Our dossier has now been in Ethiopia for five months. Our adoption agency, America World, still says that the wait for an infant girl referral will be 7 - 11 months. Things have been moving slowly lately and we're currently #12 on the unofficial wait list.
We've said this before, but I want to clarify that the 7 - 11 month wait is not a wait for a baby to be born. There are an estimated five million orphans in Ethiopia today. Our adoption agency can only process so many adoptions at one time, so we are waiting for our agency to get to us on the list. Even though the wait is long, we are happy that our adoption agency moves slowly and ethically. We know our turn will come eventually!
As we've mentioned in earlier posts, time as we know it is totally different in Ethiopia due to their use of the Coptic Calendar. Below is a table that displays the names for each Ethiopian month as well as the coinciding Gregorian Calendar date. So, the new year in Ethiopia is actually celebrated in mid-September. Also, there is an 8 year difference between our countries - it's 2003 in Ethiopia today.
It was almost exactly a year ago when we first told our families that we had decided on Ethiopia. We expected them to be excited and supportive, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that they would be putting this kind of work and time into our adoption. We just spent our ENTIRE Saturday set up assembly line style- both sides of the family, men and women- working to construct almost 200 waterproof cloth diaper covers for the orphanages that our daughter/granddaughter/cousin/niece may currently reside or will soon pass through. Our family is as excited about and concerned about "sissy," "Emma," "baby" or whatever it is they are calling her at the moment, as we are. (And Tonia- when I say family, that means you too.) There is no way to say thank you and I know that isn't what they are looking for anyway, but I hope that someday when sissy/Emma/baby, or whatever her name turns out to be, looks back on the video and the pictures of today she knows how much she was loved and anticipated before we even knew her.
We have bags upon bags of diaper cover materials. They are divided into bags of 12 smalls or 6 larges. The bags have everything you need except the thread and a sewing machine. So if you know how to sew and would like to make some covers, please let us know! We'd love to get a bag to you. Or if you live outside of our area, I can email you the pattern and instructions.
Thanks so much to all of the women who have already taken materials!
The wonderful, generous people at Toasty Baby diaper service in Fishers, Indiana have donated over 1800 cloth diapers! We are thrilled to have these diapers to send over to the orphanages where our daughter may be right now or will be passing through in the future. We hope these diapers are a relief to the nannies and keep many babies warm and dry.
If you are an adoptive family traveling soon, please contact us! We'd love to send some diapers with you!
When I first read about Little Goody 2 Shoes and the eleven year old girl with a mission to buy shoes for children in Ethiopia, I immediately purchased one of her adorable $6 necklaces. I posted about it a while back and I know my sister bought one then. I imagine a few others bought one too. So I wanted to give everyone an update about the amazing work this little girl has gotten done!
So far she's sold 314 necklaces. She has raised $1870 and has purchased 103 pair of brand new shoes!
To order a necklace and read her blog click here:
http://littlegoody2-shoes.blogspot.com/
Brandy and I met some friends at Ashenda’s Ethiopian Restaurant in Bloomington last night. We were on a mission to try some new things. The food, as always, was amazing – very spicy and full of interesting flavors.
What I’d like to focus on is the appetizer we had called Siga Sambusa (or Meat Sambusa). We had previously tried Kik Sambusa, which is a vegetarian version made with lentils instead of beef, but that’s beside the point. The Siga Sambusa was fantastic. Imagine a flakier, pastry-like version of an egg roll stuffed with ground beef that’s simmered for who knows how long in a vat of many delicious spices. It was served with a sweet mango sauce that really enhanced the flavor. As with most Ethiopian food, the spiciness was just right - not too overbearing. Brandy and I quickly agreed that it was the best Ethiopian dish we’ve had so far and possibly the best appetizer we’ve ever had. We can’t wait to have it again.
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