We are just getting home from such an awesome night. Sojourn Community Church had an Ethiopian Dinner/Art Exhibit/Lecture tonight. There was some beautiful art and photography. A few of the families from our agency that have adopted children were also there. All the kids were wearing their beautiful, Ethiopian traditional outfits. So cute!
As soon an we walked in, I felt a wave of emotion. It was so wonderful smelling the food, smelling the coffee, seeing the art, and meeting local Ethiopians. The whole experience made both Justin and I feel closer to Chera and Kenenissa.
The speaker was a missionary who grew up in Ethiopia. His talk was on Ethiopian Christianity and it's influence on art, music, and life. During the talk, he mentioned an Ethiopian king named Kaleb. The king was very instrumental in the spread of Christianity in Ethiopia and was a wise and discerning leader. What is wild, is that we were planning on giving Kenenissa the name Caleb. It really made us happy that the name we chose to give Kenenissa is both important to us as Christians and to their Ethiopian culture. I think that we are probably going to go with the spelling with a "K."
After the talk, we met the speaker to find out more about King Kaleb. We didn't plan on finding out anything about our boys, but we found out some great things about their names. In Ethiopia, names are very important. All names have beautiful and thoughtful meanings. We have not been able to find out the names of the boys from anyone! We have asked 5 Ethiopians, and none of them knew. Considering there are 72 languages in Ethiopia, I guess that is not that strange! I have searched and searched the internet, but have found nothing. When telling the missionary about the boys and without asking him, he immediately told us the boys name meanings! Chera means "Grace" and Kenenissa translates to "one who is taken care of by the community." A pretty nice ending to the night that I did not expect. I am including some pics of our night.
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