Happy New Year!

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We had a great time at the Ethiopian New Year celebration in Madison Saturday. We showed up like the new kids in class but quickly found a place at a table with an Ethiopian family from where else but Shashemene (where Luca's original orphanage is!)

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They were asking about her, and I mentioned she is Wolaitta (a people group). They said, "oh, that fella over there is Wolaitta" and called him over to talk to us.

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During our conversation, he mentioned he is from Soddo, south of Shashemene, and I asked him if he knew anything about a town that is listed as Luca's birth place on her paperwork. The town's name is scratched on the paperwork with messy handwriting, and I've been analyzing it for 10 months trying to figure out what it says. I did my best to write it out on paper to see if he recognized any part of it, and guess what...HE DID! Some of the letters were different than what I thought they were, and he confirmed that the town Kuto Serfela is 2-3 km from Soddo!

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I was THRILLED!!!!!

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He was also able to tell me that the town is about 100 km from Shashemene (which is another 5 hours or so from Addis where we picked her up), so it's interesting to be able to trace the path she traveled on her way to us, a perspective we simply could not have gotten from where we sit.

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The most exciting part of the conversation came when I asked him if he knew of a healthcare facility in the area, and he said, "yes...it's a missionary hospital in Soddo!" This is important to us because on Luca's intake paperwork, there are 2 immunizations which state "was took at birth," indicating she either was born at a medical facility or visited one shortly after birth, possibly leading us to at least a closer birth date than the great unknown that we have!

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The gentleman then went on to say that his cousin is a doctor in Addis, and his cousin knows the doctor at the Soddo hospital and could put us in touch with his cousin!!

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As soon as I got home, I looked up the hospital online and got goosebumps when I saw it from just the mere possibility that she MAY have been there at some point in her life. I emailed the address listed regarding our case and received an email back this morning stating he had forwarded our request on to the staff in ET but not to get our hopes up because they often have to turn these requests down in favor of patient privacy. I emailed again stating we could provide proof of adoption and a release of records request, but I figure I'll save the real graveling for if they do end up giving us a definite "no." :-)

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Regardless of the hospital outcome, we're excited to have met our new friends in Madison and also to have a few more tiny pieces of the "puzzle"...every one as precious and valuable as the last and every one a journey to an unknown time and place in our child's life.

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NOW FOR SOME PICTURES!

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Brenin came running in the room the other day yelling, "Luca can braid! Luca can braid!" She was waving a Barbie horse in my face with a braided tail. I thought, "oh, I must have done that the other day when I was playing with the girls...something to pass the "Barbie time." I undid the braid and handed the horse to Luca to see what she would do with it. Do you know what....SHE BRAIDED it again with perfect form!!!!!! She said the "lady" at the foster center showed her how to do it. Today she told me they only had toys for babies there, so I guess if you have no toys and 50 kids with a ton of hair, you braid! Brenin quickly arranged the chairs in the toy room face to face and sat Luca down to give her a braiding lesson...she was really proud of her sister.

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This is SO Luca...using her injera not to pick up the traditional, meat-filled dishes, but spaghetti! The girl can down some injera though...she ate 3 1/2 rolls of it!!! Ethiopian food is quickly becomming a fave for us...SO yummy!

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After dinner, the girls hit the dance floor. Here's a rather artistic shot taken by Brenin. As you can see, Luca was feelin' the Ethiopian music!
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...and then there's Brenin. I like to blame her Daddy for this move.

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Happy New Year to everyone!