"the rain in spain stays mainly on the plane"

It's going to rain in Ethiopia - and as I pack I'm thinking about my mom, who loved "My Fair Lady." I know she's doing good from the other realm, but I miss her. Every darn day. This little guy would have enjoyed major spoilage in his life from Grandma. She would have cooked bacon and eggs and served cinammon roles to her two Madison boys...and I would have loved to receive more of her wisdom and tenderness on this journey. I grieve still-and I celebrate how deeply I loved my mom. Isn't he darling, Mom?

Donations Donations Donations

Want to know how you can help? We've got all of the donations we can carry - 250 lbs. distributed among 5 bags of luggage - check out our last few posts and pictures. There is a great one with Mr. Waffles and his pile of soccer balls a few posts down. This piece of luggage is packed with medical supplies and some shoes and socks. Wow. Do you want to be part of the global AID station? Are you inspired to help but need a direction? We've got a way for you to join our effort! Donate here and help us win the charity challenge for Doctors Without Borders! For the price of a pair of shoes, a tank of gas, a dinner at Quivey's, a week's worth of your favorite latte, YOU can save a life. Go ahead, do it. We thank you! Read the Press Release in a previous post - it tells the story of our fundraiser. $300 new dollars in donations and we'll post another picture of Blueberry! Hehehehehe..I'll probably post one anyway!

Yeah, another picture - he's a charmer!

THIS looks like packing...and a NEW picture of Blueberry

Yep, we're seriously tending to business around here! You know why? THIS ADORABLE LITTLE BOY! We received news about Blueberry today and some pictures. We are amazed, charmed, and in tears.

And so, we got to packing! Mr. Waffles spent some time prepping our 250lbs. of donations! And yes, the pile of soccer balls is traveling to ET with us. Yesterday Trek donated 3 amazing bike pumps for heavy duty reinflating. We'll leave them at each of the orphanages we plan to visit. We are each carrying a 50lb bag of donations - we'll have 10 bags between the 5 of us. When we come home, a family of 6, we'll have joyfully given our donations and now have our hands FULL of our little boy. Our 5 pairs of hands won't be able to get enough of Blueberry! And guess what? He gained 2 lbs. this past month. We're so .... well, it's just unbelievable to know our little boy is going to be known to us so soon. We are blessed.

THIS doesn't look like packing!

We should be packing, but this is one of the many ways we enjoy our time as a family, and we can't wait to bring our little Blueberry into our family fun and frivolity. And, packing will get done - there is always time for fun!

WORT Access Hour -

If you want to hear our radio debut to promote Plumpy'Nut, download the file here: http://archive.wort-fm.org/t-fm.org/ Click on Access Hour - Monday July 21 . You'll have to listen to a little bit of a recording that doesn't include me! ( ~3 minutes)

Press Release - Our Story

July 2008

(Madison, Wisconsin USA) Two local women are teaming up to raise funds for the international humanitarian organizationDoctors Without Borders---and to compete for a different kind of podium finish at Ironman Wisconsin.

Meghan Walsh, a west-sider finalizing the adoption of a child from famine-stricken Ethiopia, and Amber Ault, a Schenk-Atwood resident finalizing her training for the September 7, 2008 Ironman Wisconsin, are working to win a $10,000 donation to Doctors Without Borders through the Janus Charity Challenge at Ironman Wisconsin.

“Clearly, we like taking on big projects, like world hunger and ridiculous endurance races,” laughs Ault, a sociologist who is a diversity worker at the University of Wisconsin by day and calls herself a “very unlikely athlete.”

“Although I’m unlikely to set any records on the Ironman Wisconsin course, we’re hoping to win the Janus Charity Challenge at this year’s Ironman, nonetheless. I’m thrilled that Ironman has this second kind of competition going---to compete for a $10,000.00 donation to a great cause makes the experience far more meaningful.”

