New Year News

We are now almost a week into 2014.  I have been reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the upcoming new one.  I have been setting goals for myself, in many different areas including personal, spiritual, financial, relationship, etc.  I have some things I would like to do/accomplish in the upcoming year and my biggest prayer would be that we would receive a referral.  This folks, would be a miracle, but I hear God is in the business of making miracles so maybe He has one in store for us soon.

We got our monthly update from our agency.  We knew there had been 3 referrals based on our agency's report.  There are many factors that come into play but we were still a little disappointed when we were told our current number is:

 

One major change that occurred during the past month is our referring agency is now restricting us from reporting any case-specific details about our adoption on any public forum.  That includes our wait list number.  I have made this blog private so I can still give more specific updates and to keep our prior posts in compliance with the new privacy policy.  Please do NOT post any information revealed on this blog on Facebook!

There has been a lot of negative talk about international adoption in Ethiopia lately.  If there is a horror story, they have heard it.  This is a large part of why we have been asked to limit the information we give about our adoption process online.  We have to help protect the future for adoptions in Ethiopia.  The good news is that we have been told that the regional courts have finally, after several months of nothing, started approving children to be referred for adoption.  Our agency is hopeful that they will be able to start issuing regular referrals again.

We are planning a mini celebration for Ethiopia's Christmas, which is January 7.  We plan to simulate their traditional meal with Brunswick stew and naan bread.  I'm sure it is a far cry from the real thing, but since we haven't been to an Ethiopian restaurant to try their food, I wouldn't know the difference.  It is very difficult to get some of their spices and the flour used in their bread anyway.  Brandon would love eating in Ethiopia because they do not use utensils!  Their bread, called injera, is flat and used to scoop up the food for eating.  Here is a little more information about Ethiopian Christmas:
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/ethiopia.shtml

MERRY (ETHIOPIAN) CHRISTMAS!