Subtitle: Presence or Presents.
We have a lot and (sometimes) we give a lot.
But is it what is needed and asked for, is it what really makes a difference ?
What I am talking about is what we do, say and how we act in regard to our family and friends.
We all live in a material world, and I am certainly no exception.
The last decades all our wealth has steadily risen to enormous heights,
and our 'free time' (or perception thereof) has declined as it seems to be.
Since 'the month of giving' is now here; Sinterklaas (Netherlands) and Christmas (most of the English speaking world) I feel it's a good time to post my thoughts..
Being a child with parents of different cultures our son grows up with both Sinterklaas (5th of December) and Christmas as a time of receiving presents.
We have said that eventually (when he does not "believe" anymore that there is a mythical figure that distributes presents in the winter), he will have to choose between the 2 occasions.
Funnily enough, especially this year it strikes me, that he is not particularly bothered by the size or 'cost' of a a parcel, but more with 2 other things;
- Who to play with (with the present)
- Who to share his good fortune with
Illustrated in the next anecdote; while opening his first present, Matthew says, while looking at his auntie & the present ...
"I do not think there is a brother in there .."
It is a funny process 'blogging' for me, this post has been in the making for months and changed titles (and content) a couple of times, but I feel I know more clearly what point(s) I want to make.
Because of the privileged world most of us live in nowadays TIME is a real commodity, and what follows from that is our full ATTENTION is sometimes rare.
With the new ways that information now reaches us, all the gadgets & social media on/through them, we sometimes forget about the most important things, the basics of life one could call them.
Being PRESENT during a conversation with your child,loved one,family member on the phone or even during a conversation at work or a discussion at work.
It is really horrible if you keep track of yourself (as I did)for a while and look back at your behaviour during conversations with other people, especially one on one!
I myself am surprised that not many more people have shouted out at me:
" Will you please, LISTEN, to me while I'm talking to you!"
(bet that just that is going to happen from now on;-)
But Awareness is the first step of changing ones Attitude.
So,
When we next buy a present maybe look less at the price tag and think more about the person we buy it for!
And while talking & listening give the other person the time & attention he or she deserves!
To illustrate and underwrite this post somehow, 2 more short video's from
Sarah-Kay (a wonderful wordpoet) and an amazing speech of the 19yr old Zach.
Whoever you are and Wherever you maybe right now and at Christmas, we wish you:
Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Joyeux Noel et une bonne annee!
Frohe Weihnachten und ein glukliches Neues Jahr!
Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus un laimīgu Jauno gadu!
Merry Christmas dan Happy New Year
С Рождеством и Новым Годом
Feliz Navidad y un Feliz Ano Nuevo
Merry Christmas na Heri na Mwaka Mpya
Merry Christmas va Happy New Year
God Jul och ett Gott Nytt Ar
PS: with thanks to the following people in my life for inspiration for this post.
My wonderful family, both in IJsselstein & Montfoort as well as in Lichfield.
My friends, as well outside as inside the yellow & blue box.
Last but not least my lovely wife and beautiful son!
Friday, 16 December 2011
Week 50 update (dutch & english)
Hej All, vrijdag 16 december 2011
Een korte update over "onze week".
Maandag ochtend hadden we een afspraak bij de notaris om de papieren die "extra"* gevraagd waren uit Kenia te laten legaliseren.
Gelukkig ging dit erg snel en op maandag al weer klaar!
Dinsdag werd ik, (Peter) gebeld door Wereldkinderen of het mogelijk was de papieren woensdag klaar te hebben in Den Haag voor "het rondje Den Haag".
(ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken,min. v. Justitie en Ambassade Kenya)
Dan zouden de papieren vervolgens naar Brussel gaan om het Ethiopische gedeelte daar door het consulaat te laten ondertekenen...
Dus zsm naar de rechtbank in Haarlem, waar tot onze verbazing (!) alles dinsdagavond meteen werd gelegaliseerd terwijl ik wachtte.
Woensdag op en neer naar Den Haag om alles persoonlijk te overhandigen.
En nu de hoop dat alles voor de Kerst in Nairobi ligt, zodat het gehele proces van goedkeuring door the National Adoption Committee kan plaatsvinden en we door kunnen gaan naar de volgende stap!
Gisteren, donderdag een grappige verassing, in een nieuwsbrief stond Matthew al geregistreerd bij de Nederlandse School in Kenia voor Januari!
Prettig Weekend!
___ ____ ____ ____
A short update about "our week".
Monday morning we had an appointment with the notary clerk to legalise all "extra"* papers that were asked for.
That went very well and they were ready that evening!
Tuesday I,(Peter) got a call from Wereldkinderen if we could have the papers in The Hague Wednesday ready for "the Hague loop" the ministeries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Kenyan Embassy.
Then the papers will go to Brussels to the Ethiopian Consulate.
And from there to Nairobi.
So as quick as I could to the court in Haarlem for legalization there,
And to our big surprise (!) I could wait and all was ready that evening.
Wednesday to the Hague and back to deliver the papers in person.
Hopefully everything will be in Nairobi before Christmas.
After a positive answer from the National Adoption Committee,we can go through to next step in the process !
Yesterday, Thursday a funny surprise we received a newsletter from Kenya and in it Matthew was already listed as a student at the Dutch School in Kenya in January!
Have a good weekend!
* zie/ see the Waiting game.
Een korte update over "onze week".
Maandag ochtend hadden we een afspraak bij de notaris om de papieren die "extra"* gevraagd waren uit Kenia te laten legaliseren.
Gelukkig ging dit erg snel en op maandag al weer klaar!
Dinsdag werd ik, (Peter) gebeld door Wereldkinderen of het mogelijk was de papieren woensdag klaar te hebben in Den Haag voor "het rondje Den Haag".
(ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken,min. v. Justitie en Ambassade Kenya)
Dan zouden de papieren vervolgens naar Brussel gaan om het Ethiopische gedeelte daar door het consulaat te laten ondertekenen...
Dus zsm naar de rechtbank in Haarlem, waar tot onze verbazing (!) alles dinsdagavond meteen werd gelegaliseerd terwijl ik wachtte.
Woensdag op en neer naar Den Haag om alles persoonlijk te overhandigen.
En nu de hoop dat alles voor de Kerst in Nairobi ligt, zodat het gehele proces van goedkeuring door the National Adoption Committee kan plaatsvinden en we door kunnen gaan naar de volgende stap!
Gisteren, donderdag een grappige verassing, in een nieuwsbrief stond Matthew al geregistreerd bij de Nederlandse School in Kenia voor Januari!
Prettig Weekend!
___ ____ ____ ____
A short update about "our week".
Monday morning we had an appointment with the notary clerk to legalise all "extra"* papers that were asked for.
That went very well and they were ready that evening!
Tuesday I,(Peter) got a call from Wereldkinderen if we could have the papers in The Hague Wednesday ready for "the Hague loop" the ministeries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Kenyan Embassy.
Then the papers will go to Brussels to the Ethiopian Consulate.
And from there to Nairobi.
So as quick as I could to the court in Haarlem for legalization there,
And to our big surprise (!) I could wait and all was ready that evening.
Wednesday to the Hague and back to deliver the papers in person.
Hopefully everything will be in Nairobi before Christmas.
After a positive answer from the National Adoption Committee,we can go through to next step in the process !
Yesterday, Thursday a funny surprise we received a newsletter from Kenya and in it Matthew was already listed as a student at the Dutch School in Kenya in January!
Have a good weekend!
* zie/ see the Waiting game.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Reacties doen het weer ! Comments is switched on again!
Hello you all, 26/11 saturday
If you want to, you can comment again,
Underneath every blog post there is an open Comment field.
Comment, if you wish ; With a name, anonymous, or a question, or request...
It is up to you!
Anyway thanks all, for reading our blog all your interest helps to keep us going!
It is not always easy, but we will stay on this journey till we have reached a positive ending.
Thank You.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Hallo Allemaal,
As je dat wilt, kun je weer reacties achterlaten.
Onder elk stukje is er een open veld voor reacties.
Met naam, anoniem, een vraag of een verzoek...
Het is aan jou!
Hoe dan ook, bedankt voor het lezen van onze blog jullie interesse helpt ons door te gaan.
Het is niet altijd gemakkelijk, maar we blijven op reis tot we een positief einde bereikt hebben.
Bedankt.
If you want to, you can comment again,
Underneath every blog post there is an open Comment field.
Comment, if you wish ; With a name, anonymous, or a question, or request...
It is up to you!
Anyway thanks all, for reading our blog all your interest helps to keep us going!
It is not always easy, but we will stay on this journey till we have reached a positive ending.
Thank You.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Hallo Allemaal,
As je dat wilt, kun je weer reacties achterlaten.
Onder elk stukje is er een open veld voor reacties.
Met naam, anoniem, een vraag of een verzoek...
Het is aan jou!
Hoe dan ook, bedankt voor het lezen van onze blog jullie interesse helpt ons door te gaan.
Het is niet altijd gemakkelijk, maar we blijven op reis tot we een positief einde bereikt hebben.
Bedankt.
The Waiting Game --- Of wel nog steeds wachten
So, back with some news about our ongoing adoption story.
We got a call from Wereldkinderen, our agency but not with the news we were waiting for.
I already said to Jane," I think we will hear from them soon", well I was right about that.
