Ethiopian Basics 102 and Misc...

Well, we have definitely been spoiled by all the movement on the waiting list the past 7 weeks, because this past week was a disappointment when there was no activity at all!  It's funny how quickly your expectations can change when you start out on such a high.
On another note,  I just want to remind you all again that we will be placing our T-shirt order on Wednesday the 1st.  So if you still want to donate to our Adoption fund and have a cool T-shirt as a reminder of your donation, act now!  Secondly, if you have any other great ideas of fundraisers that we could do, please pass them along.  We are looking for creative ways to make this adoption a debt free one!

Now for Ethiopian Basics 102:

Common Meetings and Greetings:

Hello                                 Halo

Good morning                   Endemn adderu

Good afternoon                 Endemin walu

Good evening                    Endemin ameshu

Good-bye                         Dehna hunu

How are you?                   Tenayistillign

I am well                           Dehna negn

Thank you (very much)      (Betam) ameseghinallehu

Ethiopian Time
Ethiopia is three hours ahead of Greenwich mean time. Time remains constant throughout the year. The Ethiopian day is calculated in a manner similar to that in many equatorial countries, where day and night are always the same length: counting starts at Western 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Western 7:00 a.m. is therefore one o'clock, noon is six, 6:00 p.m. is twelve o'clock, and so on.

Ethiopian month:                Gregorian calendar:

Meskerem (New Year)        11 September - 10 October
Tikimt                                  11 October - 9 November
Hidar                                    10 November - 9 December
Tahsas                                 10 December - 8 January
Tir                                        9 January - 7 February
Yakatit                                 8 February - 9 March
Maggabit                             10 March - 8 April
Miyazya                               9 April - 8 May
Ginbot                                 9 May - 7 June
Sene                                    8 June - 7 July
Hamle                                  8 July - 6 August
Nehasa                                7 August - 6 September
Pagume                               6 - 10 September

(information from www.tourismethiopia.org)

T-shirt Order (finally!)...

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to let you know that we are finally going to order your T-shirts this upcoming week!  Once we have placed the order we are expecting to have the shirts about 7-10 days later.  And then, if you live in San Antonio we will find you out and pass yours onto you or if you don't then we will get them in the mail A.S.A.P.  If you know anyone else who would like to "purchase" a shirt, please let them know this is the last call!  Thank you again for your patience as we have been getting this order together.

Ordering on the 1st of September!

Ethiopian orphans

This is a video that another friend adopting from Ethiopia shared with us. If you have a minute, take a look!  You will see sweet little faces and get a sense of the need that these orphans have. 

http://vimeo.com/3565906

The next step...

Since we have been climbing so steadily up the waiting list, we finally get to move on to the next step of International adoption.  Immigration!  We have filled out our Orphan Petition, made copies of all relevant documents and need only to include a nice "fat" cashier's check. Ha, ha.  Thankfully, all this information we already had accessible because of our Home Study and Dossier.  This step is really not that complicated, but is intimidating when you consider that these people have the ability to deny your child entrance into the States!
After this we get to wait some more, lots of waiting, but all good things are worth waiting for. At least we are one step closer to this being final. 

It's Moving fast...

So please to announce that the waiting list has moved again!  This has been going along much faster than we ever expected.  We have only been on the waiting list since the beginning of July and have moved roughly 14 times.  That is an average of 2 times a week, amazing! With all that said we are currently...

Baby Girl - #47
Baby Boy- #25
Toddler Girl - #11
Sibling Group - #15

Just in...

Another family has accepted a referral for an infant boy, so we have moved up on a couple of the waiting lists! We are as follows...

Baby Girl - #49
Baby Boy- #27
Toddler Girl - #13
Sibling Group - #17

3 is a Magic Number...

Wow, we sure do love the end of the week now! Two more families accepted referrals and one family decided to pursue adoption with in the States, so we have moved up three more times. I can't believe how much the list has changed this week! I guess we need to start working on our USCIS (immigration) paperwork...

Baby Girl - #49
Baby Boy- #29
Toddler Girl - #13
Sibling Group - #19

Up, Up and away...

Well, just as I was lamenting the fact that we had not moved at all this week on the waiting list, which was especially depressing because we jumped up so much last week, then we get the following subject line via email...

3 referrals today!

Woo-hoo!  What a wonderful surprise at the end of the week.  But then there is always tomorrow if we dare hope for more great news this week...

Baby Girl - #52
Baby Boy- #31
Toddler Girl - #16
Sibling Group - #20

Thoughts...

Where to start...hmmmmm....
Over the past couple of weeks we have been made aware of some other families and the realism of their adoption process.  What I mean is that things don't/haven't gone as planned.  I am thankful that God has made us aware of these "complications" because in the midst of our excitement and expectations, we need to be aware of what reality is likely to be.
We hope and pray for a healthy child that would adjust easily into our family, but in all likelihood this is not going to be the case.  The child will have already experienced loss and grief greater than most of us will ever know.  And of course the way a child handles those things may not be so graceful!  (The way I handle things that are hard is not that graceful!)  But our desire is to continue forward in this process knowing the reality of what is to come, but also fully trusting that this child/children is meant to be in our home because we know that "all things work for good, for those that love Him and are called to His purpose."(Jer. 29:11) 
I am thankful for one lesson, in particular, that we learned with Addie in the NICU - God does not promise us a healthy child, or even a child at all, and are we to only "accept good from God and not trouble?" (Job 2:10)  No, God is sovereign regardless of the circumstances and we can be "confident the He who has begun a good work in us will carry it to completion." (Phil. 1:6)  Sadly, I know that this lesson will probably have to be learned over and over in our lifetime!  It is easy to become complacent and comfortable with the many blessings that God has given us.  Prayerfully, we would not do so with this adoption, but will rest fully on Him and His word.
We would ask that you would all be in prayer for our soon to be daughter or son, that they would be receiving food, shelter, care and love right now, where ever they are.  That God would be, even now, knitting their little hearts to ours.  And that our hearts would be knitted to theirs, so whatever challenges we are to face with them, we would face with the same love and courage that we would give to Addie and Ian.

News flash...

What a day!  Another family accepted a referral today so, we have moved up a couple more spots.  The list is as follows...

Baby Girl - #53
Baby Boy- #33
Toddler Girl - #17
Sibling Group - #20

We sure would love it if this continued! 

Moving on up!

Well, I should definitely learn to pay closer attention to our Agency's blog spot!  We have moved up three times this past week and I did not realize it until today.  It is kind of a bummer to have missed the excitement of moving three times in a week, but then again it is exciting to see our numbers change more drastically by not realizing that we have moved! ha ha. So our current place in line is as follows...
Baby Girl - #54
Baby Boy- #33
Toddler Girl - #18
Sibling Group - #20
And I would just like to say that it is very exciting to see that we have finally hit the teens on at least one list!  YEAH!

T-shirt Fundraiser Update...

We just wanted to update those of you who have donated to our adoption by participating in our T-shirt fundraiser.  We were really hoping to get our T-shirt order placed by the end of July, but due to traveling we are going to push it back a little further.  In addition, we need to "sell" about 25 more shirts to comfortably meet our minimum order.  The company who is providing the shirts is a Christian business that provides adopting families a wonderful discount so  75% of our sales goes directly into our adoption fund!  With that said they do ask that we order a minimum quantity of shirts.  Once we have met that we will place your T-shirt order.  Thank you for your patience as we raise money and we will keep you all updated on your shirts!  We can't wait to see you all wearing them and knowing that we are so supported by all of your prayers and love.
THANK YOU!