An Ethiopian Food Adventure

Utah does not have what I would call a plethora of Ethiopian restaurants. So when we found out that Las Vegas has a large population of Ethiopians we looked to see if perhaps there was a Ethiopian restaurant. We were thrilled to find out that indeed there was. So we decided since our children will not be traveling with us to Africa that it would be fun to introduce them to a little Ethiopian Culture.

Ethiopians live on a staple called injera. It comes from a grain called "Teff". It is one of the worlds most nutritious grains. One pound of Teff seed can produce one ton of grain in twelve weeks. This is hundreds of times smaller than that required of wheat. The resilience and quick growth of Teff have protected the Ethiopians from hunger for thousands of years. It is extremely hearty and leaves you feeling extremely full after eating it. When you eat in Ethiopia you do so with your fingers using the injera as your "scoop". The food is eaten family style with everyone sitting around the big platter and then scooping the food with the injera and into your mouth.

We took a few pictures for all of you to see how pretty the presentation is.

The injera is on the bottom and then it is surrounded with dora wat (spicy chicken), salad, chickpeas, lentils, cheese and yes that is a boiled egg in the middle.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much the children enjoyed the food. We had begged them to be polite and not say anything funny to any of the people in the restaurant if they did not like the food. We had promised we would drive through McDonald's if they hated it. We were thrilled that no such trip was needed. I found the injera to be quite spongy and I felt like I had eaten an expanding sponge after just a little bit of the meal. It was easy to see why this grain can sustain the Ethiopian people. I will say I enjoyed it and found it very different than anything I had ever eaten however, I can say I am glad that there is a pizza parlor close to the care center as I fear 10 days of this may be too much for me.

Below are a few more pictures of the children and Shawn at the restaurant. If you look you will see the rolled injera in the basket next to the main platter. This is what you would break off and scoop the food with.

Bring Me Hope

Saving one can make a difference!

Where is he from?

Well it has been a week today since, "The Call". In the meantime, it's set in we're going to acutally get a new son and brother. Our children were very excited and when we arrived home from California, my daughter, Marissa, made pictures of our new son/brother and put them all over the house. I find myself looking at the fridge wondering who is that child on the fridge? Oh, wait he is ours. It is a little different getting use to. We have picked a name, I think...... We plan on calling him Adam Girum Frasier. We wanted to first see what his Ehtiopian given name was, thinking that we could just use it permanently. So much has been taken from him already. If it had been a name we thought he could live with we would have kept it. As much as we love Girum, we felt that it might be a source of teasing on the playground later. Thus we have moved it to the middle and given him his Fathers middle name.... Adam.

We have had many people ask when we will be picking him up. When we spoke with our case worker at CHSFS she told us that the courts in Ethiopia would not hear his case until April 15th. Three months after his abandonment. Very rarely do they see cases heard earlier than the three month mark.

The three month rule in Ethiopia states that if a child is abandoned by his/her parents that the courts will wait 3 months for family to claim the child. This rarely occurs because it is a crime in Ethiopia to abandon your child and if caught you will be thrown in jail. This is the reason that CHSFS told me that they have never had a child reclaimed by the original family after an abandonment.

Many people have asked about the details surrounding his abandonment. To this we would like to say that the story of how he was abandoned will be for him to tell as he chooses. If Shawn and I disclose the details of this story, we will deprive Girum the opporotunity to share the story in a way of his own choosing. We will say however, that Girum had a mother that loved him and left him well-fed where someone could find him easily and get him to somewhere safe. We hope that we can raise him to understand the love and the sacrifice that his mother made to bring him into the world. Living in the United States it is perhaps difficult for many of us to understand the extreme circumstances that so many expectant and new mothers live in, and the incredible decision they make to leave their children, hoping they will be found and that someone will offer them love and a good home. From the beginning of this journey, I have felt the silent prayers being offered by a mother across the world and know that the Lord has sent us to answer her prayers. We understand that wanting to share all parts of his story would be so easy, but we ask for your help in this matter in keeping this small part of his story his own to tell.

It was a magical day!

Well, the call we've been waiting for finally came. We have been at Disneyland all week and had just sat down to enjoy lunch at the Blue Bayou next to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It had been a beautiful day, one we'll remember forever. Shawn's cell phone rang and he said, "who lives in the 651 area code?" We looked at each other like, "Could this be the call?" Sure enough, it was Lindsay Newman at CHSFS. She said, "I have your referral, is this a good time?" As if such a call could ever be poorly timed! Lindsay told us all about the adoptee and then said she would send the information and his picture via electronic mail. We all sat patiently at the table and then there it was! Lindsay's electronic mail message. Shawn opened it up to look at his picture and immediately all the children in such excitement gathered 'round him. I snapped a photo of the occasion for all of you to see. It was quite a moment to hear all of their "oohs" and "aahhhs".

The waitress came out quite aware that something was afoot. We shared our story and showed her his cute picture on Shawn's SmartPhone. It felt a little weird saying , "Do you want to see a picture of our new son?"

So meet our newest addition: Girum Liyuneh Frasier. Girum Liyuneh is his African name, of course. And no, we don't know what we are going to call him yet. Girum means "impressive", in amahric, and looking at his picture, I am sure you will agree it is fitting. His big eyes are amazing, his pouty lip looks like he dislikes cameras and the wet hair means that someone worked hard to clean him up for his first photo shoot. His birthday is January 4th, 2007 and he was brought into the care of CHSFS on the 15th of January at the Hosanna Center. On the 20th of January he was transported to the center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He weighs a little over 7 lbs. and is 50.5 cm long.

The children are all so thrilled except Audrey, who wonders why he can't be a girl? Oh well, Audrey gets just about everything else she asks for so this will do her some good.

A Little News!

We received an electronic mail comminication yesterday telling us that our little guy has arrived at the care center. However, he still needs all his paper work and blood work done. That is all that they would tell us. Perhaps it is becuase they usually get a group of children in and have to first determine health status before they can assign children to the correct families. Lindsay, our case worker at CHSFS, said it could take one to two weeks before this matching work is finished. So, the wait goes on. I have not decided if knowing he is in good hands and being well taken care of should lessen the pain of waiting or heighten it? We will keep you posted. Mom and Dad if you are reading in Hawaii sorry there is no news to share. We love you!