6 Months to 1 YEAR!!

Here is the montage I said I would make.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lazy Blogger!

It has been a long time since the last post and so much has happened but I notice that we are not the only ones who have become lazy in updating our blog after getting home with our children.

Well here is a summary of all that is new: We celebrated one year as a family just a few days after the children got to celebrate Christmas "American Style" for the first time. They loved it and Samson is still singing "Santa Claus is Coming To Town".... maybe we can milk this naughty or nice thing for a whole year instead of just the month before Christmas. We have a lot of great pics (especially of Samson dancing with his cousins during the annual Christmas Eve singalong) that I will have to post another time as they are not on this computer.

We also got to celebrate Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) with some Ethiopian blended families who live close to us and have been a wonderful support group through our whole process and transition. It had been a long time since we had seen these dear friends and we had a wonderful time. That night Sofie also got to go to her first sleepover courtesy of her two new best friends Isabela and Julia (Thanks Karen and Patrick it must have been a really long weekend for you guys!). She was nervous but had a wonderful time and is already planning the next sleepover to be held at our house.

Colleen's first book, "The One and Only Bernadette P. McMullen" that she wrote and illustrated, is also now finally out. You can check out her website: http://colleenmurrayfisherbooks.com/

We are so very proud of her!!! It was also great fun for Sofie to take it to school and show her friends that she was in a book... one of her teachers even read it to the entire fifth grade.

I will try to post more often in the future but will probably not keep that promise so you will just have to check back every few months for some updates and photos. I will post some more photos soon and am planning on making another onetruemedia montage as well.

It's about time!!!

It has been forever since our blog has been updated. Life has been very busy!!! At the end of the summer we went on a wonderful trip to Cape Hatteras, NC. We stayed in a great house on the beach with a pool. The kids never got out of the water the whole time.

Since school has started Sofie also started playing soccer. She has quickly become a great player and is even playing indoor now. She is getting all A's in school and is even reading at grade level only 10 months after first learning English. Samson is chatting away and truly does say the darnedest things. He is also growing very fast and loves to run. When we take a walk around our block (just short of a mile) he runs the whole way.

Colleen and I are up at Grand Traverse Resort right now. Last night she received an award from the Michigan principals association. She won a book writing contest and is having her book "Miss Martin is a Martian" published by Mackinac Island Press. This is actually her second book. Her first that she authored and illustrated, "The One and Only Bernadette P. McMullen", should be out this month. She also got hired to illustrate another author's book. I don't know where she finds the time or energy!

One Crazy Summer

It has been an incredibly crazy summer for us so far. Starting with a trip to Florida and then on to ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, dance class, volleyball camp, soccer camp and basketball camp with numerous trips up north, weddings, an Ethiopian Adoptive Families picnic, and a trip to Chicago in the mix. We have been booked every weekend and it is going to be a strong finish with Samson turning 3 next weekend a trip to Cape Hatteras, NC coming up. Our new normal is really starting to click as Sofie and Sam have settled in.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Taste of Ethiopia tonight which is always a wonderful experience as the owner and all of its staff treat our family so special. We look forward to it every time and try to get there at least once a month. Both Sofie and Sam still love the food and love the attention.

I know I never finished writing about Ethiopia but I used to blog during lunch at work or in the evening, but they cut off all posting to "social networking" sites at work (I can read, I just can't log on to post) and after putting the kids to bed we are always ready for bed ourselves. So here is a photo montage of our trip to Ethiopia all the way through our first six months home. Ethiopia was truly a life changing trip in so many ways for us. Our hearts still long for the country and its beautiful people.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Celebrating Six Months!!

Well last Friday we officially celebrated our six month anniversary as a family. Things have really settled down and we are having a great summer. Sofie had a wonderful end to her school year. She got incredible grades on her report card. Shortly after school got out we spent a week in Clearwater Beach, FL where we finally got to meet Colleen's niece who was born just days before we left for Ethiopia. We spent a lot of time relaxing at the pool. Both children are learning to swim very quickly. They both continue to amaze us with their ability to do anything they put their minds to. We also went to Busch Gardens and Sofie loved all of the roller coasters so we are going to try to plan a Cedar Point trip. We spent the Holiday at my dad's on the lake with family which was too short especially as Sam spent three days with a temperature over 100. We are looking forward to seeing lots of other adoptive families at a picnic this weekend.

Sorry for the lack of posts but our new normal does not leave much time for blogging.

News From the Month

Just wanted to take a few minutes and add some new pictures and let everyone know what has been going on in the last few months. We had a wonderful Easter although we wish it would have been warmer for Sofie's Spring Break. Even with the cold weather she was still able to learn to ride her new bike in just two days. Sam is still working hard to try and get those pedals moving. He would rather push his bike around than ride it. Both children are learning English at an amazing pace.


The kids also went "up north" to my parents' cabin for the first time and last week Colleen had a birthday, we had a first birthday party in the family and Colleen threw a shower at our house for her sister who is due in July. Colleen also found the time before Easter to paint her sister's baby nursery as a gift to her. You will see one of the paintings below with Sofanit standing next to it and she had paintings on every wall. I still say she could do this professionally. Needless to say it has been a busy month without as much time for fun as we would like but we are hoping things will settle down a bit as we near the end of the school year. Her are some recent pictures.....

3 months!!

Okay so we have been home for three months and it is probably time to start posting at least every once in a while. I find that we just don't spend much time on the internet any more. How life changes when you go from zero kids to having a ten year old and a two year old. There have been some major adjustments but we are starting to fall into a routine and things are starting to run smoothly. Sofie is doing very well in school. On her first math test she got a 97% and on her second math test she was the only student in the class to get a 100%. We are very proud of her and how hard she has worked. She studies very hard. She is also getting good grades in science and spelling. She loves school and has made many friends. Sam is doing very well too. It is amazing how much English both children are learning so quickly. I asked Sofie the other day whether she still thinks in Amharic and she said that she thinks in English and can hardly even remember Amharic. We will have to take some steps to make sure she does not completely forget but it is amazing how quickly children adapt.

Well just wanted to throw a post out there and let everyone know that we are still alive and doing well. I will try to post every once in a while.