EKC Pictures, a Book, and a Favor

After I posted yesterday, I realized I have forgotten to post pictures from our EKC event last week. It was a great day - we had a lunch at our local Ethiopian restaurant and had more people than ever! The owner of the restaurant, Henok, also told us all that he and his family are adopting from Ethiopia! How amazing is that? Pretty amazing.

Another thing that was amazing was to see Micah & Mamush running around playing together. Here is one of the first pictures ever taken of these two boys together - at the House of Hope in Ethiopia...

And here they are now (with cute Noah) - all of them crazy toddler boys!!

This one is just cute - you can't see it, but Mamush is running after Micah here, or maybe Micah is running after Mamush...

In other exciting news... we received our copy of From Ashes to Africa by Josh & Amy Bottomly! I'm so excited to read it, although I'm saving it for later this week. I will be posting about it after I've read it, but I'm pretty sure it will be the best book ever. You should just go ahead and order yours now. (Micah is flipping through it as I type - he agrees that you should order it too.)

And finally, a favor. I have a friend who is a finalist in a wedding contest. She and her fiance could win a wedding - and I think they really deserve it. Their story is very cute - they met at their 10 year high school reunion and fell in love. If you want to help make their dream come true - go vote here. Click on "Vote" and then vote for Betsey & Scott - Couple #3! (My pageant-mom tendencies are coming out again - I really want them to win!! :)

Ethiopian Babes

Last night we were lucky enough to meet up with 6 other families in the area who have adopted, or are adopting from Ethiopia. It is so great to connect with other families who have this shared experience. Our goal is to start a local group - similar to the Illinois Ethiopian Kids Community - where we can meet regularly so that our children grow up knowing other children from their birth country.

We met at an Ethiopian restaurant and basically took over one of their rooms. The kids all did great - they seemed to have a lot of fun. Next time I'm hoping we meet at someone's home so the moms and dads don't have to keep a constant eye on the little ones who are mobile, and so the smaller ones can get down on the ground and play together. Kevin couldn't make it (you'll see why) so I don't have any pictures because I was solo - the camera didn't make it out of the bag. Luckily, Christina & Deedra offered to hold Micah while I finished eating so I got to enjoy my yummy meal. (Thanks Christina & Deedra!!)

Micah was hilarious - he is cutting his second tooth so he was a little crabber before we left, but once we got there and he was distracted by everyone - he had a great time. By the end of the night he was babbling and laughing - he always gets a bit goofy when he's tired. I think that's way better than the alternative of getting very crabby when tired.

Here's the one picture I did get from the night - upon arriving home...

And, this is why Kevin couldn't join us...

He got to spend his evening with the Roto Rooter guy. Fun times. I was getting Micah dressed and Kevin had gotten out of the shower and gone down to the laundry room to get something out of the dryer when he found a semi-flooded room. Yuck. No big deal though - the plumber came over and fixed it and nothing was ruined. I just have a lot of laundry to do now because some of it was lying in piles waiting to be washed when it flooded. Oh well - it could have been worse!! :)