Dec

30

By CinnamonOpus

18 Comments

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Challenge

I like challenges. I find they push me to do things I would not normally do.

BDH and I just completed a 100 Day Challenge in mid-December. That meant that we had to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity (a.k.a. “exercise”) every day for 100 days. It was a good challenge, because we both pushed each other to keep going.

Guilt is a great motivator — it’s hard to slack off when you know the other person is doing something or has already completed their exercise. PLUS we blogged about it every day, so Teh Entire Interwebs were there watching us, man.

So we had to do it.

We were really proud of ourselves for making it through. 100 days straight is a LOT of continuous exercise when you are unaccustomed to it. When you are young, sure; but then when you get older and get jobs/make life choices that make you more sedentary, it’s hard. Your body aches, and there are no rest days. You’re tired. And life gets in the way and makes it hard to fit in exercise sometimes.

So, with a new year just around the corner, I am thinking of what it will bring. Usually I make some resolutions, or goals, or plans.

And then I start out full tilt and, shortly thereafter, fail spectacularly.

But this year, I am looking for a challenge. I can do that. I know that if I am accountable, pride gets in the way and stops me when I want to slack off. People are watching! Do something! Don’t be a slack bastard!

So the question has been, what am I going to do? And it’s been hard to come up with something.

I want to do another exercise challenge. I am just not sure what, yet. 100 days straight was hard, so it’s not going to be that again. At least, I don’t think so. But BDH and I both need to push each other to get back to regular exercise, and something more aerobic more often, too. So definitely, I have to think about that one. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

But there is another challenge I am going to do: Project 365.

Somewhere out there on Teh Intartubes, someone came up with the idea of taking a picture every day for a year and posting it. It was a great way to document a year in pictures, and it caught on, and soon, a number of people took it on as their personal project. Now, there are all kinds of people doing “Project 365″s all over the place.

And so am I.

Now, people do all kinds of projects. Photography. Scrapbooking. Blog posts. One woman even cooked a meal in her crock pot every day. (Ugh. That seems a bit much for me. But then, she made it into a cookbook and it was a bestseller and she’s probably making a shit-ton of cash so, hey, the joke’s on ME.) But me? I’m sticking to the original concept of a photo a day.

One photo per day, posted every day for 365 days.

Now, I am hoping this challenge will do a few things for me:

    • I want to get better at taking pictures. Currently, I just point and shoot — and shoot, and shoot, and shoot. And I hope I get something good. As a professional sports photographer once referred to it, I “spray and pray”. So I want to learn to do more than just that. I want to use this as an opportunity to get better at using our camera, and learn about the various settings and options and maybe even pick up some more technical aspects of photography. I’d like to develop a better eye, and learn to use light better, and learn about composition. But mostly, I just want to take better pictures.
      • I want to get better at taking different pictures. Currently I take pictures of Stinkerbelle. Maybe the cats sometimes. But I want to take this opportunity to see if I can take interesting pictures of subjects that are not two years old and dancing by me. Not that I will stop taking pictures of That Baby, you understand… but I will try to do other things, too.
        • I want to use this as an opportunity to learn to use my photo editing software. I have two that I like and I can do the basics, but I really want to try to play with some of the finer tools and techniques and learn things.

          Getting back to point #2 for a minute, this challenge will actually be two-fold. Yes, I want to have a picture of each day. But I also want to have a picture of That Baby for each day of the year. So at the end of the year, I will have documented a year in the life of my daughter.

          So, it might be that I take more than one picture per day. But there will have to be at least one.

          I am not sure how and where I will post the pictures. Maybe here, maybe not. I’ll think about it and see. (Obviously any pictures I post of Stinkerbelle will be password-protected — having met people who know of what kinds of evil troll the internets in search of photos of children, I’m even more firmly on the password protection team, thankyouverymuch. Same password rules will apply.)

          So there you have it. No new year’s resolutions this year. I am facing the new year with a challenge — or two.

          Anyone care to join me?

          Dec

          29

          By CinnamonOpus

          3 Comments

          Categories: Her Babyness, Holidays

          Denouement

          Christmas is over for another year, peeps. Now we are at that point in the story where you wish that the whole festive holiday thing would keep going, but really? It’s over.

