Ethiopian Americans! FINAL ADOPTION DECREE TODAY!

Going to Africa is quite an education. You realize the nuances between the countries. Of course this could be said about South America too. When we were there the Ethiopian friends we had met were serious about identifying themselves as Ethiopian. They even pointed out some Somali's or Ugandans when we were there and called them such. One of the requirements in adopting from any country is to promise to encourage a cultural identity. My Guatemalan daughter is not Mexican but like Mexicans is Hispanic. My Ethiopian Children are not Somalian but they are both African. Still, if you talk to someone who recently became a citizen here they will tell you specifically "I am Dominican", "I am Ugandan"...My children's language is not the same as the people of Nigeria, their food is different, the dress is different...the same is true with the Guatemalan people verses the people of Peru. So, my Ethiopian friends here in America made it a point to encourage me to help my kids to not lose touch of their foundation (Ethiopian, Guatemalan and even Jewish, Irish, and German). Recently, a critic of interracial families came across my blog and had a problem with my kids being called Ethiopian. She said they are African American period. They are African American TRUE!!! But they are also blessed with a recent and vivid memory of where they come from . They can help to teach all of us Americans about a culture that is rich, beautiful and ancient. My children are African American now and I am proud of that. BUT they will always be Ethiopian first and there is a sense of confidence in them when they say it. Even when I hear my 4 year old Guatemalan daughter speak about Guatemala she is proud although she has lived her since she was 8 months old. Throughout the past few years my family has been embraced and educated regarding the entire Ethiopian culture. We are so proud to have been adopted by so many from that country. I just want to share with everyone that my children are fortunate in having an even more specific identity than African American. I look at the faces now of African Americans now knowing the simple visual differences from the various African countries and can almost identify the part of Africa their ancestors must have been from. It is sad to think of what had been stripped of them via slave trade etc. But I really really do not want to do the same to my children. I would like to encourage all of us to look at recent African immigrants as being able to bring back something that was totally lost through that awful business of human trafficking and through my children and others be reminded and educated in knowing how different each specific part of Africa is and how rich of a country it is...and could be if we all simply could see the intricate specific beauty each part of it adds to the big colorful quilt that it is...