Ethiopia by the numbers

Many people have asked us why we chose Ethiopia as our choice for adoption. While there are many reasons for us beyond these numbers, I thought I would share a few sobering facts.

• Life expectancy in Ethiopia 39 years for males and 42 years for females. The leading cause of death is communicable diseases such as malaria, typhoid, meningitis, cholera, AIDS, tuberculosis, yellow fever.
• One in ten children die before their first birthday
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• Woman have an average of 7 children and the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 14
• Ethiopia's neonatal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world - 49/1000 births with tetanus infection being the second major cause of infant/neonatal death.
• Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Over half the population lives on less than a $1 a day. The average income in Ethiopia is US$100 a year. Almost 82% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
• Malnutrition levels are among the highest in the world.
• Ethiopia is home to 4-6 million orphans, or 12% of all children.
• That is the same number of children under age 18 who reside in Massachusetts, New York State, and Washington DC combined. If every parent in those places died tonight - that would be similar to Ethiopia's orphan crisis.
• More than half a million of these were orphaned as a result of AIDS.
• Only 42.7% age 15 and over can read and write.
• Only 18 percent of children reach grade five. That means 82% of children don't.
• 44% of the population is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• Coffee prices (Ethiopia's only major export) declined 40-60%from 1998-2002
• Severe drought struck the country from 2000-2002
    - first year no crops
    - second year no seeds
    - third year no animals
• Ethiopia is experiencing yet another drought now. 

Wow!

On Friday, Lucas and I were awed by the generosity of our friends and family. Our party was awesome, fun, amazing, and rockin'! I couldn't believe the turn out- we had at least 100 pals attend. Lucas and I are so lucky to have such talented, artistic friends. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures- I was so overwhelmed... almost like being at our wedding with so many people to talk to! Here are some of the highlights:

• Our favorite local dive bar Lost Lake hosted us; fireplace, dark lighting, with whiskey and "The Champagne of Beers" flowing.
• We had a fantastic silent art auction with donations by Amanda Gordon Dunn, Doug Spencer, Sandi Calistro, Andy Bell, Bryony Lovelette, James Clarke, Britt Madden, and Becky Steele.
• Tunes by The Royal and Hooper.
• DJs to rock us between sets: Thanks Hayley, Tyler and Rhea!
• Friends came from near and far! Thanks to Trina, Karli, Flea, Joe and Jill for making the drive from the Fort Collins/Greeley/Loveland area. 
• My whole immediate family was there! (even Justin who is usually MIA...) and my aunt and uncle.
• Coworkers also came to show support.
• Lucas and I brought baby pics to show off. Boy-o-boy are those babies cute!
• There was a $5 suggested donation at the door, and a donation jar (more like a towering vase- thanks sis Sari!)
• We also had a baby blanket drive that we will take to the orphanage when we go on our first trip. We scored at least 10 blankets!
• We are still adding up the donations... but as of now we have made over $3000 which will help us pay for our travel and some of the babies' orphanage rent!

We feel SO loved. Thank you to the many who helped think this up, planned it, worked it, rocked it, payed to get in, donated, danced, and loved us so much! 

What a crazy coupla weeks!

Sorry for any suspense as I know I left my last post as sort of a mystery...

*Complainer Alert!* I have barely been keeping my head above water these last few weeks with a hectic work schedule (working 10 and 12 hour days), no car, and the mix up that happened last week with our sweet boy. I have been stressed, feeling defeated at work with little support, feeling guilty for making people drive me around, and just want to focus on the cute pictures I get maybe once a week. *Complaining over, I think*

So- I'm not so sure that I should be writing this in a blog, but I want those that are also in the adoption process to know what bumps may come along the way. Two Thursdays ago, when we were anxiously awaiting any news on our little Agegnehu, we got an update email late in the evening from our adoption agency... with pictures of a frail, thin baby who was 6 months old and only 8 pounds. We sat there staring in disbelief and we searched the picture for any feature that slightly resembled the healthy baby boy we had gotten a picture of only 2 1/2 weeks earlier. We were certain there had been a mistake. We immediately called our agency and left a message. I made Lucas do it because he would sound meaner. How could our baby have 1) changed ages 2) lost 3 1/2 lbs in 2 weeks 3) not look anything like the first picture?