Our dossier is at the National Adoption Committee and they have reviewed it and the Director of Children’s Services talked to the CWSK (our representative agency in Kenya that they want more information).
They are talking about another 3 forms:
- 6th schedule / social enquiry
- 2nd referral
- information about our adoption from Ethiopia
The 1st is strange since it is full of information that we do not know yet about the 'to be adopted child'.
The 2nd is even stranger since we already sent 2 great referrals (recommendations. So maybe they have to count again.
The 3rd is a bit puzzling, we can not see why it is needed and it is not possible to legalise any documents since they are all from Ethiopia.
So we have regular contact with Wereldkinderen and CWSK about what is expected of us.
The 2 slightly positive pieces of information are that:
Immediately after we have a proposal from Wereldkinderen we can travel to Kenya, there is no waiting time anymore.(Was 1 to 2 months). Though we will need a few weeks to sort things out here, travelling 'immediately' would be quite difficult.
Because the procedure takes so long now and is very thorough(at the beginning) it is maybe possible to shorten our stay in Kenya from the 9 months to less than that ...
Of course we will keep everybody informed here!
But no Christmas gift, in the shape of a proposal, for us in 2011.
*** *** *** ***
Eindelijk nieuws over de adoptie, maar niet het nieuws waar we op hoopten...
Tegen Jane zei ik :'ik denk dat ze vandaag gaan bellen',
Nou dat klopte ook wel met een verzoek om meer informatie.
Het Nationaal Adoptie Comité heeft ons dossier bekeken en laat via het CWSK,
de lokale vertegenwoordiger in Kenia, dat ze nog meer informatie willen.
Het gaat om 3 documenten:
- Ten 1ste, 6th schedule sociale achtergronden
- 2de een tweede getuigenis mvan mensen die ons goede ouders vinden
- 3de informatie over de adoptie van Matthew uit Ethiopie
Het 1ste is heel vreemd want gaat grotendeels over het te adopteren kind en dus vol vragen waarop wij het antwoord (nog) niet weten...
Het 2de is nog vreemder, want we hebben 2 uitstekende getuigenissen (waarvoor dank!) DUS misschien moeten ze nog eens tellen.
Het derde daarvan zien we niet in waarom ze dit willen en alle documenten zijn Ethiopisch en daarom hier niet te legaliseren.
Via Wereldkinderen is er nu regelmatig contact met CWSK in Kenia om de procedure op het goede spoor te houden.
Twee mogelijke goede punten zijn dat we nu gehoord hebben dat;
Direct na het aanvaarden van een voorstel (Naam, leeftijd en geslacht kind) kunnen we afreizen naar Kenia. (was eerst 1-2 maanden wachttijd)
Misschien is het mogelijk, omdat de procedure nu zo zorgvuldig is, om de periode van verblijf in Kenia iets te verkorten, naar minder dan 9 maanden..
Maar goed we houden eenieder via deze weg op de hoogte.
In December geen kadootje in de vorm van een voorstel, dat zal pas in 2012 gebeuren.
We got a call from Wereldkinderen, our agency but not with the news we were waiting for.
I already said to Jane," I think we will hear from them soon", well I was right about that.
Our dossier is at the National Adoption Committee and they have reviewed it and the Director of Children’s Services talked to the CWSK (our representative agency in Kenya that they want more information).
They are talking about another 3 forms:
- 6th schedule / social enquiry
- 2nd referral
- information about our adoption from Ethiopia
The 1st is strange since it is full of information that we do not know yet about the 'to be adopted child'.
The 2nd is even stranger since we already sent 2 great referrals (recommendations. So maybe they have to count again.
The 3rd is a bit puzzling, we can not see why it is needed and it is not possible to legalise any documents since they are all from Ethiopia.
So we have regular contact with Wereldkinderen and CWSK about what is expected of us.
The 2 slightly positive pieces of information are that:
Immediately after we have a proposal from Wereldkinderen we can travel to Kenya, there is no waiting time anymore.(Was 1 to 2 months). Though we will need a few weeks to sort things out here, travelling 'immediately' would be quite difficult.
Because the procedure takes so long now and is very thorough(at the beginning) it is maybe possible to shorten our stay in Kenya from the 9 months to less than that ...
Of course we will keep everybody informed here!
But no Christmas gift, in the shape of a proposal, for us in 2011.
*** *** *** ***
Eindelijk nieuws over de adoptie, maar niet het nieuws waar we op hoopten...
Tegen Jane zei ik :'ik denk dat ze vandaag gaan bellen',
Nou dat klopte ook wel met een verzoek om meer informatie.
Het Nationaal Adoptie Comité heeft ons dossier bekeken en laat via het CWSK,
de lokale vertegenwoordiger in Kenia, dat ze nog meer informatie willen.
Het gaat om 3 documenten:
- Ten 1ste, 6th schedule sociale achtergronden
- 2de een tweede getuigenis mvan mensen die ons goede ouders vinden
- 3de informatie over de adoptie van Matthew uit Ethiopie
Het 1ste is heel vreemd want gaat grotendeels over het te adopteren kind en dus vol vragen waarop wij het antwoord (nog) niet weten...
Het 2de is nog vreemder, want we hebben 2 uitstekende getuigenissen (waarvoor dank!) DUS misschien moeten ze nog eens tellen.
Het derde daarvan zien we niet in waarom ze dit willen en alle documenten zijn Ethiopisch en daarom hier niet te legaliseren.
Via Wereldkinderen is er nu regelmatig contact met CWSK in Kenia om de procedure op het goede spoor te houden.
Twee mogelijke goede punten zijn dat we nu gehoord hebben dat;
Direct na het aanvaarden van een voorstel (Naam, leeftijd en geslacht kind) kunnen we afreizen naar Kenia. (was eerst 1-2 maanden wachttijd)
Misschien is het mogelijk, omdat de procedure nu zo zorgvuldig is, om de periode van verblijf in Kenia iets te verkorten, naar minder dan 9 maanden..
Maar goed we houden eenieder via deze weg op de hoogte.
In December geen kadootje in de vorm van een voorstel, dat zal pas in 2012 gebeuren.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Music and lyrics... ( about kids and parents)
Hello to all,
I do sometimes wonder 'Is it me you were looking for ?', from the statistics tool one can see from where people originate.. (only countries or the referral sites)
And we have readers from far afield! And through several channels.
Anyway, don't be shy and let me know If you have any questions, or leave a reaction!
(Since we seem to be in a 'holding pattern' here as far as adoption goes,
subjects you would like to hear about are welcome as well, I do not NEED to blog every week, but do have enough opinions ... ;-)
Anyway this time a different subject again, underneath some great songs about parents and children.
For the Dutch there is our local hero Marco;Dochters, Marco Borsato
Which starts of with 'Quarter past seven on Sunday morning..' a line we are (at least) very familiar with! It is a sweet song about growing up, but it might have been inspired by another, which we will mention later.
One of the best known songs is Papa, from Stef Bos with the line 'but dad I am more like you all the time' a sentiment I at least can very much acknowledge!
There is also lot of sentiment in it if you are a father of an adopted son.
All the physical likeness can be skipped immediately (lucky for Matthew in my case!) but in my opinion there is enough space still in the nature versus nurture discussion to recognize a lot of myself in Matthew's behaviour.
{ "can not sit still, talks too much"; could be my report card, as both my sisters will agree }
Of course there is also the rap trio; Yes-R, Ali B, Lange Frans with 'Me Boy '
A nice try, if you like (dutch) rap music.
For American rap there is 2Pac, with Dear Mama.
And last but not least our very local (from Haarlem) Alain Clark, Father and friend, which he sings with his own father. This song (and Alain) I have always liked a lot, there are some really nice lines in it, with nice sentiments about growing up and the differences between generations.
Other possible contenders in our Parents & Kids list could be;
Mama, by the Spice Girls cheesy girlgroup but still a classic ;-)
Father to son, Phil Collins who has made quite some stuff with decent lyrics and not only Sky Radio background muzak!
And I also like The Day, by Babyface who is a big producer and singer/songwriter himself but not so well known.
Of course Whitney Houston, with The greatest love of all With the lyrics no one can argue about 'I believe the children are our future'; good lyrics too much Houston ?!
Other possibilities:
Isn't she lovely, Stevie Wonder definitely a classic, bit too sweet?
Ready,Set,Don't go- Billy Ray Cyrus sung sometimes with his daughter 'Hannah Montana'.
For people who like the real 'oldies' it could be argued that the Frank Sinatra songs; Young at heart & You make me feel so young are also about kids or at least about youth(s).
There are also some more obscure titles like:
Baby Girl Window, Robbie Williams (sad, and a bit unlike him)
Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of mine (bit unclear from the lyrics)
Lullabye, Billy Joel (Not very well known song, great artist though!)
Flowers for Zoe, Lenny Kravitz (for his daughter with Lisa Bonnet)
A child's prayer, the Hot Chocolate version (old, but nice)
Children, EMF An indie dance band from the Midlands, UK (Unbelievable was their biggest hit)
The real Top Hit for both of us though must be;
Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle
(by which Marco Borsato's song seems to have been inspired at least a bit)
It is a full story about a father and his daughter up to her wedding day.
He has written it for his daughter on the occasion of her 16th birthday.
Before he brought out this song,(and won a country music award) he was a relatively unknown christian country musician.
But look & listen for yourselves with the link underneath.
