The Faces of Beautiful Women

Imagine being a woman in Ethiopia and your husband passed away leaving you with three young mouths to feed. You are unskilled and families with husbands to protect them have the advantage. How is a widow suppose to care for her children with the odds stacked against her? That is why so many innocent children end up being orphans. Their mothers can no longer provide for them, let alone themselves. Imagine losing your husband and then losing your children. It would be a mother’s worse nightmare.


When I heard that FOVC wanted to provide cows for their widows, I fell in love with the idea. In the past, the WMP Fund has assisted families adopting older/waiting children. I had yet to donate to a widows’ cause. This was a perfect fit. So in November/December, we donated cows to the widows of FOVC. I am jokingly referred to as the “Cow Queen”, a name Lory is determined to make stick! :0)


The opportunity to travel with FOVC this June came up rather quickly, but boy, was it meant to be! Besides seeing the beautiful children, I would get to meet these amazing women AND their cows!! Little did I know meeting them in person would deeply touch me.


Once we met them, their beautiful faces said it all: FOVC’s helping hand has given them much more than just hope. It has given them their dignity back as productive members of Shanto. They can now provide their families with nutrition from the cows and they are graduates from sewing school and therefore skilled women! Giving their children up to an orphanage is no longer a decision they have to think about making.


Their faces shined with strength. They have been through so much. God only knows of other hardships they have endured in their lives. They have never given up. They have chosen to fight hard for their families. For some women, the obstacles are too much to bear. They have no choice but to give their children up for adoption in order for their children to be fed and to live. FOVC’s has found ways to give these well-deserved women a helping hand. What a huge difference compassion has made in changing their lives and the lives of their children for the better.

Their faces radiated with pride as Dr. Ryan, Lory, Desalegn, Bev, Rick and I visited several of their homes to do check ups on the cows. Two of the donated heifers gave birth to beautiful calves!!! The widows welcomed us into their very humble tekuls consisting of: 1/3 area portioned for the cow, 1/3 for the cooking area and a 1/3 to living/sleeping area.


Never knew holding a calf could be so memorable!


I was taken aback when we were shown the wonderful things that the widows made with their new talents! There in front of me where Wiley, Morgan and Parker’s names on baskets and coffee pots!!

This is Beauty(that's her name!) working none stop on the foot driven sewing machine.




Doctor Jo comforting me after seeing Wiley, Morgan and Parker's names.


Their faces exuded gratitude. With tears of happiness in their eyes, they thanked FOVC for the help they so desperately wanted and needed. It is almost indescribable how deeply thankful they were. I had never experienced such gratitude like that before. What a beautiful thing. What beautiful women.

People tell me I’m strong for what I’ve been through. To meet these incredible women - they are the definition of STRONG. To never give up on life and to receive these seeds of help from FOVC with such gratefulness -they have become my heroes.

I told the beautiful women how FOVC is so proud of what they have accomplished in just six months! I also told them that it was our hope that they continue to work hard and never give up because they are so strong!! I’ve been fortunate to have a couple standing ovations in my life, but nothing compares to the, “Lu, lu, lu, lu, lu!” that I received from these
amazing women. It felt like a great honor was bestowed to me: from widows to widow. You can do anything when you are surrounded by love.

-Denise (or as the children o Shanto refer to me “Denisa”)

Teaching Training in Shanto, Ethiop

Julie, Bev, Emily and Steve came to Shanto, Ethiopia armed with teaching supplies, lesson plans, training books and open hearts.  We intentionally over planned and simply hoped to get as much time with the teachers as we could.  We didn’t know how much the language barrier would apply, nor how much actual time we would get with the teachers, as this was the first teaching task with FOVC.   We accomplished much, learned more and bonded with the teachers in Shanto. 

The time spent with the teachers was precious and we devoted much of that to team training.   Beverly Howlett started out with her Digestive System lesson.  With Emily Garbus’ and the Shanto teachers help, they taught 2 lesson plans, then watched as the Shanto teachers took over the 3^rd lesson plan.   Emily also taught a water cycle lesson plan provided by Rick Negvesky that will teach the community how to take care of their water wells once they are in.  

