Toppling Rocky Top

Yesterday, our Gators beat rival Tennessee, 23 to 13. A great win against another great SEC team. Don't look for any Coach K bashing on the B Family Blog--he's married to a dear childhood friend of mine (who also happened to be in the group of mutual friends that introduced me to Hus-B and used to courier our love notes back and forth (and who also happens to be a former GATOR!)). His off-season tough talkin' certainly increased the intensity of the game, though--especially in the stands! Wow, what fun! We hope Coach K's career at Tennessee is long, distinguished and record-setting, but we also hope our beloved Gators continue to find a way stomp those Vols!

(my cute bead necklace was handmade by my Miss M) The pride of the Sunshine!

Heeerrreee come the Gators!

I've never seen so much blue in the stands! Coach Meyer requested all of the Gator fans to wear blue since Tennessee shares our orange.

Timmy:

Coach K hard at work:

Once again, it's GREAT to be a FLORIDA GATOR!

Happy New Year!

Although it is with sadness that we reflect upon the tragic events in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, we are finding some joy in celebrating the Ethiopian New Year today.

According to the Ethiopian calendar, today is the first day of 2002!

Nope, that's not a typo. The Ethiopian calendar, also called the Ge'ez calendar, is based on the Coptic calendar, which originated from the Egyptian calendar. The seven to eight year gap between the Ethiopian and Gregorian (the universal civil calendar--the one used by most Western countries) calendars results from alternate calculations of the Egyptians and the Roman Catholic Church in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus. The Ethiopian calendar is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days (6 days in leap year). Each Ethiopian year is dedicated to one of four Evangelists: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John. The year of St. Luke is Leap Year, and therefore always has the extra sixth day in the thirteenth month. (If you find all of this as fascinating as we do, click (here) for more great information).

New Year's Day in Ethiopia is known as Enkutatash (meaning the "gift of jewels"). Historically, it marks the return of the Queen of Sheba from her expensive jaunt to visit and thoroughly impress King Solomon in Jerusalem. When she returned to Ethiopia, her chiefs welcomed of her by replenishing her treasury with inku or jewels. Enkutatash also traditionally marks the end of the "rainy season".

We celebrated with dinner at our favorite Ethiopian Restaurant, the Queen of Sheba. We had our "usual"--lentil sambusas, doro wot and beef tibs (extra berbere, please!) and plenty of injera--finished off with some Ethiopian coffee, of course. YUM!

In true Times Square fashion, Miss M insisted on making her New Year's entrance in a tiara and sunglasses.

We were also thinking this would be a really cool day to get THE CALL! As of last week we were officially number 4 on the waiting list. We've moved up at least one spot since the Andersen family received their referral yesterday for precious 6-week old twin girls. I also heard through the grapevine that there may have been another baby girl referred to a family who doesn't have a blog or report to the listserv. Even though it turned out that today was not our day, we're hopeful that we will see our Diamond in September. Stay tuned...

Toddlers in Tutus!

I can't think of anything more precious!

Miss A has stood on the sidelines at Miss M's ballet classes for the past three years, anxiously awaiting the day that she would don a leotard and tights and get her turn at the barre. Yesterday, the day finally came!

Their ballet instructor is a legend in our small town--she's been teaching dance here for over 50 years! It is truly where her heart is. She is such a special woman and we feel blessed that she is a part of our girls' lives.