(and let us know what YOU think ?!)
I do sometimes wonder 'Is it me you were looking for ?', from the statistics tool one can see from where people originate.. (only countries or the referral sites)
And we have readers from far afield! And through several channels.
Anyway, don't be shy and let me know If you have any questions, or leave a reaction!
(Since we seem to be in a 'holding pattern' here as far as adoption goes,
subjects you would like to hear about are welcome as well, I do not NEED to blog every week, but do have enough opinions ... ;-)
Anyway this time a different subject again, underneath some great songs about parents and children.
For the Dutch there is our local hero Marco;Dochters, Marco Borsato
Which starts of with 'Quarter past seven on Sunday morning..' a line we are (at least) very familiar with! It is a sweet song about growing up, but it might have been inspired by another, which we will mention later.
One of the best known songs is Papa, from Stef Bos with the line 'but dad I am more like you all the time' a sentiment I at least can very much acknowledge!
There is also lot of sentiment in it if you are a father of an adopted son.
All the physical likeness can be skipped immediately (lucky for Matthew in my case!) but in my opinion there is enough space still in the nature versus nurture discussion to recognize a lot of myself in Matthew's behaviour.
{ "can not sit still, talks too much"; could be my report card, as both my sisters will agree }
Of course there is also the rap trio; Yes-R, Ali B, Lange Frans with 'Me Boy '
A nice try, if you like (dutch) rap music.
For American rap there is 2Pac, with Dear Mama.
And last but not least our very local (from Haarlem) Alain Clark, Father and friend, which he sings with his own father. This song (and Alain) I have always liked a lot, there are some really nice lines in it, with nice sentiments about growing up and the differences between generations.
Other possible contenders in our Parents & Kids list could be;
Mama, by the Spice Girls cheesy girlgroup but still a classic ;-)
Father to son, Phil Collins who has made quite some stuff with decent lyrics and not only Sky Radio background muzak!
And I also like The Day, by Babyface who is a big producer and singer/songwriter himself but not so well known.
Of course Whitney Houston, with The greatest love of all With the lyrics no one can argue about 'I believe the children are our future'; good lyrics too much Houston ?!
Other possibilities:
Isn't she lovely, Stevie Wonder definitely a classic, bit too sweet?
Ready,Set,Don't go- Billy Ray Cyrus sung sometimes with his daughter 'Hannah Montana'.
For people who like the real 'oldies' it could be argued that the Frank Sinatra songs; Young at heart & You make me feel so young are also about kids or at least about youth(s).
There are also some more obscure titles like:
Baby Girl Window, Robbie Williams (sad, and a bit unlike him)
Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of mine (bit unclear from the lyrics)
Lullabye, Billy Joel (Not very well known song, great artist though!)
Flowers for Zoe, Lenny Kravitz (for his daughter with Lisa Bonnet)
A child's prayer, the Hot Chocolate version (old, but nice)
Children, EMF An indie dance band from the Midlands, UK (Unbelievable was their biggest hit)
The real Top Hit for both of us though must be;
Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle
(by which Marco Borsato's song seems to have been inspired at least a bit)
It is a full story about a father and his daughter up to her wedding day.
He has written it for his daughter on the occasion of her 16th birthday.
Before he brought out this song,(and won a country music award) he was a relatively unknown christian country musician.
But look & listen for yourselves with the link underneath.
(and let us know what YOU think ?!)
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Not much news ... 12/10/2011
Hello All,
Unfortunately there is not so much to report about the adoption at the moment.
We have heard from WereldKinderen that the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) has received all our documents (dossier) and is now checking them before all goes to the NAC (National Adoption Committee).
We expect to know more in November at the earliest..
So settling down at work and school for some rainy (& windy) autumn days!
School holidays, birthdays in the family,Sint Maarten, Halloween, Kenya "reunion", and than we will see.
Thanks all for reading our posts and we will think about a next (related) subject!
Peter and Jane
Unfortunately there is not so much to report about the adoption at the moment.
We have heard from WereldKinderen that the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) has received all our documents (dossier) and is now checking them before all goes to the NAC (National Adoption Committee).
We expect to know more in November at the earliest..
So settling down at work and school for some rainy (& windy) autumn days!
School holidays, birthdays in the family,Sint Maarten, Halloween, Kenya "reunion", and than we will see.
Thanks all for reading our posts and we will think about a next (related) subject!
Peter and Jane
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Geven & Ontvangen/Giving and receiving
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
Na een aantal berichten in de media, dacht ik eens een ander stukje te schrijven. De titel is al een hint, in plaats van geven & nemen,
Wat meer "Voor wat, hoort wat " is, bedoel ik meer voor wat je geeft zal je uiteindelijk ook wat ontvangen, in welke vorm dan ook.
(Wie goed doet, goed ontmoet ;-)
Mede door een bezoek aan het kantoor & magazijn van Childslife in Haarlem van de week en de politieke berichten over het korten op de ontwikkelingshulp kan ik het niet nalaten hier mijn mening te geven.
De maatschappij en wij zelf, ik niet uitgezonderd, is steeds individualistischer geworden en vaak ook materialistischer.
Met de recessie en alle Euro problemen nu, is dat misschien wel begrijpelijk ook.
Maar door de toegang tot internet en tv staat 'de wereld' elke dag weer bij ons op de stoep, compleet met alle armoede die er is.
Als ik sommige mensen (politici incluis) heel gemakkelijk hoor praten over 'druppels op de gloeiende plaat', 'water naar zee dragen' en
"ze moeten maar harder werken".
Krijg ik persoonlijk plaatsvervangende schaamte. Zeker zijn er misstanden (geweest en nu nog) mbt Ontwikkelingshulp & is het goed te weten waar je geld uiteindelijk terecht komt, en hoeveel, dit is begrijpelijk.
Vanuit een beginsel van sociale, politieke, maatschappelijke betrokkenheid
vind ik dat we de verantwoordelijkheid hebben om te helpen waar we kunnen ieder naar vermogen.De reden Waarom is ook minder belangrijk dan de actie.
Zelfs als je geen religeuze achtergrond hebt denk ik dat je het gevoel kent dat je zaken niet voor lief kunt nemen en je realiseerd hoe goed je het hebt.
De christenen kennen oa de naastenliefde en een traditie van "tienden", de moslims zakat (of ushar) als 1 van de 5 pilaren van de islam.
Het feit dat een kind geboren wordt in een ander land, een ander continent kan niet de reden zijn dat zijn of haar toekomst automatisch uitzichtloos is.
Denk je eens in dat het jouw eigen kind of neefje/nichtje zou zijn die je daar in een vluchtelingen kamp ziet in Oost-Afrika ...
Wat een geluk en voorrecht dat wij in Nederland geboren zijn en leven!
Daarom denk ik dat het geven aan goede doelen altijd goed is, Welk doel dan ook, naar eigen vermogen, keuze en inzicht.
Want al wordt er uiteindelijk maar 1 kind gered, door die inenting, dat pindakaas mengseltje, die schoolopleiding dan kan er voor die persoon en door die persoon misschien toch wat veranderen!
Onderstaand wat voorbeelden van goede doelen en een verhaaltje ter overdenking.
http://www.happyrockcenter.com/
http://www.childslife.nl/
The starfish story. (deze versie The Freedom Writers Diary, bewerkt)
" An old man walking down the beach saw a young boy picking up starfish that had washed up on the shore. As he got closer, he saw the boy throwing them back into the ocean.He approached the boy and asked 'What are you doing ?' The boy replied, 'If I don't throw the starfish back in the water, they're going to die.' 'But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish.You can't save them all.Don't you know you'll never make a difference!'The boy reached down and picked up a starfish and simply replied,'I'll make a difference to this one'.
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
(Als er nieuws is over de adoptie, komt dit zeker hier te staan!)
*******************************************************************************
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
Following a number of messages in the media, I thought I would write a different kind of post. The title is a hint, instead of 'giving and taking'. What I mean is, what you give, you will finally receive, in whatever form that may be. (Who does goes, has good done for him).
Partly because of a visit to the office and warehouse of Childslife in Haarlem this week, and the political news over the reduction of aid in developing countries, I could not resist giving my opinion.
Society and all of us, including myself, has become more individualistic and also often more materialistic. With the recessions and all the Europ problems, maybe that is understandable.
But all the access to Internet and TV, the world is on our doorstep, including all the poverty and misery.
If I hear some people, including politicians, talking so easily about 'a drop in the ocean' or 'carrying coals to Newcastle' or ' they should work harder', I feel ashamed for them. Of course there are misunderstandings (in the past and still now) regarding aid and it is good to know where your money eventually ends up and how much of it is used, this is understandable.
From a social, political and societal point of view I think we have a responsibility to help if we have the means. The reason why is less important than the action. Even if you have no religious background I think you can still realise that you can't take things for granted and should realise how well off you are.
As well as brotherly love, Christians have a tradition of 'tithing', the Moslins know 'zakat' (or ushar) as one of the 5 pillars of Islam.
The fact that a child is born in another country or on another continent cannot be the reason that his or her future is automatically without any possibilities.
Just imagine that it's your own child or niece/nephew in that refugee camp in East Africa. What a stroke of luck that we were born and live in The Netherlands (or anywhere in the west). That's why I think it's always good to give to charity. Whatever the charity is, within your means. Because even if you only save one child, through vaccination, that peanut-butter mix, education, that person's life may be bettered and what could that one person achieve?
