Christmas

A couple of pics from Hanna's first Christmas with us!

Hanna's Dedication

These photos are from December 14th when we had Hanna dedicated during our worship service at church. It was a beautiful time led by our great friend Rip Wahlberg. It was also very special to have Dave and Darice be part of it as Hanna's godparents and Christy's parents there as grandparents.

Court Day!

This afternoon we appeared with Hanna in court for our finalization hearing.    It was good to have another step behind us, even though this was totally just a formality.   Everything was in order and Judge Hoberg is wonderful in these hearings.   He just seems to love doing adoption hearings.  

The hearing was relatively uneventful except for the fact that Jerry forgot his wedding date in under oath on the witness stand (neither of us can ever remember if it was May 25th or 27...at least we both forget, right).  He got it right eventually with a bit of coaxing from our attorney.

The most beautiful thing of all is that Hanna now can have her name back.  Its official that she is no longer Hanna Gerald Shannon (which is what her immigration paperwork had to reflect) but now she is Hanna Tessema Shannon.  We are so glad to have her father's name back as part of her name (not to mention, Hanna Gerald??? what girl would want to grow up with that name).

On the way out of the courtroom we bumped into folks from Brittany's Hope Foundation who were there finalizing the adoption of a little boy from Vietnam and a girl from Albania.  It was great to hear about their foundation which has helped to fund adoptions for over 300 children who were either special needs children or older children.   We must have spent an hour sharing stories and getting to know each other.   I believe they have adopted 9 children internationally and they started the foundation in memory of their first adopted daughter Brittany who died in a car accident during her senior year in college.   They also have numerous humanitarian aid projects they support and work closely with our agency, CHSFS.   Check out their website at www.brittanyshope.org . Its an amazing story.

3 month post placement

Today we had our 3 month post placement meeting with our social worker. Wow, almost 3 months have passed since we brought Hanna into our family - that's so hard to believe. It was a lot of fun to sit around and talk about the developments we've seen in Hanna and especially the miracle of attachment and bonding which we have seen!

It's also fun to think about how much life we've experienced these past 3 months!

Here's a pic of Hanna with Joshua, Micah & Caia and her great grandfather on Thanksgiving weekend. It was a great time watching Hanna's great grandfather get to meet his great granddaughter from Ethiopia. By the way...he's 94!

My love / hate relationship with Starbucks...

I must confess, I love Starbucks coffee.  Ever since my first sip of it 12 years ago, I've been in love.  I've been a loyal customer for years.  I love the atmosphere of their stores as well as their coffee. I've been one to defend them when friends would refer to them as "Charbucks" or when people would question paying that much for a cup of coffee.

However, over these past couple of years my perspective has changed.  And now, this once loyal customer has been trying to avoid buying coffee there for a few months.  I've had a couple of meetings that happened there for the sake of convenience, however over all I have bypassed Starbucks for these past few months.  It got to the point for me that I was conflicted by their business practices, especially their lack of fair trade coffee.  

After having watched Black Gold and experienced first hand the poverty of Ethiopia, I decided that I no longer wanted to support a company that was not doing its part to help farmers by purchasing fair trade certified coffees that were ensuring the farmers could support themselves.   I was conflicted to think that farmers in Hanna's region who raise coffee on the side, yet live off of less than $250 per year were not being paid more for the hard work that they put into growing coffee, which we were consuming at $2.00 to $4.00 per cup.   

This was further accented to me by Starbucks involvement in humanitarian causes.   Take Ethos water for instance.  Its a great idea - give a portion of the profits off a bottle of water to help someone in the third world.  Think of the millions of people throughout the world without clean water, yet we think nothing of dropping some serious coin for a bottle of water.   I love the concept, however last I heard Starbucks was donating 5 cents for every bottle it sold.  Now, that bottle of water was probably close to $2, yet the best they can do is donate 5 cents?  I find the same confliction in the new Red campaign.  Starbucks is donating 5 cents of every premium Red beverage to help fight Aids in Africa.  Its a great concept, but 5 cents of a $4.00 latte does not seem super generous to me.   That's about 1 percent of the purchase price.  It is better than nothing, but it seems so small.

In all of this, I was glad to read a recent article stating that Starbucks is looking to expand their fair trade line and it was also reported that Starbucks paid an average $1.42/pound for green coffee, which is above average.  That report is available at http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1975433/ .  I find that very promising.  I don't want to be too hard on Starbucks, after all they are a business and they are trying to make money.  I guess I'm more concerned with how their image at times has been that they are very ethical and fair, but that image does not always seem to have matched reality.   To be fairto Starbucks, I have heard from a few folks that work there that they have felt well cared for as employees.  Its good to hear about those standards.

About 5 years ago we began to look at the coffee that we were serving at church.   At the time we were serving Starbucks, but we then heard about a company called Pura Vida.   Their coffees are fair trade, shade grown and organic.   As I started to research them I couldn't believe what I found.   Their mission is "to Create Good by using business to empower producers, motivate consumers, inspire business leaders, and, ultimately, serve the poor. By utilizing every facet of our company—capital structure, governance, employee recruitment, product sourcing, marketing and sales—to achieve social outcomes, we can demonstrate that the worlds of business and charity can not only co-exist, but can thrive on one another."  

A business whose focus is serving the poor and "creating good."   They have been focused on paying farmers better wages - they paid on average more than $1.60 per pound for coffee - caring for the environment in which the coffee is grown, and reinvesting their profits back into the villages where their farmers live.   They have projects in Guatamala, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Ethiopia.  Many of their projects are focused on helping children.  The project in Ethiopia provided a lot of aid in the form of emergency food.  This is a business with a cause much greater than making money - it is truly to see God's Kingdom move forward. 

I love the idea.  A company that is not driven by Wall Street needing to make money, but rather a company that is driven by a mission to serve the poor, start missions, plant churches and see cups of coffee that we purchase here really help to create good for someone else in the world.   A business model that pushes back against meaningless consumerism and corporate greed.   I love it.   It is because my money can help support business models like these, that Starbucks is getting virtually no business from me any longer.  Our choices have real impacts...may our choices help make life better for someone somewhere by "creating good."

If you'd like more info about Pura Vida, check them out at www.puravidacoffee.com .  They are present on tons of college campuses, you can order coffee directly from them...or if you stop by the Vineyard this Sunday you can enjoy a cup on us!

Bathtime!

I was looking through photos today and came across this one that I didn't realize Christy had shot during a recent bathtime.   I love that grin.  It simply sums up Hanna's personality so well.

Its especially nice to look at since Hanna is recovering from her last round of vaccinations yesterday.  She had to get caught up over the past 3 months - 1 doctor visit per month for 3 months, everyone of them involving shots...Poor little thing...that's a lot of vaccinations!

Thankful

This year we are realizing how much we have to be thankful for.  It is so amazing to think that we have Hanna home with us.  Two years ago at Thanksgiving time was a turning point for me in saying I was ready to proceed with an adoption.  And now, here we are...2 years later with Hanna in our family.   It is so amazing how God takes us on these journeys, calls us to partner with him and then provides what is needed.   Here are a couple of pictures of our family.  We are so thankful for them!  

