My 2 Ethiopian Girls: March 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Dreams ... Oh So Healthy!

I can feel it in the air ... Spring is about to be sprung. That's always the same week of Brandon's birthday, so such a lovely time to consider Spring time and what it has to offer. I can't wait to rejuvenate the soil of my vegetable & herb garden. I can't wait to sit on the edge while pulling weeds with the promise of a lavender fragrance or the promise of fresh pesto that night from the basil that seems to yield more than I could ever use.

Spring promises me a new growth of my mind. As Winter can shut you in with all of your bottled up thoughts, Spring is the time for the promises of dreams too.

Lately, I've been having the sweetest of conversations with a new friend. Because we are on opposite sides of the world and the time difference, we both awake to find a newly typed out reply from the day before. Back and forth, back and forth we write and share our dreams and our hearts. I hold it very dear to my heart and understand that this person trusts me with all that he has to share such as ... his dreams and fears. We discuss our countries. Both the beauty and the tragedies of what makes them what they are. We share life's challenges and how our Faith holds us together when life feels like too much to take. We dream together, yet apply practical advice within every conversation. I consider him a brother that I never had. I hope he thinks of me like family too. When he apologizes for downloading such personal thoughts, like his fears, anger and frustration, I have to remind him that it is God's most precious gift to us ... relationship. Life seems to offer up surprises sometimes that we don't even see coming. One day is normal, and the next can be just spectacular. One day we're too busy to just "be", where the next day can be quite tragic. Tomorrow is not a promise, but today is! I'm taking my own advice!

Perspective plays such a huge role in how we look at things though. That is the beauty of our uniqueness. We can have the same thing happen to 2 different people and because of our specific uniqueness and qualities, they can be handled and experienced in 2 totally different manners.

I have been doing a lot of dreaming lately. How 'bout you?

Monday, March 1, 2010

A Reply Fom My Favorite Writer ... Frances Mayes

Cortona, Italy in January

Posted by francesmayes on February 27th, 2010

"What a terrific adventure you’re about to take. It will be fascinating to be in actual homes while the owners are in yours! Could be a book! Thanks for all the kind words and have fun–Frances"

Ohhhhh ... now I have my book idea! I've always dreamed of writing a book and also writing part of it from italy. I journaled about that years ago while on a sabbatical in Santa Barbara.

Something to think about!

Ciao,
Lisa

Welcome to our Site ... This is our Journey of our Adoption from Africa and our Life in Denver.

This journal (blog) is about adoption, our change of life from California to Denver and our little girl who we have adopted from Ethiopia. Our daughter came home to us after 9 months of tons of paperwork and she has come home to us on August 18th, 2008.

I highly encourage you to post comments at the end of any post if you'd like. I update every few days, so sign up to be emailed each time I post something new. It's a great way to keep updated.

So far, this has been an amazing journey. The adoption process is more "stuff" than you can imagine leading to what has been an incredible change in our lives. This journal is from my heart to you the reader and to our daughter whom we just recently met. It is also dedicated to the biological parents of our adopted girl who may or may not be alive. I do know that Tigist was placed in a safe place to be found by police, who then took her to an orphanage. In doing so, they saved her life! I applaud her Mother and/or Father's courage in the decision to offer their child a life full of opportunity. They decided to put her up for adoption by relinquishing her in such a way. This is such a touchy subject, yet very personal to both the biological parents and us. We will always honor them in the lives of our daughter...they will never be forgotten! That....I can promise.

Where we are in the adoption process....

We picked Tigist up in Addis Ababa August 9th, 2008. She is home, healthy and very happy!

We passed court on June 23rd 2008, traveled on July 31st, met Tigist on August 9th, and arrived home on August 18th.

What has changed is that we are not adopting two girls, which is what we started out attempting to do, but ended up with one amazing little 2 yr. old. Just another reminder how this process can be so unpredictable.

Why does our blog title says 2 girls...well, we sponsor a very sweet 12 year old girl in Ethiopia and have adopted another. So even though we weren't referred 2 girls as was the plan, the title coincidentally still applies to Our 2 Ethiopian Girls! One here, one there! We eagerly await the letters and pictures Fatuma sends us and we send letters and photos too.

The meaning of the Ethiopian flag

(adapted from a Yahoo group web posting and Unicef-Ethiopia)

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, and the only African country that has no history of colonization. Upon their independence, many African countries adopted the colors of the Ethiopian flag - green, yellow and red - that became known as the Pan-African colors.

The official flag of Ethiopia consists of three equal and horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk centered on the three bands.

The significance of the colors on the Ethiopian flag are interpreted to have a connection to the Holy Trinity, as well as the three main provinces of Ethiopia. The red stripe stands for power, faith and blood. The yellow strip symbolizes peace, natural wealth and love. The green stripe represents the land and hope.

The yellow pentagram on the blue disk, also known as the National Coat of Arms, is a symbol of the current government; it is intended to reflect the desire of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia, as well as of its religious communities, to live together in unity and equality. The star represents unity of the people and the races that make up Ethiopia. The five rays on the outside of the star represent prosperity, and the blue disk represents peace.

My 2 Ethiopian Girls

Pages

Friday, March 12, 2010

Dreams ... Oh So Healthy!

Monday, March 1, 2010

A Reply Fom My Favorite Writer ... Frances Mayes

Current Ethiopia Time