Here are some examples of charities and a story to make you think.
http://www.happyrockcenter.com/
http://www.childslife.nl/
The starfish story. (deze versie The Freedom Writers Diary, bewerkt)
" An old man walking down the beach saw a young boy picking up starfish that had washed up on the shore. As he got closer, he saw the boy throwing them back into the ocean. He approached the boy and asked 'What are you doing ?' The boy replied, 'If I don't throw the starfishes back in the water, they're going to die.' 'But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish.You can't save them all. Don't you know you'll never make a difference!' The boy reached down and picked up a starfish and simply replied, 'I'll make a difference to this one'.
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
(If there is a more news about the adoption, we will post it here!)
Na een aantal berichten in de media, dacht ik eens een ander stukje te schrijven. De titel is al een hint, in plaats van geven & nemen,
Wat meer "Voor wat, hoort wat " is, bedoel ik meer voor wat je geeft zal je uiteindelijk ook wat ontvangen, in welke vorm dan ook.
(Wie goed doet, goed ontmoet ;-)
Mede door een bezoek aan het kantoor & magazijn van Childslife in Haarlem van de week en de politieke berichten over het korten op de ontwikkelingshulp kan ik het niet nalaten hier mijn mening te geven.
De maatschappij en wij zelf, ik niet uitgezonderd, is steeds individualistischer geworden en vaak ook materialistischer.
Met de recessie en alle Euro problemen nu, is dat misschien wel begrijpelijk ook.
Maar door de toegang tot internet en tv staat 'de wereld' elke dag weer bij ons op de stoep, compleet met alle armoede die er is.
Als ik sommige mensen (politici incluis) heel gemakkelijk hoor praten over 'druppels op de gloeiende plaat', 'water naar zee dragen' en
"ze moeten maar harder werken".
Krijg ik persoonlijk plaatsvervangende schaamte. Zeker zijn er misstanden (geweest en nu nog) mbt Ontwikkelingshulp & is het goed te weten waar je geld uiteindelijk terecht komt, en hoeveel, dit is begrijpelijk.
Vanuit een beginsel van sociale, politieke, maatschappelijke betrokkenheid
vind ik dat we de verantwoordelijkheid hebben om te helpen waar we kunnen ieder naar vermogen.De reden Waarom is ook minder belangrijk dan de actie.
Zelfs als je geen religeuze achtergrond hebt denk ik dat je het gevoel kent dat je zaken niet voor lief kunt nemen en je realiseerd hoe goed je het hebt.
De christenen kennen oa de naastenliefde en een traditie van "tienden", de moslims zakat (of ushar) als 1 van de 5 pilaren van de islam.
Het feit dat een kind geboren wordt in een ander land, een ander continent kan niet de reden zijn dat zijn of haar toekomst automatisch uitzichtloos is.
Denk je eens in dat het jouw eigen kind of neefje/nichtje zou zijn die je daar in een vluchtelingen kamp ziet in Oost-Afrika ...
Wat een geluk en voorrecht dat wij in Nederland geboren zijn en leven!
Daarom denk ik dat het geven aan goede doelen altijd goed is, Welk doel dan ook, naar eigen vermogen, keuze en inzicht.
Want al wordt er uiteindelijk maar 1 kind gered, door die inenting, dat pindakaas mengseltje, die schoolopleiding dan kan er voor die persoon en door die persoon misschien toch wat veranderen!
Onderstaand wat voorbeelden van goede doelen en een verhaaltje ter overdenking.
http://www.happyrockcenter.com/
http://www.childslife.nl/
The starfish story. (deze versie The Freedom Writers Diary, bewerkt)
" An old man walking down the beach saw a young boy picking up starfish that had washed up on the shore. As he got closer, he saw the boy throwing them back into the ocean.He approached the boy and asked 'What are you doing ?' The boy replied, 'If I don't throw the starfish back in the water, they're going to die.' 'But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish.You can't save them all.Don't you know you'll never make a difference!'The boy reached down and picked up a starfish and simply replied,'I'll make a difference to this one'.
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
(Als er nieuws is over de adoptie, komt dit zeker hier te staan!)
*******************************************************************************
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
Following a number of messages in the media, I thought I would write a different kind of post. The title is a hint, instead of 'giving and taking'. What I mean is, what you give, you will finally receive, in whatever form that may be. (Who does goes, has good done for him).
Partly because of a visit to the office and warehouse of Childslife in Haarlem this week, and the political news over the reduction of aid in developing countries, I could not resist giving my opinion.
Society and all of us, including myself, has become more individualistic and also often more materialistic. With the recessions and all the Europ problems, maybe that is understandable.
But all the access to Internet and TV, the world is on our doorstep, including all the poverty and misery.
If I hear some people, including politicians, talking so easily about 'a drop in the ocean' or 'carrying coals to Newcastle' or ' they should work harder', I feel ashamed for them. Of course there are misunderstandings (in the past and still now) regarding aid and it is good to know where your money eventually ends up and how much of it is used, this is understandable.
From a social, political and societal point of view I think we have a responsibility to help if we have the means. The reason why is less important than the action. Even if you have no religious background I think you can still realise that you can't take things for granted and should realise how well off you are.
As well as brotherly love, Christians have a tradition of 'tithing', the Moslins know 'zakat' (or ushar) as one of the 5 pillars of Islam.
The fact that a child is born in another country or on another continent cannot be the reason that his or her future is automatically without any possibilities.
Just imagine that it's your own child or niece/nephew in that refugee camp in East Africa. What a stroke of luck that we were born and live in The Netherlands (or anywhere in the west). That's why I think it's always good to give to charity. Whatever the charity is, within your means. Because even if you only save one child, through vaccination, that peanut-butter mix, education, that person's life may be bettered and what could that one person achieve?
Here are some examples of charities and a story to make you think.
http://www.happyrockcenter.com/
http://www.childslife.nl/
The starfish story. (deze versie The Freedom Writers Diary, bewerkt)
" An old man walking down the beach saw a young boy picking up starfish that had washed up on the shore. As he got closer, he saw the boy throwing them back into the ocean. He approached the boy and asked 'What are you doing ?' The boy replied, 'If I don't throw the starfishes back in the water, they're going to die.' 'But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish.You can't save them all. Don't you know you'll never make a difference!' The boy reached down and picked up a starfish and simply replied, 'I'll make a difference to this one'.
See also the One Campaign video, spot all celebrities! and let me know. More info see One.org
(If there is a more news about the adoption, we will post it here!)
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Kids part deux
So the last time I wrote about our first steps with adopting.
When we arrived at the offices of Wereldkinderen(WK) our agency
for a first infomation round about all the countries in 2000,
we were pretty much convinced that we were going to adopt fom South-Africa.
That it was going to be the continent of Africa was a certainty!
Through the enthousiasm of Mieke at WK (mainly) we decided to go for Ethiopia instead, and as they say " we never looked back " - only with good memories!
And we returned with and live with an amazing beautiful boy for nearly 6 years now!
We were very happy with our experiences in the country, the local people of the orphanage. And others we met, and we also got a friendship with 2 other couples through it all.
In Feb. 2009 after being on the waiting list for a second child for 3 years, we went to an information meeting about what was going on in Ethiopia,why the delays etc. The main 2 things that stayed with me (us) after this meeting were:
> Disappointment and the possibility that it would take more years of waiting
> Surprise at how impatient people (who were much younger than us) were and How distrustful they were of the WK co-workers
[so much so, that one of them said ' You can always try your luck somewhere else,if you really believe we are doing such a bad job...!'.
and these WK people have done all the customer relations courses you can think of].
Eventually WK decided to stop working with their contacts for adoption in Ethiopia and close the orphanage in Addis Ababa after reports that there were possibly "orphans" adopted who still had living relatives in Ethiopia.
Wereldkinderen is and has always been (in our experience) very strict and thorough in their contacts with countries for Intercountry Adoption.
The Hague Convention is one of the leading (legal)background documents which is important for them in this respect.
"...Every child has the right to grow up in a loving family or family replacing situation..." (UN treaty Rights of the child)
Or as they say at Wereldkinderen :" Every child has a right to a home".
Which in a nutshell are the basic thoughts (or should be!).
As mentioned earlier, for us adopting came from a selfish wish to bring up a child and live as a family with children.
Our second adoption stems from the same desire, as I said recently to Jane:
'We have 4 chairs, it feels like there is (still) an empty space at the table, in our house and in our lives, a space for one more child.To fill it with laughter, little cries and excitement!.'
In January this year my eldest sister went as a volunteer to an orphanage in Mombasa. Me and my youngest sister visited her in February 2011.
I talked to the wonderful family who runs the Happy Rock Home and thought things over.
Ethiopia is 'closed', at least through our agency and after much thought and discussion we eventually phoned Wereldkinderen and discussed with them other possibilities like Kenya.
After phone calls and emails we had a meeting in person and decided to go for it in july this year.
So, this is where we are now!
An exiting time for us, the people at Wereldkinderen and family & friends who follow and support us.
Peter & Jane.
Feel free to comment!
When we arrived at the offices of Wereldkinderen(WK) our agency
for a first infomation round about all the countries in 2000,
we were pretty much convinced that we were going to adopt fom South-Africa.