These photos were taken by our good friend Kate Aldrich who has her own photography business.She and her husband Brad recently adopted a little boy named Micah from Ethiopia.Check her out at www.katealdrichphotography.com/    

Hanna's walking!

She's been practicing a lot over the past few weeks and now she's just about got it down.   This week Hanna started really taking off, taking multiple steps at a time and with the greatest laugh and grin along the way.    Its the end of the world as we knew it...our baby is walking!

Adoption and ESPN?

I saw this great video today on LifeSong for Orphans website.  It is from ESPN College Gameday and is about Georgia Bulldogs head coach, Mark Richt, and his family's journey in adopting two children from Ukraine, one of which has a facial deformity.  Check it out!  Adoption made ESPN.

Click here for video

Photo Albums

Here are some photos from our trip to Ethiopia.  Most of these photos are from Addis Ababa while some others are from The Blue Nile Gorge and the Southern Region.

Here's Album 1 - Click Here

Here's Album 2 - Click Here

Now we're really home

After spending a week at the beach with family this past week(we were home from Ethiopia for about 20 hours before leaving again) we are now officially home and starting to settle back in. My hope was to blog last week from vacation, however I found that its actually easier to find a reliable, low cost internet connection in Addis Ababa than it is in Ocean City, NJ. Hopefully we'll get some things posted this week.

We're home!

After a 17 hour flight, we are home!  We had a good flight - Hanna was a trooper - and we passed through immigration, etc.   We had amazing immigration officers along the way.  They were so kind and helpful.  Its good to be home and ready to settle in to our new family life!

Traveling Home...

This afternoon is a quiet afternoon around the guest house as we pack up and prepare to leave.  This morning we had an Ethiopian cooking lesson where we learned how to make shiro wot and a bunch of other dishes. Joshua even got to try his hand at making injera.   We then followed lunch up with a coffee ceremony.  Its an amazing time of roasting coffee beans over charcoal, grinding the beans and serving them fresh.  It is a relaxing, community building time which is a great honor to be part of.

 

We are all packed up and leave for the airport in a couple of hours and then our 17 hour journey back to The States begins.  We'll be back in DC by 8 am and then pass through immigration, etc.  

 

Please be praying for one of the little children in our travel group who has gotten quite sick. 

 

Catch up with you all Stateside soon!

 

By the way...Hanna is doing amazingly well.  She is definitely part of the family!

Happy New Year!!

Thursday is New Year's Day in Ethiopia, so Happy New Year to you. Because Ethiopia follows a different calendar, their New Year's Day falls on September 11th each year. This also means that they are just entering the year 2001 and this whole past year has been full of Millenium celebrations. So while in the States is might be 09.11.2008, here in Ethiopia today is 01.01.2001 . Just in case you needed the day off, let your boss know today is New Years Day.

a pic from today

here's a pic of Hanna from today.

It's officially official!

Today was an amazing day. We started off the morning with a tour of the CHSFS care center. At every turn I am utterly amazed at what great care our children have received here. Those who have cared for Hanna have thought of everything and are some of the most caring, loving and sacrificial people whom I have ever met. They truly have loved on Hanna.

As a side note to this, yesterday while we were touring the CHSFS womens hospital we saw a nanny who started saying something in Amharic which we couldn't make out, but we did catch the word, "Hanna." We found someone who could translate and as it turns out this nanny has been one of Hanna's nannies back at the care center and she recognized us from our picture we had sent for Hanna back a couple of months ago. It was another affirmation about how loved these children are. It also has been wonderful to know that for many of those who have been caring for Hanna, the love that they share with her comes from a deeper place as many of them are believers who have been praying for her and who will continue to pray for her.

This morning we had a teary goodbye ceremony which was so touching. It was a great opportunity to thank the nannies for all they have done. After the ceremony, Hanna came into our care full time!

After lunch we headed to the American Embassy for an interview. We had to pass through a number of levels of security to reach the Consulate Office and then waited for a few hours for our names to be called. We were asked a series of questions about Hanna and our ability to care for her and then the Embassy official said those wonderful words, "Congratulations, Hanna's visa has been approved." Tomorrow we receive all of our paperwork and Hanna's passport and we'll be ready to travel home on Thursday.

Tonight we had an amazing time sitting around with her and watching her bloom more and more as we played and laughed. We even got to see her crawl a bit. She is something!

Joshua has been so amazing on this trip. He has such a great servant heart and has been a huge help. Its also been great to see this very special bond developing between he and Hanna.

All along the way we have sensed God's grace and have known His Presence with us. It has been incredible to experience the practical care of our loving Father in very small and at other times extremely huge ways throughout this trip. It has been the trip of a lifetime.

Here's a pic of our smiling daughter!

Pic of Hanna...taken today.

Hanna Bloomed!!!!!!!

Dad's been posting, but Mom just couldn't not post about today!!!!!

What an amazing day we had today!!!! Hanna has been a bit afraid of us (on Friday and Saturday), and kind of cried when we took her. When we had her with us, she usually just fell asleep or sat really still. Well, today, we were able to bring her back to the Guest House where we are staying for the morning, and we watched Hanna bloom!!!

She started out by falling asleep again, but woke up and started to play with some toys. Then we fed her lunch, and while Daddy held her, I got a small smile from her. (Before this, she was barely looking us in the eyes.) Then Daddy was playing with her and we got HUGE smiles from her!!! Then she really started playing and shaking the toys. Then while we were eating lunch, Joshua was playing with her, and she started laughing!!!!! And she was babblling and clapping and standing on my lap. Oh, she just came alive!!!! She also let Joshua hold her for the first time today. She is so wonderful!!!! It was hard to take her back, but we put her down in her crib (it was nap time) and she was fine.

Tomorrow morning, we go and get her for good!!! What a beautiful little girl...such a gift!

Trip to Hosanna

Today we went to Hosanna, 3 hours south of Addis Ababa. It was great to see southern Ethiopia and to see some of the area around where Hanna is from. It was absolutely amazing and way too emotionally involved to post much on now. We have tons of pics and we'll get some up here sometime!

Day 5

Day 6

This morning we had a team meeting with the head of the video department, Hanna’s social worker, one of her nannies, a nurse and the doctor. These people really care for her and making sure that we can have as smooth of transition as possible. It was a great meeting where we could ask any questions we had as well as watch part of Hanna’s video. Joshua stayed at the guest house during this meeting because of the confidential nature of the meeting and watched the rookie.

After our meeting, Jerry walked back to the guesthouse and got Joshua – its about a 10 minute walk. Jerry loves walking here…lots of people, lots of cars and lots of livestock. Makes every walk a fascinating journey which helps to cure his ADD.

Christy went to see Hanna and Jerry and Joshua came a bit later. It was a great couple of hours we all got to spend with her. Hanna snuggled close to both of us and really seems to be attaching well. This is amazing. It was hard to go today, knowing that we won’t get to see her again until Monday (today was Saturday).

