Come On Over

OK. Not sure if Randy will find time to write the rest of his memories down or not. So this may be it for this blog. Please come on over and join us on our 'family' blog. The link is on the right hand side of your screen. This blog was really meant for adoption 'stuffs'. Now that we are all home, we are concentrating on becoming a family. Lots of joy and happiness, so be sure the check in from time to time. If you should have questions on adoption, please leave me a comment. I LOVE talking to others about adoption. I think it is a wonderful way to build your family.

Coffee Ceremony

The Coffee Ceremony began with a lady in traditional Ethiopian dress preparing an urn of Frankincense and lighting it on fire so that it would smolder and release a rich, but not overwhelming fragrant scent. We were told that Frankincense, which comes from the bark of the Boswellia tree, only occurs naturally in Ethiopia. It is for this reason that Ethiopians believe that the wise man, who brought Frankincense to the birth of Jesus, was from Ethiopia. The lady then built a little fire that would be used to roast the coffee beans. The roasting took quite awhile, but when the beans got close to being complete she called everyone over to smell the wonderful aroma. During this time popcorn was also made and passed around. Popcorn is quite a treat in Ethiopia. All the while the coffee was being prepared all the families had a great opportunity to talk and get to know one another. Ryan explained to us that the real heart of a coffee ceremony was the chance to get people together to talk. I have to say that it worked out very well.

Finally the coffee beans were completed roasting and the lady then ground them up by hand. She then put the ground coffee beans into what looked like a cast iron pitcher filled with water and placed it over the fire to brew. I wish that I had watched this part a little more closely, because the coffee was very good and I’m now finding it very hard to believe it was made with just a cast iron pitcher. Finally once the coffee had brewed she gave each person a small cup. We were told that it was considered impolite to drink less than three cups. I can definitely see why coffee ceremonies are so popular in Ethiopia. It gives people a wonderful reason to get together to and enjoy great company and great coffee.

Wednesday of the Trip (part 1)

Wednesday would turn out to be a very busy day. It was also on this day that Mesfin helped me in a tremendous way solve a problem that I hear Mommies deal with all the time. Namely, what to do with the kids when you’re trying to take a shower and get ready in the morning. It turned out that Mesfin’s is a very food motivated young man, so much so that all you have to do is put a bottle within arm’s reach and he’ll grab and start drinking away. So I laid out a blanket in the bathroom and made him a bottle which luckily kept him happily occupied for the duration of a shower and getting dressed each morning, which was very nice. After getting ready we would go upstairs for breakfast each morning. The food was very good, at least the part I got to eat that Mesfin didn’t.

Our first activity of the day was to go to one of the Gladney Foster Care houses for a traditional Coffee Ceremony. It was here we got meet the other families adopting through Gladney. There was Peggy, Chris, Jess, Wendy, McKay, Stephanie and of course Mike and Amy who rode over with me from the Bejoe house. Also while we were here we got to meet some of Mesfin’s caregivers and nannies, who as soon as they saw him, whisked him away and promptly dressed him in more appropriate Ethiopian attire which you have probably already seen on the blog. They were wonderful and you could tell in their faces and Mesfin’s that there was a huge amount of love and happiness shared between them.

Stay tuned for the coffee ceremony.......( I Have no idea why the font is screwed up)