Amazing Ethiopia...

No big news concerning adoption... we have finished the paperwork and now await our referral (i.e. our daughter).

We have been reading tons about the country that will soon become a part of our family's heritage. And what we have learned about Ethiopia has been startling. When I used to hear the name Ethiopia I thought only of starving children with protruding bellies and flies on their faces. Certainly the country has its share of hardships, but a closer look reveals that this nation truly is one of the most special nations on earth. Here are some things that we have found fascinating...

• Coffee originated in Ethiopia and plants still grow wild in the KAFFA region.
  
• It was home to the Queen of Sheba - you know, the one who went to see King Solomon!
• The Queen's hometown, Axum, was pretty much a major hub of the entire ancient world.
• In 1974, the emperor of Ethiopia was deposed. He could trace his lineage to a supposed child between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. If the Queen of Sheba did have Solomon's child (and why not -- read 1Kings 11) then Solomon's line reigned in Ethiopia for over 3,000 years.
  
• Ethiopia is mentioned a whole lot in the Bible, actually. One name for it, Cush, is used 26 times in the Old Testament.
  
• Legend has it that the ARK OF THE COVENANT is currently housed in a church in Northern Ethiopia!
• Depending on how you slice it, Ethiopia contains the headwaters of the Nile.
• So many of the problems in Africa can be traced back to almost the whole continent being colonized at one point or another. The only African country not to be colonized was Ethiopia.
• It is considered the "Roof of Africa" - Ethiopia's capitol city is 2,500 feet higher than Denver (it is the third highest capitol city in the world)

We will certainly be proud of our daughter's Ethiopian heritage. It will be so great to let another heritage into our family; Ethiopia's stories will become our stories, their holidays will become our holidays, their future will become our future.