Connections

April 28, 2011 / Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

There are many who feel the internet has taken over their lives and the lives of others. There are those who don’t see the value in relationships made online. I have to disagree completely with them. The internet has allowed me to create an adoption community that allows my children to have connections to their birth country and more importantly to kids and families that look like theirs. They have a shared story and it isn’t one that is written based solely on their skin color. It is a complex story that can and will only be understood by those who have a similar experience.

This past weekend, we were lucky to meet up again with Noah and Zoë’s Ethiopian “cousins.” These are kids who they share their early history with–kids who they were in our agency’s care center with. There are many more “cousins” that we have not met or do not keep in as close touch with, but I have always believed it was important to keep some connections to my children’s past and birth country. I am so thankful for Anne, Steph and Ginger. I am so thankful for my own local Ethiopian adoption community. The fabric of which with only enrich my children’s lives and my own.

Thank you Internet for making the world smaller.

He Knows How To Get Me

April 13, 2011 / Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

We were in the car driving home from dinner the other night. We were talking about how my grandmother is going to be 90 this year and Noah was impressed “because that’s like infinity.” When you are five that is pretty true. He asked if she was going to die and we said yeah, someday she will but she could live a lot longer (she’s in fantastic health and her aunt lived to be 105). Then we had the following conversation

N: Will I be a grandpa someday

Me: Yeah.

N: Then I will die?

Me: Yes honey, we all do.

N: Then I’ll come back as a baby again?

Me: Yes.

N: Will someone adopt me again…

I’m silent I don’t know what to say exaclty

N: I want you and dad to adopt me again.

My little heart just melted and I started to get teary eyed.

Then he made a fart joke or a butt joke and it makes me hope I can do it with him all over again.

World AIDS Day

December 1, 2010 / Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

I write this in honor of those who have in any way been touched by AIDS. Today is World Aids Day, and I write in honor of the mothers around the world who see their only choice to give up their children while knowing they themselves are going to die. In the US, HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence. In the developing world, AIDS is just that–a death sentence.

There are children whose life’s are changed each day by AIDS–they watch their parents and loved ones die. They themselves get sick and perish. It is a travesty that this disease that can be managed is allowed to ravage those who we don’t see as fit to be saved. These could have been my children. By 2010, there will be 20 million AIDS orphans around the world. HIV is a completely manageable disease. We could, if we unite as a world, abolish HIV. It is possible. We need drug companies to step up and help reach the dream of 2015 (no new children born with HIV). We need to learn more about HIV/AIDS.

I can only imagine the fear that HIV+/Living with AIDS birth mothers live with on a daily basis–worried about passing the disease onto their children/babies. Having to give them up/abandon them because they cannot breastfeed because of the disease and knowing that their babies will die if they don’t give them up–from lack of food. This breaks my heart. While I have a family built through adoption, I wish that no woman/family have to give up their children because they can’t get medical care or have access to other ways to nourish their children.

What can you do? What will you do?

(Most of this post was previously posted last year)

Hair

November 26, 2010 / Dawn Kasal-Finley / 4 Comments

Zoë’s hair is awesome. I love it and she loves it. She loves it free and I do too. But I struggle with finding the right product for her hair. She has super tight curls and it is hard (impossible) to keep the frizz away and the definition in her curls. It looks great for about an hour after I fix it but then it starts drying out and getting frizzy.

I love letting her wear her “Macy Gray” hair, but I hate that I can’t keep it looking good all day. So, I continue in my search for the best product for her hair. I currently use Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk and Lisa’s Elixr. I’ve tried Pink stuff but really am only interested in Natural products that are healthy for her hair. Suggestions?

Noahversary Year 4

August 24, 2010 / Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

Noah has a complicated “family” day or Noahversary as we like to call it. Hubs and I arrived in Ethiopia on August 20, 2006. We met and held Noah for the first time on August 21st–for a total of about an hour. He was then taken back to the hospital, where he stayed until August 23rd when we demanded to keep him with us. So, we celebrate Noahversary on Aug 23, although it always seems a little off but the 21st just doesn’t work, because he wasn’t ours yet–legally he was, but we weren’t caring for him. We keep the celebration of this day pretty simple. We talk about meeting for the first time, we look at pictures and talk about love and family. I want it to be a sober day that reflects on how families are created and what family means to us.

I can’t believe how fast these four years have gone by. My baby, who was so frail and sick, is now a whirlwind of energy, love, emotion, curiosity and did I say emotion? He is amazing and wonderful. He is insightful and thoughtful. I can’t imagine life without him–let’s be honest I’m almost too old to remember what life was before him. He is completely our son and so clearly the off spring of two amazing Ethiopian souls–I hope they can feel in their hearts that he is amazing and loved.

Being a parent is so much more than I ever realized–mostly much harder than I realized it, but I wouldn’t change our family for the world. Love you Noah.