Our Baby Shower!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
10/15
I sent a packet of paperwork for our home study today. I am working on my autobiography and financial statement tonight. Hopefully, I can get those out by the beginning of next week and Tim's autobiography by the end of the week. Tim hasn't been very cooperative with this though. He hasn't even started and I am almost finished. I'm gonna have to light a fire under his petutie!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
10/14
This week we just received information that the orphanage that our agency gets most of it's referrals from is dangerously low on formula. Many families in our Ethiopia adoption yahoo group(yg) have pulled together and are donating money to help. One of the families held a fundraiser just a couple days ago and raised $40,000 to help. Isn't this amazing. Praise God.
On a sad note, one of the families in our group, just lost their child. She was 4 months old and had gotten very sick with pnemonia, etc. and just passed away on Saturday. This family was getting ready to travel to Ethiopia to pick her up. Please Pray for this family as they grieve. One of the YG members posted this blog site http://aholyexperience.com/ that is written by Ann Vosskamp. I checked out this blog and almost cried. This woman really has extrordinary faith and is an exellent writer. Please check it out. I haven't had a chance to read anything but the first entry that appears on her blog but it really touched me and I plan to check the rest out.
On a sad note, one of the families in our group, just lost their child. She was 4 months old and had gotten very sick with pnemonia, etc. and just passed away on Saturday. This family was getting ready to travel to Ethiopia to pick her up. Please Pray for this family as they grieve. One of the YG members posted this blog site http://aholyexperience.com/ that is written by Ann Vosskamp. I checked out this blog and almost cried. This woman really has extrordinary faith and is an exellent writer. Please check it out. I haven't had a chance to read anything but the first entry that appears on her blog but it really touched me and I plan to check the rest out.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
10/11 Addis Ababa-
Okay, so I didn't break out in a rash around my injection site, so I am going to assume that I don't have TB. Whew! What a relief. I asked the nurse what the TB skin test would show if I had TB and right after I asked her I thought, "I don't want to know"!! I got my shiny, new passport today! How exciting. It only took about a week, too. I was expecting about 3. Hopefully, the rest of the paperwork goes this quickly! Tim will probably get his passport on Mon or Tues since he applied a day after I did.
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (sometimes spelled Addis Abeba, the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority; Amharic, Adis Abäba "new flower," IPA: [adːiːs aβəβa]) is the capital city of Ethiopia and the African Union and its predecessor, the OAU. It is also the largest city in Ethiopia. With a population of 3,627,934 as of 2007, Addis Ababa is the world's largest city in a landlocked country. As a chartered city (ras gez astedader), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state. It is often called the capital of Africa or the "African Capital" due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent.[1] The city is populated by people from different regions of Ethiopia. The country has as many as 80 nationalities speaking 80 languages and religious communities including Christian, Muslim, and Jewish. Addis Ababa is a grassland biome. The city is located at 9°02′N 38°44′E9.03, 38.74.[2] From its lowest point, around Bole International Airport, at 2,326 metres (7,630 ft) above sea level in the southern periphery, the city rises to over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in the Entoto Mountains to the north.
The site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul and the city was founded in 1886 by her husband, Emperor Menelik II, and now has a population of around four million, and an eight per cent annual growth rate.
The city lies at the foot of Mount Entoto, and is home to Addis Ababa University.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (sometimes spelled Addis Abeba, the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority; Amharic, Adis Abäba "new flower," IPA: [adːiːs aβəβa]) is the capital city of Ethiopia and the African Union and its predecessor, the OAU. It is also the largest city in Ethiopia. With a population of 3,627,934 as of 2007, Addis Ababa is the world's largest city in a landlocked country. As a chartered city (ras gez astedader), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state. It is often called the capital of Africa or the "African Capital" due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent.[1] The city is populated by people from different regions of Ethiopia. The country has as many as 80 nationalities speaking 80 languages and religious communities including Christian, Muslim, and Jewish. Addis Ababa is a grassland biome. The city is located at 9°02′N 38°44′E9.03, 38.74.[2] From its lowest point, around Bole International Airport, at 2,326 metres (7,630 ft) above sea level in the southern periphery, the city rises to over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in the Entoto Mountains to the north.