          I was bummed as I got ready for bed on Christmas Day. Damn. It’s over again. All that planning and excitement and preparation and whoosh — it’s done.

          Christmas was good. Quiet in one sense; we had just us this year, and the phone didn’t ring and no one came to the door and we didn’t go anywhere. But in another sense it was a frigging madhouse.

          You know how everybody says to you, when you have young children, “Oh, you must be SO excited” or “Oh, you’re going to have SO MUCH fun” as Christmas nears? Because everybody does. And you believe it too.

          And then comes the reality of Christmas morning with a toddler. And holy hell, can a day BE more EXHAUSTING?  I don’t think so.

          At 20 months, Stinkerbelle is still too young to “get” Christmas. Children at this age obviously can’t grasp the idea of Christmas, and when faced with all the presents and the sparkling lights and parental excitement and anticipation, they just wig out. There’s just too much excitement, too much to see, too many toys to play with. TOO MUCH STIMULATION.

          Christmas Eve kicked off the festival of frantic in fine style. We did a webcam Christmas Eve with BDH’s family back home, which was really fun. Stinkerbelle loved being a part of it, of singing and dancing along to everyone singing Christmas carols, and chatting with Grammy and her aunties and Autumn and her bestest pal Madd Dawn. It was JUST! SO! EXCITING!

          But then it was supper and bedtime, and we started to gear things down for the night. We got her some milk and got her ready for bed, and then BDH took her into her room for a couple of stories and bedtime.

          And then she barfed all over her daddy, herself, and the floor.

          Okay. So maybe this was our clue that Christmas was going to be a bit TOO exciting.

          We bathed her and put her to bed (again) and put the toys and presents under the tree and settled down to enjoy Christmas Eve by watching “White Christmas”. However, it soon became evident that we were too tired to even do that after all the excitement and preparation, so we called it a night and went to bed early.

          Christmas morning we stuck to routine. Bath and breakfast as normal — well, as normal as a massive Christmas breakfast allows, but in terms of routine, things for That Baby were pretty much the same as every day. And once we had eaten and I had partaken of a GIANT bucket of coffee, we went to open presents.

          And that is when That Baby just EXPLODED.

          TOO! MANY! TOYS! TOO! MANY! PRESENTS!

          Looking back, it seems fairly obvious. Small children just don’t need a lot of gifts. What were we thinking? Holy sensory overload, Batman! Stinkerbelle ran from toy to toy, from book to book, waving sleepers like war flags, shrieking like a… well, like a kid at Christmas, I guess. She could not focus on any one thing for more than about 10 seconds at a time.

          And it didn’t make things much easier that we were so excited to see HER excitement, so we tried to show her everything and help her play with her new toys and unwrap her many presents. So we got tired and frustrated — and, to be honest, probably just a little disappointed that things were not how we imagined they’d be.

          Looking back, we kinda set ourselves up a bit.

          That’s not to say it was not a great day. It was. We had a wonderful Christmas, the first of many where That Baby shares in the excitement. But probably, we should have been a little more realistic. Oh well. It was a really good day, and all the excitement meant for really good naps mid-afternoon. So THAT was a big bonus.

          And then, it was over. And I was just kind of… meh. BDH kept insisting, “But it’s still the holidays! There’s no saying we can’t watch our Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music and all that stuff this week.” But really? I’m just not feeling it anymore. It feels kind of silly to listen to Christmas music now. And we watched a few more Christmas movies, but the only one I usually watch after Christmas is Bernard and the Genie, which is my traditional Boxing Day movie.

          We’re also not big on New Year’s Eve, so there’s no anticipation of that to ride until then. So… it’s all kind of over.

          At least we had Boxing Day, which fell on a Saturday and so it was observed yesterday. So we had a good long vacation, and BDH was home from work for a bunch of days.

          And we still have a fridge full of food, and a bunch of DVDs and books that Santa brought us to enjoy, and it’s too cold for man or beast outside, so perhaps we’ll have to take comfort in the fact that it’ll be a short work week and there’s another long weekend to come.

          Dec

          24

          By CinnamonOpus

          3 Comments

          Categories: Holidays

          It Was Christmas Eve, Babe

          It’s Christmas Eve. Shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, and all that is left is to wait for Santa to arrive for a certain good little girl. We’re going to be settling in this evening in front of the Christmas tree with some tasty hors d’oeuvres to watch “White Christmas”.

