Re:Hello!

http://kelly-systems.com.br/users/14Start%20up%20your%20new%20business%20online8

Re:Hello!

http://audacesidea.com.br/fnnews/92Forget%20about%20financial%20problems%20with%20online8

http://yofuku09.web.fc2.com/users/79its%20an%20amazing%20feeling%20to%20have%20money%20to%20blow6

Virtually Wonderful Books

Many of you already know that I wrote and illustrated a children’s picture book called The One and Only Bernadette P. McMullen. It was published by Ferne Press and released in January. This book promotes appreciating who you are, as well as accepting others. A little about the book…

Does liking peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, or painting with your toes, or even having an imaginary friend make a person strange? That’s what kids say about Bernadette. But when Bernadette meets her neighbor, Sofie, she realizes that her uniqueness is nothing strange at all.

This book is a wonderful gift for all children and teachers. It is especially perfect for Ethiopian adopted children because it is about being proud of who you are. Also, the character of Sofie, was modeled after my Ethiopian born daughter. If you would like to purchase a signed of this book or want to learn more, go to my website: http://colleenmurrayfisherbooks.com/

Also, if you would like to purchase other wonderful books signed by authors with free giveaways each day, well, then I invite you to attend a wonderful “Virtual Book Fair” that will be going on February 26-28 (24 hours a day). To visit the Virtual Book Fair’s main portal, click on http://www.virtualbookfair.net/

Other great books to check out are Who I Am Not What I AM and 100% Real by Tara Michener. The first book promotes self-esteem and diversity in kids. Janelle, a fun girl who discovers the secret of happiness is loving herself for who she is, not for fitting into what others want her to be. In 100% Real, Zoey wonders what does it mean to be real after her classmates question her about being adopted. With the help of a close friend, she and her parents realize that she has more in common with her family than she thought.

These are just some of the books that will be sold at the Virtual Book Fair—a book fair that you don’t have to stand in line for or even get out of your pajamas to attend. So please spread the word! One last note: My give-a-ways include signed book marks, stretchy frogs, and frog-pencil toppers. Why frogs? It’s because readers will have fun finding Bernadette’s frog on every page of my book.

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.

Pictures Since Home

I know this post doesn't fall in order with the trip posts but I wanted to let everyone know that things are going really well so far. The children are doing great so far and are adjusting really well . Sofie had her first day of school yesterday and loved it. I also wanted to post some pictures since we got home.

Dec 27th....Trip to Awassa

If you have not been warned yet, driving in Ethiopia is an exciting (to say the least) experience. Because of my height, I was assigned to the front seat everywhere we drove. I felt very sorry for those who we were traveling with us because they were not all that much shorter than me and were jammed like sardines in the back of a Land Cruiser because the minivan was broken down. There were many times on the five hour trip to Awassa that I found myself grabbing for the dashboard as our driver had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting livestock, people, other cars and trucks, and donkey carts being driven by young children that wondered out into the road in front of us. We passed at least three bad wrecks on the side of the road with tarps pulled over the driver compartments of the vehicles.

As we drove along our journey, I was amazed by the beauty of the countryside and the people that call it home. These are some of the most beautiful people that we have ever seen. I remember thinking to myself after our vehicle was approached by one woman holding a child asking for money or food, that they were so beautiful they could be pulled off of these streets and be made into the next big supermodels. We could just not get over the beauty of the people we encountered everywhere on our journey especially as they greeted us with huge smiles, waves followed with a thumbs up, and often yelled out Go Obama! (At one point we were even asked if Obama had sent a message as if we must know him because we were from the U.S.) I also found myself amazed at the responsibility given to the small children of the countryside. The children that were selling goods, driving horse or donkey carts with water or goods were often very young. The children were also often playing or sitting very close to the edge of the road as traffic sped by.

Just before we stopped for our first macchiato of the trip our host pointed out that our children’s orphanage was just a little ways down that street. This was a tough moment where I just longed to hold them in my arms. Even as we stopped for the macchiato at a beautiful hotel, we were still so close and I wanted so much to go back and be able to lay my eyes on them for real.

We stopped again a couple hours later for another macchiato (I should note that at the previous stop Colleen and I only had a pop because we are not coffee drinkers but tried one this time and liked it very much.) The trip was spent gazing out the window at the beautiful scenery and trying to take pictures at 100 km/h. Some of the pictures turned out but the vast majority were a blur. So I just tried to take as many pictures as possible in the hopes that we would get a few good ones.

