30 Pairs of Shoes, 24 PJ's and 38 Pairs of Socks

The donations continue to roll in.  My dad just generously donated his Christmas bonus to the supply drive for Layla House, and my Grandma Ruby contributed as her Christmas present to Brent and me.  I still have some money left over from the donations, so I'll likely go back to the VANS outlet and pick up some more shoes (buy one get one half off plus I have coupons for an extra $40 off).

The kids at Layla are going to have some pretty stylin' kicks...

We're still collecting shoe, sock, and PJ donations until we leave for Ethiopia (date TBD, but hopefully in late January)!

24 PJ's, $20, 38 Pairs of Socks and Approximately 20 Pairs of Shoes and Counting

Over the past week our friends and colleagues have thrown us some wonderful "kid showers" (pictures from one kid shower, including "sledding" in California in 80 degree weather to come soon).  Besides the opportunity to relish in the excitement of our growing family with some of our favorite people, our kid showers have already greatly benefitted Ashagre and Elsa's friends in Ethiopia.  Combined with a few donations from friends answering the call in my past blog post, the showers have generated the above supplies (plus many more shoes that I couldn't fit on the bed) for the kids living at Layla House.

Many thanks to our thoughtful kid shower hosts and hostesses: Laura, Laurie, Chris E., Trish, Barbara, Terry and Sandie!  Also a huge thanks to everyone that has provided PJ's, shoes, and socks for our supply drive!

If you would like to add to the pile on Elsa's bed, feel free to send your supplies - PJs, shoes, and socks - our way.  It's looking like we won't be traveling back to Ethiopia until the end of January at the earliest so there is still plenty of time.

Chamah! Chamah! Chamah! Elsa and Ashagre’s Friends Are in Need of Shoes!

The next few weeks should be pretty fun. On top of the building holiday excitement, our friends and colleagues have been planning “kid showers” for us in celebration and anticipation of Ashagre and Elsa’s upcoming homecoming. We are really looking forward to sharing our excitement about our growing family with so many wonderful people (and passing the time in good spirits as we wait for our next trip to Ethiopia).

As first time parents we can definitely use a little help getting geared up for the kids’ arrival; however, after visiting each of the kid’s orphanages the needs of the kids that still wait for families is always near the surface of our consciousness. For that reason, we have decided to organize a supply drive, specifically shoes, for the kids living at Layla House – the orphanage that Ashagre currently lives at and the one that Elsa will be transferred to soon.

I figured I would spread the word about our shoe drive beyond the boundaries of our kid showers in case any of you that have started reading this blog might be interested in helping out.

I contacted AAI’s (our agency) Director of Development, Susan, and she informed me that currently the greatest need at Layla is for chamahs, or shoes, for the older kids – sizes child’s 12 up to an 8 in womens or 9 in mens. The shoes can be new or gently used and should be sturdy – sneakers and crocs are very popular and practical.

I particularly like the idea of collecting shoes because they remind me of Ashagre. He had these bright green croc-like sandals while we were in Ethiopia visiting him. They seemed to be a size or two too big and were constantly falling off of him. I learned the word chamah from Ashagre. I can’t even tell you how many times I was carrying him somewhere (he loved to be carried, especially by his momma) and he would start screaming chamah! chamah! chamah! I pretty quickly figured out that he was upset because one of his shoes had fallen off and we were leaving it behind. It didn’t help that he liked to let his legs hang straight down when he was being carried so I could knock his chamahs off with my legs as I walked. Finally, on the last day of the trip I told him we were going to try something different and wrapped his legs around my waist so I could carry him more on my hip without loosing his chamahs. It was an arrangement that worked out better for everyone involved.

If you would like to contribute a pair of shoes to our drive, please make sure they are in our possession by the beginning of January, let’s say January 5th, so we can pack them up and take them with us to Ethiopia when we go to pick up our kids. Don’t worry Emirates has pretty generous luggage allowances and Brent and I pack very light – we should have plenty of room for chamahs. If you need our address to send some shoes, feel free to email me at dakotacorey at hotmail dot com (in the traditional email address format, but spelled out on this blog to avoid spam).

