MorinFamily

1 year ago today, I saw their precious faces

2009-10-06T21:23:00.002-04:00

Wow, today has been filled with lots of emotion. In all the business of our lives, I had to take time out today to remember the one year anniversary of seeing the faces of my youngest children for the very first time. It is so hard to believe that just a year ago, I didn't know who they were. We have been through so much as a family and especially me as a mother in the last year. But the blessings that we have experienced, having opened our hearts to these two innocent children, have made me more of a person that I ever thought I could be. There have certainly been good moments and not so good moments during the process, but there is not one day that goes by that I don't say a special prayer for their birth family and thank God for bringing Geta and Tamene to us.

Geta, just today, was talking about how cold it is here. I told her that when she lived in Ethiopia, it was much warmer, but now she lives in "lovely South Bend, Indiana" where it gets very cold. She flashed that beautiful smile at me and happily said, "If you are here, Mommy, then I want to be here." I teared up as she wrapped a blanket around her and went on reading books with her sister and brother. Life is so normal for them and I know how different life is for her birth family. While I am not able to help them, I can give all my love to my kids and try to make the world just a little better.

So today as I remember all that has happened in the last year, I especially remember how small I am in this world, and how lucky I am to have the blessing that have been given me. And I truly thank God for all my friends and family who have supported me in this journey and who have so openly excepted Geta and Tamene into our lives. Together, we all have taught them about friendship, family and the gift of love. And we all have helped them know a life without fear. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Another day in paradise (heck, I needed a title)

2009-09-13T19:45:00.001-04:00

I haven’t posted in a bit and it is a little different posting without any huge events of late. Geta and Tamene are hardly the new adopted children anymore, they are just two of our children. The biggest event in my life of late is the ND loss to Michigan, but I am not going to post or even speak of that again. It hurt, but I am over it, mostly.

We celebrated the Ethiopian New Year on Friday. It gives us a great reason to enjoy and celebrate on such a tragic date for America, September 11^th. We celebrated with Sagawat (it doesn’t get any better than that). We are also contemplating a trip to visit with Tumiso and his parents, Jim and Elizabeth Langemo. It should be fun, but amazingly, our next free weekend is in 2014. But we are going to pencil them in for early 2015. We also got back into the very important things in life, yep, tailgating. It was Geta and Tamene’s first tailgate and they loved it. What kid wouldn’t love an all you can eat affair with a little extra freedom. Heck, I claim not to be a kid, but tailgating should be my middle name. Not great for my waistline, but I am learning to live with being “under tall.”

As for other events in our life, Courtney is enjoying soccer, with her father as the assistant coach. Luckily, the head coach is excellent, so I can just hide in the shadows and put an ill timed joke whenever possible. Patrick is in football full swing and loves it. He also is getting good at guitar (acoustic thank goodness) and not getting in as much trouble, knock on wood. Emily is enjoying life and the full house and Joshua is doing well. He continues to tell me very elaborate detailed stories. He loves to have an adult give him time to express himself. It can occasionally be a long process but worth the wait. Geta is loving school, and at church, she loves seeing her friends. On the way to kids church today, she grabbed a friends hand and led her down to church. Tamene probably knows a couple hundred words, but uses mostly 10-20. Yet, he talks non-stop with the same words over and over. Actually recently, the other kids were talking on the phone to Grandma Carlson and Tamene somehow ended up with the second phone. He yipped and yapped for a good 10 minutes (no one else could get a word in edge-wise) before anyone let me know he had commandeered a phone and I put a painful end to his phone time.

Anyway, things are well but busy. The kids are growing up but we have gotten into a routine. There is still plenty of excitement, but today, I can’t report of any kids left at church or anything of that sort. Stayed tuned, if I need to, I will leave one somewhere, just for the laughs that will ensue in my future story-telling. T-6 until the next ND game. Go IRISH. Mike

My first ever cornrows...

2009-09-07T21:49:00.006-04:00

Geta keeps asking for me to do cornrows in her hair. It is getting pretty long and I feel like I should be able to do it. So I spent my morning looking at YouTube videos and found one that explained what I was doing wrong. So I attempted it again tonight. I was able to braid her whole head! How about that!! To be perfectly honest, anyone who looks at it will know I am a true novice. But, hey, you have to start somewhere. Geta was thrilled and can't wait to show all her friends tomorrow. (Sorry, Amy. I bet Vivian will want cornrows next.) As she hugged me and kissed me before bed, she quietly whispered in my ear, "I knew you could do it, Mommy."

Worth every minute...

Kristen

Happy Birthday Timmy!

2009-09-04T20:31:00.005-04:00

Ok, 2 posts in one day, but I forgot to say Happy Birthday to my little brother! Hope you have a great day.

Tomorrow is Geta and Tamene's first ever tailgating experience. I will take pictures and do my best to post before the weekend is over.

Also, I thought I would leave you with a couple short videos of our kids singing some Ethiopian songs. (Geta has actually forgotten the words ) :-( But I still love to hear what she remembers.

Back to School...

2009-09-04T18:56:00.006-04:00

Well it has been a whirl wind couple weeks as the 5 older kids all headed back to school. First let me fully confess that with work so hectic, I was way behind the 8 ball with school shopping. So my kids were all lucky to have their supplies and some clothes to where! But they have all done great getting back into a routine. We have had the normal "beginning of year" discipline problems. But so far, no kids have been suspended, sent to the principles office or even gotten a detention. So I would say we are off to a GREAT start!

