Ethiopia

A Meeting Long In The Making

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 9 Comments

It has been called WANNAFEST 2008.  I think that name is perfect.  I may even have a t-shirt made.  Okay probably not but it is still an awesome event. There are a few of us who have been wanting to get together and meet for a very long time.  We met via our adoption agencies message board and got to know each other closely through our blogs and our adoptions that happened relatively at the same time.  MP loved on little Minnow for me when she went to Wanna to pick up her little Teeny.  I remember holding little Hayat and telling her that her mommy and daddy were coming soon.  She was such a sweet little baby and is now a sassy little toddler and still ever so sweet.  Our children have a shared beginning of life.  We as their parents have a shared beginning as their parents.  We are finally meeting up as families.  Our children will meet each other as toddlers, while they last saw each other as little infants. 

We are making a trek to San Diego in a few weeks (less than 3 to be exact).  I have to laugh because we have been talking about wanting to do this for over a year now and we finally decided to do this and planned it in two days…I think the cold has been a factor in our swift decision making.  It has been in the single digits and teens here and for MP it has been a hell of a lot colder.  I am a spontaneous traveller.  I don’t like long range planning and this trip is perfect. 

I am so excited to finally meet the women behind the blogs and the women who really helped me through the adoption wait for referral.  I am excited to meet their amazing children and to forge lasting bonds for our children.  I look forward to WANNAFEST every year. 

See you all soon. 

Politics 08 and Sadness

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 5 Comments

I usually pay a lot more attention to politics that I have of late.  I am not sure if having a toddler that doesn’t sit still is the reason or if the reason lies in the fact that this seems to be the longest campaign season ever.  I feel like the election should have happened about two years ago.  Our primary is on Super Tuesday so we haven’t seen much actual campaigning going on yet and probably will not.  I feel totally uninformed at this point.  Hubby and I were talking a little last night pondering who we might give our vote to.  I just don’t know.  I feel like I don’t know anything about Obama or Edwards.  For so long the entire political world focused on Clinton.  She was the one questioned and interviewed and analyzed to death.  Obama and Edwards were in the background for so long.  I don’t really feel like their message has been overlooked–or maybe they don’t know their own message yet except that they are the Anti-Clinton.  I just don’t know.  I am ready to hear where they stand on Education and some other major social issues.  I am tired of hearing who is or isn’t this or that. 

So, Internet what do you think?  I am not soliciting your advice because I am too lazy to make up my own mind and do my own research.  I am really interested in your political interests.  When you vote, how do you make your decision?  Do you vote for the person of your conviction or do you vote for who you think can win?  What is the most important issue to you?  What should every great president have as a quality? 

Onto sadness…Sunday one of Minnow’s caregivers from Ethiopia was killed in a car accident while enroute to pick up a baby.  I am sad.  She (as do the other nannies as well) loved these children and viewed them as her own.  She leaves behind a husband and two small children.  It is a sad day.  She helped give the great gift of love Minnow received and had a hand in making him the amazing, kind, loving little baby he was and the loving boy he is becoming. 

 Genet you will be missed.  Rest in peace.