That it was going to be the continent of Africa was a certainty!
Through the enthousiasm of Mieke at WK (mainly) we decided to go for Ethiopia instead, and as they say " we never looked back " - only with good memories!
And we returned with and live with an amazing beautiful boy for nearly 6 years now!
We were very happy with our experiences in the country, the local people of the orphanage. And others we met, and we also got a friendship with 2 other couples through it all.
In Feb. 2009 after being on the waiting list for a second child for 3 years, we went to an information meeting about what was going on in Ethiopia,why the delays etc. The main 2 things that stayed with me (us) after this meeting were:
> Disappointment and the possibility that it would take more years of waiting
> Surprise at how impatient people (who were much younger than us) were and How distrustful they were of the WK co-workers
[so much so, that one of them said ' You can always try your luck somewhere else,if you really believe we are doing such a bad job...!'.
and these WK people have done all the customer relations courses you can think of].
Eventually WK decided to stop working with their contacts for adoption in Ethiopia and close the orphanage in Addis Ababa after reports that there were possibly "orphans" adopted who still had living relatives in Ethiopia.
Wereldkinderen is and has always been (in our experience) very strict and thorough in their contacts with countries for Intercountry Adoption.
The Hague Convention is one of the leading (legal)background documents which is important for them in this respect.
"...Every child has the right to grow up in a loving family or family replacing situation..." (UN treaty Rights of the child)
Or as they say at Wereldkinderen :" Every child has a right to a home".
Which in a nutshell are the basic thoughts (or should be!).
As mentioned earlier, for us adopting came from a selfish wish to bring up a child and live as a family with children.
Our second adoption stems from the same desire, as I said recently to Jane:
'We have 4 chairs, it feels like there is (still) an empty space at the table, in our house and in our lives, a space for one more child.To fill it with laughter, little cries and excitement!.'
In January this year my eldest sister went as a volunteer to an orphanage in Mombasa. Me and my youngest sister visited her in February 2011.
I talked to the wonderful family who runs the Happy Rock Home and thought things over.
Ethiopia is 'closed', at least through our agency and after much thought and discussion we eventually phoned Wereldkinderen and discussed with them other possibilities like Kenya.
After phone calls and emails we had a meeting in person and decided to go for it in july this year.
So, this is where we are now!
An exiting time for us, the people at Wereldkinderen and family & friends who follow and support us.
Peter & Jane.
Feel free to comment!
Monday, 5 September 2011
Ja! stap 1 Succesvol ... Yes! step 1 Succesful ...
Hej All,
Even kort de bevestiging dat we (net voor onze vakantie) alle documenten hebben ingestuurd naar Wereldkinderen (WK) en dat alles daar OK is aangekomen.
Nu is "ons" gedeelte in NL grotendeels 'voorbij' en is het wachten op nader bericht dat WK alles naar Kenya Fed-Ex't en dat het daar ok is ontvangen...
(zie verder eerdere bericht over de procedures aldaar)
mvgroeten,
Peter & Jane
---
Hej All,
Just a short confirmation that we (just before our holiday) have sent all documents to Wereldkinderen Agency (WK) and that they received everything alright.
That means that "our" part of the work for now is mainly finished,
And we have to wait till the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya)
has received the package OK from WK.
After that the National Adoption Authority in Kenya will come with their
decision, hopefully before the end of September.
with our best regards,
Peter & Jane
Even kort de bevestiging dat we (net voor onze vakantie) alle documenten hebben ingestuurd naar Wereldkinderen (WK) en dat alles daar OK is aangekomen.
Nu is "ons" gedeelte in NL grotendeels 'voorbij' en is het wachten op nader bericht dat WK alles naar Kenya Fed-Ex't en dat het daar ok is ontvangen...
(zie verder eerdere bericht over de procedures aldaar)
mvgroeten,
Peter & Jane
---
Hej All,
Just a short confirmation that we (just before our holiday) have sent all documents to Wereldkinderen Agency (WK) and that they received everything alright.
That means that "our" part of the work for now is mainly finished,
And we have to wait till the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya)
has received the package OK from WK.
After that the National Adoption Authority in Kenya will come with their
decision, hopefully before the end of September.
with our best regards,
Peter & Jane
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Kids part 1
( inspired by the RW and Kylie duet )
Because we want the kids to be alright.
You can not change the whole world, but you can try and change the world for one person.
As mentioned before we started our first adoption procedure (in 2000) to be able to be a family.
The years before were filled with medical procedures, but we did go to one information meeting about adoption during that time.
I do believe and think, we both always wanted children in our lives.
So when starting a family did not happen in a 'relatively easy' way we had to decide what to do to have this wished-for family.
Of course, like most prospective parents, we would have liked a child (children) with our genetic material, looks, behaviour etc. (at least, most of it ;-) But far more important was (and still is) raising a child, loving him/her,educating him/her, sharing our general hopes, beliefs, lives and - when the time has arrived - letting go.
Here a (very) short summary of what happens in general terms around the choices one has to make.
Firstly there is the VIA (vereniging interlandelijke adoptie) course, which seems to be designed to warn prospective adoptive parents off at first....
Then later you can put that more into perspective and realize it is a bit of reality check for yourself and to arm you both against some negative feelings about adoption in the media.
After this course you go on to choose the agency that you want to use for adoption.
In our case Wereldkinderen, in Den Haag, started in 1971 consisting of volunteers and professional people and having 2 goals: Project Help and Adoption if all else has been tried.
With them you narrow your choice down to a continent and eventually a country.
To do this you have to make what we call "a shopping list" (wensen & grenzen): what do you think you can handle (limits) and what would you really like and prefer (wishes).
To be very clear we have always chosen Africa, this comes from a deep 'gut feeling' (buikgevoel)
the whole process, to my mind is impossible to rationalize.
We adopt and are not ashamed of it nor proud of it!
Which meant for us we did not feel the need to have a child which had the same colour of skin as us. And adopting means per definition that your child has a different genetic make-up and cultural and social background. (Which both us already had a little bit more being from different countries).
So we arrived to our first choice Africa!
And, due to our wishes and circumstances, to Ethiopia to adopt our first child from.
I want to end with mentioning the nice video of Life is good! Playmakers that is added at the bottom of the pages.
Happy Watching.
(more in Kids part 2)
Because we want the kids to be alright.
You can not change the whole world, but you can try and change the world for one person.
As mentioned before we started our first adoption procedure (in 2000) to be able to be a family.
The years before were filled with medical procedures, but we did go to one information meeting about adoption during that time.
I do believe and think, we both always wanted children in our lives.
So when starting a family did not happen in a 'relatively easy' way we had to decide what to do to have this wished-for family.
Of course, like most prospective parents, we would have liked a child (children) with our genetic material, looks, behaviour etc. (at least, most of it ;-) But far more important was (and still is) raising a child, loving him/her,educating him/her, sharing our general hopes, beliefs, lives and - when the time has arrived - letting go.
Here a (very) short summary of what happens in general terms around the choices one has to make.
Firstly there is the VIA (vereniging interlandelijke adoptie) course, which seems to be designed to warn prospective adoptive parents off at first....
Then later you can put that more into perspective and realize it is a bit of reality check for yourself and to arm you both against some negative feelings about adoption in the media.
After this course you go on to choose the agency that you want to use for adoption.
In our case Wereldkinderen, in Den Haag, started in 1971 consisting of volunteers and professional people and having 2 goals: Project Help and Adoption if all else has been tried.
With them you narrow your choice down to a continent and eventually a country.
To do this you have to make what we call "a shopping list" (wensen & grenzen): what do you think you can handle (limits) and what would you really like and prefer (wishes).
To be very clear we have always chosen Africa, this comes from a deep 'gut feeling' (buikgevoel)
the whole process, to my mind is impossible to rationalize.
We adopt and are not ashamed of it nor proud of it!
Which meant for us we did not feel the need to have a child which had the same colour of skin as us. And adopting means per definition that your child has a different genetic make-up and cultural and social background. (Which both us already had a little bit more being from different countries).
So we arrived to our first choice Africa!
And, due to our wishes and circumstances, to Ethiopia to adopt our first child from.
I want to end with mentioning the nice video of Life is good! Playmakers that is added at the bottom of the pages.
Happy Watching.
(more in Kids part 2)
Friday, 5 August 2011
De Procedure voor Kenia, deel 1. (onze 2de adoptieprocedure)
Hallo lezers, augustus 2011 te Hoofddorp in Nederland.
Hier wat meer over de praktische kant van onze 2de adoptie procedure.
In november 2005 gingen we naar Ethiopie en kwamen terug met onze zoon Matthew Kebede.
Een jaar later in 2006 konden we, indien we dat wilden een 2de procedure opstarten.
Zoals eerder hier gezegd hoopten we 2 weken geleden alles binnen te hebben en op te sturen aan Wereldkinderen maar het duurt (zoals wel vaker bij adoptie) allemaal wat langer...
Wereldkinderen is 1 van de 5 vergunning houders die nu actief zijn wat betreft adoptie van kinderen uit het buitenland. (er zijn er 7 geweest).
Wereldkinderen is een vereniging en opgericht in 1971 (goed jaar!) WK werkt met professionele mensen die vaak al langer in dienst zijn en de landen goed kennen.
Het werkgebied bestaat uit 2 deelgebieden Projecthulp en indien niet anders mogelijk (vanuit perspectief kind), Adoptie uit diverse landen.