This school year brings the realization that our older 2 might need more "private" space than what our current situation affords. (did I a mention that I grew up without my own space and I turned out just fine!) But several smart people think my "pre-teens" need more space, so I am trying to heed their wisdom and figure out what this means to our family. I know many kids have their own rooms and cell phones and ipods and lots of gatchets. But I have never tried to be like most people. I search deep into my heart and think through the issue and use my experience and the wisdom of others to determine my course. In the end, I pray and go with my gut. So far, that has worked out pretty well for me. But there are many who are wiser than me and shame on me for not listening to their point of view, so I am reflecting now on what is really best for my oldest 2 as they embark upon these very difficult years. We'll see what happens.

I have to mention the highlight of my week though. I got an urgent voicemail from Patrick this afternoon. The message was "Mom, I need to talk to you right away. Call me as soon as you get this message." Click... This is quite out of character for him and there was such a sense of urgency, I dropped everything and called him back. It turned out his "sense of urgency" was really excitement. He won the election to be class representative for student government. He worked really hard to prepare a speech and outline issues that he saw as important to his class. It has his normal amount of "humor", but it was a very good speech and apparently, it was enough to earn the support of his classmates. Congratulations to Patrick on his great accomplishments. He really made me proud!
Tonight, I remember how blest I am to have such a wonderful family. I will give them all an extra hug and extra kiss before bed! (and I will try hard to not be disappointed when Tamene greets me at 6am!)

Kristen

2009-08-19T23:49:00.001-04:00

Well, Kristen did her first ever post from her Mac, and this is my first ever post. Okay, not really but it has been a while. I feel I should reintroduce myself. My name is Mike.

This all started as she asked for my input on her post and after pausing for a second, she said, “you weren’t listening.” I know, just shocking, can you even believe she would say that? That could lead in to a post on the beauty of lowering expectations. Just kidding. Of course, I was listening and had a small part to add, but we decided I should just put it out on the blog myself. So, here we go.

I typically am not a huge fan of religious events and the whole concept of Sacraments, although very important, is an area where I tend to lien towards the Protestant viewpoint or at least have trouble with our Catholic concept of them. But this baptism was just truly a special and amazing event for me.

The St Joe Community, as well as the Healy Group, the Trinity 7^th grade girls basketball team, our families, our friends, our biological kids, Bill and Barb, just everyone has totally embraced and been engaged in our adoption of our two (not really new any more) children. And St Joe baptism ceremonies are excellent to start with. But for me, this was an event where the whole community embraced our newest members of the parish. One very special moment for me was as the baptism ceremony was going on and I was just thoroughly enjoying it, I looked over and saw a fellow parishioner and friend who too also just recently adopted internationally clearly moved by the ceremony. It was just great to see someone else feeling what I was feeling and knowing there were others there with me.

But the absolute best moment for me was when the lighting of the baptismal candles took place and Fr Ed mentioned the symbolic path this particular candle we had had taken from Ethiopia (and from Etore, Geta and Tamene’s father) to St Joe South Bend. I felt everyone was there with us at that point, just knowing and feeling the journey our two newest awesome kids have undertaken. I felt Etore would have been and somehow had to be proud. It also brought him back to the forefront of my mind. I know he is truly happy that his two youngest children have a healthy joyous life full of opportunity, but I also can only imagine his sadness of the missing pieces in his life who are literally half a world away. I am saddened to know that he is still struggling and starving, and also has two huge holes left in his heart. But I know he must know what joy he has brought to us, and truly our community too. Well I am not sure I have expressed what I wanted, but hopefully it came through.

Needless to say, the baptism was just spectacular. I was so proud of my newest kids, excited for their acceptance and truly felt God was there with us on our journey (and although I guess that is what baptism is about, it was amazing to truly feel it and also see so many others who felt it too.)

To conclude, say a quick prayer for Etore as well Geta and Tamene’s brothers and sisters over in Ethiopia, and heck throw in the whole wonderful nation. And look for my next post, due out sometime in early 2011. Kidding again. Later, Mike

The Baptism

2009-08-19T22:13:00.006-04:00

This is my first ever post from my Mac. So bear with me if I screw it up. :-)

I wanted to post some pictures from the Baptism. It was a wonderful day for all of us. Many of you were there to share with us and for that we are truly grateful. For those who couldn't physically be here, your emails and cards were wonderful. Your love and support mean the world to us.

If you were at the baptism, you can skip right down to the pictures. But for those who weren't there, I thought I would give a quick summary of the service. Fr. Ed Obermiller, CSC performed the baptism. While he is a good friend of the family, he has only met Geta and Tamene once. He and Mary Nucciarone were so kind to take time the day before to do a "run through" of the baptism. Geta and Tamene were able to get into the font and understood exactly what would happen to them. So the day of the baptism, they had smiles on there faces, showed confidence in what they were doing and were histerical as they put their faces in the water. They eyes were so bright and happy. I think for Mike and I, this day was a big one. We made a commitment to their birthfather that we would teach Geta and Tamene to have a relationship with God. It is sometimes hard to see that relationship growing, but it was very evident in their baptism. They have started to accept the community that we worship with. They now know about how water cleanses us of our sins. (although Geta was a little concerned that you only get to do this once.) But the curious and trusting look that they gave Fr. Ed as he put the oil on their chest and the giggles when their faces actually came out of the water all three times and the determination Geta showed in accepting the light of Christ, knowing it was for her. She wasn't about to let her godparents take that from her. :-)

On the day we met their birthfather, we ended the visit with a prayer service. We, as adoptive parents, vowed to love our children unconditionally. Their birthfather lit a small orange candle and presented to us as a sign that God would be with us along the way. It was his prayer for his children that God help us however necessary. In order to somehow make him a part of the ceremony, we used the same candle that the birthfather gave to us to light the candles for Geta and Tamene. It was such a wonderful moment and I hope and pray that whereever he is, he has some peace. I live everyday with the guilt of his sacrafice and wonder why I am so blest. But on this particular day, I felt that unity with him one more time, even thought thousands of miles separate us. There is a very strong part of him who is now my family.