Student demonstration of the Digestive System Rope (colored for each section)

Student drawings of the Digestive System

Shanto teachers going through Digestive System Lesson Plan with students

Steve and Emily also had a day of training with the Shanto teachers, 5 other teachers from surrounding communities and a few Ethiopian government officials.   With Julie Driver’s advice, we kept the training to teaching UbD (Understanding by Design) and a basic lesson plan.   The UbD simply teaches that the first thing you should think about is the end result, what do you want the students to learn.  Then you think about how the students can show/prove they learned what you set out to teach them.  Only then, should you decide how to teach the students.  It’s a new concept, but one that has greatly impacted many Denver Academy teachers and beyond.  The basic lesson plan was taken from Denver Academy’s lesson plan and modified.  Steps include Attention Getter, Review, Homework Check, New Concept, Teacher Presentation, Student Processing, Homework Assigned and Summary.

Emily and Steve took all of the teachers and government officials through the Ubd and lesson plan sheets in the morning and had them all write up their own lesson plan.  In the afternoon we had Denise step in and teach an art lesson that followed the basic lesson plan.  The teachers really seemed to get the importance and understand the process of writing up lesson plans and had a blast with the artwork. 

Thank you to everyone who donated supplies and money for this trip.  It was another amazing step towards helping the children of FOVC rise above their circumstances and have the chance to become self-sufficient in their own country.  We hope a few of these children will become FOVC teachers, doctors, nurses, veterinarians, farmers, water well specialists, engineers and pay it forward to help their community. 

Special thanks to the Denver Academy community for donating much of the school supplies and raising over $1,000 in cash.  With that extra money we are paying the teachers’ salaries for the next 3 months!    

The highlight of the entire week was going through all of the supplies with the teachers.   Beverly went through all of the science supplies.  Emily handled the social studies and literature, while Steve explained the math and art supplies.  The love and gratitude shown by the teachers was beautiful and sincere.  They were so thankful to have real supplies to use and were grinning from ear to ear, saying thank you and “we love you” over and over.  It was perfect. 

Some of the Shanto teachers enjoying a rare break

Day 1 - Team 'Be the Change' is headed to Shanto, Ethiopia!!!

Where do we even begin?  Today we are leaving for Ethiopia on a  humanitarian mission.  Before we talk about where we're going and what we're doing, we would like give thanks and love.   Thank you to our family and friends who have been incredibly supportive in so many ways.  Without you to share our lives and love there would be a huge piece missing.  


It is truly amazing to reflect back on our lives and wonder in amazement at how we got to this point.  We have simply taken a few steps that have led us here.  There is nothing extra special about us beyond the willingness to take those steps in faith.  We have been lifted up so high from our experiences along this journey.  The people we've met, what we've learned, our new perspective on what is truly important in life, and being able to continually share our lives with our dear friends and family are beyond anything we've dared to dream of.  


FOVC, Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children,  is doing all the right things for all the right reasons.  Going on this trip are 13 people from Colorado, Michigan, Indiana and London.   This is a very task oriented trip.  We have 4 teachers, an artist, a doctor, a veterinarian, an agriculturalist, a water well 'expert', our fearless leader, and 3 others.   " FOVC's mission is to educate and support orphans, vulnerable children & widows in Ethiopia, empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and hunger as we offer them hope and independence for the future." 


It will take 3 days to get there, we will be in the village for 5 days, and we will take another 3 days to get back.   We leave at 12:55am tonight, change planes in Charlotte early morning, arrive in D.C. around 8, and leave at Noon.  We will have a quick fuel stop in Rome (no de-boarding) and arrive in Addis Ababa around 7:30am local time.   We will spend that day in Addis shopping and visiting and geting our bearings.  We stay at the Ethiopia Guest Home that night, which is where we stayed 2 years ago when we adopted Gierma!  The next morning we drive down to Shanto, about a 6 hour drive.  We are renting Land Cruisers with drivers, one of them, Zi, we know from our last trip!


