Happy New Year

Happy New Year Baby E!

It's 2003!!!   Huh?

September 11th is the New Year in Ethiopia. Enkutatash is the word for the Ethiopian new year in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, while it is called Ri'se Awde Amet (Head Anniversary) in Ge'ez, the term preferred by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Of course I have no idea how to pronounce that!  They still retain the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each, and a 13th month of 5 days (6 days in leap year). The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8. So it is now 2003 in Ethiopia! Confusing, huh? I wonder how that affects the paperwork as it goes back and forth from Ethiopia to the U.S.?

I tried to remember what I was doing 7 years ago in 2003. At the time, we were living in West Virginia, and our boys were 7 and 4. Wow! That was the year we went to Disney. Here’s a picture of the boys on the famous Tea Cups... too cute!

~Colton & Dylan - Disney 2003~

As the New Year begins in Ethiopia and as our year is coming into its last quarter, I wonder if Baby E has been conceived yet or if she’s been born yet? It’s still going to be about 11 months until we will know her face and story, which seems so far away. It makes me sad, but I also know that E will have a brother or sister around the same age as her to play and grow with when she comes home…. As well as 2 big brothers to look after the both of them! (I'm still hoping my belly-baby and E are close in age... maybe even having the same birth month!). 

Life continues to takes twists and turns for our family, but it is all by design. I just wish I had the blueprint! Our path that we began almost a year ago has detoured slightly, and although it’s frustrating to a ‘planner’ like me, I am still learning that everything happens for a reason, and that God’s timing is always perfect, even if it doesn’t match our own understanding.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-7 NIV