shelves. Want: Occasionally we are able to celebrate life with extra special food and drink.
2. Need: We are able to pay our electric and gas bill every month. Want: We have access to the whole world through our cable/internet bill.
3. Need: We have a roof, walls, beds and everything else that make up our shelter. Want: Occasionally I am able to buy something to make our house a cozy home. 

The “wants” are really all that separate the uber-wealthy from the moderately wealthy to the minimally wealthy. Are you the Simon Cowell kind of wealthy or are you the “save-up-your-pennies to take the kids to the movie occasionally” kind of wealthy? I know it is cliché, but wealth is truly relative. If you have ever had the opportunity to travel to a developing country you will never again think of yourself as poor.

How does this play out with our kids? 

When the kids see pictures of starving children; the children are usually brown. They’ve been asking questions more frequently about poverty and if they would have been starving if they had stayed in Ethiopia. We never want our children to feel like we “rescued” them but our wealth is all they‘ve ever known so….we talk about it.

A typical conversation in a store
Alex: wow, Mom, that ______ is so cool. Can we buy it?
Me: is that a want or a need?
Alex: Um….a want.
Me: is it your birthday or Christmas?
Alex: no.
Me: Do you have enough money to pay for it?

The kids have all but stopped asking for things since they know the conversation that is going to follow.

Early money management:
When I ask the kids if they have enough money to pay for an item, I’m not being flippant. It is a genuine question. The kids both get an allowance each week. Every Sunday. One dollar for each year. Right now Alex gets $6 a week and Almaz gets $4 a week (soon to be $5). 40% goes to savings, 50% goes to spending and 10% goes to sharing. Right now their spending money is all “wants”….candy, chips, toys, etc. We provide all their needs. Each year they will be responsible for more and more of their needs to the point that they are buying their clothes, toiletries, paying for their activity fees, buying birthday presents for friends, etc. By the time they are 18 (or so) and ready to leave the coop, they should have made enough mistakes with money under our roof that they’ll be financially astute to make wise spending choices when they are on their own.  We use the very cool website threejars.com to help administer this. We would do exactly the same program if Alex and Almaz were biological children. 


Since we do have the Ethiopian/American contrast in our family the topic of wealth, poverty, wants-vs-needs, is often on forefront of my brain as we navigate financial conversations. We talk about injustice and how difficult it is for people to come out of poverty. We talk about what our responsibility is. We communicate that nothing is really ours, but that we are just stewards of everything that we have been given. When I say a prayer over meals I regularly say, “thank You for providing all of our needs and so many of our wants.” I want this idea to become embedded in Alex and Almaz.

So......

How do you define wealth?
How do you talk to your kids about money? 
Or, do you even talk about money at all?
Are you allowing your kids to make financial mistakes early on while the stakes are still low?

Almaz was recently fawning over a toy in a catalog that she has seen on television.  Alex said to her, "usually things look cooler on TV than they are in real life." This, from a six year old. Our job is done. :-)


Now, here's the pitch, consider donating $5 (or more) today to help bring a water pipeline to the town where Almaz was born. You can donate here. 

Water Changes Everything

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The organization Charity: Water has a ton of good resources on the importance of clean water. The video clip Water Changes Everything that I've linked to is short, easily understood (show your kids!) and well-produced. It especially shows well the impact distant, contaminated water has on women and children. Please take 3 minutes and 23 seconds to watch this video. And then take another one minute to donate $5 (or so) to build a water scheme to Mudula, Ethiopia and the surrounding villages. Thank you! Anna 

Donate here. 

Learn more about Mudula Water here. 

How we chose Almaz's name

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In 2004, when Grant and I were considering adoption from Ethiopia, we decided to sponsor a child through Compassion International. My only requirement when selecting the child is that he or she would be born the same year we were married (1997). My thinking is that this would help me remember how old our sponsored child was. We began sponsoring Almaze Zenebe when she was 7. She just turned 14 on September 22!

Meeting Almaze Zenebe for the first time - July 2005

When we traveled to Ethiopia to adopt Alex in 2005 we were able to meet Almaze. Other than holding our son for the first time, this was by far the highlight of our trip. We traveled three harrowing hours (terrible roads with a terrible driver) to her town of Assela. We spent time at the Compassion project where she belongs, had a coffee ceremony in our honor, went to the home where she lives with her aunt and sisters and shared a meal with them and then traveled another three harrowing hours back to Addis. (Our driver actually hit a cow and the owner of the cow was trying to get money from us. Another story for another day.) 


We receive a letter from Almaze every couple months. In a recent letter she was so embarrassed and ashamed that she had fallen from 1st in her class of 77 to 2nd. A Compassion director in Ethiopia told us that the children who have their sponsors visit always are the highest achievers.

Meal in Almaze's home - July 2005 

 Grant, Almaze and me outside of her home - July 2005

Coffee Ceremony at the Compassion project - July 2007

Early 2007, when we were in the process of adopting a girl, we had decided that if our daughter had a difficult-to-pronounce Amharic name we would change her name to Almaze.

Seeing Almaze again when we traveled to adopt our Almaz - July 2007

On April 6, 2007 we received a call from our social worker saying that we had been matched with a baby girl. This was way earlier than we had expected. We thought we would get a referral in the fall and then travel sometime around December or January. I listened with hesitation, not wanting to get pulled in. The reason we were matched so quickly is because we thought we were open to parenting a child with some possible health issues she may have had. And then, when rubber-meets-the-road, we were unsure if we could really parent a child with these health issues.* So, I kept a little wall up around my heart while the social worker was talking knowing that we would probably need to say no. And then the last thing she told me was her name. Almaz. And we said yes.

