The Bowens- Loving life as a family of Four

Monday, January 9, 2012

Dossier is flying away!

Grace

Today your Dad did one of his favorite things and got to drive all over New York State. He was even more excited because he got to do all of this for you. First your Dad drove to Syracuse, then Oswego, then Cooperstown and finally Albany to get one step closer to you!

The final step was the Fed Ex and this year is was your Dad attempting to explain how important all of your documents were. You will learn your Dad is very calm so it is a BIG deal when he is making the Fed Ex people repack the paperwork and not leaving until he has seen everything been sealed and placed in the correct spot! You Grace are the biggest of DEALS to your mommy and daddy!

We now have a tradition on Dossier send off day to end with Cheesecake factory! Can't wait to see what you think of cheesecake -- I love it, your daddy hates it.

We love you baby girl!!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Melkam Gena

Melkam Gena to our Beautiful Grace "Y" and all of our wonderful friends in Ethiopia!!
We received our Gena miracle on the fifth of January. Our final document our criminal clearance (don't worry we aren't) came in the mail. Friday Dan spent the day getting documents county certified and Monday (silly weekend) he will take everything to Albany to State Authenticated. From there everything will be sent to Washington DC to for its final stamp before heading to Ethiopia. Once it is there we will be able to get in line for our COURT DATE!!

As we will be celebrating Melkam Gena from now on so here is a little bit more about Melkam Gena!!
Ethiopian Christmas is a major holiday in

Ethiopia

and falls on January 7, instead of December 25. Unlike the rest of the world Genna is devoid of Santa Claus and Christmas trees. But more recently the trend has been changing where Christmas trees have slowly started creeping into Ethiopian households where many people started using decorating trees even if there is still no Santa Claus stories told, giving and receiving gifts is also not a big deal among the people rather new clothes are bought for children as a present on the holiday.

Genna is followed by one month long fast. It is said that Legend has it that among the Magi the king bearing frankincense as gift to baby Jesus was King Balthazar of Ethiopia. The day before Genna, people fast all day. The next morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians do a traditional shamma, a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly coloured stripes across the ends. After the mass in church families get together to take part in the holiday feast which include doro wot, tela (homemade traditional beer) and Defo Dabo (bread made for holidays). As done in many holidays’ people visit relatives and spend the holiday feasting together.

Christmas is a holiday where many people come together especially in recent times Ethiopian Diaspora come for the holiday in an attempt to not only enjoy Genna, but also celebrate Timket (Epiphany), considered one of the biggest holidays of the year which is just two weeks away from Genna.

In rural areas people play yegena chewata; Ethiopia’s version of hockey which is played using carved stick and kind of rounded ball where men and young boys participate in the game – at times the rivalry can be fierce. There are also songs which are sung to show how people appreciate the game ‘begenna chewata aykotum geta’ at times the rivalry can be fierce. According to tradition, shepherds celebrated when they heard of Jesus birth by playing such a game.