Ethiopian Kid's Community

Today Michael and I were able to take part in the inaugural meeting of the Wisconsin Ethiopian Kid's Community. The idea behind this group is for families in our area to have a chance to meet others who have (or are in the process) adopted children from Ethiopia. Two couples from CHSFS organized a "Meet & Greet" that was held in West Allis at the Adoption Resources of Wisconsin building. It basically involved sharing our story with some of the 70 other participants and discussing what we would like the group to offer in the future. Some of the neatest parts of the experience is meeting individuals whom you have heard about through others and finally getting a face to the names. I continue to be surprised at how many people know someone who is or has adopted from Ethiopia - we met a couple that our friend Lucia went to high school with, a woman whose children go to school with a co-worker of mine and also a woman who is the daughter of Erin Wolaver's deacon. There were 3 families from Wauwatosa there as well. The world gets smaller by the second!

Spring Cleaning - Upgrading & Downsizing

I was just telling Michael that I am getting so eager for our baby and wish I could do something with all of this happy energy. Perhaps this anticipation is partially the cause of our latest cleaning, reorganizing and weeding out frenzy. So far this month we have cleared out a room & closet, re-organized 2 rooms & 3 closets and are getting ready to have our first garage sale. The picture on the right represents a portion of the "To Be Sold" pile (my apologies if any one's gifts or hand-me-downs are shown!) It feels good to be streamlining some of our rooms and will also feel pretty nice if it puts a little extra spending money in our hands.

The picture to the left represents a recent upgrade. The make-up table and sewing machine shown belonged to my grandmother, and are now in our downstairs bedroom. I get to use the make-up table every day with happy memories of watching my grandmother use her curlers and lotions. I am planning on taking my Aunt Ardith up on her offer to teach me how to use the sewing machine, since I am pretty daunted by all of the pedals and wheels right now. While my grandmother made her "mother/grandmother of the bride" dress, ornate aprons and coordinating outfits for her grandchildren - I will be thrilled to make a table runner or hem a skirt!

Order of Events

Not the most creative of posts, but here is a cut and paste of the timeline we have been on through CHSFS. We didn't even realize that we had country approval (nor that we needed it) but looks like we got it on March 19th! Guess we have to have a belated celebration!!!

APPLICATION RECEIVED
10/25/06
APPLICATION COMPLETED
1/12/2007
ADOPTION STUDY APPROVED
01/29/07
CIS EXPIRATION DATE
04/23/08
COUNTRY APPROVAL
03/19/07
CHILD REFERRAL RECEIVED
-
CHILD REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE COMPLETED
-
CHILD VISA APPROVAL
-
PREPARATION AND CLEARANCE FOR TRAVEL
-
ADOPTIVE PLACEMENT
-
PLACEMENT DOCUMENTS RECEIVED

The List Update 4/8/07

We have moved all the way up to #29 on the list! We started at #59 on January 31st.

Doro What???

Yesterday I made my first attempt at preparing an Ethiopian meal for my friend Cindy, Michael and I. I think the actual cooking was the easy part, finding the recipes and necessary spices took a little more time. Based on the table-side reviews it was a success!

The meal included Doro Wat, which is a chicken stew. Except for whole hard boiled eggs, it has pretty basic ingredients (onion, cayenne pepper, paprika, ginger, etc.) which I made in the slow cooker. The more authentic version would be a little spicier from using a spice called berberre... but it is pretty hard to find here.

The Ethiopian Vegetables were a little more cumbersome to make but introduced me to spices I had never cooked with before. The recipe called for carrots, red potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli stems (no flowerets). These veggies were steamed then sauteed with cardamom, turmeric, garlic, onion, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Yummm!

It is traditional to serve both the vegetables and stew as toppings on Injera, which is flat bread. Michael made this for us. While the ingredients were simple (2 types of flour, baking powder and club soda) it took a bit to get the knack of making them the right consistency - since they are cooked only on one side and should not be too browned. Typically no utensils are used, since all of the food is brought out on trays already poured atop the injera. Then you would rip off pieces of the injera and wrap it around the bits of food. I still opted for a fork, but I definitely will make this meal again... so we will see about next time!

A Crib is Born

Although we have not started buying any official baby gear yet, Michael and I were very excited to receive a crib from his office manager. We found out on Friday that it was ours for the taking if we were interested. She had recently taken it apart and was eager to get it out of her kitchen!





Minus one missing screw, we finished the assembly earlier tonight. It is still hard to imagine someone inside of the crib... but it definitely helps make it feel like the day will be coming soon! Thanks again to Kelly for passing on her crib to us and to Michael for overall calmness during assembly ;)