is kind of amazing. I’ve seen lots of her art for the last few years I’ve been able to call her “friend” and there hasn’t been anything I haven’t liked. In fact, I’m going to commission her to create my new tattoo (though she doesn’t know that yet, hey Amy!).

Now you get to have some of Amy’s art too. She’s a fellow Ethiopian adoptive mommy (well, in progress, but that’s all it takes) and is selling to help with some of the costs. Look at this.

So go to her blog and you’ll be able to purchase one for you/your family/your aunt and uncle, whatever, it’s the holidays! The second my family is complete, I’m getting one of these for our living room.

You do it too, so we can have matching living rooms, it’ll be great!

I was cleaning out our storage room today, not fun stuff. But I got a bit nostalgic as I looked at some of the garbage-er, great keepsakes we had. The final box I put away was the one I titled “Water For Christmas, Wine to Water”. So, of course, I got to thinking about the other, lesser known people who made that specific night happen.

Like these two, my brother and his girlfriend. Marcus and Lindsey helped with set up and babysitting but also the night of. They were the front desk people (it was no coincidence that I picked two of the better looking people I know to greet guests) :), the first impression. I have no doubts we were able to take in as much money as we did because Lindsey was there “encouraging” people to donate. And wouldn’t you if you walked in and saw these smiles?

Then there was this group. Lindsey again, but then my friend Woody (you remember her, in the back) who came all the way from Des Moines and my sister, Kara (in the gray). Those two ran the wine table all night. Poured wine for 3 hours. I had set up enough people to cover every 30 minutes at all tables but lost track of time so there they stayed. Chatting, encouraging people to try the wine then try their hands at donating.

And my dear friend, Beth. She made more desserts then I even want to think about (Beth, was that your fudge? If so I want the recipe!). She is amazing, in every. single. way. She showed up 2 hours ahead of time to set up the dessert table then spent the rest of the night around that spot. Her husband works for the Symphony, who was having a big night themselves, and she sacrificed being by her husband’s side to be by ours and I’m so humbled by that expression of support. Not only that, but she was wearing an Ethiopian scarf, she is the Queen of thoughtful. Beth is pictured with Sherry who Leslie got excited from St. Paul. Sherry was maybe the happiest person I’ve ever seen to be doing something, anything for water. Her passion was contagious!

And then Cathy. Not only does she provide these most beautiful farm-fresh eggs that taste as happy as they look, but she got excited about water and told everyone she knew about it. She’s kind of a big deal in these parts of the woods so it was very exciting when she came on board. Cathy fell in love with Leslie, which is extremely easy to do, and the two of them are just a huge source of happy for me.

Though I didn’t get any pictures of these people, they came all the way from Minnesota. Dave and Tiffany and Tony. Honestly, there was just something about having them there that made the whole thing particularly special for me. I cannot believe I’ve been blessed to know them in this life. Such amazing, generous, loving people.

There were, of course, more and I might be blogging about it for the next year so get excited!

is today. I’ve thought a lot about this throughout the day. Mostly when I gave my kids their various medicines to combat things like I listed before. I thought about how easy it was for me to go to the doctor, then to the pharmacy, then home in a matter of an hour. In another day, the kids will be back to normal.

I thought about this because HIV (which causes AIDS) is a preventable, treatable disease. There is no cure, yet, but it’s not a death sentence anymore. For the last year I’ve done considerable research on this topic and in that last year a lot has been done on behalf of AIDS orphans and people living with HIV. The CDC finally overruled a law that had been in effect for decades making it more difficult for people to adopt HIV+ kids (that law was signed by GW but didn’t go through until recently) amongst other issues.

The government now recognizes that a person coming into the country who happens to be HIV+ is no threat to the public.

All of these are good things that are happening in the HIV/AIDS circuit. The bad? In Ethiopia alone, there are 92,000 kids living with HIV/AIDS. 33.4 MILLION people are living with AIDS worldwide. It’s a global emergency.

We can sit and say, “It’s not in my backyard”, but you’d be wrong. It IS in your backyard and even if it wasn’t, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything about it.

There are many ways to help. 2 ways we’re helping. We’re signing up to sponsor a child from AHOPE. We were able to tour the facilities when we were picking up our Tariku. You would not believe what this place does for HIV+ orphans (and, I would argue, people like me who had previously been rather out of touch with the HIV crisis). We’re also participating in the 5 for 5 campaign. Two things that I’ve done from the comfort of my couch. If we can do it, you can too, so do it.

We all know how passionate I am about water, but I must say my passion for the AIDS crisis is quite strong as well. How can it not be? When I try to see the world through God’s eyes it’s pretty obvious these brothers and sisters are crying out.

Proverbs 21:13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

If they’re not crying out, it’s because they’re without hope. And frankly, I’m not okay with that either.

If you’re not inspired by Proverbs (really, how could you not be?) how about this guy.

The first thing I decided to do was never say the word “AIDS” without putting the word “emergency” following it. … Six and a half thousand Africans dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease is not a cause; it’s an emergency. … —-Bono

But seriously. As I look at Tariku, at Trysten and at Dailah I realize there is so little that separates them and 92,000 kids in Ethiopia. Because I’m a mom I can hear the cries of the mothers across the world who are praying they die before their kids.

ABC is not the answer. One could argue the things I’ve done from my couch today aren’t either, but it’s a start. Why don’t you start today too?