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
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
It's Official!
Yay! We submitted our application to America World Adoption Association May 1, 2011 to begin our process of adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia. We found out last Friday, May 13, 2011, that we were accepted into their program. The road ahead will be long; we're expecting to wait at least two years before we finally get to bring her home. We'll do our best to keep the blog up-to-date so that you can know how the process is going.
Thanks for your love and support,
Jimmy and Celeste
Thanks for your love and support,
Jimmy and Celeste
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The rain in Spain does not fall mainly on the plain
Hi all! In the past two days, we have received 3 visitors :) Stephanie and her friend, Lindsey, arrived on Tuesday. They have been such a blast. They are staying here through the weekend. We´ve been able to hang out at the beach, explore Gaudi´s architecture, we had coffee at Zurich Cafe, a small famous cafe in Barcelona, we also had dinner last night a Michael Collins, an authentic Irish pub by La Segrada Familiar cathedral. Last night we also met our friend Drena who arrived from Alicante and will stay with us through the end of July.
While we love having visitors, we are convinced that they brought some sort of weather curse! Since they arrived, the weather has been slowly going down hill :( The first day it was just cloudy and cooler; but today it has been raining NONSTOP! ugh!
Ni modo. At Cafe Zurich, with steph and lindsey, we spotted naked man #3. This naked man stood by the sidewalk cafe and proceeded to take his clothes off, fold them neatly, walk around and then put the clothes back on... he did this repeatedly for about 45 minutes. I am still waiting for a decent answer to the naked men in Barcelona question.
Besides Naked Men.... last week, we were at a sidewalk cafe at about 10:00 p.m when a huge group of 20-something guys walked by... most of them were dressed in jeans and yellow-plaid, flannel, lumberjack-like shirts with blonde wigs and caked on make-up;however, the last young lad was dressed in a pink nightie and was holding the back of it up to show himself to all the world.
Public restrooms.... for the most part you cannot find public restrooms... but our friend was walking home the other day and when she got to her house(apartment building), she found this older well dressed lady, squatting and pooping explosively on the front porch. Our friend was disgusted, tried to say something, but Pooper Lady began to tell her off in Spanish. When Pooper finished her business, she took the Depends she was wearing, scooped up the runny pooh, with the pooh dripping over her hand, looked at our friend and says, ¨Perdon.¨ Pooper then takes her dirty mess over to the garbage can, throws it away and walks on.
We love this country! Where else is there a constant source of free entertainment so readily available!?!?!?!?!?!?
While we love having visitors, we are convinced that they brought some sort of weather curse! Since they arrived, the weather has been slowly going down hill :( The first day it was just cloudy and cooler; but today it has been raining NONSTOP! ugh!
Ni modo. At Cafe Zurich, with steph and lindsey, we spotted naked man #3. This naked man stood by the sidewalk cafe and proceeded to take his clothes off, fold them neatly, walk around and then put the clothes back on... he did this repeatedly for about 45 minutes. I am still waiting for a decent answer to the naked men in Barcelona question.
Besides Naked Men.... last week, we were at a sidewalk cafe at about 10:00 p.m when a huge group of 20-something guys walked by... most of them were dressed in jeans and yellow-plaid, flannel, lumberjack-like shirts with blonde wigs and caked on make-up;however, the last young lad was dressed in a pink nightie and was holding the back of it up to show himself to all the world.
Public restrooms.... for the most part you cannot find public restrooms... but our friend was walking home the other day and when she got to her house(apartment building), she found this older well dressed lady, squatting and pooping explosively on the front porch. Our friend was disgusted, tried to say something, but Pooper Lady began to tell her off in Spanish. When Pooper finished her business, she took the Depends she was wearing, scooped up the runny pooh, with the pooh dripping over her hand, looked at our friend and says, ¨Perdon.¨ Pooper then takes her dirty mess over to the garbage can, throws it away and walks on.
We love this country! Where else is there a constant source of free entertainment so readily available!?!?!?!?!?!?
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Week 2 or 3.... We´ve lost track of time :)
The first week or so in Spain we did a great job of keeping a schedule, touring, running, swimming; tackling Spain like true Americans. Now, we have been swept away by the Spanish lifestyle... somedays we´re up and running at 6am but most days we wake up when the sun gets too hot to sleep any longer. Then we begrudgingly get ready and head off to our semi-private beach for the day. We now understand the international love of the Mediterrean Sea.