De documenten moeten allemaal op de juiste manier getekend zijn (handtekening, naam leesbaar, stempel en datum) dan naar de notaris, (volgende week) en dan de rechtbank in Haarlem (daarna)
dan alles opsturen naar Wereldkinderen die zorg dragen voor Ministeries van Justitie en Buitenlandse zaken en het Consulaat van Kenia.
Waarna alles naar Kenya gaat (Engelse spelling) en de procedure daar verder gaat.
In Kenia gaan de documenten via CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) de lokale vergunninghouder voor interlandelijke adoptie naar het :
Kenyan Adoption Committee dit is een erg belangrijke stap!
Nadat de documenten ontvangen zijn (september?) zullen zij binnen 30 dagen uitspraak doen.
Want na goedkeuring door dit Nationaal Adoptie Comité kunnen we aan de volgende stap beginnen!
Via het CWSK en WK krijgen wij een voorstel: er wordt een kindje toegewezen, met een dossier, naam, foto(s) en verdere informatie. (Wij hopen dat dit in oktober zal zijn). De aanvraag voor ons door WK is een kind tussen de 24 maanden (2 jaar) en maximaal 5 jaar oud.
Binnen drie maanden na onze acceptatie van het voorstel kunnen we afreizen naar Nairobi, Kenya.
Daar dienen we 3 maanden voor het kindje te zorgen (de verzorgingsperiode). We worden dan bezocht door de lokale vertegenwoordigers van de kinderbescherming en rechtbank. Tijdens deze verzorgingsperiode worden verschillende rapporten geschreven.
Daarna zal een lokale advocaat samen met ons als adoptief ouders de rechtbank procedure opstarten. Er volgen 3 hoorzittingen waarbij beide ouders geacht worden aanwezig te zijn. Deze rechtbankprocedure duurt minimaal 3 à 6 maanden (totale verblijf dus minstens 6 à 9 maanden).
Hierbij zijn verschillende andere personen en instanties betrokken waarover meer in een vervolg over de procedure deel 2.
Zoals je ziet hebben we alle spelers en hoofdrolspelers onderstreept om een indruk te geven hoeveel mensen er betrokken zijn bij het gehele proces.
Hopelijk is er hierdoor nog meer duidelijkheid hoe het werkt voor iedereen.
Met vriendelijke groeten van Peter en Jane
**************************************
Hello readers, August 2011, Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Here is some more information about the practical side of our second adoption procedure. In November 2005 we went to Ethiopia and returned with our son Matthew Kebede. A year later in 2006, we could if we wished, submit a request for a second procedure.
As mentioned earlier here, we were hoping to have everying ready to send to World Children 2 weeks ago but as is usually the case with adoption, everything takes longer......
World Children (Wereldkinderen) is 1 of the 5 licence holders who are now actively working on foreign adoption cases (there have ben 7 in the past).
World Children is an association that was founded in 1971 (a good year!). They are staffed by professionals who have been with them a long time and know the countries well.
They work in 2 areas: project help and if there are no other options (from the child's perspective), adoption from various countries.
The documents we need for adoption must all be completed in the correct way of course and then actioned in the correct way: signed (signautre, legible name, date and stamp of the party) then to the lawyer (next week) for legalising, followed by the court in Haarlem. Then everything is sent to World Children who take them on to the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy for further legalisations.
After which everything goes to Kenya and the procedure continues there.
In Kenya the documents go to the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) the local licence holder for international adoption, where they are submitted to the Kenyan Adoption Committee; this is a very important step. After the documents have been received (September?) They will make their decision.
Because after the approval by the National Adoption Committee we can begin the next step.
Via World Children, we will get a propsal from CWSK: a child will be matched with us with a file, name, photos and other information. (We hope this will be in October). Our request is for a child between 24 and 48 months (2-4 years old).
Within 3 months of accepting the proposal we can travel to Nairobi, Kenya.
There we have to look after the child for three months (the foster period). We will be visited by the local representatives of child welfare and the court. During this process various reports will be written. Then we will work with a local lawyer who will start the court procedure with us. This court procedure will take between 3-6 months (therefore a total stay of 6-9 months). There are several different people and parties involved in this, more about them all in a future post, Procedure part 2.
As you can see, I have underline and bolded the people and parties involved to give an idea of how many people are involved in the whole process.
I hope this makes it a bit clearer for everyone how this works.
With kind regards,
Peter and Jane Rison
Hier wat meer over de praktische kant van onze 2de adoptie procedure.
In november 2005 gingen we naar Ethiopie en kwamen terug met onze zoon Matthew Kebede.
Een jaar later in 2006 konden we, indien we dat wilden een 2de procedure opstarten.
Zoals eerder hier gezegd hoopten we 2 weken geleden alles binnen te hebben en op te sturen aan Wereldkinderen maar het duurt (zoals wel vaker bij adoptie) allemaal wat langer...
Wereldkinderen is 1 van de 5 vergunning houders die nu actief zijn wat betreft adoptie van kinderen uit het buitenland. (er zijn er 7 geweest).
Wereldkinderen is een vereniging en opgericht in 1971 (goed jaar!) WK werkt met professionele mensen die vaak al langer in dienst zijn en de landen goed kennen.
Het werkgebied bestaat uit 2 deelgebieden Projecthulp en indien niet anders mogelijk (vanuit perspectief kind), Adoptie uit diverse landen.
De documenten moeten allemaal op de juiste manier getekend zijn (handtekening, naam leesbaar, stempel en datum) dan naar de notaris, (volgende week) en dan de rechtbank in Haarlem (daarna)
dan alles opsturen naar Wereldkinderen die zorg dragen voor Ministeries van Justitie en Buitenlandse zaken en het Consulaat van Kenia.
Waarna alles naar Kenya gaat (Engelse spelling) en de procedure daar verder gaat.
In Kenia gaan de documenten via CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) de lokale vergunninghouder voor interlandelijke adoptie naar het :
Kenyan Adoption Committee dit is een erg belangrijke stap!
Nadat de documenten ontvangen zijn (september?) zullen zij binnen 30 dagen uitspraak doen.
Want na goedkeuring door dit Nationaal Adoptie Comité kunnen we aan de volgende stap beginnen!
Via het CWSK en WK krijgen wij een voorstel: er wordt een kindje toegewezen, met een dossier, naam, foto(s) en verdere informatie. (Wij hopen dat dit in oktober zal zijn). De aanvraag voor ons door WK is een kind tussen de 24 maanden (2 jaar) en maximaal 5 jaar oud.
Binnen drie maanden na onze acceptatie van het voorstel kunnen we afreizen naar Nairobi, Kenya.
Daar dienen we 3 maanden voor het kindje te zorgen (de verzorgingsperiode). We worden dan bezocht door de lokale vertegenwoordigers van de kinderbescherming en rechtbank. Tijdens deze verzorgingsperiode worden verschillende rapporten geschreven.
Daarna zal een lokale advocaat samen met ons als adoptief ouders de rechtbank procedure opstarten. Er volgen 3 hoorzittingen waarbij beide ouders geacht worden aanwezig te zijn. Deze rechtbankprocedure duurt minimaal 3 à 6 maanden (totale verblijf dus minstens 6 à 9 maanden).
Hierbij zijn verschillende andere personen en instanties betrokken waarover meer in een vervolg over de procedure deel 2.
Zoals je ziet hebben we alle spelers en hoofdrolspelers onderstreept om een indruk te geven hoeveel mensen er betrokken zijn bij het gehele proces.
Hopelijk is er hierdoor nog meer duidelijkheid hoe het werkt voor iedereen.
Met vriendelijke groeten van Peter en Jane
**************************************
Hello readers, August 2011, Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Here is some more information about the practical side of our second adoption procedure. In November 2005 we went to Ethiopia and returned with our son Matthew Kebede. A year later in 2006, we could if we wished, submit a request for a second procedure.
As mentioned earlier here, we were hoping to have everying ready to send to World Children 2 weeks ago but as is usually the case with adoption, everything takes longer......
World Children (Wereldkinderen) is 1 of the 5 licence holders who are now actively working on foreign adoption cases (there have ben 7 in the past).
World Children is an association that was founded in 1971 (a good year!). They are staffed by professionals who have been with them a long time and know the countries well.
They work in 2 areas: project help and if there are no other options (from the child's perspective), adoption from various countries.
The documents we need for adoption must all be completed in the correct way of course and then actioned in the correct way: signed (signautre, legible name, date and stamp of the party) then to the lawyer (next week) for legalising, followed by the court in Haarlem. Then everything is sent to World Children who take them on to the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy for further legalisations.
After which everything goes to Kenya and the procedure continues there.
In Kenya the documents go to the CWSK (Child Welfare Society of Kenya) the local licence holder for international adoption, where they are submitted to the Kenyan Adoption Committee; this is a very important step. After the documents have been received (September?) They will make their decision.
Because after the approval by the National Adoption Committee we can begin the next step.
Via World Children, we will get a propsal from CWSK: a child will be matched with us with a file, name, photos and other information. (We hope this will be in October). Our request is for a child between 24 and 48 months (2-4 years old).
Within 3 months of accepting the proposal we can travel to Nairobi, Kenya.