After lunch we headed out to visit AHope, an orphanage that works with HIV+ children. It truly is a great agency.

The whole guest house then headed out on a shopping trip. It was a great time. It has been great buying Ethiopian souveniers since we are trying to buy items that will help us pass culture on to Hanna.

Tonight we went to an authentic Ethiopian restaurant. It was terrific. I love Ethiopian food! Injera and wot ! mmmmm! It was a great time as we had very good food and also got to watch some Ethiopian dancers. They were outstanding!
Tomorrow we head 3 hours South – to Hosanna, close to where Hanna is from.

We met Hanna!!

Today we met Hanna. She is so beautiful. It was great to finally meet her!! Tomorrow we get to spend more time with her as well as meet the social worker, nurse and doctor. Thank you for your prayers during this initial bonding period! More to come!

Day 4 - Addis Ababa

Day 4

Today we toured Addis Ababa. We were supposed to meet up with a local pastor, but it did not work out, so instead we headed out with a driver for a day. Our driver Girtma was recommended to us as someone who knew some English, however upon setting out we found out that our ability to communicate was going to be quite limited. We wanted to see St. George’s Cathedral and Museum. This is an Ethiopian Orthodox church built in the late 1800’s by King Menelik to commemorate his victory over the Italians in a battle, but in the 1940’s it was burned to the ground by Mussolini destroying not only the building but all of the artwork, too. It was reconstructed within a few years and everything was restored. It is a basilica style cathedral and has a great museum on the grounds, too. With our inability to communicate clearly we ended up instead at a Roman Catholic Church. We walked around experiencing the people of Ethiopia for awhile and then back to our driver. Fortunately we had a Lonely Planet Guide with us which had St. George’s listed in Amharic, so our driver could get us there. We had plenty of time to sit and explore the grounds at St. George’s. It was amazing to see hundreds of people come and pray. We got to climb a bell tower and tour the cathedral which was a great hit for Joshua who got to play a huge Ethiopian drum which is used in their church services. Afterwards we toured the museum which has a huge collection of artifacts from the history of the Ethiopian Church which dates back to the 4th Century AD. In addition we learned that it was an Ethiopian who first started using musical notation in church music. His name was Yared and he started notating music in the 6th Century. AD. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church still uses the same words and notes written 15 centuries ago as well as a liturgy written in Ge’ez which is a language that died out in the 11th Century everywhere except in the church.

After our tour we went off shopping. Shopping is always a journey. We first went to Halie Sylassie Market because the prices are fixed there in order to see what we could expect to pay, and then it was off to the shops and vendors where we had to haggle pricing. We had a great time and found some great things for decorations to help share with Hanna her heritage.

At night we moved from our first guesthouse to our second one, where we will stay for the rest of our time here. Fortunately it was only a 5 minute drive because we fit 3 of us plus a driver and 6 huge suitcases as well as 5 carryons and a couple of shopping bags into a Lada sedan. We were packed to the room, each of us holding bags and with the trunk tied shut. It was quite a sight (and sound as we bottomed out on every bump we hit!). The amazing part is we had a taxi for 7 hours and we paid him very well, but the total cost was $30. I’ve paid that for a 15 minute taxi ride before.

Late at night we got to meet the other birth families. There are 9 other families who we will be living with for the next week. They are from all over the place, however there is a family here from Baltimore and one from York. Its amazing to have these folks close enough that we could stay in touch since we are all using an agency from Minnesota. Tomorrow we meet Hanna. I can’t wait!

pictures from day 2 and 3

Some pics...Addis Ababa, The Road North, Debre Libanos & The Blue Nile Gorge

We're Here...Day 2 and 3 of our journey.

Day 2

Walking through the process at Bole Airport in Addis Ababa was uneventful. We easily got through getting our visa, exchanging money, getting all of our luggage, and customs. We met a bit of a hitch when the person who was supposed to meet us at the airport didn’t make it because of some crossed signals. We called him and hung out in the airport for awhile. While there Jerry met his first opportunity to be shortchanged. He bought a coke for 18Birr (almost $2 –airport prices are always higher) however when he counted his change (he gave him 100 Birr) he found out that he had been shortchanged 60 Birr. That Coke would have cost $8 – a bit steep even at the airport. The waiter quickly gave him the correct change when asked.

When our ride arrived we were off to the guest house. Addis Kidan is a great guest house. Alayu, the guest house manager, is a wonderful Ethiopian who is a student at a local Bible College and used to work for Compassion International. It’s a comfortable spot in a neighborhood that is only a 5 minute walk from the guesthouse we will be staying in with our agency.

It was about 10:30 pm (Ethiopian time) when we hit the beds at the guest house and we crashed for the night.

Day 3

We started our third day off bright and early by hiring a guide and driver to take us 3 hours north of Addis Ababa through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Because it is the rainy season, everything is bright green with life. We took the main highway north of the city which consists of a paved road that has 1 lane in each direction. It twisted and turned as we headed up and down through the mountains and valleys. While traveling up the mountain to head out of the city we saw a bunch of runners. This is where the Ethiopian national team trains daily. Our guide told us that its not uncommon to see the Olympic runners out there training, including Selasie.

Our first stop along the way was Debre Libanos Monastery. This is an Ethiopian Orthodox Monastery which was originally organized in the 12th Century. It is in a beautiful setting with a waterfall in the background. The legend behind the monastery was that the founding monk stood on one leg while praying for 7 years and as a result he lost one of his legs. In the paintings which depict him he is shown as only having one leg. This is a fascinating place. There are 500 monks and 300 priestesses associated with this monastery, however they do not have housing on the grounds. Instead they live within the community or in caves which are not far from the monastery. They live a life of poverty and are either retired or have someone who provides their basic living expenses for them.

The current cathedral there was built in the late 1940s by Emperor Haille Selasie since the original building was destroyed by the Italians years prior. During the Italian occupation in Ethiopia, a couple of men made an attempt on the life of General Graizone from the Italian forces. This was during facism and Mussolini. After the attempt the men went to Debre Libanos and hid. Grazione showed up with his forces during a festival in which the monks were in a cave praying. The Italians massacred hundreds of priests as they gathered in the cave to pray. The Italians then returned a few days later and killed hundreds of lay people associated with the monastery.

The current cathedral has incredible stained glass as well as old paintings and murals. The building is divided into 3 sections based on the Jewish Temple. There is the outer room where people gather for singing and chanting. There is the Holy Place where people gather for Mass. The innermost part is the Most Holy Place where only the priest can enter. In the Most Holy Place there is an altar containing a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. The most striking feature of the whole monastery was the devotion with which the monks, priestesses and the people of the community demonstrate. The monks and priestesses fast almost every day and will eat only one meal on those days. They also gather in the courtyard throughout the day to offer prayers. One of the most striking features were prayer sticks. These are like walking sticks which they use to lean on while praying. This enables them to stand and pray for sometimes 10 or 12 hours. These acts of devotion struck me. While we did not visit it, the marketplace there seemed incredible. It looked as if one could buy anything they wanted to in this small market for locals.