The site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul and the city was founded in 1886 by her husband, Emperor Menelik II, and now has a population of around four million, and an eight per cent annual growth rate.
The city lies at the foot of Mount Entoto, and is home to Addis Ababa University.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friday, October 10, 2008
10/10 Home study orientation
Hope you like the pick....feeling very Halloweenie today!! We just got back from our home study orientation a little while ago. We met w/our social worker, Therese, in Lima, OH, about 2 hrs away. It went really well and she was very nice. We have our next meeting the last week of Oct. and she will be coming to us to see our home and do the safety audit, etc. I am really glad that I got started on the paperwork though, because I had a lot of questions that I asked and was able to get answers on the spot. I think that I can get most of the pprwk whipped out pretty quickly. Tim and I got our local police checks completed today. They spelled my name wrong though, so I have to see if this will be an issue. Stinkin mom, only putting one "n" in the middle!!! Tim and I also got our physicals today. We have to go back Mon. morning however, b/c we had to have a TB test done and have to go back to have it read. We will also have to go back once the bloodwork is in so that they can add the results to the medical statement. We are well on our way...... On a less than positive note, our adoption agency raised the fees for the Ethiopia program. It appears that the new cost will be about $3,500 more. The extra cost is going towards making improvements in the program and taking better care of the children. .
Thursday, October 9, 2008
10/9 Ethiopia Lesson 2
Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing well. Tomorrow we have our Dr's appt for our physicals and we have our orientation with our home study social worker. I am really excited about this. I also have already done quite a few things for the home study and dossier. I ordered a couple more of the books we are supposed to read from amazon.com today. I ordered 2 of them in audio form so that it would be easier and we could listen to them while traveling, etc. This will make it a lot easier for Tim as he doesn't have that "love for reading" that I do!! Tim was able to get a ticket to an Obama rally this morning. He was really excited and got some pretty good pics!
RELIGION
Religion is a secure and accepted element of everyday life in Ethiopia and the language is full of references to God. Yet there is not the ever-present feel that one can experience in a totally Muslim country for example.
On the central plateau, the Ethiopian Orthodox church holds sway, again an individual and fascinating feature of this unusual country. Priests and deacons abound in their often colourful robes, carrying their staffs and ornate crosses that people frequently kiss as they pass.
Christianity came to Ethiopia in ancient times and became the official Ethiopian religion in the 4th century. The Orthodox church has many connections with ancient Judaism. Fasting and detailed food restrictions, the specific ways of slaughtering animals, circumcision and the layout of the churches, all these things make for a very particular religious culture.
Islam is also very strong in many parts of Ethiopia, frequently existing peaceably alongside Christianity. The city of Harar, in the east of the country, is officially the fourth most holy Muslim site in the world.
Ethiopia has communities of 'falashas', Ethiopian Jews, especially in the Gondar region in the north. Many of these however have now departed to live in Israel, having been airlifted out of the country with Operation Solomon and Operation Moses in the latter part of the 20th century.
In the lowland areas, animistic and pagan religions are still commonly found among tribal peoples who live in simple and primitive communities
RELIGION
Religion is a secure and accepted element of everyday life in Ethiopia and the language is full of references to God. Yet there is not the ever-present feel that one can experience in a totally Muslim country for example.
On the central plateau, the Ethiopian Orthodox church holds sway, again an individual and fascinating feature of this unusual country. Priests and deacons abound in their often colourful robes, carrying their staffs and ornate crosses that people frequently kiss as they pass.
Christianity came to Ethiopia in ancient times and became the official Ethiopian religion in the 4th century. The Orthodox church has many connections with ancient Judaism. Fasting and detailed food restrictions, the specific ways of slaughtering animals, circumcision and the layout of the churches, all these things make for a very particular religious culture.
Islam is also very strong in many parts of Ethiopia, frequently existing peaceably alongside Christianity. The city of Harar, in the east of the country, is officially the fourth most holy Muslim site in the world.
Ethiopia has communities of 'falashas', Ethiopian Jews, especially in the Gondar region in the north. Many of these however have now departed to live in Israel, having been airlifted out of the country with Operation Solomon and Operation Moses in the latter part of the 20th century.