We are staying about an hour away from Shanto in a hotel.  We will drive each morning to Shanto, spend the day on all of our tasks, then drive back each night. The entire village will have a welcoming ceremony for our team.  We've heard from the last trip that this is an amazing 3 hour ceremony filled with dancing, eating, coffee, laughter, hugs, tears and more.  


As far as Denise goes, she will coordinating art projects for the students.  We hope to use these as a teaching tool too.  Denise has designed and set up really cool projects.  You will love them!  One special project is for all of the families and people that are sponsoring a student there.  It will be a map of Ethiopia with their sponsored child's handprint and signature on it.  It will be amazing!  


Steve will be working with 3 other teachers to help train the teachers from three villages.  Steve's coworker at Denver Academy, Emily Garbus, has led the charge to put together an amazing teaching resource booklet.  We hope to get through as much as possible to help the teachers learn the basics of lesson planning, transitions, assessment, and all the other specifics of teaching that Denver Academy does better than any other school in the world!  What we don't get to in the packet, we hope the teachers there will try out and practice on their own until the next group of teachers visit with FOVC.


One of the hardest parts of this trip will be leaving Gierma behind.  He has not even been with us for 2 years, but is so connected to us sometimes we have to peel him off.   Gierma will be staying with Auntie Val and Uncle Apple.   Thanks to Val & Apple for this enormous offer, even rearranging your 25th wedding anniversary to help us.  You have been, and continue to be such an important part in Gierma's lives, let alone ours!!  We Love You!  


Gierma will also be going to the DU Sports Camp every day of the week.  This will be great for him and help Val & Apple out!   He also will start the ELL (English Language Learners) Summer School for Denver Public Schools.  He finished 1st grade at level, but still could use some extra work on reading.   He has worked so hard this year and learned so much, even more remarkable considering we had him skip kindergarten.    He wrote a letter to us this morning... "Mom and dad.  I will mis you wille wille wille moch.  I will be sad."    He is such an unbelievably sweet kid.  It will be hard to leave him, but we will all get through it and be better for it. 


Please take a look at FOVC's website.  It will give you a very good guide as to the why's, how's and what's involved in turning an entire village into a self-sustainable community.  We will post pics and videos of everything when we get back.  We will have some sort of showing/party to celebrate our trip with all of you!  


We hope that our lives encourages others to find/continue their own remarkable journeys and take those steps that lead to a wondrous, fulfilled, loving and complete life.    We all have it in us to lead extraordinary lives.  It's just a matter of taking the first awkward step with faith.


With all of our deepest love, respect and joy,
Steve & Denise

Is Gierma going too?

That is the question we are getting a lot when we tell people of our trip to Ethiopia.  The answer is, “no”.  Reason being is two-fold:  Steve and I are going to be so busy with our individual volunteer tasks that there would be no way for us to be there 100% for our son.  We want Gierma’s trip back to Ethiopia to be about him and not our service trip.  Second reason:  since Gierma has been home with us for less than two years, it would be too soon.  We confirmed this with my therapist, Kenna.  She mentioned a more appropriate time to bring him would be when he’s in his teens.  At that time, he would be more cognitively developed to understand and process his whole aspect of being adopted from Ethiopia, living in the U.S., but going back to his home land for a visit. 

More Details of our June trip to Shanto, Ethiopia

Dear friends and family,


Here are some more details about our upcoming trip to Shanto, Ethiopia.  For more frequent updates, please visit the FOVC (Friends of Orphans & Vulnerable Children) website at  http://www.fovc.org/ .  The blog tab has great, detailed updates.  