On leaving Debre Libanos we saw a family of baboons playing in the field which captured our attention for some time before we continued another 1 hour up the road to The Blue Nile River Gorge. This gorge is deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon and was a spectacular sight. It sits in this huge valley which was lush green and with the start of the yellow flower addis ababa which blooms every year at the end of the rainy season. We drove a 40km road from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the gorge. Filled with twists, turns and fresh mudslides and rockslides it was quite an adventure. Along the way there were numbers of shepherds herding their livestock and shacks which people had built on the side of the road. We ended this leg of the tour after crossing the Blue Nile and having a picnic lunch in front of a small waterfall. It was beautiful. This river eventually flows into The Nile. Our guide was certain to point out that the muddy water was taking all of the rich Ethiopian soil to Egypt where it would continue to provide fertile land there, but while depriving Ethiopia of its natural resources.

Our final stop was a place called the Portuguese Bridge. This took us to a beautiful overlook where we could see for miles over a different gorge area. As we kept hiking we came to a stone bridge which our guide informed us was built by the Portuguese in the 18th century. This is not entirely true it would seem…rather it was built by an Ethiopian ruler in the 20th century…however it was beautiful. After crossing the bridge we were able to look from the top of a huge waterfall which only flows for a couple of months out of the year. It was breathtaking. We also saw 3 families of baboons at play in this area. I think we all then fell asleep on our travel back to Addis.

At night we found ourselves in the middle of experiencing our first blackout. Ethiopians have gotten used to these daily blackouts. Since we couldn’t “eat in” we headed out to the local hotspot – Metro Pizza. They make great pizza and since they cook over a wood fire, we knew they’d be able to cook our food, even if they did not have power. Here we are all the way in Ethiopia eating pizza…go figure.

We're here!!

We are here in Addis Ababa and having a wonderful time.   We have very limited acess to the internet at the moment, but I did want to post to say we are here.  We had a wonderful time in the Northern countryside yesterday.  Today we move from one guest house to the other and tomorrow we meet Hanna.  We can't wait.  More hopefully to come soon...complete with pictures if all goes well.  Thank you for your prayers!

here she is!

In the midst of all of the tying up loose ends and packing frenzy, we received Hanna's social report today. It tells us all kinds of information such as how much she weighs, what she enjoys, how she is bonding and what she's eating. She's already eating Injera and Shiro Wot which makes her daddy proud! We also got some recent photos, too. Take a look at her. In my own biased opinion, I think she's absolutely, positively gorgeous. We can't wait to meet our little Hanna Tessema.

on the edge of a dream realized...

I can't describe how much excitement there is in me as we sit on the edge of a dream realized.  The dream of adopting was expressed by both Christy and I to each other over 12 years ago while at Creation Festival '96.  We had been married a year, living in Canada for 9 months and with no idea of what the future would have in store.  We had not idea how many kids we might have or what our future would have in store.  We were actually at a point where we were pretty raw emotionally after an intense first year of marriage as we started to face many things in our lives which we did not even know were there.  Yet, in the midst of all of it we both felt that some day God would call us to adopt a little child out there.

Now, here we sit over 12 years later, on the edge of bringing our little Hanna home.   There has been a lot of waiting along the way, too.  We waited for the right timing, we waited for the money, we waited for our papers to be approved, we waited for a referral and for government clearances and birth certificates and travel dates and now for a social report.   But now 12 years of waiting is about to be fulfilled.   This could be why I can't concentrate for more than 2 minutes, can't sit still and can't think straight.  It is because I am so incredibly excited to meet this little one that God placed in our hearts 12 years ago and has continued to fan the flame for over that time.   It is because I am in awe at Our Heavenly Papa who puts desires in our hearts, kindles them over the years and then delights at bringing those plans into fullness in our presence.   It is such a joyful and humbling privilege to partner with The Living God in what He is up to.

T-Minus 2 days and those 12 years of waiting will be fulfilled...

"Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land..." Psalm 37:34 

What makes a father proud...

As a parent there are so many things that I can think of that make me proud of my kids.  Obedience. Seeing them grow in love for God. Worshipping. Leading. Passion.  Seeing them try their hardest.  Risking.   Being a good friend.  Displaying Love to others. All of these do my heart good.

Last night, however, one of our kids made me "off the charts" proud.  It was one of those moments where I realized that he had gotten a larger grasp on the world and God's desires...and in that moment I was proud.  Our kids were playing in the backyard with some others when they decided to start taking cup fulls of water and dumping them in our sandbox.  It was at that point that I overheard Joshua say, "Guys lets not waste the water...do you know how many people in the world that don't have clean water?"  I was beaming inside.  He got it!  It was a moment where he was looking outside of himself and was considering the plight of some of the poorest of the poor in the world.   Now, I know it was just a couple of cup fulls of water, but hey, he got the message we have been talking about that 1 billion people in the world do not have clean water.  

It got me to thinking.  I imagine that when our heavenly Papa hears things like this come out our mouths and sees our hands in action it makes Him smile.   Afterall, it is a message that He has been sharing with His people for centuries - the least matter to Him.   Consider Isaiah 58 where God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah to call them to what true fasting was.  It is not merely the spiritual experience or a religious exercise or a deepening of one's walk with God in going without food, rather He was calling them (and is calling us) to spend themselves on behalf of the poor as the action of true fasting.  Consider these words,
" 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."

It also means when we move toward this kind of action towards the least that we have permitted God to do a deeper work in our lives. We have suspended judgment of someone else in order to demonstrate His love to them. We have suspended those judgements we pass such as; "they should help themselves, or they are reaping what they sowed, or they are lazy, or they are ignorant, or they are corrupt" and instead have chosen to respond to others in the same way He pursued us in Jesus - He suspended judgment by making His love known. This kind of loving response would truly rock our world.

I want to live my life truly spending myself on behalf of those who have been on God's heart throughout the centuries. And may I suspend judgement and instead get to know their names, their situations and suffer alongside of them while doing all I can to alleviate their suffering with all Our Dad has given me. May I lay down my need to be right and instead pursue what God has already shared with us to be right - to care for those in need. I believe when we as Jesus followers truly catch this in our hearts and let it flow out in our choices and actions He sees it and it makes Him beam as His love is truly expressed in loving action and suspended judgement for our world.

Another Ethiopian Gold

Last night Tirunesh Dibaba ,nicknamed the "Baby-Faced Destroyer" (on the right in picture) won gold in the women's 5,000 meters, becoming the first woman to win gold in both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter events.   Meseret Defar who won Gold in the 5,000 meter at the 2004 Olympics, won the bronze for Ethiopia this time around.  

Disturbing news about the present food crisis in Ethiopia

USATODAY did this video story on the current crisis in Ethiopia.  Please continue praying for Ethiopia.  Video is here.