          We wish the happiest of holidays to you and yours. Merry Christmas to all.

          Dec

          21

          By CinnamonOpus

          2 Comments

          Categories: Holidays

          Getting in the Spirit

          Okay, it’s going to get slow around here… because there is much wrapping and baking and dancing and movie watching and singing to do before Christmas!

          So here’s a song (the video isn’t a video, it’s just the song) to help you get in the festive spirit, too! Have a listen. It’s fun, it’s catchy, and it’s Canadian.

          Dec

          19

          By CinnamonOpus

          Enter your password to view comments

          Categories: Her Babyness, Holidays

          Protected: Saturday Smile: Visit with Santa

          This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


          Dec

          16

          By CinnamonOpus

          9 Comments

          Categories: Her Babyness, Holidays

          Joy to the Mall…

          That Baby has come! Let stores receive Their Queen!

          Yes, we went Christmas shopping today. I shop mostly online, because I hate Teh People and so I avoid them in situations like malls and such. But every year, there are a few things that I have to go out to get. Fortunately our mall is a good one, and close to our home, so I can get in and out and home quickly.

          So I bundled Stinkerbelle up in her boots and coat and off we went.

          I took the stroller because she’s still too little to walk so much. And she likes the stroller. She grabs the tray and holds herself up ramrod straight to better observe Her Public. And shout at them, as need be.

          So we cruised around, shopping, an endless discussion happening between the two of us about what to buy and what not to buy and why. (The casual observer probably thinks I am a little nuts, but oh well. I talk to my kid while we walk. About whatever. Don’t care who hears. And she comments in her own way. And she doesn’t care who hears. It works for us.)

          While we shopped I learned two important things: 1) That Baby is much more content to sit in her stroller if you take her coat off, and 2) if you forget to re-buckle her seat belt in the stroller, you will be browsing in a store and turn to find your child has squirmed out of the stroller feet-first and is standing in the aisle holding your purse full of credit cards, ready to go.

          After about an hour and a half, we had what we wanted, and it was time to get her coat back on and bundled up to take her back out to the car. So to do that, I turned down a little side-street of the mall and found a comfy seat in between a vendor of some kind and the lottery desk.

          I took Stinkerbelle out of her stroller to stretch her legs and to make it easier to put her jacket on. And that is when the holiday magic happened.

          There were Christmas songs playing over the mall PA system. And when That Baby hears music… well, she’s gotta dance. So she started to get her groove on, right there in the middle of the mall. She wiggled. She shimmied. She sang. She stomped. She spun around and around.

          That Baby has the rhythm in her. She can’t stop it.

          And I just let her. Yes, I was That Mom.

          She was a little vision of pure joy in pink overalls. Smiling, spinning, singing, and shaking her booty and her boots. And she caught sight of herself in the storefront window, and she was enchanted. And that just ratcheted the dancing up that much more.

          The lottery kiosk staff were absolutely delighted. They clapped and talked to her and encouraged her. Shoppers grinned at her as they passed, as they dodged Dance Dance Revolution Baby. She seemed to bring the festive spirit to people coming and going, and nearby staff. She followed after shoppers who smiled at her, dancing along for a little bit and then grooving her way back in the other direction after someone else.

          And when she wasn’t dancing, she was pointing and reading all the signs around us OUT LOUD VERY LOUDLY WITH MUCH FEELING.

          Finally, after about 10 minutes of shaking her groove thing, I told her it was time to go. Normally, when she is having so much fun, there will be tears of great sorrow. But That Baby just looked at me and said and signed “All done”.

          Her job as the dancing festive Christmas elf was apparently done. She had spread Christmas cheer to all she met. And she climbed in the stroller and off we went.

          It made me happy. And it made her daddy smile when I told him.

          Stinkerbelle has the holiday spirit. And she shared it with everyone she met today, in her own way.

          Dec

          15

          By CinnamonOpus

          3 Comments

          Categories: Welcome to the Mommyhood

          Teh Funz. We Don’t Haz It.

          Oy, That Baby is plagued with the trifecta of toddler misery right now: a cold, a molar coming in, and a touch of diaper rash.

          What that means in my world is this: an endless stream of boogers, continual drool, and some of the messier diapers in existence.

