Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children
What could be better than an Ethiopian welcome, FOVC style?

Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Eat for Ethiopia" made the newspaper!

Here is the text and the link--and one of the pictures--from the Longmont Times-Call newspaper today. We are really proud of Allison and her friends at Westview!

Eats for Ethiopia: Family’s trips to Africa inspire fundraiser

LONGMONT — The Howlett family’s first visit to Ethiopia lasted eight days.

But it was enough.

“It just gets in your heart,” said Lory Howlett, who made the trip in July 2008 with her husband, Dave, and the couple’s two daughters. “We were there for eight days, but it may as well have been eight weeks.”

That summer, the Howletts traveled to a small orphanage in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to adopt Amelia, a premature and malnourished infant.

Allison Howlett, the couple’s eldest daughter, said the trip in 2008 “really opened my eyes.”

“It never occurred to me that people could live like that,” said Allison, an eighth-grader at Westview Middle School in Longmont. “Just seeing all the need there made me want to do something.”

With support from the school and her family, Allison organized “Westview Eats for Ethiopia,” a fundraiser at Longmont’s Chick-fil-A. The restaurant will donate 20 percent of its proceeds from 4 to 8 p.m. Jan. 12 to the Howletts, who will use the money to buy food in Ethiopia for the orphans during their upcoming trip to the country.

Lory and Dave Howlett will return to the African country at the end of January to bring home another Ethiopian orphan, a 4-year-old boy named Bereket.

“They say he’s quite the sportsman,” Dave said, beaming with fatherly pride.

The couple plan to stay in the country for two weeks and volunteer with Children’s Heaven, a program that supports orphaned girls whose parents have died from AIDS. Dave, who has a background in marketing research, hopes to help a start-up nonprofit in the southern part of the country implement economic development programs for widows and orphans.

The decision to adopt — once again — was unanimous, the couple said. After several miscarriages, they adopted Abby, their 11-year-old daughter, after the infant was born to a teenager in Kansas City, Mo. Amelia, who is now nearly 2 years old, is a happy, bubbly toddler. So why not expand the family one more time?

“We’re either crazy or stupid or something like that,” said Lory, 42, with a chuckle.

“We take big risks in our lives,” clarified Dave, 49.

Allison said her blended family has shaped her plans for the future. She hopes to become a nurse and practice medicine in Ethiopia.

For Lory Howlett, her daughter’s global perspective is an emotional topic.

“It’s all I could hope for,” she said as she stifled back tears. “We wish we wouldn’t have been in our 40s when we figured it out.”


Clockwise from top left: Allison Howlett, 14; Mackinley Kath, 13; Ruth McGaughey, 13; Victoria Kline, 13; and Morgan Deegan, 14, create posters for “Westview Eats for Ethiopia,” a fundraiser that will provide food for orphaned children in Ethiopia, at the Howlett home Monday in Longmont. On Jan. 12, Chick-fil-A will donate 20 percent of sales from 4 to 8 p.m. to the cause.

Monday, December 21, 2009

6:30 a.m.



It's when we left the house this morning in order to be "first in line" for our fingerprints at USCIS....finally!

The early departure worked: we were in and out in just a few minutes!

So....we're praying USCIS will move quickly, so we can travel for IAN's January 27 Embassy date.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Oooooh, she's very busy

It just doesn't pay....












...to take my eyes off her for a minute!

(And no, I don't know what's up with the obsession
with trying to get her pants off.)

(And yes, she must be almost two years old...
'cause she has perfected the "two-year-old-cheesy-grin.")

Friday, December 11, 2009

He's a-growin' and I'm a-frustrated




We received an update on Little Boy B. today.

He has grown almost two and a half inches taller since he came into care less than four months ago!

His weight is about the same, but I'm sure it's because his little body is working on growing UP these days.

I'm so proud of him!

We still haven't even received a fingerprint notice from USCIS. Grrrrrrrr. I am so mad at them! Our agency has even contacted the Denver office, but there has been no response.

Grrrrr.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Sweet Note

We got a note from the traveling mama--the one who delivered the little story book to Little Boy B.

Here's what she said:

I want to say that it is absolutely beautiful that I gave B. his wonderful album from you and he saw pictures of his family on his birthday! He is so sweet and cute and I have some great pictures for you. I showed him the book and the nannies even explained that he would be living near Abe (the traveling family's same-age son / buddy of our boy). He was so funny with it - he didn't really seem to want to listen to me - he really just wanted to have the album to himself. He was really happy and he has the most adorable smile.

Awwwww! We knew it was his birthday. We didn't have any idea that it would be celebrated with Little Boy B. at Sele Enat. It makes us imagine celebrating his five year-old birthday together next year.

Got his bedroom painted yesterday....it's starting to come together! (Now, if only U.S. Immigration would get moving, too...)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Yesterday

Yesterday was Little Boy B's birthday. He turned four years old. We prayed for him and missed him!

It's crazy....we have thought about him so much since early September. I wonder if he even knows yet that we exist, that we're coming for him?

I made a little story book for him--photo of a jet, photo of Mommy and Daddy, photo of him waving, told him we would be in Ethiopia together for a few days, another photo of a jet, photos of his sisters, and Daddy playing, and Mommy cuddling, and our doggy and our park, another photo of him, and one of our current family all together. I decorated the whole thing with stickers...it looked sweet. Sweet enough to make Big Sis Allison cry a little!

A family traveled Saturday morning with Little Boy B.'s book. The mom promised to read it to him. So, any day now, he will know we are here, and he will begin to understand we are coming.

I am awestruck at the way God makes families.