Ethiopia takes Gold and Silver

Yesterday in the 10,000 meter, Ethiopia took both the Gold and Silver and set an Olympic record time.  Kenenisa Bekele took Gold with a time of 27:01.17 and Sileshi Sihine took Silver.  They hung in a pack of 6 runners and then for the last 400 meters both kicked it and ran an amazing split for that last lap.   35 year old (yes, that's 35) Haile Gebrselassie came in 6th place.  By the way, his plan is to run again in London in 2012 at the age of 39.    He was very instrumental in helping to set the pace for his teammates and he could be considered for an "assist" in this case, if there was such a thing.  Here is a link (I'm not sure how long it will be active, though) to part of the race: click here

My good friend Dave keeps asking to become a coach for Hanna in long distance running.  He's an avid runner and has been excited to see Ethiopia become a world dominating force in long distance races.   While its too early to see if Hanna will want to become a runner, there is one thing I do know.   If she does, Dave will be a much better candidate for coach than her overweight, terrible knees, shin-splint prone adoptive father!

Thoughts on Adoption

Since we first started this journey approximately 1 year ago I have been thinking a lot about adoption.  Over time there has been a line of thought that I have been planning on blogging about for quite some time, but now the time has finally come.  Along the way we have had people comment about how great it is that we are "rescuing" a child from another land and providing her with opportunities that she would not have gotten in her homeland.   In some of those settings we have been made out to be some sort of hero for what we are doing in adopting.  These are the thoughts which I long to dispel.   I'd simply like to share some of my thoughts on this issue.

The first is that there is nothing heroic in what we are doing.   Rather, we are simply trying to obey a thought that God put in our hearts 12 years ago.  We are trying to partner with Him in what it would seem He is doing in our lives and in Hanna's life.   He is the rescuer.  However it goes beyond Him rescuing Hanna from life in a harsh environment.  He also is using this adoption to rescue our family from our own self-absorbtion and our own harsh environments of consumerism and apapthy.  He called us to step out in faith on a journey in which He has met us, has provided and has called us to a greater sense of the "full life" than what we were experiencing a year ago.  

The second is that by bringing Hanna to America does not automatically mean that she will have a dream life.  She will have many more opportunities here than what she may have had presented to her in Ethiopia, however those opportunities can come at a cost.  She will have greater access to food and comfort and healthcare and education.  However there are some things she is losing as well.   She will lose growing up where life is simpler, where dependency on God is a necessity and where apathy is not an option.   She will be coming to a land of blessing, however lets not forget that she also will be leaving a land of blessing.   Here she will have many more material things at her finger tips, however many people in Ethiopia have riches that money cannot buy - one of the greatest being a contagious joy in the midst of desperation.  

The third is that we are simply trying to participate in a call that I believe God puts in front of all followers of Jesus.   How will we care for the widow and the orphan?   In our case we are going to Ethiopia as a part of caring for the orphans of the world, however we all are called to do something.   God reveals His heart throughout both the Old and New Testaments about His concern for those who have suffered the greatest of relational losses.   It is not about what The Shannons are doing to care for an orphan.  Rather, it is answering the call that God has put before each of us which we need to answer - What will I do for the widows and the orphans in my backyard as well as around the world?

The fourth is that God is speaking through this experience to me in deep ways.  Romans 8:15 says, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father."  God adopts us as His own.  We are pursued and then welcomed into His family in the most intimate of ways, where we get to call Him Daddy.  We were God's enemies...we were far from Him...we were lost and unable to find hope...and then He pursued us at the greatest of lengths in Jesus coming, dying and raising again so that we could know life and enter into the most intimate of relationships with The Living God - The Big God we now can know as Daddy or Papa through what Jesus did.  Over this past year there has been what seemed like endless paperwork, tons of waiting, lots of surprises, red tape, money and we are about to embark on a 17 hour flight.  Why?  To bring our daughter home.  I can't wait to kiss her cheeks and hold her close to me.   What I am understanding however is how miniscule our efforts have been compared to the extent and the extreme that God went to so that you and I could know Him as Papa.   In all of this there is my heavenly Dad calling to me about how much He loves humanity and loves you and I - and how He wants intimacy - after all it cost Him a lot to make it possible and accessible.  

This adoption also could not have been possible without community.  We have had an amazing group of people around us who have prayed and listened and helped fundraise and laughed and cried and hoped and sacrificed and thrown showers and helped practically and rejoiced and listened some more and prayed some more.   We, the Shannons technically are not the only ones adopting Hanna.  Rather, this awesome community of people around us are a huge part of this adoption too.   We have many around us who have cared for the orphans - a specific little 7 month old one named Hanna far away in Ethiopia at the moment, however excitedly waiting to welcome her here soon!

I also see this adoption through the eyes of hope.   Our goal is not to bring a little girl into our home and to "Americanize" her (whatever that might mean).  Rather, our goal is to be about The Father's business and seeing His Kingdom advance through welcoming a little Ethiopian girl into our family as our daughter.  I actually would consider it a great honor if someday our little daughter decided as an adult that she would like to return to Ethiopia and make a difference there in her homeland.   Our aim will be to keep her culture as in tact as possible, so that someday she could make that choice if she so desired.  I would love to see all of our kids choose to make a difference in the world by following God's Mission for their lives wherever that might take them and whatever that might mean they are doing.   None of our kids are truly ours...they are The Lord's and He simply has given us the privilege and responsibility of parenting them.     May our children choose to be part of seeing God's Kingdom advance.

Soon after we began our journey, Christy put a label on a candle that says "Hope."  This candle has been in a prominent place in our kitchen as a reminder that what was a dream of some day welcoming a little girl into our family through adoption could become a reality.   Now, as we are just a couple of weeks away from traveling to meet Hanna, to me this candle takes on a new meaning.   It becomes the message of hope for the future.  It becomes the message of hope for what God will choose to do in Christy and I, in Joshua, Micah and Caia as well as in Hanna as she joins us.  It becomes a message of hope for what God will do in the future in and through each of our children as they choose to step into the adventure He calls them to and make a difference in His Mission throughout the world.   

May you know His hope today as you engage in His Mission.

Ethiopia at The Olympics

Ethiopians have been dominating long distance running over the past few years, so it was no huge surprise today when Tirunesh Dibaba took Gold in the 10,000 meter race.  She broke 30 minutes and came in at 29 minutes 54.66seconds.  She also is only the second woman in history to break the 30 minute barrier.   The silver medalist was Elvan Abeylegesse who is an Ethiopian native, but running for Turkey.

A Totally Different Language

I've been doing a bit of reading on Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia. I find the whole study of language and communication so fascinating. While Amharic is not the native language of the region where Hanna is from, it is the national language which is the primary language for about 12 million Ethiopians and the second language of about 1/3 of the total population. The interesting part is that Ethiopia has 63 million who speak 82 different languages with over 200 dialects. I find this so incredibly rich.  By the way, Amharic has 231 characters!

From what I have been able to discover, the village where Hanna is from probably speaks Tembarissa which is a dialect of Kambaata. There are approximately 82,000 people who speak that dialect according to Ethnologue.com. Kambaata is a Cushitic language (named for Cush from the Bible, with the predominant languages being Oromo and Somali) whereas Amharic is a Semitic language (named for Shem from the Bible, similar to Hebrew, Aramaic or Arabic). Both of these languages are subgroups of the same category of Afro-Asiatic language. Here is Genesis 1:1-5 in Kambaata.

