So much to learn...

Ethiopia has such a wonderfully rich history...there is so much to learn. BBC offers a great country profile of Ethiopia...take a minute and read about it's history. You can also listen to the national anthem and see a timeline of major events - I love that the timeline starts in 2nd century AD : BBC County Profile: Ethiopia

Hey! What's that in my hand?

Well, that lovely little piece of paper is none other than the much awaited I-171 H! Praise God! We have been checking the mail oh so very often waiting for this document and it is finally here! Now, we just have to hurry up and get the rest of our dossier in and we can be done with paper chasing! Yay! Please be praying that the rest of the documents come in just as easy as can be! We are so excited to finally have our approval!

Yay! We just got our FBI background checks back! That was so fast! They did it in less than a month! Now we just hold tight for our USCIS approval...hopefully soon!

Last Friday night we met with Amie and Steve, a couple who lives near by who are also adopting from Ethiopia. We went to Arada, an awesome Ethiopian restaurant in Denver. Andy and I had never had Ethiopian food before and we both really liked it...it is so spicy...we love spicy food. It was great to meet with Amie and Steve and learn about their adoption process. They are in the process of adopting a sibling group. Hopefully they will be getting their referral any day now! They only live ten minutes away from us...I love knowing our daughter will have some Ethiopian playmates living close by. Thanks again, Amie and Steve! We had so much fun getting to know you guys!

An amazing movie...

Andy loves to watch PBS. One evening he was watching and was telling me about this movie he heard of on PBS called God Grew Tired of Us. He asked if I could see if the library had a copy we could check out...when I requested this DVD, we were 43 on the list. That was months ago. When I went to the library last Tuesday I was so excited because this movie was in my stack of items waiting for me! This is am amazing documentary about the lost boys of Sudan. When the war broke out in Sudan, they ended up walking across their country into Ethiopia where they stayed for a few years. Then they had to move from Ethiopia to Kenya, so they walked back through Sudan and into Kenya where many of the lost boys remain today. Thousands and thousands of boys live in Kenya, not knowing if their families are dead or alive, not knowing what to do with their lives. The US offered some of the boys to opportunity to come to the states to work and go to school. This movie followed a group of boys to the States. This was such a clear picture of how many refugees and immigrants must feel when the come to the US. These boys had no experience with electricity or grocery stores or indoor plumbing or potato chips. It was amazing to watch them learn and grow in their new environment. The one thing that really spoke to me was how lonely some of these boys were in the states. They had come from a culture that embraces community and were shocked at how people here were difficult to talk to and ask questions of. This is am amazing movie. It opened my eyes to so many, many things I need to work on in my life to be more welcoming and open to all people but especially to those who have just arrived in our country. Go to your library and request this movie...even if you are 43 on the list...it is well worth the wait!!!

We have become such pros at getting our fingerprints taken...yesterday we did our prints for the FBI and we FedExed them out just in time for the last pick up of the day. They should be arriving today. Does anyone know how long it takes??? We are really hoping that we can turn in our dossier by the end of this month. We turned in our I-600A in November so hopefully our approval will be here in a few weeks too...How does the I-171-H come back to us...is it through US Mail???

On Sunday, my sweet mom presented Andy and I with these shirts from the Beeler's site...they are just about the coolest thing ever...and must admit...I have worn it two days in a row. This is an amazing shirt. Andy loves it too...you must get one of these!!!