We are leaving May 31st and returning June 10th (our 5th Anniversary!).  There are multiple tasks being done on this trip, but first let us take through a bit of the history and background.  
Shanto is in southern Ethiopia and is virtually inaccessible during the rainy seasons (July & August).  And, it's so remote that very few non-profits have ever been there, let alone given significant help.   In a 10 mile radius of Shanto there are roughly 350,000 people.  There is one well which is contaminated and only opperates one hour a day at that.  Many of the young children have never worn, much less owned, any clothes.  The women, many of them widows due to the AIDS pandemic, malaria, and water-born diseases, have to give up their children for adoption.  


This is where FOVC comes in.  "FOVC's mission is to educate and support orphans, vulnerable children & widows in Ethiopia, empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and hunger as we offer them hope and independence for the future."


Their first trip in December-January 2010 laid the ground work for all future projects and plans in Shanto.  28 tireless, devoted, caring and loving people made that trip.  They brought 2000 pounds of donations, and all the love in their hearts.  Immediately, it was determined that clean water was crucial for the people in and around Shanto to survive.  


Estimates of the number of wells needed quickly shot from 1 to 5 and now stands at 18 in the 10 mile radius around Shanto, while other areas are already being assessed.  This is how fast FOVC is moving!  They are also, under the direction of Dr. Jo Bruce, building a medical center.  Jo will be going back with us in June to immunize all of the local staff members, widows and orphans.  It's another huge step!  


Also going on this trip is the water/well expert, an agriculturalist to help them learn how to plant and maintain crops, a veterinarian to check up on the cows purchased on the last trip and further educate the locals on how best to raise and care for them, two other teachers who will work with Steve in helping the 8 teachers learn the basics of teaching, including lesson plans, transitions, asssessing, and much more, while Denise will be leading an art project in which the kids will all do art pieces, half of which they will keep, half of which we will bring back to auction off in  Denver.  These kids have never owned a toy, let alone had their own art work to keep!  


This trip will be an absolutely amazing and emotional roller coaster.  We mostly know what to expect, but only being there will give us the entire experience.  We know we will be completely overwhelmed with the beauty of the country, culture and especially the people.   We hope to come back with an idea of where best the Wiley, Morgan, and Parker Fund can help with a major fundraiser to give the entire Fund sum toward seed money to a project there.  How does the Wiley, Morgan & Parker School, Ethiopia sound to you?!  :O)


Here is the breakdown of our expenses for this trip.   Any money raised will be used first for the art and teaching supplies, and the rest will be put back into the Wiley, Morgan and Parker Fund.  
Plane tickets  -                   $1,800 X 2 =  $3,600

All in-country expenses      $1,000 X 2 = $2,000

Art and Teaching supplies  $500 each = $1,000

TOTAL EXPENSES  =                     $6,600

Thank you for all of the continued love and support.   You all mean so much to us!  Our lives wouldn't be complete without you!


Love,
Steve, Denise, Tyler, Taelyn & Gierma

Shanto, Ethiopia service trip June 2011

 Dear Friends and Family,

What an incredible journey it has been since we first looked into adopting.  Denise feels her life has come full circle since losing her boys.  Denise’s grants have allowed 16 children to be adopted by 13 families.  We are in such a good place knowing Wiley, Morgan & Parker are living on in so many people’s hearts.   With Gierma in our lives, Denise feels it is time to find a worthy home to invest the rest of the Wiley, Morgan & Parker Fund.  This home should be a major project that has personal meaning and watch it grow into something amazing.   We have recently come across an incredible group helping widows and orphans in the same region Gierma is from.

Denise & Steve are thrilled to join FOVC (Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children) for a service trip to Shanto, Ethiopia in June of this year.  Shanto is a very isolated region that has not seen any substantial support.   There are over 350,000 people in a ten mile radius.   There is one contaminated well that operates one hour a day and many of the children are without clothes.   FOVC’s focus is on the children and widows by providing clean water, education, and a sustainable income and food source.  Please check out their website to see all of the amazing programs they are working on.  http://www.fovc.org/index.html

Denise will be organizing an art event in which the Ethiopian children make art pieces.  Half of these will be brought back to sell for further fund-raisers.   Steve will be working with two other teachers to help eight Ethiopian teachers learn how to teach.   We are extremely confident in FOVC’s vision, drive and integrity.   They are an amazing group doing all the right things for all right reasons.   Everyone pays their own way on these trips.  Every penny is accounted for.  The in-country person who has started the entire mission in Shanto, Desalegn, is nothing short of a saint! We can’t wait to work with him, the FOVC group, and all the staff there. 

