Mama (Anne) & Reese

Daddy (Mike) & Lilly

OUR ADOPTION AGENCY


This book is a MUST read for all interested in Ethiopian adoption.

Melissa Fay Greene

Here's a great video summary of the book by MF Greene and here is the full length version

Friday, January 18, 2008

A few of my favorite (Ethiopian) things....

My #1 favorite Ethiopian thing is of course our little Ethiopian princess, Lilly (shown here doing some gymnastics with her big sister and her bunny):

But, I have a few other favorite Ethiopian things that I thought I'd share:
(1) Favorite Ethiopian Children's Song:

All of you Ethiopia-lovers out there will definitely enjoy this great Ethiopian kid's song on the Putumayo CD "African Playground." It has kid's songs from all over Africa, but amazingly, the Ethiopian song (Hoya Hoya) is honestly the best one on the CD. (Okay, maybe I am biased, but I really think that it is the best one on the CD). Over the past few months, it has become one of Reese's favorite songs. She always asks for me to play it for her! I ran it by Eyerus this summer and she knew all of the words, so it must be legit---a true Ethiopian kid's song! You can hear it by playing it on this little music player:

(2) Favorite Ethiopian Runner:

Yes, there are many Ethiopian marathoners, but undoubtedly the currently most well-known is Haile Gebrselassie. He is arguably the best long distance runner ever and he set a new world record in September at the Berlin Marathon. That's amazing. Then, his time is INCREDIBLE: It was 2hrs, 4mins and 26 seconds. That' s 26.2 consecutive miles at under 5 minutes (4:44 to be exact) per mile! That's a ridiculous, full out sprint for the entire time! A lot very decent runners couldn't run 1 mile that fast, let alone 26 of them. That's seriously crazy. But, what is most amazing to me is his personality and attitude about it. Reportedly, after setting the new world record he immediately called Paul Tergat, the Kenyan who previously held the record, to apologize for setting the new world record. Haile says that they are friends and that he felt bad for taking the title from him. I think that this just kind of illustrates the personality that we have seen in so many Ethiopians -- very humble, kind and sweet.
(3) Favorite Ethiopian Driver-Tafesse!! Who else? (We actually like one of the other Gladney Drivers, Anbes, very much too.) But, why we are so amazed by Tafesse is that not only was he SO sweet to us while we were in Addis, but he recently sent us Christmas gifts via Nick and Sarah Marie when they returned to Addis Ababa to pick up Eyerus. He sent a T-Shirt for each of our daughters, a beautiful scarf for me, and a cool key chain for Mike! How amazing! (Special thanks, of course, to SM and Nick for taking these back from Ethiopian for us).

Basically, I love a lot of Ethiopian things...

8 comments:

Amy said...

Firstly...I could not believe my eyes when I saw another new post. Secondly, Tafesse sent you all Christmas presents! What a sweetie pie.... I am trying not to be jealous. :) Thirdly, I will have to look into that fun African CD. And fourthly, Lilly is so cute doing her gymnastics with Reese. :)

becky said...

Hi! Thanks for posting on my blog! It was great to hear from you. We unfortunately missed the Bridge to Ethiopia event, and yes that was me signing on to the midatlantic group! We just recently switched agencies and I was so excited to find it. We are adopting a 7 year old daughter. Compiling our dossier now and waiting for our FBI fingerprint appt. We can't get this done soon enough! We spend lots of time at the beach too -- it would be great to meet up sometime. My little ones are 5 and 2--- and LOVE meeting friends at the beach! We will definitely be in touch.

Janice said...

Your blog has really inspired me. My husband and I are in the beginning stages of adopting from Ethiopia. I'm dying to know the name of the song and the artits that sing the song that you added to your video of your trip to Ethiopia.
johnstonj40@hotmail.com

Janice said...

I forgot to leave you my blog. Check it out at janiceandthomas.blogspot.com
It looks similar to yours because I liked yours so much.
Janice

Alicia said...

Hello, we are a Spanish family. I need to talk to you about two children orfananto kebebtsehay Children's home
Please contact in this e-mail nibollu@gmail.com
Thanks, Alicia, JM and Nicolas Abenezer

Alicia said...

Hello, we are a Spanish family. I need to talk to you about two children orfananto kebebtsehay Children's home
Please contact in this e-mail nibollu@gmail.com
Thanks, Alicia, JM and Nicholas Abenezer

Anonymous said...

Hello, we are a Spanish family. I need to talk to you about two children orfananto kebebtsehay Children's home
Please contact in this e-mail nibollu@gmail.com
Thanks, Alicia, JM and Nicholas Abenezer

Anonymous said...

Hello, we are a Spanish family. I need to talk to you about two children orfananto kebebtsehay Children's home
Please contact in this e-mail nibollu@gmail.com
Thanks, Alicia, JM and Nicholas Abenezer