There we have to look after the child for three months (the foster period). We will be visited by the local representatives of child welfare and the court. During this process various reports will be written. Then we will work with a local lawyer who will start the court procedure with us. This court procedure will take between 3-6 months (therefore a total stay of 6-9 months). There are several different people and parties involved in this, more about them all in a future post, Procedure part 2.
As you can see, I have underline and bolded the people and parties involved to give an idea of how many people are involved in the whole process.
I hope this makes it a bit clearer for everyone how this works.
With kind regards,
Peter and Jane Rison
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
What do you need to adopt a child ?
That is a pretty good question...
Once you leave the obvious answer (and truth) for what is, off course one needs love, and move on to look at it in a broader way there are a couple of things.
Once again this is very much my opinion!, so do feel absolutely free to react with other opinions, or mention things I might forget!
So, what is it you need as adopting parents...
Patience, Faith and Means...
Patience is a virtue... adoption is a long an slow process during which you will encounter several official participants.
Because of different reasons, ignorance, sloppy attitudes, and circumstances things will go differently and even slower than expected.Only by giving and receiving the right information and by keeping the channels of communication open, you will get through the difficult phases.
That is between, you and the official participants, between you and your adoption agency and off course, last but not least in your realtionship.
Faith, not necessarily as in a religion (although personally I do think this helps a lot) but mainly in yourself as a person, a parent and eachother as a partner in your relationsgip as well as in other people you encounter during the whole process. You will have to believe that everybody is reacting and working in your (and espescially the childs) best interest.That does not mean that you can/may not be critical of procedures and agreements, but always remember that a lot of (care) professionals have got an awfull lot of work, and hardly ever enough appreciation for what they are doing, so back to the first point have patience!
Have faith in the people you encounter, that they are doing the best they can given their cicumstances.
Also have faith that you are going to be parents and that it will happen!
To be clear, Adoption starts (generally speaking) nearly allways with a wish to have a child, to love, to bring up, to teach and to let go when the time is there.
Now with our second procedure we know a lot more about adoption as a whole, and circumstances, points of vieuw in the 'adoption triangle' etcetera.
More about my thoughts about this later.
What else do you need to adopt a child, (or even children) Means, which could be replaced with money, but it is more.
One has to realise that everything takes time (patience) believe that it will happen (faith) and make it possible yourselves bij saving up for the actual adoption procedure costs and everything before and after the adoption.
( And no I'm not goint to give a breakdown of the costs here, if you really want to know, i'm certain you can find out or ask me directly)
It means to you have to make choices, as you can only spend your money once!
Do we know exactly where the money will go too ? That is (and seems more today than ever) a question that is asked a lot of times. No, not exactly up to every hundred euro's/dollars/pounds, bir or shilling. But generally speaking we do get an overview of what the costs are and what is spend from our agency in broad amounts so we know where the lump sum "flows" to.
There are an awfull lot of people involved with an adoption, and each organisation, or part of government they work for get a 'cut', which is in itself not an enormous problem.People work, spend time on your case and need to get paid for that time & effort spend.
But what about corruption ? That is something I do not honestly know much about and do not think about a lot. We trust the agency, Wereldkinderen, we deal with and expect that they do their best to handle things fair, for us, the child and the country where it comes from.
Closer to home I do occasionally wonder WHY every certificate from the (Dutch) government has to cost so much money ( € 30.00 is normal for a piece of paper) , why nothing can go correct in 1 try and why there are differences between councils in price and so on.
This is really one of the things that costs a lot with the start of the procedure, the collecting of documents...
Visit in person, follow up by email, ask for a reply, phone up, send in again...
So, yes an adoption does cost a small car, but a lot of that is time, your own time, so there for means.
Eventually with the right amounts of patience, means and faith in a positive outcome you will be rewarded by the unconditional love of your adopted child!
That will be all for now, more later!
Once you leave the obvious answer (and truth) for what is, off course one needs love, and move on to look at it in a broader way there are a couple of things.
Once again this is very much my opinion!, so do feel absolutely free to react with other opinions, or mention things I might forget!
So, what is it you need as adopting parents...
Patience, Faith and Means...
Patience is a virtue... adoption is a long an slow process during which you will encounter several official participants.
Because of different reasons, ignorance, sloppy attitudes, and circumstances things will go differently and even slower than expected.Only by giving and receiving the right information and by keeping the channels of communication open, you will get through the difficult phases.
That is between, you and the official participants, between you and your adoption agency and off course, last but not least in your realtionship.
Faith, not necessarily as in a religion (although personally I do think this helps a lot) but mainly in yourself as a person, a parent and eachother as a partner in your relationsgip as well as in other people you encounter during the whole process. You will have to believe that everybody is reacting and working in your (and espescially the childs) best interest.That does not mean that you can/may not be critical of procedures and agreements, but always remember that a lot of (care) professionals have got an awfull lot of work, and hardly ever enough appreciation for what they are doing, so back to the first point have patience!
Have faith in the people you encounter, that they are doing the best they can given their cicumstances.
Also have faith that you are going to be parents and that it will happen!
To be clear, Adoption starts (generally speaking) nearly allways with a wish to have a child, to love, to bring up, to teach and to let go when the time is there.
Now with our second procedure we know a lot more about adoption as a whole, and circumstances, points of vieuw in the 'adoption triangle' etcetera.
More about my thoughts about this later.
What else do you need to adopt a child, (or even children) Means, which could be replaced with money, but it is more.
One has to realise that everything takes time (patience) believe that it will happen (faith) and make it possible yourselves bij saving up for the actual adoption procedure costs and everything before and after the adoption.
( And no I'm not goint to give a breakdown of the costs here, if you really want to know, i'm certain you can find out or ask me directly)
It means to you have to make choices, as you can only spend your money once!
Do we know exactly where the money will go too ? That is (and seems more today than ever) a question that is asked a lot of times. No, not exactly up to every hundred euro's/dollars/pounds, bir or shilling. But generally speaking we do get an overview of what the costs are and what is spend from our agency in broad amounts so we know where the lump sum "flows" to.
There are an awfull lot of people involved with an adoption, and each organisation, or part of government they work for get a 'cut', which is in itself not an enormous problem.People work, spend time on your case and need to get paid for that time & effort spend.
But what about corruption ? That is something I do not honestly know much about and do not think about a lot. We trust the agency, Wereldkinderen, we deal with and expect that they do their best to handle things fair, for us, the child and the country where it comes from.
Closer to home I do occasionally wonder WHY every certificate from the (Dutch) government has to cost so much money ( € 30.00 is normal for a piece of paper) , why nothing can go correct in 1 try and why there are differences between councils in price and so on.
This is really one of the things that costs a lot with the start of the procedure, the collecting of documents...
Visit in person, follow up by email, ask for a reply, phone up, send in again...
So, yes an adoption does cost a small car, but a lot of that is time, your own time, so there for means.
Eventually with the right amounts of patience, means and faith in a positive outcome you will be rewarded by the unconditional love of your adopted child!
That will be all for now, more later!
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Vermoeiende procedure...(documenten) - Tiring procedure (documents)
Natuurlijk is het allemaal relatief, en zal het uiteindelijk, zeker na positief eindresultaat meevallen.Maar dat is straks als we terugkijken...
Voor nu is de procedure om een 2de adoptiekind te kunnen adopteren, voor het gevoel, lastig en
gaat het moeizaam.
Het begint met de enorme lijst van 25 documenten die we moeten verzamelen.
Uit geheel Nederland, Engeland (ons huwelijk & geboorte Jane ) en Ethiopië ( geboorte Matthew ).
Zover we weten en ons herinneren was dit voor Ethiopië iets gemakkelijker!
Alles dient op precies dezelfde manier te zijn, met 3 namen van mij, dubbele achternaam van Jane, en 2 moeilijke van Matt blijkt dit al een opgaaf ook voor de officiële instanties die hier (dagelijks?!) mee werken.
Vervolgens moet alles ook 'hand' getekend, met volledige naam en stempel van de betrokkene zijn, en zelfs na extra nadruk in mail en telefoontjes is dit soms lastig...
Kwestie dus van Extreem Check, Check, Double Check!
Vervolgens straks alles laten legaliseren door de notaris, en bekrachtigen bij de rechtbank in Haarlem.
Korte momentjes denk ik dat ik een 'consultancy' voor (aspirant) adoptie ouders moet beginnen ;-)
< eerste vraag, Weet U beide aboluut zeker dat U dit wil gaan doen? En U voldoet aan eerder " genoemde voorwaarden" ( see What do you need to adopt) dan kunnen we samen aan de slag!
Krijg toch een geheel nieuwe kijk, en veel respect voor zelfstandige ondernemers die een eigen zaak willen beginnen en veel buitenlanders in Nederland die regelmatig geconfronteerd worden met onze vaderlandse trots "de burocratie".
Natuurlijk ook veel dank en respect voor de familie en vrienden en "bekenden' die ons helpen en ondersteunen met het maken van aanbevelings brieven en dergelijke.
Zal niet iedereen persoonlijk noemen (sommige mensen willen dit ook niet) maar vandaag hebben we kennis gemaakt met de vriendelijkste accountant van Nederland!
Die ook nog eens zijn uurtarief voor ons halveerd omdat dit zo'n bijzondere opdracht is, die hij van harte ondersteund, maar gelukkig wel heel professioneel lastige vragen stelt en kritisch is.