Courtney is Geta's godmother (even though the Church doesn't acknowledge her because she isn't old enough). Matthew Hutchison is Geta's godfather. Jeff and Cat Minaudo are Tamene's godparents.

All of our kids dressed in their Ethiopian outfits (unless they are already too small). :-( It was another way to celebrate where they have come from to get to this day. All-in-all, it was a wonderful day, more than I could have ever hoped for.

I hope you enjoy the pictures (thanks to my mom!) I forgot my camera. :-)

Geta's first hair braiding

2009-08-10T20:24:00.004-04:00

My sister forwarded me these cute pictures of Geta getting her hair braided for the very first time. What a precious smile!

Geta and Tamene are baptized

2009-08-09T21:16:00.002-04:00

There have been many emotional moments during the last 10 months. The excitement of the referral, the nervousness of our court date, the overwhelming reality that our entire family would journey to Ethiopia, the insecurity of how to help each child (and Mike and I) through the transition, the bewilderment of those first few days when Tamene and Geta wanted to be anywhere but with us, the guilt, sadness, joy and honor of our meeting with their birth father, the exhaustion of the journey home, the sleepless nights in those first several weeks home, the cabin fever as we nested in our house, the joy of watching Tamene and Geta explore their new life in America, the amazement of how quickly they adapted to their new life and learned English, the pride of our older kids as they adapted to their new siblings without missing a beat... I could go on and on. Today was another one of those days.

Geta and Tamene were baptized into the Catholic faith this morning. While this is a rite I have watched many times, it took on a whole new meaning today. Usually, we baptize babies. But my kids are older and have far more life experiences. I didn't get their trust just because. I had to earn that trust. My goal was to prepare Geta and Tamene so that they weren't afraid of the sacrament. But little did I know that God had far grander plans. Geta and Tamene were not afraid. They walked into the waters of Baptism with eyes wide open and smiles bigger than life. Geta accepted her own baptismal candle with confidence. Thank goodness that Tamene's god parents were on the ball and quickly took his before he figured out what was happening. Courtney proudly accepted Geta as her God Daughter and our other kids showed such great excitement and pride for their siblings. Because we made a commitment to Geta and Tamene's birth father that we would raise them as Christians, I wanted to somehow make him a part of the baptism. During a prayer service with him in Ethiopia, he presented a candle to use when he entrusted his children into our care. So we used the same candle that he gave to us during the "entrustment" ceremony to light the baptismal candles for Geta and Tamene. While I thought I was quietly including him, it turned out to be such a concrete, tangible and communal statement in the progress toward our commitment to him. I was caught off guard by my emotions. It made us vulnerable to the entire community that celebrated with us. In that vulnerability came God's grace. That same vulnerability that our children accepted as they walked through the waters of Baptism, we accepted in testimate to our commitment to their birth father. God has blest us with wonderful family and friends and we could not be more proud. Thank you to everyone who shared this momentous occasion today.

Kristen

So many weeds... So little time...

2009-08-03T08:42:00.002-04:00

I think I have hit an all time low as a parent. Our project this weekend was to clean out all the weeds from our yard and trim back all the bushes. As you can imagine, the rest of the Morin family was not nearly as motivated as I was. I must admit that Mike was a trooper. An the older kids (with ipods in hand) did their best to just get through it. Poor Tamene spent the majority of Saturday in the pack and play under the shade of a big tree doing whatever he could to get some attention. Every once in a while, someone would say hi to him. He didn't much care for the idea of being contained! But then his siblings didn't much care for the weeding either. So imagine their excitement when it started to drizzle. They all left their posts and ran for shelter. (ok here is where I hit the all time low as a parent!) I let them all know that weeding wasn't done and to get back to their stations. They thought I was from Mars, but we worked right through the rain showers and made great progress! (Mike did put the electric hedge trimmer away as a precaution, but there was plenty of other things for him to work on.)

Sunday was more of the same as we attempted to get more weeding done before Courtney and Patrick left for Grandma's house in Chicago. But I gave everyone a break and we only weeded through lunchtime. Once Courtney and Patrick left, the younger kids all took a bike ride and had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Carlson. It was a fun way to end the weekend (until Josh fell off his bike and had to go the emergency room to get stitches!)

Kristen

Heading to Washington, DC

2009-07-18T21:56:00.002-04:00

So we loaded everyone into the family roadster at 7:30am this morning to embark on a 12 hour drive to Ashburn, Virginia (DC area) to visit with my brother and nephew, his girlfriend and her daughter, and some good friends who live in the DC Area. For those who have made this voyage, you might realize it is not supposed to be a 12 hour drive. However, with Mike behind the wheel of the van, we managed to take a few detours (including going to my brother's girlfriend's parents house instead of his girlfriends new house). Thank goodness my brother called to check on us and caught the error before we arrived on their front doorstep. We were literally minutes from arrival!

But aside from the extra time (and gas and tolls), we arrived safely. The kids were great in the car. We only stopped twice for bathroom breaks and for gas at each stop. Lisa had packed a bunch of sandwiches and snacks, so we just ate in the car to help pass time. :-) Even Tamene faired the trip like a champ. He learned all kinds of new animal sounds, sang some songs, played with his magna doodle and books and took 2 naps. He was thrilled to be able to run around once we arrived, but I thought he did awesome!

I will try to take some updated pictures this week since I have been so remiss in updating the blog. We are really looking forward to spending a relaxing week together and allowing Geta and Tamene to get to know Uncle Wally, Cam, Johanna and Jolene.

A night in the life of the Morin Family

2009-06-29T21:43:00.004-04:00

OK, so first I must apologize for not posting for such a long time. June is a blurr at this point. We have experienced so much: our first weekend away from the kids, Grandma and Grandpa Carlson taking all 6 kids camping, kids visit to grandma's in Chicago for a week, my nieces Confirmation, a great weekend in Indy with awesome friends from Lexington and then a trip to my uncle's lake cottage in Michigan. How fortunate we are to have so many friends and family who have all lovingly and enthusiastically welcomed the newest members of our family!

