My Family, My Journey: 2011 Holiday Highlights

Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 Holiday Highlights

I vowed that I would get a blog post done before the New Year and here it is the day after and all I have managed to do is download and sort through photos from the past two months! Where does the time go?

The holidays were amazing for us this year. First of all, we spent a much needed week away in Saint Martin with my Mom and Step Dad a couple weeks before Christmas. It was our first family vacation and we had a blast playing on the beach and eating some of the best food in the Carribean!

Taye excitedly inspecting the plane.

Looking for seashells with their Grandmother

Being burried in the sand by their Grandfather!

Loving every minute of it.

Catching the waves

No fear!

Water for sand castles

How much fun can you have with water?

The men

Enjoying an evening out

Christmas in the Carribean

So grown up

The french know how to make expresso

Synchronized sleeping

We arrived back home the week before Christmas and took a trip up to Essex, CT to ride the steam train to the North Pole. The boys loved it and we will most likely be making this an annual tradition.

Katrina Elfina, who kept us entertained on the ride to the NP

Rumor had it Santa was almost to our car!

Santa arrives!

Christmas Eve we spent the day with Mark's family. It was a bittersweet day as we were all missing Mark's mom, who loved Christmas and always made it a special day for us, but the boys and their cousins get along so well and kept us smiling in spite of our heavy hearts.

Then we came home and got ready for Santa!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and we wish you much health, love and happiness in 2012!

5 comments:

We Are Family said...: Love the pictures. Happy New Year!; Tuesday, January 03, 2012
susan said...: I want to do the train some year, too!
Sounds like a magical holiday!
Cheers!; Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Sara said...: Great pictures and what happened to your little chubby boys?! They are stretching out and getting so big!; Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Jennifer said...: We did the train to the north pole here, and the kids LOVED it too.

Now, I am curious about your vacation. I am thinking we might need a trip like that next Christmas... We did Sanibel Island for Thanksgiving (and they loved it), but I am always interested in new ideas...; Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Lisa said...: It all looks like so much fun! I love the synchronized sleeping. Hilarious!; Thursday, January 05, 2012

Timeline

*PAPER CHASE/5.5 MNTHS*
6-27-08: Register for orientation with local agency
7-16-08: Attend orientation with local agency
8-19-08: Decide to adopt from Ethiopia through Gladney. Best decisions ever!
8-28-08: Attend orientation with Gladney
8-28-08: 1st Home Study interview
9-25-08: Home study interviews completed & all Gladney paper work submitted
9-30-08: CIS fingerprints
10-2-08: FBI clearance
11-12-08: Home Study report completed
11-25-08: Gladney approval
12-4-08: CIS approval
*WAIT FOR REFERRAL/13 MNTHS*
12-11-08: Wait list!!!!!!!
4-21-09: Increased our age preference hoping to speed things up (HA!)
8-29-09: Heidi's medicals updated
9-15-09: Mark's medicals updated
9-20-09: Travel Immunizatons
11-10-09: Sent in request for CIS fingerprint updates
11-11-09: Gladney calls to review our age preference
11-17-09: Gladney calls again and tells us about twin boys who *might* become available. We agree to increasing our age preference in order to pursue these boys.
11-21-09: Receive CIS fingerprint appointment
12-16-09: Have CIS fingerprints taken
1-4-10: Referral!!!!!!! 28 month old twin boys!!!!!
*WAIT TO PASS COURT/4 MNTHS*
1-19-10: Start home study update
2-18-10: CIS fingerprints cleared
3-4-10: Home study update completed/sent CIS extension request
3-30-10: File submitted to courts!
3-31-10: Received court date!
4-22-10: Received CIS approval extension
4-23-10: 1st court date
4-28-10: 2nd court date
5-05-10: 3rd court date
05-06-10: 4th and final court date! We're a family!
5-12-10: Receive travel dates!
5-18-10: Travel!
6-1-10: Home as a family of SEVEN (four humans, three puppy dogs!)

Fun Facts About Ethiopia

•Ethiopia has been around for a very long time. The country's Rift Valley is known as the cradle of humanity - fossils of the oldest known upright hominid (4-million years old) were found here in 2005, surpassing the famous 3.5-million-year-old 'Lucy', which was discovered in the same region back in 1974.

•A thousand years before Christ, the Queen of Sheba, we are told, traveled to Jerusalem where she met King Solomon, married him, and had a son, Menelik. When Menelik reached maturity, it is said he left Jerusalem and took with him the Ark of the Covenant, containing the original 10 commandments, back to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church says it still has the ark in its possession. No one else makes such a claim...

•Ethiopia's official religion is the 1700 year old Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church. The Jews of Ethiopia, Beta Israel, are said to have been there for 3000 years. And its Muslim adherents have practiced Islam for 1300 years. Ethiopia is split religiously, with official statistics of 35% to 40% Ethiopian Orthodox primarily in the north, and 45% to 50% Muslim, primarily in the South.

•Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to be under colonial rule, other than a brief occupation by Italy during WWII. You can visit many restaurants in Ethiopia today due to the influence of Italy during the occupation.

•Traditional Ethiopian food consists of various vegetable or meat dishes, usually a wat or thick stew, served atop injera, which is a large crepe-like sourdough flatbread made from fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses a piece of the injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the sauces.

•The Ethiopian calendar is very similar to the Egyptian Coptic calendar – each have 13 months, 12 with 30 days each and the 13th month at the end of the year with 5 or 6 days, depending on whether it is a leap year. The year starts on September 11th (12th in a leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is 7 years behind the Gregorian calendar, so Ethiopia recently celebrated their millennium on September 12, 2007.

•Coffee can be traced back to the 9th Century where it is believed a shepherd discovered coffee beans in the highlands of Ethiopia, namely the Kaffa region. The Ethiopian people are very proud of their coffee and they show this in their well known coffee ceremonies. The Coffee Ceremony is a very important part of socializing in Ethiopia and to be invited to a coffee ceremony is always considered a sign of respect and friendship.

•There are multiple tribes with different subcultures and over 80 languages in Ethiopia. The Amharic language is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia and is the official working language for Ethiopia.

•Family in Ethiopia includes immediate and extended relatives, neighbors, and friends. Faith and family are the foundation of the Ethiopian culture. Ethiopians are very respectful and loving. The elderly are considered very knowledgeable and as a very important part of the family structure. Children are usually raised in a large community that includes extended family and neighbors, and siblings are expected to help take care of each other.