State certification and Ethiopian dinner

We have had a busy week with adoption paper work. We are in the home stretch of the paper chase phase! Tuesday we went to get our biometrics taken at USCIS and today we went and had the papers we needed state certified in Columbus. This is exciting because we only have 2 things left before our dossier is complete. One is our photo pages which at this point should only take a few minutes to put together since I finally picked our pictures. The other is waiting for that beautiful piece of paper to come in the mail saying our daughter can be a US citizen.

We had a bit of a run around getting these docs county certified since our notary wasn't from our county...even though she said she was when we asked. But we got it figured out and now here we are all certified and happy.  (and so excited!!!!!!!)

We decided if we were going to go to Columbus we may as well make a day out of it. So we packed up our kids and all the stuff that goes along with kids and we headed to our state capitol. We went with the Rogers because it is always more fun with friends. Timing worked out well since we left around nap time. This is the scene in our car on our way there.

Dan and Josh ran in and got the certification taken care of. Which was awesome because it would have been less than fun with 4 kids 4 and under.Then we got to head over to COSI which was a great place to play for a bit. Plus, since we have museum passes to boonshoft it was free to get in. I do love free fun. 

 Here is our family in front of the cosi entry.

Playing in the Clifford exhibit. 

Look at Levi walking! He is getting so big. 

Levi loved the kidspace. This thing made him so happy. He just stood there saying OOOOO.

Asher was loving all the dress up and imagination toys. 

Amaya joining the fun.

Isaac loved the craft. 

After Cosi we went to the Blue Nile restaurant. It is an authentic Ethiopian restaurant. I was a little nervous since I am not an adventurous eater, but the food was pretty yummy and filling! Even more surprising was that my boys loved the food. 

The boys thought the traditional tables were so fun. It was so great we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. There were 11 of us total and 5 of those were kids 4 and under. So it was great that our kids were not a disturbance to others as they really enjoyed the atmosphere. 

The tops to the tables were a highlight for our kids. 

All the food is shared on one plate. This is an Ethiopian tradition. If you share a plate you are bonded. Also, they don't use silver ware. They eat everything with a flat sourdough bread called injera. They boys loved this!

Every one enjoyed their meal...maybe a little too much. 

We all went home with full bellies. But not so full that we couldn't stop for some Starbucks on the way home. Yes, when cultures collide.  

All in all a great day that is moving us much closer to our little girl. One of the funny things today I can't forget to mention. At every stop  Asher kept asking in all sincerity. "Is this Africa." No, this is a McDonald's drive through, No, this is Cosi. No, this is a restaurant that serves food like in Africa. 

It is so sweet. They are joining in our excitement to bring home our baby girl.