In the midst of all of that, the laundry room was completed, guitar lessons for Patrick started and violin lessons for Geta, Emily and Courtney are underway. Life is truly similar to a whirlwind, but we are loving every minute of it!

During this month, Geta and Tamene have been swimming (although we still haven't mastered the difference between a swimming pool and a lake). They went on a speed boat and loved every minute of it. Geta even ventured out on the tube behind the boat with Courtney and strict instructions saying "I do NOT like fast!" Geta learned that we are just a "phone call" away at any given moment, and Geta has declared that she is "done with Tamene" and wants to move to Emily and Courtney's room.

Oh... but stop the boat, we have a story to tell about that. Geta and Emily go to bed at their normal bedtime, while Courtney stays up to read, plan book club and whatever else she does in her spare time. At 10:00PM when she is ready for bed, she notifies us that she is locked out of her room. We spend the next hour pounding on the door, playing trombone in front of the door, setting off the house alarm (intentionally) and making our way outside to pound on the windows: all in the hopes of waking our beautiful, sleeping cherubs. Did I mention it was all to now avail?!!??!?! So my darling husband goes to bed and I next contemplate calling the fire department to break my daughters out of their room. But, giving it one last college try, Emily finally wakes to use the bathroom. (note it has nothing to do with all the noise we have made, but thank God the bladder called!) We are able to enter the room to see Geta didn't miss a snore. Emily gladly used the "poo poo" and was back in bed as if nothing ever happened. I gained 18 grey hairs (not bad for just one night!) and was off to bed.

All in a regular night at the Morin house. Can't wait to see what adventure tomorrow brings....

Geta sees her first Tarantula

2009-06-02T19:21:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, Miss Lisa took Courtney, Geta and Tamene to the pet store. (I must admit that I am not entirely sure why, because there will be NO animals coming to my house!) While they were there, Courtney spotted a Tarantula inside an aquarium. She called Geta over to look at it and, in full voice, Geta started singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"! It was pretty humorous!

Construction in the Laundry room is moving along. All the walls are up, electrical and plumbing done, subfloor is laid, skylight and hottub are gone and drywall and mudding are complete. Today they started priming the walls and tomorrow the tile floor will be laid. I am really hoping that by the end of next week, it will all be done!

Geta has started taking violin lessons from Courtney. Courtney's teacher thought it would be good experience for Courtney to teach violin, so she is teaching Courtney how to teach Geta. They both practice together everyday. It is pretty sweet. Emily will start with private lessons after school is out and then will join the strings program in the Fall. Patrick will start Guitar lessons next week. He has done a great job with the Trombone this past year. He has proven his sincerity and discipline in practicing. So we gave him guitar lessons for his birthday. He is very excited. (We are turning into quite the musical family, which does not bode well for the volume level in our house!) I am currently listening to Patrick on trombone, Geta on recorder, Josh on toy drums and Emily on the electric keyboard. Add into that Tamene screaming because he has no instrument! Ugh!!! Is it time to go to work yet?

Geta and Emily are playing soccer at the YMCA. Emily scored one of her teams 2 goals on Saturday to help bring her team to victory. Geta is still trying to figure out how the game is played, but did a great job staying in the action and making sure her foot touched the ball every once in a while!

This weekend, Mike and I head to Chicago for a weekend away with our college friends! We are so excited. My parents are taking all six kids camping, so please pray for them and their sanity!

The first "enlarged" Morin family camping trip

2009-05-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

Mike decided last Wednesday that we should go camping over the Memorial Day weekend. The weather looked like it was supposed to be nice and we were all happy to not work in the yard for another weekend! So we spent the better part of Thursday night making a plan for meals and getting the camper packed. Have I mentioned that our poor Nanny had to work her tail off! And we are truly grateful for all her hard work (especially with such short notice)! I got home from work Friday to finish loading the cars. Courtney, Patrick, Mike and I successfully got the camper out of the garage (which is no easy feat since we only have about 1/2 inch clearance on either side of the camper).

As we setup the camper on Friday night, Geta was very inquisitive about what we were doing. I told her we were setting up the camper so we could sleep in it. She adamantly stated, "Me no sleep in car". As the camper went up and she saw the beds and sink, she said, "First it's car, then it's house?!?!? Crazy, Mommy, crazy!" But she thoroughly enjoyed camping and is very excited to go again in 2 weeks with Grandma and Grandpa!

We had an awesome weekend. The weather was perfect other than a small rain shower on Saturday morning as we were just waking up. Geta learned to ride a bike by herself which Mike was very grateful for. Courtney learned to make pancakes and bacon. Patrick learned how to grill hamburgers and setup the campfire. (Boy Scouts came in handy!) Emily had a crash course in chasing Tamene EVERYWHERE! And Tamene learned to be contained in the Port-a-crib when he stepped outside the boundaries set by mommy. Josh loved the freedom and took full advantage of spending time with his friend, Kevin. Geta loved the "big bathtub" (which most of us would call a swimming pool), except when she tried to drown and daddy thought she was just trying to swim. Thank goodness she is resilient and determined. She got back in and was a little more careful for the rest of her time in the pool. Courtney had 2 friends join us for Saturday night. They slept in the tent and spent the majority of the night studying for Oral Exams. (Yes, we gave them a very hard time!) :-) Grandma visited us for most of Saturday, and part of Sunday. Grandpa made an appearance, but spent most of the weekend at the fire station.

