Ethiopia DVD

Tonight we watched a DVD entitled Ethiopia- Africa's Lost Kingdom. It is something I found on ebay. It seemed like part documentary part travel video and we really enjoyed it! It was a sort of tour around the country and discussed the diversity of people living there, the languages spoken, ancient treasures, influence of religion on the culture, the story of the Queen of Sheba, and the beauty of the country among other topics. There was some really amazing footage. I also got 2 childrens' books about Ethiopia one about the country in general and one about the various festivals and holidays celebrated there. So our collection of Ethiopian related childrens' books is growing. We already had a fair amount of multi cultural childrens' stories that we used to read to A, G & N. So I think we are off to a good start on our home library. The only other bit of news is that the Adoption Community of New England (ACONE) is having their annual conference which brings together a large group of adoption professionals to speak on various topics and this year it is in Westborough! Tom and I just signed up to go and selected the lectures that we were most interested in. The conference is in the beginning of Aprill and I'll have more on that to come.

Our wait date appeared on the weekly update!

Ok so every week we receive a weekly update from the agency that states "the next family on the waiting list has a wait date of x/x/xx". It is broken down by category, the next family on the whole list, the next family waiting for an infant of either gender, the next family waiting for an infant boy or girl,etc. Recently they have broken down the sibling group families into 2 categories, families waiting for a sibling pair with both children being under the age of four and families who are open to one child being over the age of four (which we are). SO, we are not the very next family on the waiting list who is requesting siblings but one child may be over the age of four but we are next in line after that family and since they list the next 2 families our wait date of July 6, 2007 appeared on the weekly update list. That being said we could still have a long wait, because of the uncertaintly of when siblings who need a family will come into care at Horizon House but it was a small step in the right direction. If you have any questions leave me a comment and I will try to answer them. Oh and we added a new poll at the right so please vote and let us know how you found our blog. Until next time...

Ethiopia Adoption Program Video

Check out the Wide Horizons Ethiopia Program video I stumbled across on the internet. It is in the Ethiopia adoption related links on the right.

No News...

We will have been waiting officially for a referral for 7 months starting tomorrow and really there is no news to report. We receive weekly email updates from the agency with referrals and there have been no new referrals for 3 weeks which is hard for those of us waiting. January of 2007 saw a lot of referral activity in contrast to January of 2008 which saw a small number. Everyone knows what referrals are right? Referrals are when families get matched with children and receive their picture and medical information which can then be evaluated by doctors who specialize in international adoption. There is a doctor in Boston who has been reviewing a lot of referrals from Ethiopia so we may get in touch with her. She is out of New England Medical Center. There is also an international adoption clinic in Minnesota that will review medical information and I have heard very good things about that particular clinic. We did host a gathering for Central Mass Ethiopian families this past Sat. We were a small group, all waiting for referrals and representing 3 different adoption agencies. We are hoping to make connections with other families in the area for support and to help our children have friends they can relate to. We discussed a variety of issues and had some Ethiopian food as well. It was really fun.
We'll keep everyone posted when there is any news...