          The cold is making her cough, and sneeze, and her nose is running like crazy, which means I am forever chasing after her to wipe up the latest emanations before she smears them all over her face. And that means her wee button of a nose is raw and sore, so clean up is an exercise in misery.

          The tooth (or teeth; only one is starting to poke through at present but I suspect at least one more) is causing a festival of drool and chewing on any and every thing Stinkerbelle can lay a hand to. Mostly wooden things, strangely enough. But the waking up crying in the middle of the night has become hit and miss, so we are thankful that the painful phase is over, at least temporarily.

          But the teething is also causing massive messy diapers — three so far today — which has led to some irritated and red chubby bits on That Baby. So diaper changes are a battle, full of flailing and crying and drama. THANK DOG for Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, I say in all seriousness. It is some awesome in a tube, right there. Liberally applied, it is helping fend off what I am sure would be a very sore diaper zone indeed.

          And, all in all, Stinkerbelle has been her usual pleasant self about the whole mess, for which I am eternally grateful. Her father and I have both been sick with that selfsame cold (thankfully, we have neither teething nor diaper issues) and so we understand how ick it can be. But she soldiers merrily along, so long as we are not trying to wipe her nose or change her butt.

          This morning she has been fairly cross, which indicates that we are into the worst of it. For her, “fairly cross” is still pretty damn good. The Most Easygoing Child on the Planet will occasionally get peevish with her shape sorter when she cannot force it to cooperate, or she will sit and turn side to side in a full-body “no no no” motion to express some sort of internal angstiness. The odd time she will whine and push back at me about something, like putting the tray on her high chair. And of course, she cries out when her tender little nose or her tender little nether bits are wiped. But for the most part, these little flashes of temper we see in our daughter would go unnoticed in the lives of most kids’ parents.

          And don’t think for a second we don’t know how lucky we got in the Kid Lottery, or that we’re not eternally grateful for this.

          But still, they are signs of an unhappy little girl, and what is hardest is knowing you can’t do much to help her out. She’s just got to bubble and cough and drool and chew her way through it.

          Tylenol has become our friend — almost like a baby version of an after-dinner mint around here these days. It’s some relief from the pain and it helps her rest, which is awesome. Because invariably, a good sleep will restore our sunny, high-spirited little girl, and the house becomes a cacophony of joyful noise again for the better part of the day.

          Until the runny sore nose, and the drooling, and the nasty diapers return… And then, it is NO FUN NO. For ANYONE. Thank goodness it’s all fairly temporary.

          Dec

          14

          By CinnamonOpus

          6 Comments

          Categories: Welcome to the Mommyhood

          An Inconvenient Poop

          So, you’re saying to yourself, “Self? WHY, after being away for a week, would she want to talk about POOP?”

          I mean, there is so much MORE I could talk about. Stinkerbelle’s first meeting with Santa. Mock-snowball fights indoors with foam blocks. A newly discovered high-steppin’ Flashdance expression of joy. Her inherent skepticism of magicians.

          But NO. I am leading off with POOP.

          “Why?” you plead with yourself. “For the love of doG, WHY?”

          Well, the simple answer is… HELLO. LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF. I AM THE MOM OF A TODDLER.

          So there you go.

          It has taken me a year of fancy footwork, finagling, begging, tearing my hair out, and carefully calculated scheduling of my days to finally, FINALLY get my daughter to nap for a decent amount of time, just once per day, and just after lunch. It has been WORK, I tell you.

          I was enjoying that 90-minute-to-2-hour stretch of time. I could work out. I could do actual paying work. I COULD SHOWER. It was mommy bliss, I tell you truly. An oasis is Me-dom in a day full of toys all over the floor, endless baby videos, and interpreting baby sign language.

          AND THEN CAME THE POOP.

          For whatever reason, Stinkerbelle’s biological clock has decided that she needs to have a poop in the early afternoon. Usually it’s at 2 pm. But if the fates are toying with me, it can show up anytime between 1 and 3. And it’s not one of those wee little rabbit doot-style poops. Oh no. It is a GREAT BIG HONKING BIOHAZARD POOP.

          And I would not mind, except for it WAKES HER UP. From the middle of her afternoon nap. And it makes her cross, and sleep deprived, and it does very little for me, either, if I am truthful. She is woken up with a start, and therefore has not had enough rest to get her through until bedtime.

