Ethiopian Celebration Night!!!

WOW. We had the opportunity to attend an Ethiopian Celebration Night. Our Ethio/Utah group sponsors events twice per year and we were fortunate to be able to attend. We arrived early to help set up and it was wonderful because Audio-Visual help was needed and my husband came to the rescue! We also had met some families I had been emailing with...It was wonderful to see rainbow families pouring in. There were over 100 people there! Some families with children adopted from other countries too. We met two amazing couples, with similar journeys with whom we have lots in common. Lee instantly hit it off with Brian, who was sporting MegaDeath tshirt and a Slayer belt. :) I bonded with his wife, and felt like we'd known each other for years! Several little girls latched onto me, and were hugging me and pretending to hold me captive in their jail. :) I mentioned to Lee that I wondered if I now wanted a girl more. :) I have a strong feeling we'll be back more than once to Ethiopia. *sigh* Even going the first time can't get here soon enough for me...


Can I tell you how happy I was at this event? The Ethiopian food, music and beautiful kids running around left me breathless. My hair stood up on end with the goosebumps I experienced. Several times my eyes welled up with tears. I felt at peace and at home. Even though we don't have our child yet, we belonged. I imagined that this might be a glimpse of heaven. Where color doesn't matter and everyone sings and dances to music praising God. To me, it was indeed a glimpse of heaven. AWWWWWW! What a good night! We were both on a high when we got home for sure. At next year's celebration we'll be with our little angel!


***To watch the videos, scroll over to the right of this page and you'll see the music player (right and bottom of all the pictures/words etc.) Click the pause button and then play on the videos I posted and you can hear.

The night culminated in some of the girls doing authentic Ethiopian dances and the little kids joining them for "lessons." As we were leaving, Lee and I met the President of the Utah Ethiopian Association, and a beautiful lady who works for the Association. I believe the Ethiopian people are some of the most beautiful on earth. Their unique and strong features and creamy brown skin is enviable. Their camaraderie and pride in their children is evident. I can't wait to travel to a country full of these amazing individuals.

Lee all duded up in his new birthday shirt








Look at the little cutie inthe brown Africa shirt and the white skirt. Adorable! Loved her!

The one in the purple sweater is a SASS! She poked me with a light saber and took me captive. Her name is Margie and her twin sister is Brikelle. :)

Little cutie

See the little girl in the front wearing her authentic Ethiopian dress?

A little update! Our homestudy is FINALLY done and in the final approval with our agency! We had to complete some additional forms for our social worker to use to complete the report but it was ok because we'll have to have it done anyway for our Dossier! And, good news, we have ALL the money we need to send it to Ethiopia!!! We have been so diligent and have saved about 90% of the money ourselves. :) Just waiting for the US government to send us the forms we need to be approved! C'MON UNCLE SAM!!!! :)

Every single day (though it hasn't happened as fast as we'd have liked) is one more day closer to our child. They have extended the match time from 4-6 months to 6-8 but we're ok with it. It will give us more time to save to travel twice to ET and more time to decorate the nursery! We are really enjoying our time together, to sleep in, go to movies, hang with our new friends and just be. Before the carpet gets ripped out from under us! :)