We also attended the Memorial Day Mass at Cedar Grove Cemetery. As we walked around the cemetery to visit all of our relatives, Geta tried to figure out what all this was about. She was very impressed with all the flowers, until she realized that they were for people who had passed away. She asked me, "You going to here, Mommy?" Without thinking, I said yes and then proceeded to ask her if she would plant pretty flowers for me. She got very upset and said, "You can't die, Mommy!" My heart broke for her, but I assured her that I was very healthy and the doctor had given me all my shots. (She did actually laugh at that.) But it was a good reminder how careful we must be with our words as she tries to figure out this new life. I still pray every night that she finds security and happiness with our family. There are moments that I see her genuine joy and others that I see a pain and fear that runs so deep that it brings tears to my eyes.

All-in-all, camping was a lot of work, but what a great weekend!

Kristen

Oops! Laundry Room goes over budget. :-)

2009-05-18T22:04:00.000-04:00

Ok, did anyone not expect this to happen? :-) I tried to think through everything, but I missed a few details. So now we are about 15% over budget. Thank goodness, the Mortgage market is great right now, so Mike is bringing in more than anticipated! God continues to bless our family and we are truly grateful!

As of today, we have no more leaky skylight. I am glad I wasn't hear to see them remove the skylight, but I am more excited that I wasn't hear when they found the ants that were living in the wall. YUCK! How does that happen? We also saw the prototype of the new "locker cubbies". They will help so much in dealing with all the "stuff" our kids "need to have". I think the clutter stresses them out as much as it does me. They know I get upset by the mess, but they never had a place to go with it. Defined space that they are in control of will help tremendously. (At least it better!)

Lisa (our nanny) is thrilled to have the added space, and thank goodness, because she also has to deal with the constant noise and interruption that all these strangers bring to our life. It is funny to hear Tamene mimic the sound of drills and hammers or hear Geta get so upset at the mess that they are making. Tomorrow Geta will see Laundry done in the basement for the first time and I can't wait to hear what she says.

They expect another 3 weeks of construction. Ugh! I am trying to be patient, but I am ready for it to be done.

We will keep you posted on the progress,
Kristen

I love weekends...

2009-05-17T21:29:00.000-04:00

So I must admit, the work weeks are hectic. We get home in time for dinner and then it is all we can do to get the kids in bed at a reasonable hour. But the weekends! They are the times I cherish. Of course, usually not at 6:30am when Tamene first graces our presence, but by 8 or 9am, I am usually glad to have all these kids. This weekend, Courtney took 1st place in her gymnastics meet. All the older kids (including Geta) worked the meet, running the scores back to the main gym. Emily and Patrick had incredible patience with Geta, understanding that she was afraid to go on her own, yet wanted to get the scores there by herself! Patrick played Trombone at the school Media fair today and did an awesome job! Emily sang in the Children's Choir at Mass and Joshua shared his gorgeous artwork. What confident and loving children we have! I find such joy in watching them "be" a part of each others moments. Even Tamene clapped with such vigor when seeing his sister take her medals or seeing Patrick play his trombone. (ok, don't tell Emily and Josh, but he was totally oblivious to their accomplishments!)

Another Milestone this week... Geta had her last day at ECDC. Her teachers wrote a beautiful card to her thanking her being such a special part of the Kindergarten class. They said she was a flower that they watched blossom. She actually volunteered to announce one of the poems they recited to the parents. It was totally adorable! How far she has come in just a few months home.

I have posted a variety of pictures - Emily's 1st Communion, Courtney with the Bishop at confirmation, Geta with ND Buildings they built at ECDC and Courtney at her gymnastics meet.

God has blessed us with a BIG and wonderful family and I cherish every minute that we get to spend with our kids.

Oh, and by the way, Fr. Nate is grateful we brought everyone home from Mass today! :-)

Construction begins

2009-05-11T22:39:00.000-04:00

Today, we started a major construction project on our house. We are removing the "hot tub" room because the hot tub has not worked in over 2 years. We decided that, while Mike cherishes the hot tub, he prefers an outside hot tub. So we are regaining the inside space to increase the size of the laundry room. It also allows us to get rid of a leaky sky light and we will add 6 locker/cubbies for the kids to store their coats, boots, shoes, mittens, hats, and backpacks.

Before Pictures

I did my best to prepare Geta and Tamene for the demolition, but they were unnerved, none-the-less. Tamene spent the better part of the day nervously mimicing the sound of drills while Geta was not happy at the mess that these strangers were making. She was also very concerned about the missing Laundry machines and is unclear as to where her backpack should now be stored. (Thank goodness, her school is done at the end of this week!)

On the first day of construction, they removed all the cabinets from the laundry room (and relocated them to the basement because Mike can't part with anything!). They also removed the hot tub and and the raised floor around the hot tub. They were able to salvage some of the floor so that we can try to keep the kitchen tile and only replace the tile in the new laundry room. So far, I am "at" budget (not below or above), but we will see how long that lasts!

After pictures

They expect construction to last about a month, perhaps a little longer. In the meantime, I have no laundry, so we will be visiting Grandma frequently!

Also, we have finally picked names for Geta and Tamene. Geta will become Geta Etore Alexa Morin. Alexa stands for "defender" and also happens to be the name of our specialist in the adoption process. Tamene will become Tamene Etore Daniel Morin. Daniel is a biblical name that means "God is my judge". We felt this was very similar to how their biological father felt when he named Tamene (which in Hadiyissa means "God is believed"). While we always plan to use their Ethiopian names, we felt that it was appropriate to add a name for their upcoming baptism (which I better start planning now that Emily's First Communion and Courtney's Confirmation are over). But we also thought that if they ever felt "alienated" because of their Ethiopian name, they could use a more "american" name given to them in the same spirit as their birth name.

Thank you for your continues love and support,

Kristen

Looking from the inside out...

