Friday, July 30, 2010

SURPRISE!

Drew and Evan surprised me a couple of nights ago with a necklace in the shape of Africa.  Now I can easily remember to pray for our little girl...  I look forward to wearing it as we start this long and emotional journey to our daughter.  What an awesome way to keep the "end" in mind as we are swimming in paperwork and dealing with all the details of getting our dossier and homestudy ready.  Drew and I have been discussing lately how crazy it is to think that she may be born already or her birth mom may be carrying her right now...  Makes me so emotional everytime I think about it...

This is the bracelet Drew gave  me in the recovery room after Evan was born...  It's a good thing we were already 100% set on his name before he was born!  I think it's so special that I have something to wear as a reminder of each of our children...  What a thoughtful husband I have!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

About Ethiopia..

Ethiopia is:

  • a land-locked country in the Horn of Africa
  • roughly twice the size of the state of Texas
  • the second-most populous nation in Africa with over 79.2 million people
  • bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, and Kenya to the south
  • one of the oldest countries in the world, having been an independent nation since ancient times (except a brief period of Italian occupation)
  • one of a few African countries to have its own alphabet (called Ge'ez or Ethiopic), and it's own time system and unique calendar, which is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar (hence the translation problems with pinpointing exact birth dates of the children for referrals!)
  • a land of natural contrasts, with spectacular waterfalls and volcanic hot springs, some of Africa's highest mountains as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level
  • home to the largest cave in Africa at Sof Omar as well as one of the hottest places year-round anywhere on Earth in the country's northern-most area at Dallol
  • the source of over 85% of the total Nile water flow
  • divided into nine ethnically based administrative countries and subdivided into sixty-eight zones and two chartered cities: Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. It is further subdivided into 550 woredas and several special woredas
  • mentioned in the Bible numerous times. After Egypt, it is the second most frequently mentioned country in both the Old and the New Testaments with approx. 41 Biblical references to Ethiopia (Hebrew - Kush)
  • the most mountainous corner of Africa with almost 80 percent of Africa’s land above 9800 feet despite the fact that the country comprises barely 4 percent of the continent’s total land surface
  • known for it's production of coffee beans, as well as the grain, Teff. Even today, Ethiopia is the top coffee and honey-producing country in Africa, and teff is sown on more land than any other crop in ET. Injera is one of the staples of the ET diet. It is made from Teff. Teff contains more essential minerals than other grains.
  • a deeply spiritual country, and the oldest continuous seat of Christianity after the Egyptian church. The authority of the church is widely respected by the country’s 24 million Orthodox Christians. Ethiopia embraced Christianity less than 400 yrs after the birth of Christ - while Europe was still in the Dark Ages.
  • believed to have connection with biblical events dating back to the ninth century BC when the Queen of Sheba is said to have traveled from her ET palace to meet King Solomon in Jerusalem (their meeting is described in the tenth chapter of the Book of I Kings). ET tradition interprets the scripture to mean that Solomon spent the night with the queen, and that she gave birth to Solomon’s son upon her return to ET. The child was named David, and in due course he ascended to the throne as Menelik I, founder of the Solomonic dynasty. In later times, the link between ET and Christian religion was strengthened by a legend telling that, while still a young man, Menelik brought the fabled Ark of the Covenant to Aksum (where it is believed to still remain). A replica of the ark is enshrined in each of ET’s more than 20,000 Christian churches. Known as Tabots, these replicas play a central role in major religious events.
  • home to nearly 6 million orphans. More than half a million of these were orphaned as a result of AIDS
Ethiopia has:

  • one of the most powerful militaries in Africa
  • around 80 different ethnic groups, with the largest 2 being Oromo and Amhara
  • a tiered government system consisting of a federal government overseeing ethnically based regional countries, zones, districts (woredas), and neighborhoods (kebele)
  • 23,812 kilometers of all-weather roads but only15% are asphalt. Mountainous terrain and the lack of good roads and sufficient vehicles make land transportation difficult and expensive
  • eighty-four indigenous languages. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Evan's Big Boy Room!

In between filling out LOTS of adoption paperwork and having fun as a family, we managed to finish off decorating Evan's big boy room this weekend.  He's been sleeping in there consistently now for about a month, but now everything is officially moved over from his closet and dresser.  He loves his new room!! 

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Big News for Our Family

Big news for our expanding family. We created a letter and wanted to link it here for all to read - Click here for the letter!

We're going to be updating this blog often as we move through the process - stay tuned!

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Swimming, Tractor Parade, and the Zoo!!

Well, it has been soo hot around here lately! Evan and I have tried to keep busy during the days while also keeping cool! I try to plan some kind of outing every day for us and our schedule has been busy lately!. But that's the way we like it!

Rob, Hailey and Ty visited from Chicago last weekend. Evan enjoyed swimming with them. Ty diving for Grandpa's toes...
Evan driving the "John Deere Green" out in the cul-de-sac. This year he can even pedal and steer all by himself!!
Evan has turned into quite the little fish this summer... Now he can swim all on his own (with a life jacket and supervision of course)!! It's amazing the difference a year can make!
We also went to a tractor parade last weekend. Where else but in Indiana?!? Evan LOVED it!! We even timed it right so that we caught it during their lunch break and Evan got to sit on a couple of them. He's looking forward to all the tractors at our fair this next week :)
Evan and Daddy...
My boys sittin on the tractor...

We also managed to make a trip to the zoo last week with Evan's best buddy Ryan and his nanny... These boys are so fun together :)
Evan mid-ride on the carousel!!
Loving the pony ride!!
Happy boy!!
This was as close to a posed shot that we could get... These guys are so active!!
Playing on the train..
Ryan on the ponies..
Evan trying to crawl up on the frog...
The 2 little engineers of Little Poof...
Evan in the kangaroo's pouch....

Stay tuned for some new and exciting things in the Baker household!!