Update And A Meal

Ok, I have been terrible at keeping up with blogging. Sorry! People ask me all of the time how things are going and if I would just keep this stinker updated you all would probably feel a little bit more informed huh? Well, since it has been a long time I am going to meld two posts into one. The first half is all about how I (Erin) have been feeling the past few months, and the second will be all about our fun Ethiopian meal. Here we go.........

Sometime around Aug 10th (give or take a week) Andy played a song for me in the car. I couldn't tell you what the song was, what it was about or who it was by. All I know is that it struck a chord in my heart. Up until this point we haven't really even felt like our kiddo was even born yet. I mean, the reality of timing and our age limit made that pretty obvious. We just knew we were praying for her before her bio parents had even begun to think of her. What a cool thought! Anyhow, when he played that particular song, on that particular day it hit me. I think she is born. I just really do! I don't know who, what, when, where or why, but I truly think she has been born. As parents, part of our job is to love on and protect our kids. It is something I am unable to do for her right now. She will go through a loss greater than I have ever experienced in my life and I can't be there to protect her or hold her through it. She will lose two parents and God only knows what else before I will ever meet her. That. Is. Hard! Hard! Hard! This was a feeling I didn't know how to process.
The next day (Sunday) we were singing "The Glory Of It All" at church. We sang " At the start He was there, He was there..." Yes, I am aware he isn't talking about being at the start of my daughters life, but God used it. At the start of her life HE was there, when all is lost He is there. I just felt God's presence in a real way. Touching my heart and reminding me that HE IS THERE. That, is all that matters. As important as I will be in her life one day, I don't hold a candle to God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I would much rather Him be there with her than me. It gave me such a peace and a zap back to reality that I can not always be in control or protect, but that doesn't mean my kids aren't being cared for. In fact it can mean the absolute opposite. God is in control and God is holding her. That, is all that matters.
So yeah, in a nut shell, we still have some time. We could get a call tomorrow or we could get a call in 2 years. But, God is in control and we will wait.

Now, on to the food. I have heard from a number of people, and blogs of adoptive parents, that there are three things they had wished they knew more of. 1~ Amharic (the native language in Ethiopia), 2~ How to make Ethiopian food and 3~ How to take care of their babies hair and skin. So, I decided to tackle one of those three. Food of course! I love ethnic food so this was a fun adventure for me. There are few people I would ever invite over for dinner on Ethiopian night. But we do have a few adventurous friends, so we invited some over to join in the Ethiopian fun.
This my friends, was a 2 day long adventure.

I first started by making Ayib, an Ethiopian cheese. In the States Ethiopian places often serve plain yogurt because you can't buy Ayib here. BUT.....You can make it!!!! ;) Yes, I made cheese, and it was easy!

Then, I started the Injera. Injera is the bread they eat with meals over there. It is made with Teff flour and it is fermented for days! Lemme tell ya, I was a little nervous with this stuff. When I opened the container on my counter is was all brown and bubbly. It was so bizarre looking and it was an interesting process. My injera tasted ok, but it wasn't right. It is suppose to be crepe thin and spongy. Mine was like a big ole pancake. Fail! Oh well, I will keep trying. I made Gomen, which is a collard greens dish. Shiro Wat which is an uber spicy, chick pea flour, pasty main course.  Misir Wat, which is again a very spicy, red lentil dish. Yassa, which is marinated onions (8 of them) and chicken. Kik Alicha, which is a yellow split pea stew and last but not least a super crazy, spicy, tomato salad. The salad I didn't even attempt  to eat because it was fire hot. The other stuff???? I plowed it! I'm not sure I even took a second to breathe.

Not to toot my own horn, (I mean they weren't even my recipes) but it was DANG GOOD! We all enjoyed it and I even had enough left over to send home with our new Ethiopian friend Getabalew. According to his mommy he liked it! Even the crazy, hot n' spicy Misir and Shiro Wat! That kid must have some iron clad taste buds!
One of the three down and 1 1/2 to go! (I say 1/2 cause I half way know how to care for her hair already thanks to my profession and tips from my friends who already have learned.)
There ya go. That's us in a nutshell for now.
Annnnd  I will leave you with a little picture of our fun friends who joined us for the meal ;)