Zeker ook leuk om te noemen is de huisarts; "rommelig, chaotisch, afwezig" zijn allemaal omschrijvingen die wel bij hem passen, maar nu ook warm, inlevend en zeer welwillend.
Overwerkt, ondergewaardeerd en altijd druk, maar alle geduld om te zorgen dat alles juist ingevuld is.
Het is een bijzondere reis een adoptie procedure, 1 van stilstaan en hollen.
Nog een week of 2 dan hebben we alles binnen, hopen we!
groeten,
pejama
**********************************************************************************
Of course it's all relative and in the end, especially with a positive result, it will all be worth it. But that will be later, looking back. For now, the procedure to adopt a second child feels difficult and is going slowly.
It beings with an enormous list of 25 documents that we have to collect, from The Netherlands, England (our marriage certificate and Jane's birth certificate) and Ethiopia (Matthew's birth certificate). As far as we remember, this was a lot easier for Ethiopia.
Zover we weten en ons herinneren was dit voor Ethiopië iets gemakkelijker! Everything has to be in exactly the same format, with my 3 christian names, Jane's double surname and Matthew's 2 seemingly difficult christian names. This seems to be a problem for the official parties who must do this on a daily basis! Then everything has to be signed by hand with a complete name and stamp of the offical and even after emphasising this in e-mails and telephone calls this seems to be hard to do. So it's a question of checking and extreme double-checking.
Then everything has to be legalised by the notary clerk and then by the court in Haarlem. Sometimes I think I should start a consultancy business for aspiring adoptive parents :-)
Question 1 - are you absolutely sure you want to do this? And if you fulfil all the critieria mentioned earlier (see 'What do you need to adopt') then we can get started!
You get a new perspective and a lot of respect for self-employed people and all the foreigners in The Netherlands who are regularly confronted with the pride of our father land: bureaucracy.
Many thanks and respect to our family, friends and acquaintances who are helping and supporting us with letters of recommendation and so on. I won't mention everyone by name, not everyone would appreciate that anyway, but today we met with the friendliest accountant in The Netherlands! He halved his hourly rate for us because this is such an unusual and special task for him, while remaining profressional and asking tough questions. We should also mention our GP: untidy, chaotic, absent minded are all words we can use to describe him but he is warm, sympathetic and very willing. Overworked, unappreciated and always busy but with the patience to check that everything is filled in properly.
An adoption is a special journey, one of urgency but also times of inactivity. Another week or 2 and we hope to have everything ready!
Kind regards
PeJaMa
Voor nu is de procedure om een 2de adoptiekind te kunnen adopteren, voor het gevoel, lastig en
gaat het moeizaam.
Het begint met de enorme lijst van 25 documenten die we moeten verzamelen.
Uit geheel Nederland, Engeland (ons huwelijk & geboorte Jane ) en Ethiopië ( geboorte Matthew ).
Zover we weten en ons herinneren was dit voor Ethiopië iets gemakkelijker!
Alles dient op precies dezelfde manier te zijn, met 3 namen van mij, dubbele achternaam van Jane, en 2 moeilijke van Matt blijkt dit al een opgaaf ook voor de officiële instanties die hier (dagelijks?!) mee werken.
Vervolgens moet alles ook 'hand' getekend, met volledige naam en stempel van de betrokkene zijn, en zelfs na extra nadruk in mail en telefoontjes is dit soms lastig...
Kwestie dus van Extreem Check, Check, Double Check!
Vervolgens straks alles laten legaliseren door de notaris, en bekrachtigen bij de rechtbank in Haarlem.
Korte momentjes denk ik dat ik een 'consultancy' voor (aspirant) adoptie ouders moet beginnen ;-)
< eerste vraag, Weet U beide aboluut zeker dat U dit wil gaan doen? En U voldoet aan eerder " genoemde voorwaarden" ( see What do you need to adopt) dan kunnen we samen aan de slag!
Krijg toch een geheel nieuwe kijk, en veel respect voor zelfstandige ondernemers die een eigen zaak willen beginnen en veel buitenlanders in Nederland die regelmatig geconfronteerd worden met onze vaderlandse trots "de burocratie".
Natuurlijk ook veel dank en respect voor de familie en vrienden en "bekenden' die ons helpen en ondersteunen met het maken van aanbevelings brieven en dergelijke.
Zal niet iedereen persoonlijk noemen (sommige mensen willen dit ook niet) maar vandaag hebben we kennis gemaakt met de vriendelijkste accountant van Nederland!
Die ook nog eens zijn uurtarief voor ons halveerd omdat dit zo'n bijzondere opdracht is, die hij van harte ondersteund, maar gelukkig wel heel professioneel lastige vragen stelt en kritisch is.
Zeker ook leuk om te noemen is de huisarts; "rommelig, chaotisch, afwezig" zijn allemaal omschrijvingen die wel bij hem passen, maar nu ook warm, inlevend en zeer welwillend.
Overwerkt, ondergewaardeerd en altijd druk, maar alle geduld om te zorgen dat alles juist ingevuld is.
Het is een bijzondere reis een adoptie procedure, 1 van stilstaan en hollen.
Nog een week of 2 dan hebben we alles binnen, hopen we!
groeten,
pejama
**********************************************************************************
Of course it's all relative and in the end, especially with a positive result, it will all be worth it. But that will be later, looking back. For now, the procedure to adopt a second child feels difficult and is going slowly.
It beings with an enormous list of 25 documents that we have to collect, from The Netherlands, England (our marriage certificate and Jane's birth certificate) and Ethiopia (Matthew's birth certificate). As far as we remember, this was a lot easier for Ethiopia.
Zover we weten en ons herinneren was dit voor Ethiopië iets gemakkelijker! Everything has to be in exactly the same format, with my 3 christian names, Jane's double surname and Matthew's 2 seemingly difficult christian names. This seems to be a problem for the official parties who must do this on a daily basis! Then everything has to be signed by hand with a complete name and stamp of the offical and even after emphasising this in e-mails and telephone calls this seems to be hard to do. So it's a question of checking and extreme double-checking.
Then everything has to be legalised by the notary clerk and then by the court in Haarlem. Sometimes I think I should start a consultancy business for aspiring adoptive parents :-)
Question 1 - are you absolutely sure you want to do this? And if you fulfil all the critieria mentioned earlier (see 'What do you need to adopt') then we can get started!
You get a new perspective and a lot of respect for self-employed people and all the foreigners in The Netherlands who are regularly confronted with the pride of our father land: bureaucracy.
Many thanks and respect to our family, friends and acquaintances who are helping and supporting us with letters of recommendation and so on. I won't mention everyone by name, not everyone would appreciate that anyway, but today we met with the friendliest accountant in The Netherlands! He halved his hourly rate for us because this is such an unusual and special task for him, while remaining profressional and asking tough questions. We should also mention our GP: untidy, chaotic, absent minded are all words we can use to describe him but he is warm, sympathetic and very willing. Overworked, unappreciated and always busy but with the patience to check that everything is filled in properly.
An adoption is a special journey, one of urgency but also times of inactivity. Another week or 2 and we hope to have everything ready!
Kind regards
PeJaMa
Friday, 15 July 2011
Short Explanation - Korte Toelichting
Hallo Allemaal, hoofddorp, juli 2011
Hier een eerste stukje voor een blog.
Waarom NU een blog ?
In verband met onze tweede adoptie procedure en allles wat daar bij komt kijken,
krijgen we nu (en vast ook straks) vragen over allerhande zaken.
Om het delen van informatie wat gemakkelijker te maken, dacht ik dit digitaal te doen.
Voor zowel, trouwe volgers (misschien), familie, vrienden, als wel eenmalig geinteresseerden!
Om het zo internationaal mogelijk te houden zal ik gaan proberen het om en om in het Nederlands en Engels te doen, hopelijk is dit voor de meeste lezers goed ?!
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Peter
************************************************************************************
Hello Everybody,
Here a first attempt at a blog.
Why start a blog NOW ?
Because of the start of our second adoption procedure and everything that follows from that,
we get now (and probably more later) questions about several things.
To share information in an easy way, i thought to do this digitally.
For loyal followers (maybe) family, friends, and also people with only a once in a while interest!
To keep it as international as possible, my idea is to change between Dutch and English in every other message, hopefully this is okay for most of you ?
With best regards,
Peter
Hier een eerste stukje voor een blog.
Waarom NU een blog ?
In verband met onze tweede adoptie procedure en allles wat daar bij komt kijken,
krijgen we nu (en vast ook straks) vragen over allerhande zaken.
Om het delen van informatie wat gemakkelijker te maken, dacht ik dit digitaal te doen.
Voor zowel, trouwe volgers (misschien), familie, vrienden, als wel eenmalig geinteresseerden!
Om het zo internationaal mogelijk te houden zal ik gaan proberen het om en om in het Nederlands en Engels te doen, hopelijk is dit voor de meeste lezers goed ?!
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Peter
************************************************************************************
Hello Everybody,
Here a first attempt at a blog.
Why start a blog NOW ?
Because of the start of our second adoption procedure and everything that follows from that,
we get now (and probably more later) questions about several things.
To share information in an easy way, i thought to do this digitally.
For loyal followers (maybe) family, friends, and also people with only a once in a while interest!
To keep it as international as possible, my idea is to change between Dutch and English in every other message, hopefully this is okay for most of you ?
With best regards,
Peter
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