Our International House of People: August 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Gotcha Day Delylah

What a smile

That is one happy baby

Delylah trying on her Halloween costume

It is amazing that Delylah has been in our arms for a year. This day last year I landed in Addis Ababa alone because Keith stayed home with Lennah and was petrified; I was in a strange country and would have to get to know our new baby alone. Little did I know that a year later we would love this baby more than we ever dreamed. Delylah has been a blessing to our family. Lennah will not have to grow up an only child and we have been blessed twice over. In the past year we have seen Delylah go from a baby that was delayed from being in an orphanage into a brillant child and energetic child. She couldn't sit on her own but within a few weeks she was sitting, soon crawling, and walked a week shy of 11 months old. Now she runs all over the house but does have two left feet and trips a lot, she talks up a storm, and has learned how to hold her own when her sister does not feel like being cooperative. I could not have asked from a better gift from God than to be the mommy to two beautiful girls.
My only wish as I look back on this day is that Keith and Lennah could have been there to share in the joy of gotcha day. Adoption is not a cheap route to have a family and two babies back to back made the decision difficult to chose to go meet Delylah alone. However, a week later we were united as a family of four and it was like a second gotcha day all over.
Here are some then and now pictures of our little princess. Gosh she has grown.

History of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the oldest known cradles of civilization known to man. Christianity was brought to the Kingdom of Axum around the 4th century AD and later in the 7th century Islam was introduced. Foreign missionaries were introduced to the region around the 1630's. Because of these unwelcomed guest Ethiopia did not welcome foreign Christians and Europeans into their lands. Its isolationism may have saved the country from 19th century colonialism. In 1936 Italian facists entered the region and forced its emperor into isolation but was later returned when the British and the French defeated the Italians. Civil unrest would lead to the demise of the aging emperor and in 1974 a socialist sort of government was named. The country went through a period of red terror that was funded by the Soviets and Cuba. This lead to the implementation of a communist government being installed in the late 1970's, early 1980's. In 1989 the country went through a period of famine that also lead to a change in governments. Finally, in 1994 the country would declare its independence and later hold free elections.

History of Vietnam

For about two thousand years Vietnam was ruled by China, following this period it would become independent for the next almost thousand years. In the 1800's it would be colonized by the French. The early 20th century would bring about visions of an independent republic. In 1945 Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent and renamed it the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1947 a full-scale war would break out between the French and the Viet Minh (Ho CHi Minh's followers). China also began to aid the Viet Minh at this time due to its own communist revolution. July, 1954 the Geneva Accords would be sign paving the road to France leaving Vietnam; however, it would partition Vietnam into 2 independent states seperated by the 17th parallel. The South was helped by the United States, while the North would be dominated by the Viet Minh. By 1963 the South's government was very unstable. 1965 President Lyndon Johnson would send troops into Vietnam. The North would lead a massive attack in 1968 destroying much of the South. In 1969, Ho Chi Minh died but his forces remained in tact. By the early 1970's many Americans viewed the war as unwinnable and would prove unsuccessful at containing communism. January 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed ending the United States role in the war. In 1975 Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese and in July of 1976 the two parts were reunified into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war was disastrous for the Vietnamese people leaving an estimated 1 million to become boat people, 1 million imprisioned, and more than 100,000 killed. Today, Vietnam still has a communist form of government and although they are a developing nation many people remain extremely poor.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Gotcha Day Delylah

Ho Chi Minh City

Addis Ababa

Hohhot City

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