Melkam Addis Amet!

or...Happy New Year! Today, September 11, 2005, is New Year's Day in Ethiopia. Although it is 2012 here in the U.S., it is the start of the year 2005 in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months, each consisting of 30 days. There is also a 13th month that consists of 5 days (or 6 days in a leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian/western calendar from January to September, and 7 years behind from September 11 through January 8. Therefore, beginning today, there will be a 7-year gap as it is 2012 here and 2005 in ET.

Example of 13-month calendar from the year 2004/2011

This New Year has been celebrated since early times. It marks the ending of the Horn of Africa's long, rainy season. According to tradition, children get new clothing and hand out freshly picked flowers. Dancing and singing can be heard in villages along the countryside and daisies bloom in the fields.

 Here is a youtube clip of an Ethiopian New Year's celebration from last year (2004/2011):

Information & Picture Sources:

http://ethnetwork.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://ourethiopiandaughter.weebly.com

 

Mailed!

Today we finally mailed our I-600A application and supporting documents (consent disclosure, birth and marriage certificates, home study) to U.S. Immigration. Hoping for timely fingerprinting appointments and approval so we can get our documents sealed & bundled, and our dossier can be sent to ET!

Homestudy in Hand

Yay, We finally received our official, notarized home study! We can now apply to immigration. There is no school this Thursday because of the primary elections, so I will have plenty of time to mail/fedex it. Luckily we get our 1st paycheck of the year on Friday so this will cover the application and fingerprinting fees. It is funny how the money we have needed for this process has appeared exactly when we needed it. For example, this past summer I received an additional salary b/c I  worked the special education summer program. The amount was equal (when rounded to the nearest hundred) to the amount we needed for our first agency and home study fees. 

I can't think of any other way I would rather be spending my money!

Farewell Summer, Hello Fall

School (work) starts today so in my mind it is unofficially the start of fall! 

tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com

I remember growing up I would go school-shopping and purchase new sweaters, jeans, boots/leather shoes and then wear these things the first week. I would be sweating to death by the end of the day. I know technically we have a couple more weeks left of summer and I am hoping to squeeze in a few more beach days on the weekends!

On the adoption front, there is not much to report. Our home study has been approved by our agency. It is being finalized and we should be receiving it this week in the mail. Once we get it, we will immediately apply to immigration and wait for our fingerprinting appointments 3-4 weeks later.