So, what's all of this mean...I just find it terribly interesting. It is one thing to hear it spoken and something totally different to see it written. Imagine, Hanna is coming to us with this incredibly rich history of language which very closely resembles that spoken by the Israelites and Jesus Himself. I find it so fascinating and rich to ponder.

By the way, in case you're curious...Here is Hanna's name in Amharic as well...or at least as far as I can tell :)  
 (Hanna Tessema Shannon)

Extra Days in Addis Ababa

Our hope is that we can let Hanna in on as much of the culture of Ethiopia as possible. To help facilitate that we (Joshua, Christy and Jerry) are going to travel to Ethiopia a couple of days early in order to take in a bit of the culture. So, on September 1st we'll fly from Dulles (Washington DC) to Addis Ababa. We'll have a 1 hour layover in Rome on the way through (we'll stay on the plane while they refuel). On the evening of September 2nd we'll arrive in Addis at about 8pm. We'll pass through customs, buy our visas and then change some money. Then we'll meet Aleyu who is picking us up at the airport to take us to a Baptist Guest House. There are a few upscale western style hotels in Addis Ababa including a Sheraton and Hilton, however we felt that to best experience the culture it would be better to stay in a guest house with Ethiopians and eat Ethiopian meals. Its a great guesthouse - check it out here

On September 3rd we'll get picked up early in the morning for a tour. We are hiring a driver, guide and range rover to drive us 200 km north to The Blue Nile Gorge - a canyon that is larger than the Grand Canyon. It is 1 mile wide and 1 mile deep. On the way we'll also be stopping at Debre Libanos - a 13th century Orthodox monastery.

That evening we'll return back to Addis. The next day we are hiring a driver to take us around Addis. We'll visit some of the historical sites as well as go to the Merkato - the largest market in Africa. That day we'll also be meeting with Woody - an Ethiopian Vineyard pastor who lives in Addis. Can't wait to meet him and share some time together.

The evening of the 4th we'll meet the rest of our travel group and move into a guest house that our agency runs in Addis Ababa. On Friday the 5th, we'll get to meet Hanna. Can't believe it!

Where's that gonna fit?

So, what do you do while you are praying that a hurdle that could delay our travel gets overcome? We went shopping.  The spiritual gift of shopping does not fall within anyone in our family's profile, but we had to do it anyway.  We knew it was going to be a huge task to head out on Friday morning to pick up things for our trip, but I'm not sure any of us knew the magnitude of it all.  Imagine for a moment...what could one possibly need during a 10 day stay in Ethiopia in which a husband, wife and 9 year old son are traveling to bring home their 7 month old daughter? After our trip today, it would appear as if you need everything, including the kitchen sink.  

Here's a partial list...Doxycycline for all - keeps us from getting Malaria, Deet bug spray - keeps the mosquitos from biting us in the first place, Benadryl - just in case the mosquitos break through the Deet defenses and Joshua gets bitten (he swells up like mad), Immodium - in case travelers diarrhea hits, Cipro - in case Immodium does not take care of travelers diarrhea, a case of size 2 diapers - in case diarrhea hits Hanna, a case of size 3 diapers - in case the size 2 diapers don't fit Hanna, Dried fruit - just in case we go the other way and need some coaxing, Kids Dramamine - to keep it from coming out of Joshua the other way...Oh, and lest I forget toilet paper and antibacterial hand sanitizer since many establishments are not fully equipped to handle the above forementioned situations.

Of course that was just the beginning...then we needed flashlights - the power goes out often, Ear plugs - the dogs outside the guest house bark most of the night, Bottles, Pacifiers, Bibs, Baby Food, Formula, Childrens Tylenol, SD cards, Voltage Adapters, Film, Money Belts, Batteries, Food, Suntan lotion, Burp cloths, and a Sudoku book to keep mommy from going mad.  Plus dozens of other things I'm running out of time to mention.   

All of this is tongue in cheek, however, because I can't imagine a better excuse to go shopping than to get ready to bring our little baby home.  We'll be there soon, Honey.  Love, Daddy

Leavin' On A Jet Plane!!!

Well, it's been quite the crazy past day and a half. Yesterday, we received some emails from our specialist Jan that there might be another step of paperwork that we might have to go through before we could travel, and if that was the case, it would probably delay our traveling a month or more! UGH! What a tense time! Our hearts were just breaking!

To make a long story short, all has been resolved today. I spoke with Jan shortly after 1pm, and not only did she tell me that everything was in order for us to travel, but she officially assigned us to the Sept. 4 travel group! Jerry was able to call the travel agent we talked to last week and go ahead and book the tickets we had on hold (today was the last day they could be on hold for the price we were quoted. After that, we could keep them on hold, but the price would go up. Phew!) So, on Sept. 1, just one month from today, we will be on a plane headed for Ethiopia to bring home our little Hanna!!!

We got the news shortly after we had completed a marathon shopping trip to get most of what we need for the trip. I'm off to pack a baby bag and a small pharmacy! :)

Thank you, Father, for answering our prayers and the prayers of many faithful friends!

The crib's up!

Yep, the mess finally got cleaned up, everything got put back together from yesterday, and the crib is officially up and ready! Waiting for Hanna are "Hope" the bear the kids made and a super-soft stuffed bear/blanket from the shower last night. Now all we need is that baby!!!

Oh What a Night!

Yesterday was indescribable, but we'll do our best to try...

Jerry had originally wanted to go shopping in the afternoon for all the stuff we'll need for our trip, but I hadn't had time to get the entire list together, so we decided to go ahead and move the furniture around in our room and put the crib up. We decided we'd start at 2pm. When I went up, Jerry was on the phone in the office, so I started clearing out the room and moving little things and cleaning and stuff in our room. After a while, he yelled over, "We got it." I yelled back, "Got what?" I had NO idea what he was talking about. It took him a while...maybe even several minutes...before he finally told me that what "we got" was Hanna's birth certificate!!!! I wasn't even expecting it because we were only 2.5 weeks into a quoted 3-4 week wait.

Well, I rushed over to see her new picture (leaving our room torn apart and the bathroom and hallway full of stuff from our room). My how she's changed!!! And there it was...the official paper stating that Gerald Shannon and Christy Shannon were parents of Hanna Gerald Shannon. (Yep, after much question and discrepancies on her paper work, her name is spelled with 2 n's instead of 1 n.) Wow. I can't begin to express what went on in my heart. (and yes, we'll change her name back when we finalize her adoption in the US) The only other information we got was that we would get a travel date next week.