In the lowland areas, animistic and pagan religions are still commonly found among tribal peoples who live in simple and primitive communities
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Lesson 1:People of Ethiopia
Just thought I'd give everyone a little information on the people of Ethiopia. I will try to post information about Ethiopia throughout the blog.
PEOPLE
The Amhara
are the politically and culturally dominant ethnic group of Ethiopia. They are located primarily in the central highland plateau of Ethiopia and comprise the major population element in the provinces of Begemder and Gojjam and in parts of Shoa and Wallo. In terms of the total Ethiopian population, however, the Amhara are a numerical minority. The national population has usually been placed at between 14 and 22 million.
It is generally estimated that the Amhara, together with the closely related Tigre, constitute about one-third of this total population. One of the most recent estimates gives the number of native speakers of Amharic, the language of the Amhara, as approximately 7,800,000. (cf. Bender 1971:217)
their national clothes are basically white, whether the shawls and light blankets worn over the shoulders by the men or the white dresses and wraps worn by the ladies
In comparison, there seems to be general agreement that the Oromo peoples form the largest ethnic component in the country, comprising around 40 percent of the population. They are a pastoral and agricultural people who live mainly in central and southwestern Ethiopia, constitute about 40 percent of the population.
The Shankella, a people in the western part of the country from the border of Eritrea to Lake Turkana, constitute about 6 percent of the population.
PEOPLE
The Amhara
are the politically and culturally dominant ethnic group of Ethiopia. They are located primarily in the central highland plateau of Ethiopia and comprise the major population element in the provinces of Begemder and Gojjam and in parts of Shoa and Wallo. In terms of the total Ethiopian population, however, the Amhara are a numerical minority. The national population has usually been placed at between 14 and 22 million.
It is generally estimated that the Amhara, together with the closely related Tigre, constitute about one-third of this total population. One of the most recent estimates gives the number of native speakers of Amharic, the language of the Amhara, as approximately 7,800,000. (cf. Bender 1971:217)
their national clothes are basically white, whether the shawls and light blankets worn over the shoulders by the men or the white dresses and wraps worn by the ladies
In comparison, there seems to be general agreement that the Oromo peoples form the largest ethnic component in the country, comprising around 40 percent of the population. They are a pastoral and agricultural people who live mainly in central and southwestern Ethiopia, constitute about 40 percent of the population.
The Shankella, a people in the western part of the country from the border of Eritrea to Lake Turkana, constitute about 6 percent of the population.
10/4
I can't beleive that it's already October!! Anyway, Tim and I attempted to meet with a group of people who have or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, but it didn't work out. They meet in Mason, which is pretty close to us. I guess most of the people in that group have gone through a church organization to adopt and aren't going through our adoption agency. We will try again next month. So instead, Tim and I went down to a secluded spot at the park by our house and started reading some of our homestudy stuff and one of the books we need to read for the homestudy, Raising adopted children. It was nice laying on the blanket in the shade, reading. It was a beautiful day today and I really enjoyed just relaxing with my hubby. We also tried to take a family pick in the leaves with the dogs. It didn't work out very well!! But we had fun doing it!! Tim ordered his passport yesterday. I wrote letters to send to Columbus requesting a check of the child abuse/neglect registry to clear us. I wish I could just do this at work, but they want it through the main office in Columbus. Oh well! We also need to get a local police check, so hopefully we can do that on Monday.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
10/2
I can't beleive that it's already October!! Where is the time going? We heard from the social worker doing our homestudy today. She sent us a bunch of stuff to read over and the stuff we have to do for the homestudy. It is a little overwhelming! Oh well, I thrive on planning and getting stuff taken care of. This homestudy and dossier will be done before you know it!! Today I applied for my passport and I voted. Yeah!! Now I won't have to stand in any long lines on 11/4. I think I forgot my brain when I went to apply for the passport. I went there and thought I had everything. The first thing the lady at the desk said was "do you have your birth certificate?" Whoops!! I had to drive all the way home and all the way back. Then I left my pics in the car and had to go back out. When I went in the office the 3rd time, I told them that if I forgot anything else I was going home for the rest of the day!! I hope this isn't indicative of how the rest of the paperwork will go!!
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