2009-05-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

So today, we took the opportunity to come home for lunch and play some Uno. Work has gotten busy for both of us and we have been enjoying a few days of lunch by ourselves in the last 2 weeks, so we haven't been coming home for lunch as often as in March and early April. Geta has started to notice, so I decided that we had to keep that effort going. Today, we both arrived home and ate lunch with Geta and Tamene. Geta asked if we could play Uno. Having the pressure of a 1:30 meeting, I told her I could play a little bit. So we hurried through lunch and then broke out the Uno deck. As we played 3 token games of Uno, I was reminded of this same spot 2 1/2 months ago. At that point, we had very few words, but much enjoyment. Today, the enjoyment was still there, but in a very different way. There was nothing "new" about it, but how we cherish our time together. Geta proudly displays her "ouch" cards that are all targetted toward Daddy. She protects Mommy at all costs. Daddy, realizing he is playing against 2 opponents, strategizes and still wins. Words are so much more prevalent. At one point, Geta said, "Daddy, stop talking!" Anyone who knows Mike has to laugh at this because he always expends endless banter. While Geta normally takes this all in stride, today it wasn't allowing her to concentrate on her strategy. I know this is not something that she would have said to her Ethiopian Dad, but she had learned our family dynamic and feels free to be a part of it! I am truly filled with joy at our progress. The ease of our relationships bring me such joy and pride. I have no idea how we got here, but I thank God everyday for our many blessings.

I had fully intended to put picutures of Emily's First Communion on the blog today, but it is late and I am tired and the camera is nowhere to be found, so that will have to wait til tomorrow. She had a wonderful weekend and was so filled with joy at receiving her First Communion. Please keep Coutney in your prayers as she prepares for her Confirmation this Friday. (It has been a big week for the Morin Family!)

Love to all our friends! Your words of encouragement have been such an inspiration through this whole process.

Kristen

Family Photo from Easter

2009-04-27T22:43:00.001-04:00

So, many are wondering why we don't post pictures of our other kids on this site. I don't have a good reason. So I thought I would take this opportunity to put some family pictures from Easter. Hope you enjoy!

Went to church

2009-04-26T21:14:00.000-04:00

Brought home 6 kids. One step at a time. Later, Mike

Oh, Tamene and Geta went to the fire station today to see Grandpa. Geta loved it, but Tamene wasn't quite sure what to think. Didn't love the lights so Grandpa and Grandma wisely skipped the sirens. He had fun, but not quite ready to take the big rig out yet.

Oh, and tomorrow, Tamene turns two. Man, last year my youngest was 6, and now I have a two year old. But am loving it.

I have another thing to story to tell you, but it needs a picture so maybe tomorrow. But don't get too excited, it can't compare with my last one. Later, Mike

8 is enough, but is 6 too many

2009-04-23T22:54:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I have been meaning to post this for a while now because in my book, it is too good not to share. Don’t tell Kristen as I am not sure she would love me sharing (let’s hope she doesn’t read our blog).

Anyway, during our outings, when we are loading up in the car, we have now taken to roll call to be sure we have everyone. It actually makes for some fun. Do we need to do this? Well, read on.

So, we are at church on Saturday and we have to leave relatively soon after Mass as Kristen and I have plans (gotta like that). We, of course, stay after Mass for our typical 10-15 minutes after it ends, so we are rushing out of church. We are all walking and Geta is holding the door for me. I see all the kids but Josh, and Geta says “where’s Joshua?” I said he is ahead of us and around the corner as I thought he was, and I yell to Patrick, “Do you see Josh?” I know, nice use of quotes. You feel like you are there with me, don’t you? I, of course, get caught up in something else and never listen for Patrick’s response.

Flash ahead. I like that segway too. We are now home and I am throwing together some leftovers for dinner as we have maybe 15 minutes to get out the door and I want to have all the kids fed. I am now 5 minutes in (the anticipation builds) and the phone rings. It is Fr. Nate. “Mike, are you missing something?” It comes to me. He says, “Joshua is here with me.” I, of course, being quick witted as always, say “Can we pick him up after 10am Mass tomorrow?”

Geta tells Mommy she was trying to tell us. Maybe we missed that one.

I find comfort in the knowledge that everyone leaves one of their kids now and then, right. Isn’t that what happens on Kate plus Eight. I have never watched but I assume so. And next week, Kate plus seven. Nice tag line, who wouldn’t watch.

Don’t worry Josh is home and well and we now know how very important roll call is. I am off to count the kids. Later. Mike

Flat Christian gets a wardrobe

2009-04-08T19:30:00.000-04:00

So, my nephew Cam, who lives in the greater DC area, has a school project going on where they sent "flat" dolls to family and friends. They read the Flat Stanley book and decorated flat dolls of their own. I had volunteered to do some fun things with "Flat Cam". Unfortunately, we received "Flat Christian". We have no idea if this was intentional, but we are trying to make the most of "Flat Christian's" visit. So far, we have taken "Flat Christian" on a bike ride to Grandma and Grandpa's house and to Redamak's in New Buffalo. We have big plans to take him to Barnaby's, Notre Dame, the Studebaker Museum, the College Football Hall of Fame and the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Today, the kids spent part of their spring break creating outfits for "Flat Christian" to wear. Of course, they all center around Notre Dame (i.e., football outfits with helmets, leprechauns and ND Fans). Geta did make a token Gymnast, but "Flat Christian" didn't seem to care much for it! "Flat Christian" will be visiting Aunt Susi at work later in the week and then is off to Las Vegas with Uncle Timmy and Aunt Aimee next week. It has been lots of fun having him visit us.

We have enjoyed Flat Christian, but missed having Flat Cam!

2 days in a row!

