Such A Good Book!!!

I love this book! Many of you have read Melissa Fay Greene's book There Is No You Without Me, and it is a sort of must read for those adopting from Ethiopia, but this book is very different and very funny. The book is about parenting a large family, relationships, crazy things that happen in a busy household, and, of course, adoption.

I have read about half of the book. I LOVE reading about Melissa's adventures in Ethiopia (I am at the part where she is developing a relationship with Haregewoin Teferra). She recounts the first time she arrived in Addis Ababa. After visiting Ethiopia, it is so much fun to read her description...she is spot on with the sights, smells, and feeling one experiences there. I also enjoy Melissa Fay Greene's honest stories about the ups and downs of adopting. She writes a bit about her post-adoption depression and she does a great job of describing her feelings after bringing home her first adopted son (from Bulgaria).

"Do I love him yet? It's an awful thing we adoptive parents ask ourselves. Do I love her yet? Do I love him yet? Like the television ads for wireless phones: "Can you hear me now?" We don't pursue this line of questioning about the children whom we gave birth. Yet here sat this little guy at the table, painstakingly peeling a hot dog, looking up with his sparkly eyes, and I asked myself, Do I love him yet?"

I loved reading about her first meeting with her soon to be adopted Ethiopian daughter:

"Down a narrow, rocky lane we bounced, then parked outside the cement walls of Layla House, AAI's orphanage. Selamneh honked for admission. I was beside myself with excitement and a kind of stage fright. For the second time in my life I prepared to meet a child who was going to call me Mama.

"There can be no other demarcation of time, no other "life-cycle event" as significant a crossing-over as this one. Marriage is momentous, but in most of the modern world, brides and grooms stand at the altar beside their beloved. Childbirth is a major event, but it, like marriage, follows a deep prior connection. Now the elderly guard pulled open the gates and I prepared to meet a person who would join, and change, my life permanently."

I am going to try to function today (doing laundry, cleaning up a bit, playing with Grace) when all I really want to do is cuddle under a blanket and finish this book. Hope you are having a "Marvelous Monday" and be sure to check out this book when you are looking for a good summer read!

****For those of you who are starting the adoption process, check out this book:

Julie offers advice on how to help fund adoptions. Her personal story is very inspiring and she proves that money should never prevent someone from following their "call" to adopt.