We are now 4 months along in our waiting. The last group of referrals given out were for people with DTE's in August. Our DTE is in February, so according to that timeline we will have to wait for the people in Sept-Jan to receive their referrals before we will. We received an e-mail update several weeks ago with some disturbing news from Ethiopia. Apparently, the government there caught a police officer turning in children to orphanages stating they were "abondoned children". This was not the case, as some of the children had homes with families that had not, in fact, abandoned them. Unfortunately, this has led America World (our agency) to no longer refer any of the children in their system labeled as abandoned. We were not led to believe that this is a forever situation but until they can review and investigate the children they currently have, they do not want to put families into a situation where they are referred a child, and then the court does not pass the adoption due to the abandonment question hanging over children's heads. America World stated in the e-mail that up to 25% of their children come from "abandonment" so we are expecting a decline in the number of referrals for the coming months. However, we are still encouraged as referrals are still coming out and we are moving up on the list.
On a brighter note, John and I recently had our first authentic Ethiopian experience. We drove to Chicago over the weekend and ate at Ras Dashen. Pictures and more explanation to come!...
Here are a couple pictures of our experience at Ras Dashen! In the first picture is our food/table. Traditional Ethiopian eating is done around a basket holding the pizza pan size dish you are served. Each person orders an entree which is a meat of some sort. Then, as a table, you are served 3 sides and also extra injera, which is the bread with the meal. The food is served on a flat layer of injera. This is a very spongy, sour tasting bread. Not a bread that I would eat by itself (although I'm sure Ethiopians do and love it), but the injera serves as bread and utensil. As you look at the picture, in the "6 o'clock" position is one of our sides. It is buttermilk cheese, very good and soft. Definitely a homemade cheese, not bought in any dairy section! The dark brown meat to the top of that is John's beef entree. It was a traditional spicy Ethiopian dish that made John's nose run:). To the "3 o'clock" side of the cheese is some of the injera. My lamb entree is above John's beef. I ordered a dish that was not labeled as spicy although it still had some spice to it, which I believe most Ethiopian food does. To the left of the lamb is a lentil/pepper side dish and to the right is green bean/squash
side dish. Everything was very good. As you can see from the next picture, everything is eaten with your hands. No utensils, no napkins! It's one thing to eat a hamburger and french fries with your hands...it's another to scoop up saucy meats and small sides with a piece of flimsy bread. It's not pretty, but then again, everyone else in the restaurant is doing it as well. At the end of the meal you do get a wetnap:) All in all, it was a great experience. Hopefully one we will get to do again at some point before we travel. I have hoped to cook Ethiopian at least 1 night a week once we have our child. After being at the restaurant, I am encouraged but also realize it might be quite a task to master. The good news is our child will have never actually eaten Ethiopian food before he comes home to America with us. So, hopefully, we will be able to convince our kid that the food I cook tastes "just like authentic Ethiopian food". We'll see how that goes...