2009-04-04T21:52:00.000-04:00

Hey, look at me... I am posting 2 days in a row! While we spent most of today weeding in the yard, the highlight of our day came when we finally got to go bike riding! We got one of the bike carriers last weekend and decided today was the perfect day to take it on its maiden voyage. To make matters more exciting, we brought Flat Cam (or actually Flat Christian) on our voyage. The bad news is that Mike was riding them. (not sure why I did that, but I was slightly concerned about my ability to pull 80 extra pounds of kids on my bike!) We had originally intended to take Flat Cam/Christian (got the wrong kid's paper doll) to Notre Dame, but since we didn't leave until 5pm, we decided a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's was a much better idea. Geta and Tamene had a great time riding in thier new bike carrier (even though Grandma pinched Tamene's chin with his bike helmet clip!) You could hear them giggle and laugh all during the ride!

Have a good weekend! We are supposed to get snow tomorrow. I can't believe it, but the weather man keeps telling me the same thing! Oh well, perhaps we will visit the Studebaker Museum with Flat Cam/Christian!

Love, Kristen

What a week it has been...

2009-04-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

So, with all big families, there are bound to be times where multiple kids are sick at the same time. Well, let me tell you. It is now VERY clear to me that we have a big family! We spent the better part of Sunday night/Monday morning cleaning sheets and showering kids. Our 3 oldest had a bought of the flu. We would no sooner get back in bed and the next kid would run to the bathroom (and undoubtedly not make it). I don't need to give you the gory details, but let me suffice to say, it was ugly! I worked from home on Monday after about 3 hours of sleep and the kids slept most of the day. We all had chicken noodle soup for dinner (just in case). Now that we are at the end of the week, I am feeling better about the possibility that no one else is going to get it.

On Wednesday, Geta had to make another trip to the dentist to have her bottom 2 one-year molars pulled. Unfortunately, they were too decayed to save, but we are thankful they were just baby teeth. She did not like the feeling of Novocain AT ALL. Since Daddy took her to the dentist, Mommy was once again the favorite and she didn't have many kind words for daddy! And then, daddy forgot to email the tooth fairy, so he was in the dog house the next day too!

We have confirmed that Geta is definitely older than expected. Her bone scan estimate her between 6 and 6yrs 10 months. So we are calling her 6 yrs 4 months and making her birthday December 8, 2002.

We are working with Tamene again on the Poe-Poe (toilet). He is successful a couple of times a day, but all because of schedule and not at all because he has a clue what to do. But he gets so excited when his chair starts singing to him! He hasn't quite figure out how that works.

Oh... and did I mention that Mike tried to cut Tamene's hair. I know this is where I should insert a picture, but I was too mad to take one! Let's just say, he will NEVER attempt this again if he values his life!

All the kids are sleeping (except Courtney who is at a retreat), so I am signing off to enjoy some quiet time and possibly get some reading done!

Be safe,
Kristen

Geta's 1st Field Trip

2009-03-27T09:21:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, Geta and I went on her first field trip. It could very well be the most important event to happen to her for some time, as it was a field trip to the hallowed Golden Dome.

Due to the threat of rain, we actually took a bus (not my bus mind you) the 500 feet across campus. We sketched the Golden Dome from the outside and then we went inside and looked at the murals.

One of the things her class is doing is having various parents who work at Notre Dame tell the kids about what they do. On this day, one of the parents who works in the Golden Dome, told us about her job in the news and information department. At the end she asked if there were any questions. And here comes one of the two highlights of this day for me. One little boy raised his hand and asked her, “How did God make the Earth?” She deferred to the teacher, but truthfully, I think that falls under the category of information and if we got the answer, it would definitely be newsworthy.

One other thing I am sure you are all dying to know. Geta would tell you there are 22 steps up to get into the Administration Building.

And the other highlight of my day is when Geta was pointing at something and then with a surprised voice, said to me, “Little Beep Beep.” So, she saw her first golf cart.

It was a very fun trip and it is, of course, of the utmost importance to familiarize her with Notre Dame as soon and as often as possible.

Mike

G&T meet the Fire Department!

2009-03-17T21:10:00.001-04:00

OK, so today was my first full day back in the office and Geta has not been so happy with me. (more about that later...) I arrived home after work, greet lots of children, get snubbed by Geta and try to catch up with Lisa about the day. In the background I heard a beeping noise, like a smoke detector that has low batteries. Lisa mentioned that it just started beeping, so I didn't worry about it. We sit down to dinner, and about half way through dinner, the beeping is driving me nuts. I send Patrick on a hunt through the house to find the smoke detector that needs batteries replaced. He arrives back (from the basement) with the carbon monoxide detector! The LED has a reading of 283. Still thinking this must be low batteries, I push the reset/test button and the Alarm starts beeping like crazy. Geta and Tamene are now becoming scared of what is going on, so I replace the batteries and tell them everything is fine. With the new batteries in, the alarm continues to go off and the reading is 172. For those who don't know, we have a security alarm that has a carbon Monoxide detector as part of the monitoring service, so I send Mike down to the basement to see what it thinks. Since it doesn't have any kind of display, he presses the TEST button and the house alarm start going off. Tamene is now in an all out scream, terrified of all the noise. The telephone rings and ADT is advising us that we have a issue and the fire department is on its way. Hmm... Never had that happen before. So out to the front lawn we go. It is beautiful day outside and the kids are having a ball. The firemen decide to call the gas company so while we wait for them to show up, all the kids get to sit in the fire truck. Tamene is not so sure what to think of all of this, but it is a "beep beep" so how bad could it be! Aunt Missy and Crazy Bob and clan show up in the middle of all of the commotion, but have a great time playing with all our kids in the front yard. Thanks to Matthew for saving Tamene from the street several times! In the end, the big scare turned out to be nothing. But we had a good time making the most of a bad situation. And did I mention that Joshua lost a tooth while we were out in front of the house? Yes, that means that both top front teeth are missing, but for anyone who remembers the story, this is the "dead tooth" (killed by the refrigerator when he opted to walk backward, then turn too quickly and ... well the rest is history.)