We are asking you to help us raise $5000.00 to cover the art and teaching supplies, plane tickets and in-country expenses.  Any amount you give would be hugely appreciated.   We understand that this seems rather fast, but we believe fully that this was meant to be.  The connection with Gierma’s area, the widows’ trying to become self-supportive and the people we have already worked with at FOVC  all are strongly connected to Denise and gently leading us.

We hope to come back from this trip with an exact idea of where to best support the efforts in Shanto in a big way.  Can you imagine the Wiley, Morgan & Parker School?!   While this has come into our lives rather quickly, we have nothing but positive feelings about our trip and FOVC.  It just seems like the perfect fit.  Once we have committed to a large project we will have one last fundraiser for the Wiley, Morgan and Parker fund that we hope you will be a part of.  Thank you so much for being a part of our lives, for learning about FOVC and considering a donation.   For more detailed information please visit our blog at http://familylivingston.blogspot.com/.

With much love,

Steve & Denise Livingston

The Livingston Family update – February, 2011

We didn’t get around to making a holiday letter, so Denise had a great idea of waiting until Valentine’s Day.   It couldn’t be more fitting.  Love has filled our house and hearts and continues to be the reason for everything we do.  We hope this letter finds you loving what you do, loving your family, and loving every big and small moment this life has to offer you.

It is amazing to think that just a year and a half has passed since we brought Gierma back from Ethiopia.  It seems like he has always been a part of our family.  We got back to Denver August 3^rd of 2009.  We still had a few months before our home addition was done, so Gierma started out sleeping on a sofa-sleeper in our room.   Gierma has been our son since the first moment we saw him.  It continues to amaze us how well he fits in our family.  From being a loving, hugging son and loving art, to being competitive and loving board games and sports, Gierma was meant to be in our family. 

Gierma is thriving in first grade this year.  He is doing well in all subjects, loves gym and recess, and has a lot of good friends in school and around our neighborhood.  Gierma has taken swimming lessons, and has had a blast playing soccer, T-ball, basketball and learning Tai Kwon Do.   We have taken him camping, sledding and to Jump Street for trampoline dodge ball.  Denise has been great about having Gierma do all sorts of arts and craft projects.  Denise has also led the charge to get Gierma caught up in school, including reading Bob Books, doing workbooks and practicing extra hard on school work.  Steve has helped coach Gierma’s soccer and basketball teams and takes him to cub scouts meetings.  Gierma loves when Tyler and Taelyn are over, listening to everything they say, wanting to do everything they do and adores them both.  Tyler is great about messing around with his little bro, playing with him and roughing him up while Gierma just giggles.  Taelyn is also good about defending her little brother and letting him play on the WII video game with her.  No matter what he’s doing, he loves keeping busy and playing games, video games, sports and enjoys movies and TV shows.   

      Speaking of the older kids, Tyler is a junior at Wheatridge High School in Golden.   He is getting mostly A’s & B’s, has good friends, and loves basketball, sports and trivia games.  He is planning to look into University of Colorado, Colorado State University and Boise State.  He has expressed an interest in advertising and marketing.  Tyler is such a good kid.  He is very smart, both book and street, and has a great balance between being a nice kid, having a great sense of humor and understanding how things really work.  He did a great job of helping Steve work on the cabins in Neebish, Michigan this summer (Mostly scraping moss off the roof).

      Taelyn is a freshman at Wheatridge High School.  She is a very social girl and loves her friends.  She is extremely smart and doing great in school.  Taelyn wants to get a job, but is finding it tough going for a 14-year-old.   She would like to be a model some day and has looked into a few agencies recently. 

