Book Review: Addition By Adoption

When local Minneapolis-area writer and content strategist combed through his last few years of tweets, he didn’t find a hodgepodge of “I’m eating a ham sandwich” drivel.

Instead, he uncovered a treasure trove of loving, compelling mini-chronicles detailing his unique role as stay-at-home dad, evangelist and would-be parent of an adopted baby boy from Ethiopia.

Kevin pulled them together into a book, Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters, that he’s selling with a portion of the proceeds going to to fund a clean water well in Ethiopia.

So you’re saying to yourself, “A Twitter book, huh?” Let me assure you this isn’t a just list of bulleted tweets. Each chapter has an introduction and features curated tweets cleaned up for your long-form reading pleasure.

If you don’t know Kevin, he’s one of those guys who turns a milestone 30th birthday into a campaign to provide clean water for 30 people in 30 days by shaving his head:

The story starts out in Winter of 2008 in what I’ll call “fun parenthood mode.” Because my wife is an avid stay-at-home-mommy-tweeter, I have a soft spot for Kevin’s sarcastic parenting tweets like:
After trying to attach a diaper to her doll’s head, Lexi is now trying to diaper her own foot. Note to self: Keep new baby away from Lexi.
Awoke to sound of 2-year-old saying she had poop in her bed, but it was just attention seeking lies.
The tag in Lexi’s shorts says “Keep Away From Fire.” That’s some good parenting advice.

As a SLR-toting father of two, this one hit it on the head:
Having 5,000+ pics of your kid is great until you make a photo book and have to pick a finite number of photos. Doh. And she’s only 3.

Later in the book, things get more serious. Kevin and his wife get the call that their new baby boy was born!
We got the call today. We’re bringing home a baby boy from Ethiopia! He’s 5 weeks old and so cute. We can go get him in two to four months. Woooooo!

And we’re only on Page 29.

The narrative continues to Ethiopia and home, family life adjustments and more. All the time Kevin is thinking charitably. Go without shoes to raise awareness? Sure. Shave my head for my birthday to raise money for clean drinking water? Why not? Sleeping outside to help the homeless? Sign me up. Never doing it for attention, Kevin is doing what he feels called to do, and although I don’t really know him personally, I admire him for it — particularly in the midst of growing a family and daily grind that makes so many of us turn inward instead of outward.

As you read through the ups and downs, you realize Kevin’s life is back to normal. Well, as normal as things can be with two kids peeing, throwing up and screaming at everything.

Naptime ended early. Kids are turning my office into a playground. Milo is intently crawling towards my router and Lexi is throwing things.

One hundred forty characters may seem brief, but Addition By Adoption speaks volumes about love, faith, laughter and this crazy thing called life.

Kevin says a well costs $5,000, so I suggest if you have a heart for Bill Cosby’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” being a dad, the misadventures of family, and/or the hope of adoption, I highly suggest you buy a copy of this book.

Pre-orders for $12.99 including shipping start April 13. More information here.