Jerry immediately emailed our specialist to tell her we were pretty flexible in our ability to travel (and to let her know the week we were scheduled to be at the beach in Sept.). She emailed back and said we were tentatively in the Sept 4 travel group, and could we make that work. Jerry had joked about being in that group, because it means we land back in the US Friday morning and would leave Sat. morning for our yearly family vacation to the beach. (I told him he obviously wasn't the one packing!) So, when he got the reply, he yelled down the steps, "Can we make it work?!?" The answer was an immediate, " YEP!!!" Funny how perspective changes the way you look at things. The only other option would be to wait until October. Suddenly, it seems like a PERFECT time to travel! :)

Our specialist Jan emailed back that we could go ahead and put tickets on hold for the Sept 4 group, but that she would let us know at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week if there was any space in an earlier travel group.

Then it was off to contact Grandma and a travel agent. And the whole day was turned on it's ear. Jerry eventually ran off to a meeting, and I got ready to host a bonfire for folks from the church (a monthly summer occurrence). The crib would have to wait.

It was so fun to have friends to share the news with and to show off Hanna's new picture to. Then, later in the evening, someone came into the kitchen and said they needed everyone out around the fire. As we were coming out, I saw lots of people walking out towards their car, and wondered "hmmmm?", but had no clue what was up. When people started walking back with gift bags with teddy bears and booties and such on them, I started to get fishy. Then Darice walked up carrying a big, beautiful cake with Hanna's picture on it that said "Thank you God for Hanna Tessema Shannon"! Rip then gave the explanation...they had been trying to figure out how and when to have a baby shower for us, and finally decided to hijack the bonfire (since they knew we'd be home) and have the shower there. We were totally surprised.

Could the timing have been any more perfect?!? What a way to celebrate the last step of paperwork in this long journey!!! (They claim they have a connection in the Ethiopian government and arranged for us to receive the BC today, but we doubt that they are THAT good!) What a way to celebrate the end that is now in sight...with diapers (YEHAW!!! I never thought I'd be excited over more diapers!) and wipes and little pink socks and awesome baby board books and sweet little girly tops and soft little cuddly bears and and stars to hang in her room and even a dear little pink flowered outfit that had caught both Jerry & my eyes the one and only time we went looking at baby things. The generosity was a bit overwhelming...even as I had fretted a bit today thinking about finishing up the shopping list for the trip and needing to shop. Not only did we get some of the stuff on that list, but we were so blessed with gift cards and gifts that will more than cover getting what we need to bring our little Hanna home. God is so good and generous...and His people are so amazing to be willing to be a part of it all. I am blessed and overwhelmed.

The other really fun thing was to watch how excited our kids were. They were so full of joy to help open diapers! They are SO excited!!! It still amazes me how deep their love is for her.

The night ended with a beautiful fireworks display just down the street! Go figure...fireworks in Creswell!!! (Someone said they thought they were for the wedding taking place down the street, but I think they were for Hanna ;)! ) What a perfect expression of what I'm feeling in my heart!

That Deer in Headlights sort of look

Here's Hanna's photo from her birth certificate. Resembles some of those drivers license photos I've had in the past =). It looks like she has grown like crazy and she's got hair! Man, has this little girl gripped our hearts. I can't wait to meet her and hold her!

YOOO HOOO! Hanna's Birth Certificate has arrived!!

We just received word 20 minutes ago that Hanna's birth certificate has arrived and it is all correct. That is such amazing news for us, because now that means we can travel and get her! Wow...we're stunned. We are only 2 1/2 weeks into the typical 4 week wait for a Birth Certificate!

Jerry has been driving Christy nuts as he refreshed the email every 5 minutes, so now he doesn't have to do that anymore :).

Sounds like we are tentatively traveling the week of September 1st which will be amazing, since we'll get back just in time for family vacation at the beach.

Thanks for your prayers...now we've got about 4 weeks to get packed and we'll be there!

It's Official!!! Hanna is ours!!

We got an email very late Monday night from our specialist that Hanna's case made it through court on Monday (July 7) and we are now officially her guardians!! It is so wonderful. We got the news while we have been away at the Eastern Regional Conference for The Vineyard. Wow, its so great to have all these folks around us that we can share this news with!

What happens next is that the court documents get typed up, a new birth certificate gets drafted and we are assigned a court date. It takes approximately 4 weeks for that documentation to happen and then we'll travel 3 - 4 weeks after that. Its becoming more and more real all of the time.

Now that we're officially Hanna's parents we can post her picture. So, may I introduce you to Hanna Tessema - (this picture was taken late May).

Plumpy'Nut??

We've had a number of posts recently about drought and famine and the problems many Ethiopians are facing in the midst of malnutrition. It leaves parents in difficult situations of how to care for children as well as seeing their children in need, but not needy enough to get the help they need. With these situations comes a lot of helplessness. What if there was something that could alleviate some of the pain and distress for these folks.

That's where Plumpy-Nut comes in. It has been getting a lot of press over the past year. It is a remarkable product with 500 calories of fortified peanut butter, milk, vitamins and minerals. It becomes a true life saver in cases of malnutrition. Not only does it sound promising, it also is getting results. Michael Wines wrote an article in the NY Times last August 8th and he quoted Idrissa, a 24 year old mother of a 2 year old as saying, "As soon as I got him home, he started eating it - every day, aggressively. And after three days, I could see a big difference. The change was abrupt."

It has a shelf-life of 2 years and is being distributed by Doctors Without Borders. And, there's even better news...for a 4 week treatment the price tag is $20. Twenty bucks? For a very minimal portion of the world food budget a difference could be made.

Here is the text of a recent 60 minutes episode with Anderson Cooper reporting... There also is a link for the 60 minutes broadcast here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4201082n

A Life Saver Called "Plumpynut"

June 22, 2008

---

(CBS) This segment was originally broadcast on Oct. 21, 2007. It was updated on June 20, 2008.

You've probably never heard a good news story about malnutrition, but you’re about to. Every year, malnutrition kills five million children - that's one child every six seconds. But now, the Nobel Prize-winning relief group "Doctors Without Borders" says it finally has something that can save millions of these children.

It's cheap, easy to make, and even easier to use. What is this miraculous cure? As CNN's Anderson Cooper

reports, it's a ready-to-eat, vitamin-enriched concoction called "Plumpynut," an unusual name for a food that may just be the most important advance ever to cure and prevent malnutrition.

---

"It's a revolution in nutritional affairs," says Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders.

"Now we have something. It is like an essential medicine. In three weeks, we can cure a kid that is looked like they're half dead. We can cure them just like an antibiotic. It’s just, boom! It's a spectacular response," Dr. Tectonidis says.

"It's the equivalent of penicillin, you’re saying?" Cooper asks.

"For these kids, for sure," the doctor says.

No kids need it more than a group of children 60 Minutes saw in Niger, a desperately poor country in West Africa, where child malnutrition is so widespread that most mothers have watched at least one of their children die.

Why are so many kids dying? Because they can't get the milk, vitamins and minerals their young bodies need. Mothers in these villages can't produce enough milk themselves and can't afford to buy it. Even if they could, they can't store it -- there’s no electricity, so no refrigeration. Powdered milk is useless because most villagers don't have clean water. Plumpynut was designed to overcome all these obstacles.

