Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Why blog?

Well, besides the fact that all of the cool cats are doing it, why blog and why now? Having been on the adoption journey for eight months now and having spent many, many nights benefitting from the blogging of others, I wanted to contribute in my own small way. While adoption is just one of our passions and interests, it is the only thing that has brought me to the computer night after night searching for answers, timelines, stories and shared experiences of those who are also apart of this journey.

So, let me introduce us! (My husband is still not so sure about the blogging world, and will thus be the fairly silent partner in this venture!). We are R and N residing in the great city of Chicago. N is originally from Eastern Canada where the tides are high and lobster is plentiful. I am from a small town in Arkansas, but always loved to travel and knew that a big city was for me. We both made the move to Chicago in 98, and the rest is history!

N is a high school history teacher and I am a social worker with refugee children and youth. We both passionatly love our work, and have been at it for awhile. Our shared love and passion is Ethiopia; a place we have lived, worked, volunteered and now look forward to continuing our lasting connection through adoption of a child that we know and love.

We love living in Chicago, although anticipate that we will work internationally at some point (first choice ETHIOPIA) should the right opportunity come along! N enjoys biking, running, reading, education for social justice, and coffee roasting and gardening. R enjoys running, Bikram yoga, cute kids, cooking complicated things, having people come over for dinner and figuring out ways to get out of housework.

Our families are spread out all over the world. N's parents are retired and living in Canada. N's sister presently resides in London, but is crazily (ok, I'm just jealous) accepting a post with a NGO in Afghanistan. R's parents live in Indiana, nieces and nephews in New Mexico, brother in Afghanistan and sister finishing law school in Atlanta. We are lucky to have families that are supportive and excited about our upcoming adoption!

Other than trying to find ways to visit Ethiopia all of the time, we spend our days attempting to avoid swine flu (or Mexican influenza, depending on your geographical location), and enjoy the seasons as they come!

Ok. I did it. I made a blog!