I have mentioned before on this blog how my mother is a librarian. As a child I would get annoyed when I would ask my mom a question and her response was always, “Let’s look it up in the encyclopedia.” I knew that she knew the answer but she was trying to teach me a lesson about seeking out information. She would gleefully go pull out the encyclopedia and we would read about whatever it was. Was it weird that we had a set of encyclopedias at home? I always wondered if that was a librarian-only house thing. At the time I wasn’t too hip on this lesson because I just wanted to know and didn’t want to “waste time” looking in the encyclopedia. I am now grateful for her desire to impress this thirst for knowledge upon me. Any time I told my mom about an obstacle I was facing or a new interest that I had, I would soon be bombarded with books or newspaper articles or websites that provided information about the topic. When I told my parents that we had officially made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia they were extremely excited and it was only matter of days before my mom was up to her old tricks. She started reading several blogs, looking for children’s books about Africa and finding books to buy and send my way.
She sent me this book about a young couple from our agency that decided to adopt. I read it in one afternoon.
(image via fromashestoafrica.com)
She sent me several children’s books like this one that I absolutely love.
(image via amazon.com)
When we were in New Mexico my mom had this book with her and told me to take it home and read it. I just finished it this morning.
(image via amazon.com)
My mom visited last weekend and brought the latest issue of Adoptive Families magazine and told us she ordered the subscription for us. She just can’t help herself.
To know that all of this information is out there really helps me feel connected to a broader group and this journey isn’t nearly as lonely as I predicted. I like to think that the success I have had so far in discovering my own list of Ethiopia and adoption related information is due to some of those old encyclopedia lessons from my childhood. That is part of why I started this blog in the first place. I found Paige’s blog and EOR. I found Amy and she told me all about the group of families here in our neck of the woods that have adopted or are in process of adopting from Ethiopia. This group has already provided us with new friendships and with people like Amy who are willing to pass on the information they have gathered. We are all paying it forward if you will. It is such a privilege to feel connected to this larger community and truly all the information and support lessens the anxiety of this process and all that is unknown. My prayer is that anyone out there who is considering adoption has someone in their life to encourage them to go out and seek the information they need to lead them down this path.
I also can’t end this entry without mentioning that I now feel like an official blogger. Why you ask? I have been TAGGED by Tam. This must be one of the true inductions into blog world. I will get to work on that for my next entry!
"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family. " - Kofi Annan
Posts
As a "teacher's daughter" I absolutely understand what you are saying. When asked why she loves science (and I must admit - like mother, like daughter) my mom always responded that she just liked to figure out how things work. I too am consistently bombarded with newspaper clippings and magazine subscriptions from my mother and like you am eternally grateful. Not only for the knowledge in the clippings but also for the "knowledge seeking gene" I must have inherited from my mom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, keep it up!
Kim
We had an encyclopedia set at our house as well, although it was a hand-me-down from our next-door-neighbors (also a librarian coincidentally, a former colleage of your mom's). My brother and I would get so tickled searching through the pages because it was from the 1960s, so a lot of the information was just a tad out of date, although it was still helpful for many a book report, etc. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've "met" so many other Ethiopian adoption families to connect with -- it's amazing how much of a support they become throughout the process, many times understanding so much better than real-life friends and family. Although I think your mom should win an award for the best supportive adoption mom EVER. Not everyone in our life was so on board, and it would've been great to have had a mom so supportive. She's a gem!
Oops, I meant "colleague". My OCD self just re-read that typo and couldn't just allow it to sit there...;)
ReplyDeleteNo librarians in my family but we had that wall of encyclopedias and I was sent there many times to look up this or that. Funny, but I was thinking about that the other day and wondering if I will just send my children to do a Google Search or if it still makes sense to invest in a set of encyclopedias...
ReplyDeleteHave you read "There Is No Me Without You" by Melissa Faye Green? I enjoyed all the books you have listed here but that one is my favorite.
Looking forward to reading your seven random things!
I've been waiting for an update by you. Hope all is going well during your wait. :-D
ReplyDeleteI think it's so wonderful that your Mom is so involved in this process as well. That is truly wonderful!
I am also an information seeker. (or information over seeker, depending on how you look at it)
And I agree. . . This journey is also not as lonely as I was thinking it would be. It's actually been quite the opposite, which is great. :-D
I'm doing a lot of information seeking and cataloging lately. It builds character.
ReplyDelete