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04/26/08
Happy Easter!
Filed under: General
Posted by: Felicia @ 7:47 am

No, really.  In Ethiopia, Easter is this Sunday.  Our weekly report from CHI had this to say:

ETHIOPIAN
HOLIDAY

25 April 2008 (17 Miaziya 2000 Ethiopian Calendar) is Good Friday of Ethiopia and 27 April 2008 (19 Miaziya 2000 Ethiopian Calendar) is Easter of Ethiopia. 

 

 

Fasika is the greatest festival for the devoted followers of Orthodox Church of Ethiopia. People fast for 56 days and do
not eat meat or any animal product like eggs, butter and milk. They pray and try to be as positive as possible to others and themselves—no cursing or gossiping!!
Spouses do not share same bed.

Fasika

has a unique place for Orthodox Church  followers of Ethiopia. It is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the 56 days of fasting is a symbolic representation of sharing His sacrifice for all human beings. People celebrate Fasika with intense joy, food, drink and exchange  gifts. Keeping the tradition alive, Children’s Hope International— Ethiopia will distribute holiday gifts to 150 orphans of its own.

25 April 2008 (17 April 2000
Ethiopian Calendar) = Good Friday = Siklet

27 April 2008 (19 April 2000
Ethiopian Calendar) = Easter = Fasika

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04/22/08
Plowing through…
Filed under: General
Posted by: Felicia @ 8:31 pm

We are now finished with our home study visits and are now just working on getting all the documentation we need.

I have a funny story about the visit last week.  Our social worker is more allergic to cats than I am - and we have 3 cats.  I planned to take off work a few hours before she came over to de-dander my house.  The house was already clean, I just wanted to get out the Hyla to get any pet hair that had accumulated since the night before (cats are short-hair, but no amount of brushing will keep them from shedding), and it also works as an awesome air filter for any dander in the air.  I got home and Adam and I decided to get a late lunch.  We get back and it’s an hour before she’s supposed to get there.  I got out the Hyla, which has a water filter.  I hadn’t changed it from the last time I used it.  I get in the basement family room and the thing unlatches - and yes, there’s yucky, stinky water everywhere.  So, we had to clean that up.  By the time it was all cleaned up, there was no time to actually use it for its intended purpose.  Luckily it was a beautiful day outside, so we were able to open up all the windows to air it out.  On top of it all, the social worker was a half hour late.  She kept apologizing, and I kept thinking how happy we were that she was late.

It ended up being really painless.  The questions, however…  They weren’t painful, I just felt bad we just didn’t have answers to all the questions she asked.  Still, we survived, and are now even more excited!

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04/10/08
The Cycle of What???
Filed under: General
Posted by: Felicia @ 10:09 pm

We’re most of the way through our DVD modules.  Whoever gave us the advice of drinking a bit of wine before watching each module - THANK YOU!!  Makes it much more interesting, and we seem to retain more too.  Strange.  Unfortunately it’s doing what I guess it’s supposed to be doing - scaring the @%$& out of us.  Ok, it’s scaring me.  How do I rock 2 kids to sleep while Adam is working an evening shift?  How can I make sure they get their cycle of met needs while I choose to continue working?  (I was asked not once, but twice today if I’m going to quit my day job when the babies are here)  If anyone is about to go through the third module - warning - while it’s telling you about the internal alarm, your own internal alarm will be going off, and they are correct in that you don’t learn much when your internal alarm is going off. 

Now, don’t go commenting on how much better off we and kids will be if I become a SAHM.  First of all, I refuse to hear it.  My mom was a SAHM up until I was 12, and frankly, I think we had a better home life after she went back to work.  Some people are cut out for it and I think that’s great.  Sitting here right now typing this, I’m not thinking I am.  There are lots of successful adoptive parents out there where both parents work.  Maybe I’ll change my mind later - please let me do that on my own.  Right now, I’m just venting.

I will say this - they have made it clear that we have to parent our kids a bit differently than parents would with their natural children.  Makes perfect sense, if you hear their reasoning.  They even warn you that you will get stares and negative comments over your alternative parenting.  Now I almost need a class on how to handle the stares and negative comments.  What do you say in return that’s polite and explains what’s going on?

I think we are close to half way through the home study.  We had our first visit, and the social worker is visiting us at our house next week.  We have another trans-racial adoption seminar on Saturday.  Meanwhile we are gathering up the “stuff.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!  I still love you even though you are a much better test taker than I’ll ever be.

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