We spent a fun weekend at “Gramma’s house”, where we got to visit with Josh’s family and go to his cousin’s wedding. It was great to see all of our family and I learned that MY KIDS CAN DANCE!!! They had so much fun dancing at the wedding…they would have stayed all night.

I came home to an email from a great woman that just spent two weeks volunteering at AHOPE. She gave us quite a bit of information on Belane as well as pictures. The sad news is, poor Belane is freshly shaved. Ringworm is going around the orphanage (which for those of you that don’t know, is a rash, not really a worm…big pain in the you know what). They shaved all of the toddlers to keep an eye on things and treat what needs to be treated.

Luckily from the photos it doesn’t look like Belane has it very bad (if at all) but it sure is sad to see her so bald. In a photo we got a few weeks ago, she had her very first little braids in…now she’s got nothing!

Here are some fun things about Belane that the volunteer told us:

-she goes down for her nap easily

-she is quiet in a group, but not one on one

-she approaches new people, but is not pushy or imposing (if you’ve ever been in an orphanage you know what this means!)

-she is friendly and loves attention

-she has a great appetite and especially likes that Ethiopian white cheesy stuff that they serve with the wat and the injera

-she feeds herself well with her hands (as is the Ethiopian way) and does “ok” with a spoon.

-she loves riding on a merry-go-round

-everyone that meets her seems to think she is really cute and sweet

So, there is the latest. I will add to this list too that she has a stubborn streak. I have video of her that my best friend took in April…she is eating and one of the nannies tries to help her by rolling up a ball of injera and wat into a ball and trying to put it into Belane’s mouth. Well she just shuts her lips tight and shakes her head no. The nanny tries to feed her a few more times and she continues the pout/shaking head no thing, and then the nanny walks away and she goes back to eating. Funny girl!

The pictures and information are great, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that they sure do make me anxious to go get her. The waiting is just miserable as many of you know. November seems eons away today (and November is not even a guarantee…just my best estimate if things continue to go well). I just want her.

She should be getting our “welcome bag” in the next day or two which has a shirt and some little toys as well as a photo album of us and a camera, so she will soon know all about us and hopefully we’ll get some new photos soon too.

That’s all for today. More soon.