We had visitors - Amy's brother and his fiance spent the weekend with us. We had a wonderful time with Dann and Julie. We went to the playground, took a trip to the Memphis zoo, cheered on Purdue to victory, enjoyed BBQ and Ethiopian cuisine and played several games (it was nice to have two more euchre players for the weekend!). We are so glad they made the long trip from Indiana.
Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant - We tested out a great Ethiopian restaurant in Memphis (blocks from the Zoo!) - we were thrilled to find we LOVE Ethiopian food!
Ethiopian cooking is characterized by hot spices, thick stews and injera (a large, flat sourdough bread). If you like spicy food, you will love the complex flavor of this food. The food comes all at the same time, with heaps of various stews served on a pizza pan on top of the injera. You tear off pieces of the bread and use them to scoop up bites of the various dishes (forget English manners). With all of the spicy food, the injera serves not only as a utensil, it helps counterbalance the spice and fills you up pretty quickly. This was a fun way to enjoy a great meal!
We bit the bullet and decided we needed to hire a contractor to complete a few house projects - so we can be ready for our two new children. Our home has been a construction zone - with a construction crew in home for two weeks...followed by a week of painting!
Downstairs, we had a wall removed and a beam installed - to expand our living room area (and make room for a family of six).
And, after our two weeks of construction and one week of painting...the upstairs is done!
AHOPE for Children is an organization that provides a nurturing home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for orphaned HIV-positive children, provides care for HIV+ children in the community through their outreach program and helps educate the community about AIDS prevention.
We are at the 20 week mark...half-way to baby #4!
We spent the weekend with family in St. Louis (Mike's brother and his family). Hendrick is completely enamored with his cousins - Katelyn, Owen, Aidan and Lauren. We were able to cheer on the kids at their weekend sporting events...and Hendrick went fishing with the boys. It was wonderful to get away for the weekend - thanks to Dan and Linda for hosting!
Food Network is airing a show tomorrow night and it's all about potato chips. Of course, the wonderful world of Pringles will be on display, so you should check it out (link)!
We have had a construction crew at our house all week...Amy and the boys needed a little break - so we got out of town and spent the day at the Memphis Zoo. Our family membership has been a wonderful investment - this was our 10th trip to the Zoo in the past 8 months! Our favorites at the Zoo: the elephants, polar bears, the farm, and the snake house.
Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash)
Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in leap year. Its unique Ge'ez calendar, based on the ancient Egyptian system, is seven years, nine months and 11 days behind the one adopted by Pope Gregory in 1582. Locals joke that the word millennium in Amharic, the country's unique language, is "menem yellum", which translates as "there is nothing".
Enkutatash means the "gift of jewels". When the famous Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her bolts by replenishing her treasury with inku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since this early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside.
Praise!
Our adoption case was recently reviewed by our adoption agency's formal "Case Review Committee". We were under review since we are adopting AND expecting. We had to submit our "Plan of Action" (we gave them 10 pages to review) to demonstrate to the committee how we plan to successfully parent four children - two brand new to our family.
We are blessed beyond measure. The Lord is growing our family and we are thrilled to be the parents to four precious children. Parenting is not easy and is a lot of work - we know we will face challenges. We know we must be realistic as we enter this time of transition. We do not underestimate the task of parenting four children, however we are confident we will be fine. God has given us all that we need as parents. We will find our strength in the Lord.
"His divine power has given us everything we need." 2 Peter 1:3
*We just heard back from our case worker: the committee was very impressed with our plan and is 100% behind us with our adoption! They said they are proud of us, thrilled to be working with us and honored to help us bring our family together*
Ok, it's time for a vote to decide the hairstyles in this house.
Our smallest family member is now about 7 ounces, 17-1/2 weeks old, and looking pretty comfortable.
Mike was lucky enough to be in the pit of yesterday's NASCAR Craftsman truck series race in St. Louis with the #60 Jack Sprague team (thanks to Jason!). It was an amazing experience - suffice it to say that you don't really know what it's like standing next to a truck traveling at 175 mph until you stand next to a truck traveling at 175 mph. Chest-rattling might be the best descriptor. 
This was the first lap at full speed for the full field (40 trucks). It was by far the loudest noise I have ever heard. Thankfully the team provided us with headsets so we could listen to the team's radio communication and prevent our eardrums from bleeding.
Unfortunately for the team, Jack's engine gave out on lap 40 of 200. The truck was running great, moving from 15th to 7th before throwing a piston through the carburetor. The two guys shown in the picture are from Toyota Racing Development - the folks who provided the engine. Needless to say, they were working furiously to figure out what part of the piston assembly broke loose. 
Goodyear provides all of the tires, after which point the teams measure circumferences. The larger tires (usually taller by millimeters) are used for the right side, the shorter for the left to aid in handling through the corners. Each team has their own tricks to shave thousands of a second off their lap times.
Thanks to Jason for the tickets, thanks to Jeff Wyler (team owner) and Jack Sprague for letting a racing fan have access to the guts of your operation, and thanks to my wonderful wife for allowing me a whole Saturday out of town.
Amy and the boys were back in Cincinnati for a second week (Monday, August 25 - Saturday, September 1) hanging out with cousin Zoey. It was a pleasure to spend special time with Zoey and to help Erin and Scott during this transition time.
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