When we got to Awassa, we checked into our rooms and ate lunch there at the hotel. Towards the end of lunch our host got a phone call and informed us that our children’s aunt was waiting at the orphanage and we had to get going. This caused some panic as we had talked about questions but had hoped to have some time in our room to write them down and come up with more. By the time we got to the orphanage, we had jotted a bunch down as we drove. As we piled out of the Land Cruiser at Evado, we were given hugs by a lot of people who we thought were workers but it turned out that one of them was our children’s aunt and we were whisked away into an office to talk to her. This moment was more emotional than we were prepared for and though we had a fairly long list of questions their answers were often short. After going through our list, it felt like we had only talked for a few minutes and the emotions of the moment made it very difficult to think of more questions. Of course, there were also problems with the video camera that seemed to make this precious time go by all too fast. As I look back I can not really think of any more pressing questions that I wished we had asked but just feel like the time spent was too brief.

After meeting with their aunt, we got to take a short tour through the orphanage and spend some time with some of the children there. After that we left and went down to the lake to partake in the boat ride out to see the hippos. This was quite a long ride as the hippos were all the way at one end of the lake. It was a great experience though and it was amazing to be so close to these creatures. The lake was beautiful and on the ride back the driver engaged us in conversation about Michael Phelps (he pronounced it Pheleps), David Beckham, and other famous sports figures.

Once we got back to the landing, we had to rush back to the orphanage as the family members of the children being adopted by the other families we were traveling with had arrived at the orphanage. This allowed us to spend a lot of time with some of the children at the orphanage. I truly enjoyed this time with these children. They really opened up as we spent more time with them and it really gave me a lot of confidence that things would go well when we picked up our children.

This was an emotional day but it was not over yet. We went to a restaurant where they were butchering goat meet and cooking it over a fire in a huge skillet. At times the grease from the skillet was used to coax the flames to life. The butcher was incredibly fast and did not leave a single morsel of meet on any of the bones. After enjoying the show we went to a local brewery for an Ethiopian Micro Brew around a camp fire. On any other night we would have probably enjoyed a few beers but we were overwhelmed by the emotions of the day and opted to go back to the hotel to get some rest. However, our room was the only one without a mosquito net and we found ourselves being buzzed by mosquitoes all night. So fears of malaria and the fact that this mattress was even harder than the one at the Sadula Lodge in Addis did not allow us much needed rest.

Day One... (Dec 26th)

For our first day we had a whirlwind tour of Addis Ababa. In the morning we went shopping. We did not do so well with the bargaining and in one case I am pretty sure we bargained the price up. After Shopping we headed to the national museum. Our guide through the museum was very interesting and passionate about the country. After the museum we went to lunch and then to a museum of the former presidential palace located on Addis Ababa University's campus. After this museum we went to the Hilton to confirm our seats for the flight home (a necessary step to prevent you tickets from being arbitrarily being cancelled).

The highlight of this day was the traditional Ethiopian dinner and dance session. We had a lot of fun with our host and the other families. The food and drink were great and we were incorporated into the show.

Flight To Ethiopia...

Okay so Sam is asleep and Mom and Sofie are out shopping so I will try to get a summary of our trip to Ethiopia in before Sam wakes up. This was an incredible journey that changed our lives in so many ways.

Flight:

Our travel to Ethiopia was long with some initial delays because of the weather in Michigan. But no worries we had a ten hour layover in DC before we caught our Ethiopian airlines flight. We met two other families from AAI in the DC airport. They had similar difficulties getting to Dc and actually drove to Chicago from GR the night before to prevent the possibility of a cancelled flight. The flight to ET was long but went by quick. Flying over the alps before we landed in Rome to refuel presented incredible views.

These are pictures of our airplane, our first glimpse of the coast of Africa, and a sample of the life that the waters of the Nile brig to Sudan. During the flight over Sudan there was absolutely no sign of life except when we crossed the winding banks of the Nile. unfortunately the sun set just as we were getting to the border of Ethiopia.

After we landed and got through immigration and were allowed to skip customs (why I still do not know), we were picked up by our agency's contact in Ethiopia. We dropped our bags of at the Sadula Lodge and headed of for a great pizza.

Home

Sorry fo the lack of posts but I could never send an email once we got back to Addis. We are home now and adjusting. So far things are going well it is just hard to find time to even turn the computer on let alone write lengthy posts. I promise we will once things settle down a little and we fall into a routine.