          And that means the Insane Circus Clown Posse Baby of Doom shows up at around 4:30 and begins rampaging through my life like a pink cotton-clad nightmare.

          So yeah. The 2 pm poop? I am not a fan.

          I have come to believe that it has been sent to punish me. Perhaps it’s for all the indiscretions of my youth (and they are myriad). It could be because I don’t sort my garbage nearly well enough. Possibly it’s for the fact that I got drunk WAY too much in university. It could be because of that time I stole a chocolate bar from the tuck shop. Maybe it’s payback for that time I broke into a national institution of learning at 3 am in a stumbling, drunken, boy-crazy search for Manitoba Bisons. (I found them. In case you were wondering.)

          It is hard to say, really. But it is a PAIN in my ARSE. And, I believe, a pain in my daughter’s too, because, hello? It’s her diaper.

          So while nobody likes to change a poopy diaper, this one? It is COMPLETELY harshing my mellow. It is not only a stinky diaper, but it is INCONVENIENT. And that is the whole inconvenient truth.

          Dec

          13

          By CinnamonOpus

          9 Comments

          Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

          Fred Lives!

          We’re back. Sort of.

          After a bunch of things burned out/shorted out/arsed up on the Frankencomputer we lovingly call “Fred”, we lost contact with the mother ship and we were gone from Teh Intertubes for a week or so. But, as one is compelled to do when one has no money, BDH got out the bits of wire and duct tape and scraps of an old bandanna and some dental floss and MacGyver-ed our server back to life again.

          So now we have email and blogs again. For how long? Who can say?

          Life on the edge, we live it, man.

          Dec

          8

          By CinnamonOpus

          6 Comments

          Categories: Everyday Life Stuff, Holidays

          Not Festive

          GAH. It’s 3 weeks or something until Christmas and I am not feeling festive. Not even remotely.

          There are flashes of festive. But mostly, it’s a lot of NOT. I am hoping that a little snow will make it all seem Christmas and ho ho ho around here. Because it does not FEEL like Christmas is coming.

          This year, we said, “We are going to have all our shopping done by December 1. We are going to have a nice, festive, relaxing December, and we are going to be NOT stressed for the holidays.” We had plans. We had LISTS.

          And yet? Here it is, December 8, and we’re not even close to ready.

          Well, that’s not entirely true. We have all the gifts we had planned to buy for Stinkerbelle. Truth be told, we finished her shopping in September or something. We have lights on the house (but that is all — no money or energy for garlands and wreaths and arbors and whatnot this year) and we have gotten our tree up in record time. I even did one batch of baking already.

          We tried to get That Baby’s Christmas pictures done on the weekend. But she? Was having NONE OF IT. Oh no. It’s like she has a psychic power whereby we say, “Oh, we are going to do X when she’s gone to bed or X when she wakes up from her nap”. So then she struggles to go to bed or stay in bed or wakes up cranky from a 10 millisecond nap and foils our plans. So that’s still to be done, unfortunately.

          Around the house, there is still so much to do as well. Our attic-slash-rec room looks like a bomb full of computers and office supplies has gone off. Our second floor needs work, too. Christmas decorations are randomly stacked about, waiting to be given a spot to sit and be festive for the holiday season. I have a ton of baking to do, which means That Baby has a ton of “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ME PICK ME UP PICK ME UP PICK ME UP”-ing to do. I haven’t gotten Christmas cards ready, or finished shopping for BDH or family yet.

          I hate the holidays for the stress it brings, I really do.

          We are trying to make it a non-stressful, festive time, because it is not just us anymore. There’s a little person who, not this year probably, and maybe not even next year so much, but soon, will LOVE everything about Christmas. So we want it to be a fun time of year for her.

          We tried to prepare and get things done. And then life and lack of money and other Things To Do got in the way. I guess that happens to a lot of us.

          But this morning was Stinkerbelle’s last swimming lesson for this session, and her social calendar is slowing down a bit, which means we now have some free time in our weeks. BDH has his company Christmas party tonight, AND a soccer game, so that gives me a night to do stuff this evening. And maybe, with some Christmas music and the tree for diversion (we’ve tried the traditional cartoons and movies and That Baby is just NOT interested) maybe I can get a bit of baking done this week during the daytimes.