If shoes aren’t your thing but you would still like to help out, consider donating to AAI’s Holiday Project. Each year our agency fundraises to provide a holiday celebration for the children in their care, as well as to support their humanitarian projects, including educational sponsorships, feeding projects, and work with special needs and HIV + children. If you contribute $30 or more AAI will send a special acknowledgement card to a recipient of your choice. You could give double – to the kids in Layla’s care and to someone close to your heart that already has everything they need this holiday season. AND...Elsa and Ashagre will both benefit from contributions to the holiday fund since they will be spending the holidays at Layla House.  You can donate to the Holiday Fund and learn more about it by following this link to AAI’s blog. 

Thanks in advance to all of you that choose to help us support the kids at Layla House.  I can promise you they will be thankful for your efforts.

Stuff

Ok, so I feel uneasy posting this here, but many of you have asked what we need for the kids, and the fact is that Brent and I are on a rapid path toward first time parenthood and are quickly realizing that we are going to have to grow our collection of stuff to accommodate our adorable kiddos.  Not to say that kids need stuff to be happy, but there are some things that will make their lives more comfortable and, of course, will be fun to have.

So, I am writing this post to share what we need (or would like) as we get ready for the kids’ homecoming.  I am DEFINITELY NOT creating this post to guilt you into purchasing anything for Asegre and Elsa.  I am just putting it on the blog because several people have asked and many of those people have access to the blog.  Please only purchase something for the kids if you wish to do so – your love and support of our family is the most important thing you can provide to all of us. 

To make things easier, I hope, I created a “wish list” on amazon.com.  You can access it HERE.  Note that we can add comments by the items.  I have tried to make clear what items are a high priority – in terms of need.  Of course, these are the more practical, less fun items.  You can also access the wish list directly through amazon.com’s website – it is under my name (Dakota Corey).

We are VERY open to used items and/or hand-me-downs; please do not feel bashful about a used gift.

There are 4 categories of things that I did not add to the registry, but that we would very much appreciate to receive:

• Clothes

• Books (minus some adoption and race-specific books listed on the amazon wish list)

• Children’s DVDs: Apparently Asegre loves cartoons, but kid movies/shows would be great too.  We don’t have a TV, but we do have a computer that plays DVDs.  We don’t want to let the kids watch DVDs very often, but have been told by MANY parents that both the kids and us will appreciate the down time once and a while.

• Children’s music

We would be happy to receive any of these items.  From what I can tell by their weights and heights, both of the kids are currently a size 5T or 5 right now.  They will likely grow very quickly once they come home – this is typical of internationally adopted children.

Honestly, as first time parents, we are also very open to suggestions/ideas from people that have parented 5 year olds before. 

A note about toys: The kids have a high chance of being behind developmentally on many different levels (emotionally & physically – size, motor skills).  This is also very common in internationally adopted children.  Certain types of play will help them catch up, and some toys encourage beneficial play more than others.  The kids will benefit from active play (balance, fine and gross motor skills), imaginative play (playing house, dress up, imitating grown up activities, etc.), and play that is stimulating to the senses (think water, sand, taste, art projects, different textures, etc.).  Toys that encourage these types of play will help them develop to their full potential.

A note about marketing: Brent and I are going to try (we know it’s likely a losing battle) to not inundate our children with characters developed mainly as a marketing mechanism targeted at kids (Spiderman, Toy Story, Dora, Bob the Builder, Barbie, etc….).  If you could help us out by trying to purchase more generic toys and clothes that don’t feature these characters we would really appreciate it.  (No judgment toward anyone that doesn’t mind these types of toys and clothes for their kids – it’s just our goal for right now.)

Again, Brent and I would like to reiterate that this is not a solicitation.  We are just putting the information out there for those that have been wanting it.