The children are beautiful and so far are doing fine. Our biggest challenge so far has been that Sofie has been the primary care giver for Sam for some time and it is hard for us to move into this role. We are slowly working on it though.

We will post more sometime.

Awassa

Yesterday, we traveled from Addis to Awassa.  The trip was incredible!  The countryside and its people are very beautiful!  In our book, Ethiopia must be home to the most beautiful people in the world! 

We met with our children's aunt yesterday.  This was more emotional than we were prepared for, but was one of the most amazing moments of this process so far.  Although tomorrow we will be picking up Sofie and Sam from the orphanage, so it only gets better from here on out.  We can hardly wait!

 

We started today off by attending the Festival of St. Gabriel (outside St. Gabriel's Church).  There were tens of thousands of people there.  It was hot, and very packed, but it was an emotionally moving experience. After lunch we headed south to a coffee farm.  Let's just say that driving in Ethiopia is near-death experience.  You are constantly stopping or swirving to avoid farm animals, bicyclists, pedestrians, or vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road.  There is almost no traffic control at all, so it is certainly an adventure!    While at the coffee farm we trekked through  the forests and toured a cave, which was once a five-year hideout for the former emperor's daughter during the Italian occupation. We followed this by having Machioto's in a beautifully crafted coffee hut.  
 
Sorry, for the short posts, but the internet is too slow when it does work.  We will post more details and pictures when we get home.  We will TRY to post some pictures of our children when we get back to Addis.

Incredible Ethiopia

Just wanted to drop a quick post and let everyone know we are here and safe. Sorry for taking so long to post but the internet is not very cooperative here. Ethiopia is incredible! The people are beautiful. As we drive down the streets there is an incredible mix of poverty, joy and beauty. On the same corner you will see homeless children and wealthy business people. Some are dressed in rags, others in traditional ethnic attire, and others in the most expensive business suits you would find in the US. We had an extremely busy day today. We went shopping, toured two museums, and went to an amazing traditional Ethiopian dinner with dance displays from all over Ethiopia. Africa has made a terrific impact on us so far. We have never seen such a mix of beauty, joy and despair in one place.

Tomorrow we will be traveling to our children's home town of Awassa where we will have a chance to meet our children's aunt. When we are on our way back to Addis Abbaba, on Monday, we will stop and pick up our children from their orphanage which is about an hour outside of the capital. Once we have them back we will not be able to leave the hotel with them until we leave on Friday.

The power has gone out in the middle of trying to send this email so I will save the text and send it when the power comes back on (I am now posting this Saturday morning).

Next post.... from Addis Ababa

Well there are only a few last things to pack and a lot of travel lies ahead of us, but it is a great feeling that our next post will be from Ethiopia!! I am sure we will get as much sleep tonight as we have every other night for the last week or so (NONE) as we wait in anticipation of the wonderful journey that awaits us. We will try to keep our blog updated with pictures.

Only days are left!!!

When you start the adoption process, the timeline starts off being measured in years. After the paperwork is complete, you count the waiting in months until you receive a referral, then in weeks until your court date, and there is always another countdown. Well here we are in the midst of our final countdown, only days away from holding these beautiful children in our arms! It is hard to believe it is really happening. I find myself looking at their bedrooms wondering what it will be like to finally fill our home and complete our family. I can not wait for our quiet home to be filled with the sounds of children.

We are going through a whole range of emotions. We are very excited to meet our children for the first time. We also have all the nerves of first time parents with the added anxiety of the potential communication problems and the emotions of the already complex lives that our children have endured. How will our children react as we swoop in and turn their lives upside down once again? In the end we try to remain confident in our preparations and the love we share for our children.

Through it all, our family and friends have been very supportive. The community that surrounds adoption continues to amaze me. Our lives have been enriched through this process in so many ways. Everything we have learned has lead to a deep love for Ethiopia and its people.

As we prepare to travel, it has been difficult to sleep as I have been going through checklists in my head of everything that needs to be finished in the house, the final pieces of paperwork to gather, the preparations for being off from work (Colleen for three months), talking to our school district, getting the last of our shots, making sure the children are added to our insurance, making doctor's appointment for the children, making travel arrangements..... and the packing. But when I do sleep, I often dream of our children. Soon I won't have to fall asleep to see their beautiful faces. Our life is about to change in ways we can only begin to imagine and we can't wait!!!