Plumpynut is a remarkably simple concoction: it is basically made of peanut butter, powdered milk, powdered sugar, and enriched with vitamins and minerals. It tastes like a peanut butter paste. It is very sweet, and because of that kids cannot get enough of it.

The formula was developed by a nutritionist. It doesn't need refrigeration, water, or cooking; mothers simply squeeze out the paste. Many children can even feed themselves. Each serving is the equivalent of a glass of milk and a multivitamin.

To see the impact it's having, 60 Minutes drove for 12 hours from Niger's capital to a remote village, where every week Doctors Without Borders hand out Plumpynut. After sleeping in a field under mosquito nets, Cooper and the team awoke at sunrise to find mothers emerging from the fields. Many had walked for hours in the dark, along treacherous paths, avoiding scorpions, spiders and poisonous snakes.

Rivers of women flowed into the site and within minutes there were more than a thousand of them, all waiting to get packets or tubs of Plumpynut. In a land where plastic bags are a luxury, they carry the food home in their scarves, their hands, or simply stacked on top of their heads.

"When you see some of these kids they don’t look sick. They don’t look malnourished. They don’t have bloated bellies or little stick arms," Cooper remarks.

"The ones that we're used to seeing on TV, that’s the worst of the worst of the worst. It's the tip of the iceberg. And then below that, there’s the iceberg. So, there's a whole spectrum of malnutrition," Dr. Tectonidis says. "And when we go and check these kids, well, they’re way off in height or in weight. They’re way off."

Niger has become Plumpynut's proving ground. A daily dose costs about $1; small factories mix it here and in three other African countries. Tectonidis says other companies could make similar products wherever children need them.

"There's many countries in Africa now saying, 'We want a factory. We want a factory.' Well let's give it to them," he says. "We just have to focus on these areas. We don’t have to feed the whole world. We have to go for the jugular. Where are they dying? Where are they wasted? That’s where we have to intervene. If you feed them well until they're two or three years old it's won. They're healthy, they can get a healthy life. If you miss that window, it's finished."

In Niger, most children need help now during what’s called the "hunger season," just before the new harvest. Old food supplies have run out and about all that’s left is millet, a basic grain women pound for porridge. But millet doesn’t have enough nutrients to keep kids alive; in America we use it as birdseed.

Normally a children's hospital 60 Minutes visited would have more patients than beds. But now, thanks to Plumpynut, it has empty beds. Dr. Susan Shepherd, a pediatrician from Butte, Mont., runs Doctors Without Borders in Niger.

She says children that would have been hospitalized in the past can now be treated at home. "The reason we can do that is because we can give children Plumpynut here in the ambulatory center, and they take a week’s ration home. Moms treat their children at home and come back every week for a weight check," Dr. Shepherd explains.

That's what Sahia Ibrahim has been doing. She’s already lost four children to malnutrition. Now her six-month-old twins, Hassana and Husseina, are malnourished and she’s worried they might die too. So she’s been coming to the hospital for Plumpynut.

Hassana, at six months old, weighs only seven pounds. While that's what a newborn should weigh, the little girl has put on a pound in just a week thanks to Plumpynut.

Children are weighed and measured at the distribution sites. They're also examined to make sure they don't have any serious infections. Malnutrition destroys a child's immune system, so they're more susceptible to diseases and less capable of recovering from them.

"Often these kids aren't even hungry. It's the opposite. They are anorexic because of the deficiencies they have. They lose their appetite," Tectonidis explains.

That's what happened to Mansour Miko and Maroufee Mazoo. Less than a year old, they had stopped eating and became listless and weak -- so weak that when their mothers brought them to get Plumpynut, the nurse put them in a van and sent them straight to the hospital. Three days later however, they were smacking their lips on Plumpynut, almost ready to go home.

"Have you seen kids who were on the brink of death brought back by Plumpynut?" Cooper asks.

"Oh, yeah, for sure. Again and again and again and again," Dr.Shepherd says.

But not always. Sometimes parents wait too long before bringing their child to doctors. 60 Minutes found Rashida Mahmadou in intensive care, barely clinging to life.

Rashida's condition was very serious. Her skin was literally peeling away -- one side effect of malnutrition, as skin becomes thin, pliable, cracks easily, and bacteria invade.

Just two hours later, Rashida's little heart stopped beating. She was just 19 months old.

"She died of severe, acute malnutrition," says Shepherd, who says she sees this happening every day.

Asked how she deals with so many kids dying, Shepherd tells Cooper, "It breaks your heart. It can break your spirit. It can ruin your confidence in your ability to be a good doctor. And it is sad. And I carry memories of many, many children with me and I'll carry them with me for my entire life. But you certainly cannot indulge yourself in that kind of sadness. We need to do something about this."

If Plumpynut is the answer, how come kids are still dying?

"The answer is getting to kids earlier," Shepherd says. "Once children are as sick as she is, Plumpynut is not gonna save her."

Rashida was buried in a nearby cemetery, where the grave digger told 60 Minutes he is burying fewer children than he used to.

Two years ago this region had the highest malnutrition rate in Niger. But now, after widespread use of the Plumpynut, it has the lowest. Dr. Shepherd told Cooper they’ll be able to treat more than 120,000 kids this year, up from just 10,000 children three years ago.

What about peanut allergies?

"We just don't see it," Shepherd says. "In developing countries food allergy is not nearly the problem that it is in industrialized countries.

It's hard to imagine a less industrialized country than Niger. On a list of 177 developing countries, the United Nations ranked Niger dead last -- least developed. More than 70 percent of the people don’t know how to read. Most work in the fields and earn less than a dollar a day. Nomadic goat herders still roam this land -- their children and their kids travel by camel. Goats seem to be the main garbage disposal, but clearly the goats are falling behind. You can still spot a skinny guard dog, but we were told all the cats have been cooked.

In the countryside, where 85 percent of people live, girls start marrying as young as 11 years old. By the age of 15 most are wed, and by 16 most have already become mothers. The average woman here will give birth at least eight times in her lifetime. But largely because of malnutrition, one in five of their children will die before they reach the age of five. Of those who survive, half will have stunted growth and never reach full adult height.

But now, with Plumpynut, more children are surviving and thriving.

"And kids are doing better. Moms say their child's skin is brighter. Their appetites are better. And they’re less sick. You know, what more could you ask for," Shepherd remarks.

Doctors Without Borders is asking for more of this type of food. Their success in Niger proves, they say, that fortified ready-to-eat products, like Plumpynut, save children's lives. Dr. Tectonidis says if the United States and the European Union were willing to spend part of their food aid on this, more companies will start making it.

"Even by taking a miniscule proportion of the global food aid budget, they will have a huge impact, huge impact!" Tectonidis says. "We're not even asking for billions. It will solve so much of the underlying useless death. So we gotta do that now."

"It's useless death," Cooper remarks.

"Wasted life. Just totally wasted life for nothing. Because they don't have this product, little a bit of peanut butter with vitamins," Tectonidis says. "What a waste."

Produced By Robert Anderson and Casey Morgan
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.