There are more people in Ethiopia without clean water than any other country in Africa. There are 70+ million people living in the country, and 75% of the population lacks access to safe, clean drinking water. This April, Charity: Water visited 33 communities in Ethiopia in need of clean water. We heard stories of leeches, droughts, women carrying water for 3 hours and children dying of diarrhea from drinking polluted pond water. We promised to help every single one of them.
If you have a birthday or know of someone with a birthday in Sept. consider donating $33 for this cause. If you don't know one, please still consider donating and sharing with others. What a great cause!
The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.
Well the day isn't over but I managed to capture two cute Maya moments to share with all of you. The first one was this morning before leaving for daycare. Maya found my shoes and gave them a try on. She has discovered that the right shoe goes on the right foot, etc.
The second Maya moment is very impressive. Maya managed to eat an entire Culver's cheeseburger. I think that calls for a shout out as those are big burgers. I guess she was hungry!
On another note...our photographer posted a few pictures from Maya's 18 month photo session on her blog. Check out them out by clicking on the link in the post below. We also saw the rest of the pictures and they turned out great. We have a hard decision to make as to which ones to buy. I guess that is a good problem to have.
Check out a few of Maya's 18 month old pictures on our photographer's blog site. We're excited to see the rest of the pictures. So far so good...
We started the week out by having family in town for Maya's Forever Home Anniversary party. On Monday afternoon, Maya enjoyed a play date with the neighbor kids. Maya had a blast playing in the kid pool. On Tuesday Maya woke up with pink eye. Luckily my mother was still in town so she stayed to watch Maya until lunch. I was happy to come home despite being behind at work as I had a cold and still do. The rest of the week was very uneventful as we both were recovering from our sickness. Maya's pink eye looks good and she is back to her happy self.
This morning we had Maya's 18 month photos taken once again at Blessing Photography. Maya did an amazing job. We are hopeful that we have too many pictures to choose from :) One of the pictures below is Maya with a stuffed bird. Maya loves it and had to play with it before we left. When we got home we decided to snap a few photos in our front yard. I hope Tera's photos turn out better than ours - Ha!
Tonight we are off to watch the NDSU Bison rule in football. This is our first game we will have attended this season and are looking forward to it. We took a photo of Maya in front of our Bison yard sign. Hail to the Bison!
So I am still trying to figure out how to style Maya's hair. I have tried a few different products and a few different styles so far. Here is my latest. What do you all think? Personally, I think they are adorable as long as Maya doesn't pull them out. I'm debating on whether to style her hair like this for her 18 month photos which are Tuesday. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions for me?
We had a great party for Maya's 1 year Forever Home Anniversary. Many friends and family were able to make it for the event. Dave made two Ethiopian dishes and our friend Betty brought one over. Most people were daring to try them and loved them. We are lucky to be able to buy fresh injera here in town. The kids enjoyed playing outside and playing one of the many lawn games. All around I think it was a huge hit. Thank you to all of the friends and family that were able to make it. We really appreciate you being here to help us celebrate.
Here Dave is cooking one of the Ethiopian dishes
Maya with her four cousins from my side
Maya play row, row, row your boat with cousin Megan
Maya got a new doll from Grandma Agnes
Family Photo - what a happy bunch!
Maya's cake - Huge hit, not a piece to spare
