January 8, 2008

Melkam Ganna! (A Day Late)

Malkam Ganna (Merry Christmas in Amharic) from the McGregors! Christmas is celebrated on January 7th in Ethiopia and we were happy to participate in a few Ethiopian-themed events:

- We had our first Amharic tutoring session and it was fantastic! Our tutor, Zodi, is wonderful. We're really looking forward to being able to communicate (at least a little bit :)) with the community while we're in Ethiopia. During the session Zodi made the comment to me that Amharic is in my blood - The size of the smile on my face must've been record breaking!

- We met Cloverlandfarm and her husband for dinner at Meskerem, an Ethiopian restaurant in Manhattan. They're adopting from Ethiopia as well and are an absolutely lovely couple. We're hoping to go to a service at Zodi's church together sometime soon. Their services are conducted completely in Amharic with English subtitles so should be very interesting!

- I enjoyed another exciting correspondence with our CHI adoption consultant today regarding our time line: Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia on December 31st, 2007 and we've been on the wait list since December 4th, 2007. The 2-3.5 month estimated wait time to receive a referral is based off of the day we were added to the wait list, so... 1 month 4 days down, 2 months 11 days to go! (I'm a former math teacher...you have no idea how hard it is for me to refrain from posting a thorough analysis of the data and corresponding graphic representations of all of the "estimated" wait times.)

- We're on day #4 of operation "babywait be gone!" So far, so good.

So, it was a busy day but we adore participating in activities that help us to feel that much closer to our child. Our child certainly isn't waiting for us, in fact little baby McGregor has no idea we're coming. We're the lucky ones waiting for little Ashton/Isabel to be ready - and when s/he is we're on the next plane to Addis Ababa!

7 comments:

Brooke said...

Wow, how cool to be taking Amharic lessons. I'm sure even knowing just a little bit of the language will be helpful. I have heard that it’s a difficult language to learn. Very cool!

Dan, Misty & Ashar said...

What fun to be able to take lessons. We're trying with the DVD's, but it's a looonnng road! Interesting to hear about the 2-3.5 month wait times. We haven't been able to get any updates on wait times, so that is encouraging! Happy treadmilling!

Stacie said...

That's great about the lessons. Wish we lived somewhere that we could get lessons too.
Forsbergs

Rebecca said...

That's great that you guys had your first session! Ben and I need to do that. I guess we should find somebody who could tutor us. It would be so nice to teach our baby both English and Amharic!

LISA said...

I'm glad your first session went to well!! We haven't had any updates for a long time!

Children's Hope International said...

I like the countdown! With all your preparations in Amharic and food tasting/making, I am very excited to see you guys go to Ethiopia!

Tomorrow will be one less day. :)

Jennifer N.

Amanda said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! I look forward to meeting many people that are going through a similar journey. :)

I just wanted to say that you made me laugh when you talked about posting graphs and doing statistics re: the wait time. Hysterical.

And, I know what you mean about participating in events that make you feel closer to your child.

Your wait is almost up and yet it must seem like forever! Good luck and I'm going to keep reading to keep up to date with the goings on in your world....