Sorry I've Been So Quiet

Well, it's been a while since I have blogged.....I didn't even do Favorite Photo Friday. And it's not like I don't have anything to blog about.....in fact, I have three exciting things to blog about....it's just that I wasn't feeling very chatty. But, not today.....beware....this could be long.....

First exciting thing (in no particular order)......

Last Saturday I finally met Rebecca and her family. Rebecca and I started e-mailing back and forth when we realized we had the same fingerprinting appointment. She and her husband and two children live up in Battle Ground and they drove down to meet me at Burqitu for lunch. It was such fun meeting all of them, and learning about their adoption experience, and of course comparing stories. It turns out we are on almost the exact same timeline, from when we first contacted adoption agencies, to signing the contracts, to applying at USCIS, to getting homestudies done and turned in to USCIS, to of course fingerprinting and receiving the coveted Golden Ticket on the exact same day.

It was the first time they had experienced Ethiopian food, and I was thrilled to introduce them to Kamso at Burqitu. True to her fabulous self, Kamso was so friendly and gave us valuable information on Ethiopia and her culture. She is so open and so willing to share information, that I feel so completely blessed to have found her. She treated us well, and was genuinely happy for us to have received our Golden Tickets. She even brought us some items that weren't on the menu to help us celebrate. She's also trying to teach me some Amharic, but I'm a poor student, and am not learning it very well.

Rebecca brought me a small gift at lunch and I just love it. It's a little hard to figure out what I took a picture with all that clutter on my desk, but the gift is the cute little globe. Wasn't that just the sweetest thing? I look at it everyday....tracing the path from Oregon to Ethiopia. Soon, very soon, I will be traveling that path. I can't wait. Thank you Rebecca for this special gift. I so enjoyed meeting you and your family and hope we can do it again sometime soon.

Item Two:

MY DOSSIER IS ON IT'S WAY TO ETHIOPIA! I just got an e-mail from Radu saying it's on it's way. I'm so glad to have it in transit, I can't even explain it. I'll be even happier once it arrives. Let's all cross our fingers that the DHL truck/plane/train (whatever) doesn't crash and burn!

Item Three:

MY SISTER IS MOVING BACK TO OREGON!!! I'm really excited to have Tina, Ron and the boys back. They are driving out next Monday and should be here one week from tomorrow. I can't wait until I can play with my sweet little nephews whenever I want. Their goal is to find a place to stay that is somewhere close to where I live. In the meantime, they will hold up in Beaverton (about 20-30 minutes from me) until they find something they like. With summer still here, it will be fun to take the boys hiking and show them what mountains and trees are SUPPOSED to look like.....no offense to you Houstonites, but....BLAH! (ok, I'm sure I offended, sorry)

So, those are my updates. New friend, Dossier to Ethiopia, and sister back in the neighborhood. How blessed am I?

Oh, and on a side note.....if anyone was curious about the title of my last post: hurray hurray it's on it's way, to shangra la dee da....that comes from none other than THE FLINTSTONES. One person posted the answer and got it correct. And though HE posted with a fake name, I KNOW who you are. When will you ever learn that you are married to a twin? Geesh! :)

This little "song" (not really a song, but more of a chant), was when Fred took the paperboy (arnold?) and his boy scout troop on the annual jamboree. Remember that one? As they were hiking up and down the hills, they chanted: Hurray, Hurray, we're on our way, to Shangri La dee da. We'll eat baked beans, and canned sardine, Rah, Rah, Rah, Rah Rah (thanks Tina for reminding me of the second verse). I always loved that episode because their jamboree was held in this beautiful valley (hey, I was kid, I THOUGHT it was beautiful back then) and always wanted to go to Shangri La!

Anyway, you can all sleep soundly tonight knowing that little bit of Flintstone trivia. You're welcome. :)