Our International House of People: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Getting Close

We are getting so close to bringing Taite home. We had a little hold up with the consulate but I got an email tonight saying that our article 5 was picked up and that now we are waiting for travel approval. So it looks like March I will be heading to China to pick up our little girl. We have been working on finishing Taite's room and it is looking pretty good so far. It will look even better with our little one inside of it.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas

/> We spend so much time getting ready for Christmas and then it is gone in a flash. This year was a great Christmas for the kids. Before Christmas we did the usual tradition of driving around and looking at Christmas lights and getting milkshakes. It is a strange tradition since most people have hot chocolate but one year when Lennah and Delylah were little we stopped at Steak and Shake to pick up milkshakes while we were looking at lights and the girls never forgot about it so we have to go all the time. The bigs ones also fell in love with this tradition so we have just went with it.
We also hit up Pettit Creek Farms this year to check out the lights. We hadn't done that one since Delylah was really little; mainly because Lennah got bit by a camel when we went there and she had never forgotten about it. Well low and behold she still remembered and did not want to go anywhere near the camels this time.
Christmas morning was the usual mess. The kids get up at the crack of dawn and wake up the whole house (my parents always spend the night on Christmas eve). Everyone was so happy that they got what they asked for and I was happy that I was able to get Heather the laptop she was begging for a great price. Santa even left some gifts for Taite under the tree that we are saving for her until she gets home. Overall it was a great holiday that is now over. Tomorrow I head back to work and the kids go back to school on Monday.

History of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the oldest known cradles of civilization known to man. Christianity was brought to the Kingdom of Axum around the 4th century AD and later in the 7th century Islam was introduced. Foreign missionaries were introduced to the region around the 1630's. Because of these unwelcomed guest Ethiopia did not welcome foreign Christians and Europeans into their lands. Its isolationism may have saved the country from 19th century colonialism. In 1936 Italian facists entered the region and forced its emperor into isolation but was later returned when the British and the French defeated the Italians. Civil unrest would lead to the demise of the aging emperor and in 1974 a socialist sort of government was named. The country went through a period of red terror that was funded by the Soviets and Cuba. This lead to the implementation of a communist government being installed in the late 1970's, early 1980's. In 1989 the country went through a period of famine that also lead to a change in governments. Finally, in 1994 the country would declare its independence and later hold free elections.

History of Vietnam

For about two thousand years Vietnam was ruled by China, following this period it would become independent for the next almost thousand years. In the 1800's it would be colonized by the French. The early 20th century would bring about visions of an independent republic. In 1945 Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent and renamed it the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1947 a full-scale war would break out between the French and the Viet Minh (Ho CHi Minh's followers). China also began to aid the Viet Minh at this time due to its own communist revolution. July, 1954 the Geneva Accords would be sign paving the road to France leaving Vietnam; however, it would partition Vietnam into 2 independent states seperated by the 17th parallel. The South was helped by the United States, while the North would be dominated by the Viet Minh. By 1963 the South's government was very unstable. 1965 President Lyndon Johnson would send troops into Vietnam. The North would lead a massive attack in 1968 destroying much of the South. In 1969, Ho Chi Minh died but his forces remained in tact. By the early 1970's many Americans viewed the war as unwinnable and would prove unsuccessful at containing communism. January 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed ending the United States role in the war. In 1975 Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese and in July of 1976 the two parts were reunified into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war was disastrous for the Vietnamese people leaving an estimated 1 million to become boat people, 1 million imprisioned, and more than 100,000 killed. Today, Vietnam still has a communist form of government and although they are a developing nation many people remain extremely poor.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Getting Close

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas

Ho Chi Minh City

Addis Ababa

Hohhot City

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