Busy Weekend...Happy New Year!

On Friday night, we were able to go see the African Children's Choir perform. I thought it would be fun...I had no idea how awesome it would be for us. Grace LOVED it. I didn't realize how touching and personal it would turn out to be. Grace was loving the children who were performing. She kept pointing to them and saying "Ethiopia." So sweet! The stories of the singers were also very powerful. They are so young. They have traveled all the way from Africa to raise awareness and funds to help support vulnerable children in Africa. It was a great show. All of my kids really enjoyed the music, dancing, and drumming. Please check out the choir if they are ever in a city near you. Saturday was Ethiopian New Year! Happy New Year 2003! In Ethiopia they still follow the Julian calender which is divided up in 12 months of 30 days and then a 13th month which has 5 days or 6 days during leap year. Enkutatash is the formal name for the first day of the New Year. Meskerem (September) is seen as a month of transition from the old year to the new. The rainy season in Ethiopia is ending and the new year is beginning. Because Ethiopians follow the Julian calender, Ethiopia is 8 years behind the more commonly used Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind from September 11 - January 8. So, it is now the year 2003 in Ethiopia...cool, huh?

Back in the US, we spent Saturday focused on football. Drew played hard - he has the bruises to prove it! Notice that he is number 4? He still loves Brett Farve even though Farve plays for that awful purple team now...

Drew thought it was time for Grace to learn about football - not the soccer kind of "football!"

We spent some time planting fall flowers...

Took a walk to the playground...
And, dressed up like a Packers cheerleader...

We were invited to watch the first Packer game of the season with our good friends.
We needed a picture of our whole family for our social worker to include in our first post-placement report. Even though it is "cheesy" (no pun intended) to wear matching Packers clothes, we decided to snap a family picture. Notice Drew wearing #4 again? He has a #12 jersey, but he just can't stop being a Farve fan...

After the Packer win, we decided to wrap up the weekend with a little "coffee ceremony" to celebrate Ethiopian New Year. Like in Ethiopia, we enjoyed popcorn and "coffee" (hot chocolate). Bryce was so cute - he ditched his Packer clothes and ran to get his traditional Ethiopian clothes on for the occasion.

Happy New Year 2003!