      Denise has done an incredible job of focusing on Gierma while still finding time for painting and yoga.  She has moved away from her handmade notecard business (although she still does cards upon request) and has been building up a stock of paintings.  Denise is very happy to report she has decided what she wants to be... An artist!  She has done over 20 paintings in the last year and a half, sold a few and has a done a few commissioned paintings.  Steve loves watching her paintings come to life, and is amazed how fearless Denise is with her art.   Denise is doing mostly acrylics, but has dabbled in wax, charcoal, water colors and mixed media.  Once she has enough paintings she plans to have a showing in a local art gallery.  We will make sure everyone knows about it.  It will be a very big night!  Denise has let the Wiley, Morgan and Parker Foundation relax while focusing on our family.  Yet, she has still given out a few more grants.  So far, Denise has helped 16 children from China and Ethiopia get adopted to 13 families.  The lives of Wiley, Morgan and Parker will forever live on with these families.  It is such a good feeling when a family truly embraces what the foundation stands for.  The love of these families is contagious.   Denise is thinking about doing one last major fundraiser, and then donating the entire lot to a charity for seed money towards a major operation.  Right now, there are some great organizations in Ethiopia we are watching closely, but will take our time in deciding.   On top of all of that, Denise also volunteers at Gierma’s school every week, works with the P.T.A., and organized and ran an art contest for the school. 

      Steve is in his 6th year at Denver Academy, and still loves his job.  He has a senior homeroom and teaches Passages, Literature, and two Psychology classes (which are his favorites).  He also has run the Experiential program and the Annual Fund drive.  Steve loves teaching seniors, and tries hard to makes sure each student graduates with a good understanding of their needs, strengths, who they are, and what steps they need to take to get where they want to go.  It’s a very tough job sometimes, but seeing the kids truly ‘get it’ makes it all worthwhile.  Steve has also picked up a few tutoring jobs for extra income.   This summer Steve plans to ride in the Crazy Horse ride to help honor Lakota veterans.  His friend Jerome High Horse, from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, will help him with the details.  It is a 4-5 day ride from Fort Robinson to Pine Ridge.  Steve is very honored to be allowed a chance at this ride and can’t wait to experience this chance of a lifetime.  His major concern is his complete lack of horse riding experience and wondering how he will walk again afterwards.  

      Carly, our Golden (we took the retriever off since she doesn’t retrieve anything) is doing great.  She is 10 ½ years old, but still has a lot of puppy in her.  She loves life and is constantly wagging and thumping her tail.   She loves her tennis balls, hikes, walks, getting brushed by Gierma and just wants to be wherever we are.   Elsy, our oldest cat, is fine and our lover girl, rubbing up against us and purring.  Apsen, 4, is our middle cat and has finally adjusted to our new kitten George.  They chase each other around and beat each other up.  George was rescued at 4 weeks old nearly blind from eye infections.  The vet could only save one eye, but other than that, he is a great kitten.  He loves to snuggle and purrs loudly the instant you pet or hold him.   Our house is always an entertaining with the animals and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

      The past few years have been an amazing experience for our entire family.  It is humbling and inspiring to see how easily Gierma has accepted our family and our love.  He is a constant reminder of how amazing life can be and how we have angels looking out for us and guiding us.   Watching Tyler and Taelyn mature into young adults has been incredible.   While it tugs at our hearts to see them growing away, we know that is a positive sign they are getting ready to figure out their lives and find their own path.  Denise and Steve continued to be amazed at the support and love from the Ethiopian community and the international adoption community in Denver.   It is truly a humbling and spiritual experience to be a part of.   We are looking forward to each new year of learning, discovery and love.  The world is a wondrous place, our lives are a gift, and we are truly blessed to have our family and friends support and love us.   Thanks for every big and little thing you do for us, for sharing our journey, and mostly for being a part of our lives.  We love you all so very much!  Mitakuye Oyasin!  (We Are All Related!)

Steve, Denise, Tyler, Taelyn, Gierma, Carly, Elsy, Apsen & George Livingston.