I think I am addicted to......

Over the past few months we've had the chance to sample quite a bit of Ethiopian food in the area, and I think I am hooked.  It now seems that we are seemingly eating Ethiopian once a week! 

Our first experience was at Dukem in Baltimore.  We've now been there a couple of times.  Every couple months the Mid Atlantic Adoption Group has get togethers at Dukem and in September we celebrated the Ethiopian New Year here and met some wonderful people.  The food is delicious, beer is mighty tasty and the coffee or Buna is outstanding.  Dukem was just the beginning!

Our second stop was Elfegne Cafe. This quaint little 5 table restaurant is located in Pig Town in Baltimore, why is it called Pig Town you ask...well Eric informed me that way back in the day they use to march the pigs down the road to the slaughter house located in that neighborhood.  Now, as a Vegan this was not a great picture to have in my head!  On to the food....this place was so great.  We walked in and were greeted by a beautiful Ethiopian woman with the most welcoming smile.  We were the only diners in the place and sat down and opened a nice bottle of red wine (it is BYOB).  We ordered the vegetarian sampler to share (she talked us out of ordering it for two) thus at only $11 it was darn reasonable and actually more than enough food for us both.  Oh, it also tasted oh so good.  We will definitely be going back to this place!

Our third stop was Abol, located in Silver Spring.  This place had funky original artwork!  We even got the name of the artist!  Large portions and super tasty Sambussa.  On the down side dishes were served "American" style with bowls and silverware instead of the more traditional Ethiopian style.  We used our fingers anyway!!

We finally got to D.C., world renowned for it's Ethiopian cuisine.  We went to the old classic, Meskerem, with Eric's mom.  This was her first experience and a wonderful one at that!  Meskerem is located in Adam's Morgan, surrounded by other African restaurants and shops, adding to the adventure.  This was really the first stop that really served up what seems to be a more true Ethiopian style dining experience.  We were seated at woven/wicker tables with a cloth draped over and sat low on padded stools/ottomans.  The food is brought out on a large tray and set down in the middle of the wicker table so that everyone seated around simply reaches in and goes for it.  We tried great sambussas, with lentils and then with carrot and cabbage.  We also tried a wonderful beet and potato salad to whet our appetites, and ordered jalapenos stuffed with onions and spices so we could adjust the heat level of the food to our liking with a nibble.

We liked Meskerem so much (and had another Groupon to use!) that we went back with Meghan's mom last week.  Now being such seasoned diners we knew to ask for a table upstairs and also knew to order the vegetarian sampler for two, then add on an extra portion of our clear favorite--Yemisir Watt, pureed lentils in spicy Berbere sauce.

In the future we hope to get to more of what D.C. has to offer, all in preparation for being able to truly appreciate our trips to Ethiopia for the real deal!

We got "Punked" in a good way!!

This year for Christmas our family decided to pick names.  This seemed to be easiest since our family is getting larger each year!

Eric and I dutifully purchased our gifts and had them shipped to my mothers house.  We were all set to Skype in with the family during the party when we got the B-E-S-T gift ever!

When we connected with the family my darling little niece M was sitting there with mother giggling...she said, "Auntie Meghan we played a trick on you and Uncle Eric!"  "We did not buy each other presents we put all our money together and are giving it to you to help bring home your baby!"

Eric and I were in shock and awe.  They had been planning this all along and we had no idea.  We laughed because we STRESSED about what to get for our gifts, wanting them to be perfect.  I even got into it with a poor Amazon Customer Service Rep over the shipping time frame of one of the gifts! 

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family.  It makes me happy to know that they support us and want to be able to help in every little or BIG way possible.  Here are our wonderful, loving and supporting family who made our Holiday so much brighter.  We don't think we can every say Thank You enough!!! We love each and every one of you so much!



W & F



E & D



S & L

A

L & L

S & S

M

B

E

Mommy

 Thank you all again!  We love you and can't wait for the day that we bring home our little girl and introduce her to this amazing family. 

Happy Holidays!!!



Oh My Goodness---A Nursery Must Have!

It brought tears to my eyes!!

We are OFFICIALLY WAITING!!!

As of Thursday, December 2, 2010 we are officially waiting to bring home our little Ethiopian Princess!  We are both so excited and celebrated with a nice bottle of PINK Champagne! 

Eric and I both agreed that we would start planning the nursery and stuff like that once we were on the list...well, Eric better start hiding the credit cards as I am SOO ready! 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far and continues to support us.  We are so lucky to have such amazing wonderful people in our lives!

We got our I-171H Letter and Thanksgiving

Well, I am a little over due with this post!!  We were away for Thanksgiving and I am playing catch up.

We had our final fingerprint appointment on November 16 and not even a week later, on November 22 our I-171H letter was waiting for me when I got home from work!!!!  We immediately made a copy, had a friend Notarize our statement and I raced back to the FedEx box to overnight that baby to KBS Dossier. 

Here is a pic of Eric and I happy as pie with our letter!

 Oh yeah....popped a little bubbly!

After this very exciting night we got on the road the next day to Maine.  We had a wonderful time and were so sad to leave.  It was our first Thanksgiving without eating any animal products and hopefully our last one as a twosome! 

Before I post some pics I want to say everyday I am thankful for so much but this year I am sooo very thankful for the wonderful woman who is most likely growing our little princess for us right now.  I will forever be thankful for Ethiopia and Africa and am so happy that my life has taken this path.

I am sure Mabel is thinking .......WHY Mom, WHY!!

 Turkey helper #1 - B

 Turkey helper #2 - M

 My brothers, Mom and I

 Future Turkey helper #3 - E

 B Loves Uncle Eric

M loved this slide and I think they both went down it for 45 minutes straight! 

Next post will be when we are on the list!  KBS thinks it could be by the end of the week!

Fingerprints are done

Today, Tuesday, November 16, 2010, we were summoned to The Bank of America building in Baltimore at 8AM to have our (dare I say) FINAL set of fingerprints done.  Oh what an experience it was! 

I think I woke up at 4 this morning, anxious, nervous and W-I-D-E awake.  I was so worried that we would over sleep and miss that darn appointment, that I just could not sleep.  Of course my darling husband assured me there would be no traffic and he would even (are you ready for this) park in a garage!  For those who know Eric this is quite a big deal.....Eric is the king of street parking and we often circle block after block looking for a free spot ;).  With our papers in hand we walk up to the room and then I started to feel as though we had done something wrong and were in trouble!  LOL--these people take their jobs VERY seriously!  OF course, everyone was super nice and it only took us about 20 minutes to get in and get out.

I know this is silly but I even got kind of teary eyed!  This is it!  Just one more very important letter and then it is the home stretch.  Many people feel like the wait list is the hardest...but when you have been waiting for 5 years to hold a precious child in your arms, what's another few months!   To me, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel!!

I will leave you with a shot of Mabel--this picture was taken a few years ago during a trip to South Carolina.  We just entered her in the AAA Pet Contest, and I am pretty confident we will win!!!

50 Free Holdiay Cards.....YES PLEASE

I am a lady who rarely says NO to anything free! 

Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free Holiday Cards if you do a post in honor of them! I have been browsing Shutterfly's options and have decided that we are going to use our photo's from our recent shoot and create special cards this year!  Just think....possibly next year we will be doing our first family holiday cards with our little princess.  We have been waiting to do this for 5 years, it makes me giggle inside!

Happy Tuesday all!!!