50 Years Later

"I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today."

As we prepare to build our family, which will be all colors--black, white, and shades in between--Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, spoken 50 years ago (yesterday), are especially sweet to my soul.  

Let Freedom Ring, indeed.

Celebrating 6 Months at The Queen of Sheba

or, I LOVE TEJ.

Our dossier (giant packet full of our background/financial/personal/adoption info) arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Valentine's Day, which means that, as of last Wednesday, we have been on the waiting list for 6 months.  To celebrate being that much closer to bringing our babies home, we had dinner at The Queen of Sheba, one of Dallas' Ethiopian restaurants.  (I'm learning how to use my DSLR camera, so the pictures aren't the best. Don't hate.)

This is tej--Ethiopian honey wine. Basically the best drink ever.

Sambusa, a crispy pastry filled with meat

Instead of using utensils, Ethiopians tear off pieces of injera and use it to pick up their food.

The food is usually served family style, on a large piece of injera.  We had lamb, chicken, lentils prepared different ways, and veggies.

spicy and delicious!!

A copy of a famous painting depicting Ethiopia's Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon in Israel.  There are several thousand Jewish Ethiopians who trace their heritage to a son Sheba and Solomon had together.

New Project

So, in my last post I mentioned a project I was working on, and it's finally ready! 

In recent months I found myself wanting to write about things that aren't adoption related. Whenever thoughts and feelings and ideas came bubbling up from my heart that didn't feel right for this space, they were channeled elsewhere, usually into notebooks or my poor husband's ears.  

I decided I needed a new blog, a space where I (and others--blogging is all about community, after all) could discuss struggles, experiences, and ideas that aren't necessarily adoption related. 

Thus, after loads of thought and prayer and with the help of two awesome web designers, CompletelyCaroline.com was born, a lifestyle blog where I will write about anything and everything from eating disorders to shopping your closet. 

I'm not abandoning Bringing Them In; I will continue to post updates and other adoption related stuff here, so I hope you'll stick around.

#63...

YOU GUYS!!!  Our agency matched 19 precious little ones with their families this month, and we moved 16 spots on the waiting list! Moving 16 spots in one month is pretty much unheard of in the world of international adoption. At this rate, it looks like we might be getting our referral next summer or early next fall. Insane.

I've been staying at my parents' house the past several days as my mom recovers from pretty intense surgery. It's been wonderful to spend time with my parents and have lots of couch and movie time with my mom.  This little time out has also provided me with some much-needed time to work on a new project I'm pretty excited about... details coming soon.