Our Adoption Journey: "Baku Babies"

Thursday, July 10, 2008

"Baku Babies"

We are off to Washington D.C. for Ryan's Azerbaijani's Reunion. Every year adoptive parents, who have adopted from Azerbaijan, get together for a weekend of fun and excitement, attend a luncheon with traditional Azerbaijani food (or Russian, or even Turkish food...which is extremely similar), a silent auction for the United Aid for Azerbaijan (UAFA), let our children run around and see their friends from "Baku". Or as Ryan likes to say his "Baku Friends". Some of the adoptive parents refer to the children as "Baku Babies". We have made it to 4 reunions so far, there have been 7 reunions all together and each one is held by a hosting family in a different part of the U.S.A. The first reunion occurred in 2002 and was held in Tennessee that was hosted by the first family to ever adopt from Azerbaijan (truly an inspiration to all of us who have adopted from Azerbaijan); the 2003 reunion was held in Kansas City, MO; 2004 it was held in New York, NY; in 2005 the reunion was held in Seattle, WA; 2006 it was held in Indianapolis, IN; 2007 it was held in Philadelphia, PA (which we hosted), and finally this year's reunion will be held in Washington, D.C. :) Ryan's culture is extremely rich and we feel blessed to participate in these reunions! I believe b/c there are only 151 children who were adopted from Azerbaijan (this according to the Travel.State.Gov as of 2006) the adoptive parents feel as if we are a close knit family. As a matter of fact, some of our children were in the same Baby House as one another and they were even in the same group of children as one another.

Hosting last year's reunion was a feat, in and of itself, but so worth it! This year we will go to the reunion "actually" realizing all that goes into these reunions. I have included some photos of last year's reunion above. Aren't the children just beautiful??? Here are some websites that detail Azerbaijan's rich history and culture. http://www.azari.com/index.html, http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/93_folder/93_articles/93_kimi_guidelines.html, or http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/93_folder/93_articles/93_kimi_inara.html.

Love & HUGS,

Jenny, Ron, Ryan & Luke :)

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Kay Drissel, President 1907 Monroeville Road Monroeville, NJ 08343 http://www.shadowequestrian.org Therapeutic Riding: By Jayne Pedigo: I saw a child who couldn't walk sit on a horse, laugh and talk, Then ride through a field of daisies and yet, he couldn't walk unaided. I saw a child, no legs below, sit on a horse and make it go through woods of green and places he had never been to sit and stare, except for a chair. I saw a child who couldn't crawl mount a horse and sit up tall. Put it through degrees of paces and laugh at the wonders in our faces. I saw a child born in strife, take up and hold the reins of life. And that same child, I heard him say, "Thank God for showing me the way". courtesy of Fundraising Know How Please donate what you can, every little bit helps!

LEGACY OF AN ADOPTED CHILD

Once there were two women who never knew each other, One you do not remember, the other you call Mother, Two different lives shaped to make you one, One became your guiding star, the other became your sun, The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it, The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it, One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name, One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim, One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears, One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears, One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do, The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you. Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of? Both, my darling, Both, Just two different types of love.---- Unknown