Almaz is the literal translation for “diamond” in Amharic. It fits our daughter perfectly. She is a beautiful, sparkly, precious jewel.

And, here comes the pitch, PLEASE consider donating $5 (or more!) to Mudula Water so we can build a water pipeline to the town where Almaz’s first family lives. You can donate here.

With a grateful heart,
Anna

*as it turns out, none of those possible health issues came to be! Praise God! 

New donation system!

A new donation system for Mudula Water was recently launched. Contributors will no longer need to go through the Children's Home Society website to donate (woo hoo!). 

Please let me know if you donated so I can give you a great big hug the next time I see you or give you a big "thanks!" online!

Two things:
1. I have raised more than $0. But apparently this new system isn't tracking what already has come in.
2. My goal is way more than $2000. No idea if I'll get there but I need to dream big!  


PLEASE donate!!! We need to get accessible water to the town of Mudula! 

Mudula Water

I’m so excited to announce the launch of my fundraising campaign for Mudula Water! Until Dec 31 I will relentlessly be bugging everyone I know to support Mudula Water. If you think you might be annoyed by this, de-friend me now!…either in FB or in person. I can take it ;-)

Why Mudula Water?

Mudula is the town where our sweet Almaz was born and lived her first six months. Her first family still lives there so we will always have a significant pull and attachment to the town of Mudula. We hope and pray often for the safety and the well-being of Almaz’s first family. Adoption is SO bitter-sweet. We received the beautiful and amazing gift of being Almaz’s parents, but only because Almaz’s first mother was unable to care for her. This will always tug on our hearts and we will never take her difficult and selfless decision for granted.

Because of this, we want Almaz’s first family and everyone in Mudula and the surrounding communities to have access to something as essential as clean water. There are millions around the world who could only dream about having easy access to such a basic necessity. What we can’t do for millions we can do for one….this “one” being the genes and DNA that give Almaz her sparkly eyes, her pouty lips, her humor, her flare for the dramatic, her amazing muscle tone, her love of art, and so much more.

The Plan: Challenge yourself to see how many days you can go with water as your only liquid….no coffee, soda, juice, wine, beer, etc. For every day you can abstain from everything but water, give $5 to my fundraising campaign. Why $5? There are days when you’d certainly spend more than $5 on beverages but $5 seems like a pretty general below-average number that is within reach of almost everyone.

Can you drink only water from a Monday – Friday? Donate $25 and brag big on my Facebook wall. Can you go ONE DAY with drinking only water? Donate $5! (or more. I won't complain). And, yes, I will join you on this journey. I commit to not drink any coffee or pop (two things I really like!) until I raise $5,000.

My GOAL is $10,000 by December 31, 2011. I know it is huge. It might be completely unreachable, but that is the BIG number that is on my heart.

The person or team who raises the most by December 31, 2011 will be given an airline ticket from Ethiopian Airlines to fly to Ethiopia during the year 2012. If I am to win (which would be AMAZING!) I would travel November 2012 with the Mudula Water team to check on the progress/completion of the project. Grant and I have had the incredible opportunity to travel to Alex’s birth village (Durame) twice but have never been to Mudula. For families formed by adoption, these connections are life-changing.

Consider joining the Team Braasch. We’d love to have you!

*all gifts are tax-deductible. 90% of what is dollars raised will go directly to the water project, only 10% is administrative overhead.

Braasch Family 2009 Update

Our big news this year is that in September we moved from our cozy home of 10 years in St. Louis Park to a home in Edina that we'll hopefully be in for just as long. We are now trying to figure out how to make our dollars stretch so we can renovate and decorate. Grant could start a windows and siding business with all the research he has done!

Our dear friend and an amazing photographer, Erica Pelaccia, spent a weekend with us this fall capturing our family (minus the tantrums, warnings, time-outs, etc). She's put together a sweet little slideshow and we've also posted a handful of pictures below. Hire her! She's truly talented.

Almaz

Almaz just turned three the end of November. Her life revolves around taking care of her babies, drawing/coloring and mimicking everything I do, which basically involves housework. She now washes the dishes, sorts and folds laundry and tidies up. She talks about wedding dresses and wedding rings and who she is going to marry. I've stopped trying to put pants on Almaz since she insists on wearing skirts and dresses. Almaz adores her brother but we also hear her say "stop bothering me" often.

Alex

Alex will be five in February. He is in constant motion and has an endless string of questions about the speed of various kinds of vehicles and the sharpness of objects. He has enjoyed the many new friends in our neighborhood and especially the trails, creek and BMX track in the woods behind our house. Other than Sunday morning, I've also stopped trying to put pants on Alex since he insists he is never cold. He/we elicit many comments when we are out in public on below freezing days. This is not a battle I'm willing to fight!

Grant and Anna

Grant will be 36 the end of December and frequently wears pants. He does an amazing job balancing work, working-out, racing and family. He also manages to find time to research windows and siding and get bids from contractors.

Anna - in February I'll have been at my current job (part-time church operations/administration) for five years! I haven't been at the same place for five years since elementary school. I'm treasuring this last year of having both Alex and Almaz at home before Alex heads to kindergarten in the fall.

We do hope this note finds you well and that you are enjoying every minute with family and friends this Christmas season.

Beaches Turks & Caicos Feb 2009