We have stopped marking the beginning and ending of days with time, rather the amazing things we see here... mind you we have passed the tourism phase and are just enjoying the true culture of Spain :)
one day this week: Jimmy and I are sitting in a major plaza having lunch when a well-dressed man in a business suit sits down and promptly removes his shirt. The next thing we know he is TOTALLY naked, neatly folding up his clothes, and packing them in his backpack. He proceeds to parade himself, naked, through one of the busiest tourist market places in Barcelona. Awesome.
the next day: we are sitting at a quiet sidewalk cafe, waiting for friends. we see this old man walking his 2 white fluffy dogs. You know how sometimes little dogs decide they don´t want to walk, so they sit down and you pull them and go on your way? well this guy is tugging on his dog, completely oblivious to the fact that his dog has dropped dead. he´s dragging his dead dog across the sidewalk, irritated that the dog isn´t keeping up.
yesterday: naked kid #2...this gandhi-esque guy walks up on the beach and begins undressing to go swimming. two seconds later i hear jimmy cracking up. the guy has stripped completely naked and is parading around the beach, in all his glory, asking people to give him a cigarette. he then comes over, while i am pretending to sleep so i don´t have to talk to him, and asks jimmy to watch his bags. next, he glides out into the ocean for a swim. comes back on shore and begins to practice karate kid style jumps and kicks while wading in the sea. priceless.
there are so many other minor moments that mark our days but we hope these give you a little laughter for today :)
Today, we are so excited that we were able to meet up with Steph at the train station. she has arrived safely and will be here through sunday. tomorrow, we have the joy of our friend Drena joining us, also. we´ll try to get some more pics to share soon.
love you all!
J and C
We have stopped marking the beginning and ending of days with time, rather the amazing things we see here... mind you we have passed the tourism phase and are just enjoying the true culture of Spain :)
one day this week: Jimmy and I are sitting in a major plaza having lunch when a well-dressed man in a business suit sits down and promptly removes his shirt. The next thing we know he is TOTALLY naked, neatly folding up his clothes, and packing them in his backpack. He proceeds to parade himself, naked, through one of the busiest tourist market places in Barcelona. Awesome.
the next day: we are sitting at a quiet sidewalk cafe, waiting for friends. we see this old man walking his 2 white fluffy dogs. You know how sometimes little dogs decide they don´t want to walk, so they sit down and you pull them and go on your way? well this guy is tugging on his dog, completely oblivious to the fact that his dog has dropped dead. he´s dragging his dead dog across the sidewalk, irritated that the dog isn´t keeping up.
yesterday: naked kid #2...this gandhi-esque guy walks up on the beach and begins undressing to go swimming. two seconds later i hear jimmy cracking up. the guy has stripped completely naked and is parading around the beach, in all his glory, asking people to give him a cigarette. he then comes over, while i am pretending to sleep so i don´t have to talk to him, and asks jimmy to watch his bags. next, he glides out into the ocean for a swim. comes back on shore and begins to practice karate kid style jumps and kicks while wading in the sea. priceless.
there are so many other minor moments that mark our days but we hope these give you a little laughter for today :)
Today, we are so excited that we were able to meet up with Steph at the train station. she has arrived safely and will be here through sunday. tomorrow, we have the joy of our friend Drena joining us, also. we´ll try to get some more pics to share soon.
love you all!
J and C
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Barca
June 30, 2009
After a surprisingly uneventful flight, a few days around Alicante, and a beautiful train ride, we are here. Our first days in Spain were spent sleeping and fighting the heat in Campello. It is a beautiful tourist town with small beaches and lots of heat. We now understand the purpose of a siesta is not to nap but to avoid this incenerating heat. In Barcelona, we are volunteering with an organization called Puente Arab to teach Spanish and English to recent immigrants from Arabic nations. The few hours a week that we are going to be able to spend here are a great distraction from the busy-ness of meandering from beach to historical site to napping. While Barcelona is beautiful, it may be the hottest city we have ever been in... Nias, Indonesia has nothing on this place. Jimmy is still fighting with technology and limited Spanish as he tries to settle in. I´ve given up on actually using the correct spanish and just spew my broken Mexican-style spanish on whomever I need to speak to. Delightful. I think our pics have been uploaded to our flicker account, which you should be able to access from here. Well, my time on the computer is limited, but I will try to return with better updates in the near future. Remember that you can text us for free... we´d love to hear from you :)
Much Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
After a surprisingly uneventful flight, a few days around Alicante, and a beautiful train ride, we are here. Our first days in Spain were spent sleeping and fighting the heat in Campello. It is a beautiful tourist town with small beaches and lots of heat. We now understand the purpose of a siesta is not to nap but to avoid this incenerating heat. In Barcelona, we are volunteering with an organization called Puente Arab to teach Spanish and English to recent immigrants from Arabic nations. The few hours a week that we are going to be able to spend here are a great distraction from the busy-ness of meandering from beach to historical site to napping. While Barcelona is beautiful, it may be the hottest city we have ever been in... Nias, Indonesia has nothing on this place. Jimmy is still fighting with technology and limited Spanish as he tries to settle in. I´ve given up on actually using the correct spanish and just spew my broken Mexican-style spanish on whomever I need to speak to. Delightful. I think our pics have been uploaded to our flicker account, which you should be able to access from here. Well, my time on the computer is limited, but I will try to return with better updates in the near future. Remember that you can text us for free... we´d love to hear from you :)
Much Love,
Jimmy and Celeste
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