We were shocked when we heard back from the agency that this was in fact our Ageghehu, that he had become very sick, and that we just didn't recognize him because of the weight loss. Lucas and I still weren't convinced. But we felt everything was out of our control. We tried to talk ourselves into believing that the pictures were of the same boy: "Maybe the eyebrows are the same... his ears are kinda the same shape..." Either way, we were somewhat mourning the loss of our healthy baby- the one we had first gotten the picture of and studied daily. Our little boy in pink was now very sick. I began researching formulas to send with friends to Ethiopia. This boy had to get some weight on him fast. We had already heard this week of a little girl who died of pneumonia in the same orphanage... this could be us. Somewhat thankful that I have a nutrition background, I started to believe that this boy was meant to be my son.

Fast forward 4 days. I get a call at work, on a busy busy day. "You were right. We made a mistake. We found your Agegnehu. There was a mix up between the two orphanages. This never happens. Your boy is safe and healthy."

Emotional roller coaster. Bittersweet. Jerking our hearts around! Now who will love the tiny Agegnehu? It's still too much to think about at times. But I am SO happy we have our boy in pink back!!! I am already madly in love with him.

There is more to the story that I won't share here. I will always think about tiny Agegnehu, I hope he finds a family soon.

This week's stats:

Jalele Lark (~6.5 months)
11lbs 12oz, 24inches

Otis Alan Agegnehu (~5 months)
11lbs 13oz, 26inches

Both are growing... but I would be a happy with about 5 more pounds each! Can't wait to get you babies! C'mon court date!!!

And I really can't wait to celebrate these two on Friday. You should come... we'll have pictures! Thanks again, Sarah and friends!

Injera and Berbere

The last few weeks have been somewhat frustrating waiting for updates and pictures of our little babes. Today we went on an emotional roller coaster that I'm not sure I want to share with anyone yet. We're still waiting for more info... hoping things get cleared up tomorrow or very soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week.

We did get Jalele Lark pics. She is getting so chubby! And her hair is simply gorgeous. This week's stats:
11lbs 7oz, same length and hc

On another note, Lucas and I have been doing some Ethiopian cooking. We are finally using our skills from the Ethiopian cooking class we took back in March 2011 (R.I.P. Generous Servings Cooking School, sniff). We also received some ingredients from a very sweet friend of the family for Christmas: teff flour for injera, berbere spice, tamarind, and fenugreek seeds. She also gave us a cookbook by Marcus Samuelsson, a celebrity chef who happens to be adopted from Ethiopia.

We used his recipe to make our version of Injera, and it actually turned out good!! Not quite as sour as what I have tasted before, but perfect consistency and look! We were pretty proud of ourselves (and special thanks to Hayley for perfecting the batter). This is not a traditional injera, as apparently, the real thing is made with a sourdough culture type starter. I hear that is virtually impossible to find in the USA.

Here is the close-as-it-gets recipe:

2 cups teff flour or fine ground whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 cups club soda
2 Tablespoons clarified butter (although I just used cooking spray)

Whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the yogurt into the club soda, then stir into the flour mixture to make a smooth thin batter (like a crepe batter). Strain through a sieve or strainer to remove any lumps.
Grease a large skillet with clarified butter and heat over medium-high heat. Pour 1/2 cup batter into the pan in a spiral, starting at the center, and cook for 20 seconds. Cover the pan and cook for another 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate and cover with a cloth to keep warm while you cook the remaining injera. Makes about 12 large flatbreads.
*my notes: I didn't want to use all of my hard-to-find teff flour at once, so I used 1c teff, 1c whole wheat, and 1c all purpose flours. The batter should be very thin. I found I had to add almost double the club soda to get the right texture (which could be from my use of greek yogurt instead of regular- I thought it would make it a little more sour?). I also had a huge pan. If you don't have an extra large non-stick pan, I would use a little less than 1/2 cup for each injera so it can get thin enough. It took a bit of practice. But we had plenty of flatbread to serve with our meal.

Final product served in what I will call "Modern Ethiopian" style (ha!):

Miser Wat (Berbere spiced red lentils), Injera, Ginger Honey Sweet Potatoes, and an Arugula Salad. Oh, and wine, lots of wine. Success! We had fun sharing with our Wednesday night dinner crew Doug, Hayley, Rob and Steph.

Crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow, and good news.

XOXO