12/27

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and was able to spend time with family. Tim's friend Jimmy was able to be home with his family, he just finished with training for the army reserves and was almost sent to Iraq. However, he has to have knee surgery, so was not sent. We are thankful that at least for now he does not have to go oversees. I'm sure his family is very happy about that as well, as they have not gotten to see him much for the past several months. I just received word that my best friend, Joey, is going to be getting married this summer. I think our summer is going to be very busy, I guess that may be good because it will help us not think about waiting for our baby as much, Maybe. So it appears that I am going to be a bridesmaid for my friend Julie on 6/6 and a bridesmaid for Joey on 6/13. I guess I am starting my own 27 Dresses!! I also think we may have another wedding before the year is out. My goodness!! Is there something in the air!! I am getting excited because my parents and brother are coming home for an after Christmas celebration, so I will be able to see everyone. My brother Chris, is going to be here for about 2 weeks and Tim and I are planning on going to my parents new home in WV for a couple days next week. Tim is getting nervous, he has to do his first sermon at our church on Sunday. Please pray for him:)

Merry Christmas

To All, Merry Christmas. We hope that you all have a wonderful day full of family and joy. We love you all and please be safe.

CHRISTmas

"The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ.

The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal.

The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural.

The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a Divine Person.

That makes all the difference in the world."

- Stuart Briscoe in Meet Him at the Manger

I just thought with all the hustle and bustle, we (I) needed to remember what Christmas is really about. It's not about shopping, getting gifts, or hanging lights. It is about the miracle of Christ's birth.

Lord, thank you for everything that you do for us. Please help us to remember what Christmas really means and please help us to never take You for granted. Please keep us safe as we travel to spend time with family and help us to truly treasure You.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” — John 14:1

12/16

I found this youtube video on another blog and I almost cried. It talks about the people in Africa and that despite all the trials that they go through that they are joyful and thankful for what they do have, even if it is not much. This really encompasses the strength and character of the African people and helps me to be thankful for what I have. It also encourages me to step outside myself and help others and stop the "I want, I want" mindframe that we get in sometimes. I amazed at the love and grace of the African people and am so very proud to be adopting a child from this amazing country. I hope that I can teach my child about Ethiopia and instil in him/her a sense of pride, but also the love, grace, and strength of Africa. If you double click on the video, it will take you to Youtube and you will be better able to see all the words.

12/15

I can't beleive how quickly time is going. We just had our last meeting w/Therese, our social worker who is completing the homestudy for us. It was nice, we talked about culture and some other issues that may come up w/our child or the adoption. Our anniversary was 12/13. I can't beleive that we have been married for 5 years. It doesn't seem like its been that long. We really didn't do much for our anniversary this year as I wasn't feeling that well and we also received news that my best friends grandmother passed away that morning. I spent most of the afternoon w/Joey and her family. Please keep the Wallace/Cherryholmes family in your prayers as they grieve.

I feel a lesson on Ethiopia comming on!!

It's been awhile since I've posted any information about Ethiopia and its culture, so I wanted to share a little more with you.

MUSIC

Out in the community, musical instruments play a social and entertaining role. The single-stringed masenko is played by minstrels who sing of life around them and invent, calypso-like, topical verses on the spot. The krar is a lyre-like plucked instrument with 5 or 6 strings while the begenna is the portable harp.

Up in the hills can be found boys looking after cattle and sheep and playing on the washint, a simple reed flute played with one hand.

Ethiopian people know and love their folk songs. Singing is high pitched and shrill Sand frequently accompanied by excited ululation, especially at weddings and other joyful occasions.

No joyous occasion ever passes without the Ethiopians indulging in their unique form of dancing. There are many styles according to the part of the country, but they frequently focus on the shoulders which seductively gyrate and undulate in a frenzied display of almost competitive energy. As one dancer runs out of steam, so another enters the fray with renewed vigour

Many reggae musicians declare their importance to having some connection to Ethiopian musical origins although the Ethiopian musicians will tell you their music has more in common with Jazz.
Musical Instruments

Stringed instruments like the begena or the krar are harps while another more fiddle-like instrument is known as masenko.

Kebaro Very common in popular and religious music is the kabaro or kebero. When the women and men dance in their beautiful white robes they dance on the rhythm of the drums. I found this on youtube. It is an example of Ethiopian music. I have no idea what he is singing about but I really liked seeing the Ethiopian people that are in the video. It also shows the people dancing. I have never posted anything from youtube before, so I hope that this works.

12/10

Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing well. Well our home study is almost completed. Our social worker completed a rough draft and it looks good. We have completed our online training, we have our last appt w/our social worker on 12/15, and we have an appt on 12/18 to do our fingerprints for the USCIS office. We are also waiting on one reference letter. So, to our precious baby, we are on our way and look forward to holding you in our arms. I am going to focus on getting all the dossier paperwork now, hopefully we will have everything turned in sometime at the beginning of the year.

12/2

Hi everyone. We just found out today that some of the dossier guidlines are changing, I haven't looked through it all yet, so I don't know if it's more complicated. I will keep you posted. It's a little frustrating, however, we knew that there are a lot of unexpected changes and things that happen during adoption. Hopefully, this is the worst issue we have!! Please pray for us!!

Holy Cow it's December!!

Hi everyone. I finally have our T-shirts on our blog. If you want to order 1 you can do it by using paypal or emailing us at brakefieldadoption@yahoo.com. The price is $25 and includes shipping and taxes. We now have all our paperwork for the home study done. We just need to finish our training, get the rest of our references in and are waiting on our finger print results. We also need to have our final meeting w/our social worker. We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We went to my friend's home for lunch Thanksgiving day and then went to Tim's mom's for lunch and out w/Tim's dad's for dinner on Friday. It was really nice to see everyone and we had a great time. We stopped at the outlet mall on the way there on Friday and found a couple cute things on sale at Old Navy. We love the HairWolf romper!!