Athletes at each Ironman race are given the opportunity to compete for donations to their favorite non-profit organizations from Janus Investments, an Ironman Partner. The donations go only to charity, and don’t support Ault or the Ironman event. Ault chose Doctors Without Borders because of her interest in its distribution of a “revolutionary” nutrient dense food to children dying of malnutrition in various parts of the world; a six-week course of treatment with the peanut-based concoction, sweetly called “Plumpy’nut,” can restore a child’s health---for the grand sum of $40.

“For a bit less than most endurance athletes pay for a canister of electrolyte replacement powder,” she says, “we can prevent a kid’s dying from lack of nutrition. Of course we need to go for it.”

The Plumpy Nut Ironman campaign, as Ault and Walsh are calling it, is made even more meaningful by Walsh’s close connection to Ethiopia, one of the countries in which Doctors Without Borders is currently working to deliver Plumpy’nut. Her adoptive son, Ezkeiel, comes from the southern region of Ethiopia.

“The situation there is dire,” says Walsh, an anthropologist who teaches social sciences at Monona Grove High School. “Babies are put on scales in feeding centers to determine which, among the malnourished, is closest enough to death to “qualify” to be treated with Plumpy’nut. It’s amazing what this therapeutic food can do, but more of it needs to be produced and distributed so that it can be used to prevent kids suffering from serious malnutrition from getting worse.

“Plumpy’nut has a long shelf life, doesn’t need to be mixed with water, can be given to kids at home by their mothers, and is incredibly cost effective; $40 worth of treatment turns a child’s health around.”

Both Ault and Walsh have been impressed by Doctors Without Borders as an organization recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize for its work on health issues around the globe, and for its record of devoting an impressive percentage of its income to direct service---hence their decision to focus their fundraising in that direction. They’ve also been moved by the lengths to which families in famine and drought-stricken areas of Africa and Asia go to get their children to the feeding centers run by Doctors Without Borders.

“Women are walking overnight, carrying their severely ill children endless hours to get to a Doctors Without Borders feeding station to pick up a week’s supply of Plumpy’nut, turn around and carry it and the child home” explains Ault. “Ironman is a long trip, but it’s one we have a privilege of choosing to take, and doesn’t have these kinds of stakes. “

While Ault is preparing to go the 140.6 mile distance of Ironman in the dog days of summer, Walsh is preparing for a longer journey, the one that will allow her to meet her son for the first time and bring him back to Madison in August. They are hoping that in coming years they’ll be able to tell Ezkeiel about a Janus Charity Challenge win at Ironman Wisconsin as part of his welcoming celebration.

“The world is a smaller place than we often believe,” says Walsh, “ and we are all connected. The world my family and I are creating for Ezkeiel is one in which those connections, and our sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, are a part of daily life. Our building this fund for Doctors Without Borders, and our effort to win the $10,000 donation for them through Amber’s Ironman Charity Challenge effort is part of that commitment to making our world a better one. People have been donating from across the country, and the sense of people working together to make a great impact on a solvable human problem is inspiring.”

As the donations to the Plumpy Nut Ironman fund, large and small, roll in, they inspire Ault to keep on with her training, a process she calls variably “daunting” and “rewarding.’ “When it gets tough,” she says, “I think of those women carrying their children in their arms across difficult terrain---no spectators, no water stations, no medics on the course to assist them, and no choice but to move forward---and I keep going. We are their aid station,” she remarks. “I’m looking forward to seeing Meghan holding Ezkeiel at the Ironman finish line September 7, as a reminder of how our worlds are connected in amazing ways, even when we’re all on our own journeys.”

To make a donation to Ault’s Wisconsin Ironman Janus Charity Challenge go directly to this website: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=250249&supid=225436667 If you want to donate directly through Doctors Without Borders, you can do that here: http://www.firstgiving.com/amberault . Help these women win one for humanity!

