Owlhaven's Blanket Party

Mary at Owlhaven is hosting a blanket party today! You can read about the details here and here and here.

But if you don't want to click over and read all of that, here are the basics:

Mary has 10 children, six of whom were adopted. Her latest adoptions are two Ethiopian girls. (Even though we're not an adopted family, I've been an avid reader of her adoption blog too.)

Her parents and sister are going to Ethiopia on a mission trip this summer, to work in a maternity ward at a hospital. From Mary's first post on it:

My folks have already met with an experienced volunteer who will be working there this summer as well. When Mom asked what they could bring to help on the OB ward, the volunteer mentioned basic things. Rubber gloves. Trash sacks.

And baby blankets.

The volunteer said that when women come to the hospital to give birth, they often come with nothing — absolutely nothing — for their babies. The staff at the hospital would love to be able to give those mothers one baby blanket each, so they could wrap their babies up before they take them home.

Can you imagine being so desperately poor that you could not afford a scrap of cloth in which to wrap your baby?

No, I can't. I really can't.

I had asked about donating blankets instead, since we've got far more than we need. Unfortunately, that's not possible because of the weight restrictions, and the family is taking textbooks to the nurses they'll be training.

So if you can spare it, scoot over to Paypal and send $5 to owlhaven @ aol.com (without the spaces, of course).

If you're unsure, think about it this way: My children and I are going to the bookstore later, and we'll spend more than $5 on coffee, milk, and scones alone.