update... and a little sunday morning geography

Today we received new pictures of our baby girl (this also seems like a good time to announce her name), and last week we got more input on her growth.  Weredesh Skye Zeltins, we'll call her Skye, has grown half a pound and 1 inch circumference in her head.  I'm guessing she gained half a pound in her head.  :)  Smart girl!  No change in height.  The new pictures are awesome - wish I could share them online, but Ethiopia does not allow pictures to be published of their orphans until they are legally declared yours.  This is what we are waiting for - the upcoming court date.  Court dates will start being issued again at the end of September and hopefully they will grant us a date in October.  The court date is when they will review our files and give us permission (or not) to come and get Skye.  I'll keep you posted on that one...

In the meantime, on Sunday over morning coffee, Cory and I sat down with our laptops and did a little research on where exactly Skye is from.  She was born in a little town called Abatara (which we were not able to locate) in the woreda (district) of Tselemti.  Tselemti is in the region of Tigray (West Tigray) which is the northern-most region of Ethiopia.  

Here is a great map we found that helped us figure it all out:

http://www.ocha-eth.org/Maps/downloadables/TIGRAY.pdf

We also came across the following map that was alarming, but interesting.  It gives you a current, clear perspective of what's currently happening in the different areas of Ethiopia.  It's upsetting how many areas are shaded red (critical).

http://www.ocha-eth.org/Maps/downloadables/HS_0001_HotSpot_22August2008.pdf

One of my intentions of researching all of this was to hopefully visit Skye's birthplace while we're in Ethiopia.  However, it looks as if it's 400+ km from Addis Ababa, and I'm not sure that's a possible trip.  More research to come...