CIS & E-Bay

We still didn't get our CIS appointment today. I was feeling discouraged and have had this feeling that something was wrong. I kept trying to tell myself that I was being impatient but I couldn't help but feel that CIS was missing something and that is what has been holding us up. We have had to mail in a couple of extra things and were worried that they never got to CIS. I mentioned my concern to my husband again and today he did some researching only to find that Gladney accidentally sent out our homestudy to the wrong CIS office. OOPS! We quickly notified Gladney and it was immediately corrected and sent to the right place! THANKS! We hope to have our fingerprint date soon... I do feel better now that I know that there really WAS something holding us up and it has been taken care of!

I am sure you were wonding how CIS and e-bay went together. They don't, I have been meaning to post about this e-bay site so I figured I would just combine them into one post and didn't want to just title it CIS. So on to the e-bay part.

I have had a lot of people ask where I found many of my Ethiopian items. I found a seller on E-bay that I really like http://www.ethiopianreflections.com/ I think that most of his stuff is priced just right! Many of the other sites I have found I wouldn’t even consider paying the prices that they want for stuff. His items are “buy it now” so that you don’t have to bid on them! He also has items that you can “buy now” or “make an offer” on. He has a wide selection and adds new items regularly. There are mini messobs that kids could have a dinner around, puzzles that are made by kids and the money goes to helping those kids, wall prints/hangings, cards embroidered by foot by disabled people (yep the money goes to help them), clothes, books, cds, greeting cards made from banana leaves, you name it! This guy offers a lot of items to help out others and he combines shipping! In fact, you can shop for several days before you ask him for a combined shipping invoice as long as you let him know of your intentions. One other cool thing is he is in Addis Ababa so when you order something you often get mailing stamps from Addis (unless you buy big items)! The shipping time isn’t too bad. I have had items arrive in a week. I think the longest it’s taken was a little over a month. It really depends on the mail service. Still from Ethiopia, it’s not bad at all. This is a site you have to spend a little time searching for stuff on b/c there are so many categories of things.

Also, if you are looking for books and things for children he has some really neat things. The Beekeeper of Lalibela, The Lions Tale, Fafi’s Sheep, and The Fig Tree are all books that are in English and Amharic. They are all, in my opinion, cute stories (I have not yet read The Fig Tree) and his prices on these books were by far the cheapest I could find. There is a donkey game that I think is neat. The game goes something like this ... the little donkey brings firewood to the city, how much can you load on his back? Do it carefully and do not hurry! Of course there are the puzzles and clothes I mentioned earlier.

I’m sure I have talked enough about this site and in a way I hate to give my secret out b/c I love this site! Who knows maybe you’ll love it too. From the business I have done with him I have been nothing but pleased. I also love that there are items that benefit others.