          I am sure as the holiday gets closer, I will start to get excited. At least, I hope so. In the meantime, I am sure some lovely shortbread (which, for the first time in 20 years, I don’t have to share with Opus!!) and a cup of coffee and Bailey’s will at least make me feel a little more jolly.

          Dec

          5

          By CinnamonOpus

          Enter your password to view comments

          Categories: Her Babyness

          Protected: Saturday Smile: Party Girl

          This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


          Dec

          1

          By CinnamonOpus

          1 Comment

          Categories: Books, Get Involved

          World AIDS Day

          Today is World AIDS Day. It is a day I always remember, and AIDS research and assistance charities are very close to my heart, even moreso now that we have a daughter that comes from a country that has been very hard-hit by this disease.

          I am not going to ask you what you are going to do on this day. Charity, if one engages in it, is a very personal thing, and AIDS charities and work are not everyone’s first choice — to say it can be a somewhat politicized cause is probably a fair statement, even in this day and age.

          I am, however, going to tell you what I am doing today, and all this month, actually.

          I am knitting red squares for the Knit-a-Square project.

          Knit-a-Square is a charity project in which people all over the world knit or crochet 8-inch squares. Those squares are then packed up and sent to South Africa, where they are sorted and sewn into blankets to give to children who have been orphaned by AIDS. Sometimes, they are also sewn into sweaters for kids to give them something to wear when the weather gets cold. But the end result is to give comfort and warmth to kids who have been devastated, and continue to be, by the loss of their parents to a really opportunistic, nasty disease.

          Have a look at the site. Some of those kids could break your heart. But seeing them wrapped in blankets, THEIR blankets, sometimes one of their only possessions in this world — well, that’s what got me knitting.

          Squares are easy. And quick. Two things I love in a knitting project.

          The charity knitting group I belong to on Ravelry has chosen to use World AIDS Day as the stepping stone for this month’s knitting challenge — to knit red squares for the entire month of December. Not only is it the colour of the AIDS campaign, but it is also a colour of the Christmas season. However, because of the stigma attached to AIDS in many countries, the only caveat is to avoid the red ribbon motif, and instead make “plain jane” simple squares. Well, I am not good at patterns anyway, so that works fine for me.

          Every time I look at my daughter, or at some of the other kids adopted from Ethiopia, it is hard not to remember the phrase “there but for the grace of God go I”. And having met a birth mom who was dying from AIDS and who had lost a husband to AIDS, whose daughter was being adopted by a Canadian family, while we were in Ethiopia… well, how could I pass up this challenge? This woman had such grace, such dignity, such beauty in the face of such a devastating situation — and her only goal was to make sure that her daughter had a family to love her and care for her for the rest of her life. As a mom now, I completely understand. I get it. And it makes me marvel at her strength and her selflessness.

          I cannot think of her without wondering how she is. I cannot think of her without sending up a silent wish for her to live her remaining days in peace, and hoping her death is one without too much sadness and suffering. I cannot think of her without tears.

          Every square I knit this month will be in her honour. She touched me greatly.

          And while she had the strength and the resources to make an adoption plan for her beautiful girl, many cannot. And so I will knit, this month and always, to ensure that those moms’ and dads’ beloved children have something to keep them warm, some small consolation in a devastating time.

          I cannot change the world. But I can do something. This is what I choose to do, and why.

          And if you knit or crochet, and you feel you want to do something, have a look through the Knit-a-Square site. And get your sticks and hooks moving for a good cause.

          ************

          Looking for some good reading to put on your Xmas list? Well, since we’re on the topic, I have two recommendations.

          • And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts — This book outlines the beginnings of HIV/AIDS, and the early days of research, fear, politics and ignorance. It is a long but brilliant read from someone deeply affected by the disease in his community, who later succumbed to it. More than once, I wanted to heave the book across the room in anger and frustration at the issues surrounding AIDS and HIV in the West.
          • 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen — This powerful, compelling book outlines 28 stories of people living and dying with AIDS in present-day Africa from someone on the ground talking to and getting to know the people involved. Some of the stories will absolutely break your heart. And some will inspire. And I defy anyone connected with adoption in Ethiopia to read the story of the little girl caring for her brother, both orphaned by AIDS in Addis, and not feel the urge to hug their children that much tighter.