Pictures, message boards, and other stuff

So sorry for the lapse in postings. I would love to say it is because we have been so busy, but when the temperature outside starts with a "-" it is safe to say we haven't been going anywhere. So why the long interval? Basically we haven't been able to come up with anything new to say. Well enough of that I say, today I plan on throwing about a dozen different things out here. (If I lose you all I apologize)

• Jen asked that I post some pictures of the kids from our Chicago trip as well as some outdoor playtime so I will be putting them in at the bottom of this post.
• On Saturday night we met with another family in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We got their e-mail address from Angela our case worker. Jen had been e-mailing her over the past month or so and we decided to get everyone together. They have two boys and have received their referral for a beautiful baby girl. They are now waiting on their travel date. Oh I forgot to mention they live here in our area too. There are a couple other families we have been in contact with who were unable to join us this weekend but want to get together next time. It is so nice to have other families close by who have adopted or are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We really think it will be helpful to our family to have these connections close by.
• Ahhhh, message boards. You could say I am slightly addicted to them. (Jen is slowly becoming a junkie as well.) The wealth of information as well as the camaraderie that is out on the web is unbelievable. I think Jen mentioned the CHSFS board in a previous post, but if not this one is GREAT! The Ethiopia forum is the biggest and most active of all their boards. As of today there are over 12,000 posts. What is nice about this board is that everyone here for the most part are using CHSFS or have used the agency in the past. If you have a question you can post it and have a reply in minutes. I also have subscribed to a number of boards on Yahoo! There is an Ethiopian adoption board which has people from all of the different agencies, there is another board for people using CHSFS and recently I stumbled across an Iowa international adoption board. This one has posting from people in Iowa about adoption, it is not as active but still something I check with some frequency.
• We didn't mention a nice little get together we had in early December. We got together with about 4 other families at David's Place in Iowa City. I mention this because David's Place is an Ethiopian restaurant and I highly recommend it. In fact I beg of you, if you are in the area stop in and give it a try.
• We love that people have been posting comments! Please do so if you have time, it lets us know that we have people reading this and actually makes doing this blog a lot more fun. We have not replied to the comments because we weren't sure if that was the "right way" to do things in the blogging world.
  
• Finally, Jen wanted me to mention that I have ended a couple of my posts with a word in Amharic. So for those keeping score at home:
• Dehna hunu - Goodbye
• selam - Peace
  

I guess that's it for now. I know that isn't quite a dozen but I tend to exaggerate at times. Just ask Jen. Here are the pics.

To my wife and family, Afekrishalehou!