What a Week!!!

This is the week that I've been waiting on for at least the last three years-  the first week of the last year that ECP is growing into a full-fledged middle school. I couldn't have dreamed up a better week if I had tried. Getting to be part of a team of AHmazing and joyful first-year and veteran teachers (for added fun, Jimmy and I are on the same teaching team this year) and receiving notice that our dossier is under one last staff review with an estimated date of 9/7 to be sent off to Ethiopia are just two outstanding memories of this monumental week.

Looking ahead, the next BIG week at ECP will be the week when we end our offical middle school journey with the class of 2017 (Garbs, can you believe we've been with these kiddos since fifth grade and they're leaving?!!?!?) and send them all off to high school.... the next BIG step of our adoption journey should be when we recieve our call from the 703 area code to let us know that they have a referral for us.... still, waiting patiently and enjoying both of these journey; we couldn't feel any more hopeful and excited about the year ahead.

 Here's hoping your week was as eventful as ours :)

Random Bits of Information

Blogging, after several failed attempts, still seems to be quite futile. What exactly are we supposed to write about and who do we think actually has time to read all of these words... wasted words. The bottom line is we've got lots of waiting to do. But, I guess blogging is what you're supposed to do during the adoption process; it seems like that's what everyone else is doing, so blindly we follow.

Since our initial entry, we've been working on making the blog pretty, plowing through mounds of paperwork, and researching adoption grants. Apparently the labor of adoption is a bitter mix of waiting and finding tens of thousands of dollars to bring your baby home. At this point, our blog is pretty; although much to Jimmy's chagrin, I'm convinced it needs just a little pink or purple for our baby girl. We've only made a minor dent in the paperwork and parenting classes that we need to complete. We've researched grants and found lots of promising options; however, this just leads to more paperwork. Let the paper chase continue!

In case you're interested:
- There are an estimated 153 million orphans in the world
- Of that 153 million, approximately 53 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Only 2% of Ethiopia's population is over 65 years-old
- On average, women in Ethiopia will have 6 babies
- The expected literacy rate for girls in Ethiopia (literacy defined as being over 15 years-old and able to read and write) is only about 35%
- About 32% of Ethiopians speak Amharic
- Grandma in Amharic: Sayt Ayat
- Grandpa in Amharic: Wund Ayat

Back to the grindstone :)
Jimmy and Celeste