Picture for our Dossier

Our friend, Amira, took pictures for us because we needed all sorts of random pictures to included in a photo page for our dossier (document being sent to Ethiopia from our agency).  Included in the list of necessary photos was a "picture of our family inside our home".  I'm assuming to prove we have shelter? So here it is, the Smiths sitting on the couch in our little rental house.  I hope this does the trick.  

This one is not for the dossier, its just for cuteness.

All things Ethiopian...that we can find.

We've been doing our research about Ethiopia for our home study, and decided to try out the yummier side of "research" tonight.  
We varied from our no-fluff adoption budget and went to "Lalibela" Ethiopian restaurant in New Haven.  I wish I could say we loved every second.  This is what actually happened: Pearl refused to try anything, she accidentally drew on the table cloth with a pen, and we spent most of our time showing her youtube videos of "Cinderella" on our phone so as not to disturb the one other customer in the place.  Funny thing is that Micah and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant in NYC when we were first dating, and I complained the whole time about how much I disliked the food.  I will pretty much try any kind of ethnic food, and I can now say I like (not love) Ethiopian food. 
Following that, we walked around downtown and wandered into "Ten Thousand Villages", which is a store that buys crafty things from poor countries all over the world and sells it to Yale students with lattes.  I thought it would be fun to see if they sold anything from Ethiopia, but the sales woman responded "No, its really hard getting anything out of there these days".   That's reassuring, thanks. 

Wallet or Violet?

If you haven't already heard, or figured out from the title of this blog, we are adopting Baby Smith #2 from Ethiopia!  Its expected to be a process that lasts over a year, so we're hoping that by Christmas time or so next year we might be making travel plans.  We are planning to adopt a little girl, around one year old.  

I'm doing something I rarely do, giving into peer pressure by starting this blog.  I realized that adoption details change very quickly, and I knew this would be the best way to keep our scattered family and friends updated.   I suspect I'll get into the more serious "why adopt?" and "why Ethiopia?" questions at some point, but for now I'll just give you a glimpse into how things are going with preparing Pearl for her new baby sister "Violet".

Me: "Pearl, you're going to have a baby sister named Violet"
Pearl: "Baby wallet?"
Me: "No, Baby Violet, your sister."
Pearl: "My money?"
Me: "Ok"

Well, good luck to you, little Baby Violet, this family speaks fluent crazy.