FTIA Family Play Date

Today, Piper, my friend, Diana, and I traveled to Martinsville, Indiana to spend the afternoon with families who have or are in the process of adopting through FTIA. The babies all played while the parents shared experiences and information, as well as answered each other's questions. It is a wonderful group who is committed to helping each other through this emotional roller coaster. We got to meet the newest baby to arrive home. She is an 8-month old, sweet little peanut! She is a beauty! Piper practiced sharing baby dolls, although she was very reluctant to do so! We'll need to keep practicing this skill. Over...and over....and over....

Our Day Trip to Indianapolis Grace Ethiopian Church

Today, my mom, Piper and I traveled to Indy for a gathering of adoptive families and Ethiopian families to learn more about one of the more prevalent languages in Ethiopia, Amharic. We laughed as we attempted to pronounce the names and the many foreign sounds of the language. During a time of fellowship after the lesson, we were able to meet another FTIA family, as well as meet some other families and children. I feel lucky to have also had the chance to chat with another family whose journey to Ethiopia and back has very recently ended with a beautiful baby girl home in her parents' arms. What a wonderful group of people we have within our grasp to share experiences with, learn from and foster friendships with! Thank you Pastor Yosef for organizing this event!

After feeding our spirit with these amazing people, we traveled to Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant, to feed our bellies with some delicious food! Can you tell that Piper loved it?

Little Goody 2-Shoes

Check out these super cute necklaces for $6! An amazing 11- year old in Missouri named Sami is selling these, along with other designs. She donates the proceeds of her sales to Children's HopeChest in order to help purchase shoes for children in Ethiopia. I think they'd make great gifts, although I have to admit that I bought a couple for myself! Click on Sami's name to see her website!

Dossier to Ethiopia!

What a relief to make it this far in our journey! After 5 months of paper chasing, notarizations, fingerprint appointments and worry...our dossier has been sent to Ethiopia (July 30th, actually)! Now our wait really begins! Now is the time where the word "patience" will really be tested. In honor of that, we have decided to sponsor a little girl named Patience Mahoro who lives in Uganda with her father. Our sponsorship will help provide her with food and the opportunity for school. Our sponsorship is through a local agency, Forgotten Children International, so check it out! There are lots of kiddos left in need of sponsors! Just think...$25 a month is probably less than you spend on one family meal out. Every little bit makes a difference!