Acceptance Papers

Today we signed our acceptance papers for our child proposal. We also got the immigration ball rolling again. Wheh what a process. I am told that our part is minor compared to what has to be done in Ethiopia. Apparently it is a big job running from this office to that office, having this paper stamped and then that one etc etc. We are truly grateful to have someone on reliable on the ground to wade through all the red tape for us. I have been doing a bit of research into the Kembata Region (where our daughter was born). There is not a ton of information out there, but from what I understand it is very remote. It is one of the regions of Ethiopia that relies heavily on Entebe (false banana) and is called the green hunger zone. This is because the land is very lush, but there is still abject poverty and a lot of hunger. The area is very densely populated and the land gets divided among sons. Generations and generations of farmers dividing their land has lead to very little land for each family. Consequently, the land has been severely degraded because of over-farming. Entebe is a crop that takes around five years to fully mature. After it has matured, it has to be processed in back-breaking labour before it can be consumed.... its now bedtime for us working folk (yes I started work), so I will post more later

A Proposal

TODAY WE RECEIVED OUR PROPOSAL!! That's right. We have a very special little girl coming to us. She is 5 months old today! Her birthday is May 18th. She weights approx 15 lbs and she is in good health. She is absolutely gorgeous :-). Now the real wait begins. We still have to wait for immigration and for the Ethiopian courts to legalize the adoption. We have been told that this process takes between 4 and 9 months. Jeremy took the afternoon off from work and we took the boys out for ice cream even though it was raining. I don't think it has really sunk in for them yet. Tomorrow or the day after, Jeremy and I will go out for Ethiopian food to celebrate. A couple of days ago my sister in law asked me what I wanted for my birthday (which is coming on the twentieth) and I told her that all I really wanted was our child proposal. I knew was going to be soon, but I didn't really think that it would actually come in time for my birthday. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me... Yeah... I'm just a little giddy. Sorry for the super giant font... can you tell I'm a little excited?

Time for a New Picture

Looking at the picture on the Blog, I realized how much the boys have grown in the past year. We took a new picture... actually we took about 50 new pictures... and this was the best of the bunch. Apparently the boys have gotten a lot more wiggly in the past year as well. It was thanksgiving... I thought turkey was supposed to make you sleepy???

We're Next

We got a note from CAFAC today. Apparently we are next in line to receive an infant girl proposal! This is good news for thanksgiving. We still don't know how long this is going to take, but it should be soon. So you can expect to get an excited phone call from me sometime soon! I also found out that I will start my job on the 22nd of this month, I am going in to sign the contract today. We spent Thanksgiving at Auntie Sylvia's this year. We feasted on turkey with friends and family and had lots of time to reflect on how lucky we are. This friday, at Saanich Baptist we are having a"sharing the bounty" event for women. We will be putting together toiletry bags for women in need in the local area. We are also collecting supplies for me to take as an orphanage donation in Ethiopia. I will be giving a quick talk about it (5 minutes or so). We would love to have you out! It takes place at SBC, from 7-9 on October 12th. Bring some sample size toiletries and/or some orphanage donations (if you forget what we need, see my earlier posts). The more the merrier.

The Fourteenth Month of Waiting

October 1st marked our entrance into the fourteenth month of waiting. I am hoping that with the Ethiopian New Year behind us, there will be some action... soon! We received our second round of shots. We also have confirmed what we suspected; they are not covered by extended medical.... ouch.