Training

Well, Amber trains and I sit around at the 'pool' ... uh ... er ... local swimming hole. On Sunday morning when everyone in their right mind is SLEEPING, a group of women, including my daughter, met Amber at the quarry for a swim and we took some PR pics for the fundraiser. I wish someone had told me to FIX MY HAIR! Ack!!! But who has an opinion at 6 a.m. - except for the camera, which makes it too late to count!!!!! I'll leave it to you to figure out who is who.(big clue = the hair + looks ready to work out)

His sister calls him her 'boo'

Here he is, our boy. He looks ready for us, doesn't he?

Now, go ahead and donate to our fundraiser. It's important.

Your contribution will make a difference, trust me. Read the following 3 posts. Go ahead, get it done!

The Crisis Worsens

This photo of a young child eating Plumpy'Nut is taken by Susan Sandars/MSF. It highlights the work MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is doing in Ethiopia to save lives. In one area, they have determined 11% of the children under 5 are severly malnourished.

Read here for the whole story by MSF.

Donate HERE to our fundraiser (read about the fundraiser a few posts down).

It's difficult to post about my little sweetheart from Ethiopia right now. I feel like the best thing I can do is work on my packing list, work on the fundraiser, and live the model of the change I hope to be. We leave for ET on August 2!!!

Goats and Plumpy'Nut?

How are goats and Plumpy'nut connected? Read this NYTimes article to learn how it is TRULY possible to change a life with one act. That one act can be a goat, or it can be access to life saving nutrition. I am a believer. If I weren't, I wouldn't be working so hard on the Janus Charity Challenge.

If you need a little more transparency after reading my next entry (about the Plumpy'nut fundraiser), you can go HERE and donate directly to MSF. These donations "count" in our total fundraiser - and remember, Janus is going to give the top fundraiser additional donations to their charity! We hope to win the $10K donation for MSF! We plan on it. Yes, I am single minded right now. It's better than working on ZL's nursery - believe me.

Plumpy'Nut Saves Lives!

There is a HUGE global need for food relief. Ethiopia is one of the places in the world where malnourishment kills children, where mothers and fathers must make life and death choices about food and work and family every single day. It is a terrible reality that no parent should ever have to face. We must all make every effort to create a world where mothers and fathers don't have to give up their children in order for them to live.

Here is what YOU can do: donate to Doctors Without Borders and Plumpy'nut HERE. This website is part of the Janus Charity Challenge and will deliver urgent relief to starving children in the world, particularly in Ethiopia. All of your donation goes directly to hunger relief through Doctors Without Borders, a nobel prize winning non-profit organization.

Here is how it works - my friend, Amber, is a triathlete and is doing the Madison Ironman Triathalon. Part of the Ironman includes a Janus Charity Challenge - athletes can fund raise for a charity of choice and the triathlete fundraising winner will be awarded up to $10K in additional funds for their charity. The $10K award is being donated by Janus. Doctors Without Borders is Amber's charity of choice; and Doctors Without Borders will be the ONLY recipient of your donation. You can count on Doctors Without Borders to use your donation well. In 2007 nearly 88% of their budget was devoted solely to program services (1% went to management and 11% went to fundraising expenses - this means your money goes right to WORK!). Check out their website.

Why today, you ask? Ethiopia, and other areas of Africa, are in the grip of a severe food shortage. Many children are dying of starvation. World reports are ominous - and the need is dire. Doctors without Borders is delivering relief to many of these places - and they are using a revolutionary food called Plumpy'nut to save lives. You can watch a video about this amazing food source as it was featured on 60 Minutes here. It is possible 11 minutes of video that will change your life and ignite your passions!

If you are particularly interested in the dire food shortage in Ethiopia, read the article here from my son's hometown in Ethiopia. Or check out this photo essay recently seen on boston.com . Finally, news reaching us today from UNICEF confirms the enormous need for Plumpy'nut in this news article.

You can see why this is my personal passionate plea. Please make a contribution -all of us as drops of water can create an ocean of change. You will find my son, whose home country is Ethiopia, and me, at the Ironman. We'll be cheering on Amber and raising awareness for our cause. I pledged, when I chose to adopt from Ethiopia, that I would work with my whole heart and soul to be a force of change. So, let's rock this one!!!!!!