So a quick note about my return to work... Last week I worked mornings and was home in the afternoon. Since Geta also started school, she was also occupied in the morning and I realized that she has never noticed that I was at work. So this week, I worked Monday afternoon, then added a full day of work today. I picked her up from school as usual Monday afternoon and we ate lunch together. But when we would normally start playing Uno, I announced that I needed to go to work. I immediately got the cold shoulder and some very unhappy looks from Geta. But I hugged and kissed her, told her I loved her and I would be home before dinner. After work, I met Mike at the baseball field where we switched cars so Mike could head to an "end of the year" basketball party with Courtney. When Geta saw that I was now driving "Daddy's car", the pout and cold shoulder were immediately back. She did not speak to me the entire night. When it was time to say prayers, she turned her back to me and when I asked for a hug and kiss good-night, I got the same cold shoulder. I have never been one to accept this behaviour, so I hugged her from the back and told her how much I love her. I said it was OK to be angry with mommy, but I still love her. Who knows if she understood, but off to sleep she went. This morning, I asked her if she would give me a hug and after a very brief pause, I got the same cold shoulder. I gave her another hug and kiss before we left for school and forced one more when I dropped her off at her classroom. Tonight, it took awhile before she would even look at me, but after all the excitement, she was more than happy to let me comfort her. At the end of the day, Mommy is still someone who protects her and that is really my goal. So, while I continue to stress about whether she is ready, I am encouraged by the deep rooted attachment that I see. I also see some 6 year old, "I have had mommy's undivided attention and now that is going away" anxiety. But all of this seems healthy to me, and that precious smile just fuels me to be tough and persevere.

More soon...

Kristen

The Weekend

2009-03-15T22:29:00.001-04:00

It has been a long, long time since I have posted and I have plenty about which to write. But my wife says I have to choose one topic, so we will see if I obey.

I can’t tell you how awesome our new life has become. The new increased family size makes our household a bit louder (and it was not quiet initially), and a bit wilder. But Geta and Tamene have sure put our focus back on family. We eat dinner together each night, our extra-curricular activities are scaled back (just random luck I think), and we spend a lot of time on weekends doing family things.

We went to McKinley Park on Saturday and Geta and Tamene had a ball. They loved the slides and just playing outdoors. We saw a “woosha” or two (“woosha” is Amharic for dog). It is so cute to see Tamene start babbling in pure excitement but half fear every time he sees one. Geta rode a scooter over to the park along with our older kids. Of course, it was hardly faster than walking. But she had a ball. Today, in the driveway, I held the bike up as Geta rode next to me. Again, this was about at the same pace as the scooter ride. After a trip or two around the driveway, she clearly wanted to do something different, but I couldn’t exactly figure it out. When I let her show me, she started walking the bike in circles. Yes, that is her holding the bike pushing it around in circles. But it made her happy, so I was game. They were both amazed by the toy lawn mower.

And tonight, and I only wish I had a picture of this, Kristen, Courtney, Emily, Joshua, Geta and I played Uno on the King Size bed upstairs (while all of them also watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition (I would rather watch paint dry)). And Tamene was playing with cars (beep beeps as he calls them) up there, while I was multi-tasking, chasing him and playing Uno. Then he wanted to sit on the bed, so you got it, it was Kristen, Courtney, Emily, Joshua, Geta and Tamene, Oscar (the “demet” cat) and I all on the bed with the tv blaring. Patrick had lost tv privileges for the week so he couldn’t join us. If he hadn’t lost those privileges, we might have had to get a second bed. It was a sight to see.

Anyway, the week went well. Kristen was back at work part-time and Geta started school. We had a doctors visit, but I made it into an outing and we all had fun. The shots weren’t something they would like to repeat, but it was much better than the first trip.

I often sit thinking about Geta and Tamene’s family and I sure wish I could do something more for them. Courtney and Kristen and I had a little talk Saturday night about them and Courtney was so sad. Ethiopia truly has a special place in our heart now.

Which leads me to what I should be posting about. They have an awesome library program in Ethiopia and I plan to post soon about it so that you can all check it out. I am signing off for now with your anticipation of my next post running high I assume. If you want a preview, google Ethiopia Reads and it will lead you to the site. But I will post with a picture or two and some reflections about our visit there. Talk to you soon. Mike

Courtney's Homework Assignment on Courage (Dad says a must read)

2009-03-14T23:51:00.001-04:00

Of all the people I know, it is not a Saint, or Biblical hero, or even an important person in our society in whom I really see true courage. They are the two youngest people in my family at two and six years old. Through the whole adoption process, the paperwork to the referral and then our trip over to Ethiopia and back, I have really seen the face of God in my whole family. Everyone has shown courage, but Geta and Tamene have shown the most.

At the young ages of two and six, both have endured many hardships. Not only have they seen the death of their mother, been parted from their family, and been forced to move to three different places in eight months, but they have had to call an already bonded group of strangers “family.”

If that isn’t courage, I don’t know what is. We may think that young children can not have the gift of courage because they have not had as many life experiences in which to learn it. What we should know is that sometimes it is the youngest little children in our lives that are to the most looked up to.

G & T finally meet Grandma and Grandpa Morin

2009-03-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

Geta, Mike and I visited ECDC on Friday morning. The class would be perfect for her. There are 3 teachers for 22 students and there is another little boy that doesn't speak English either. While she never ventured far from Mom and Dad, she seemed to have fun exploring the classroom and seeing all the things that were there. She listened to a story and ate snack with the kids. She smiled a lot and even shook the teachers hands when we left. When her siblings asked her about her visit, she smiled and seemed happy. But then by Friday night when we were getting ready for bed, she said, "No, Geta school." I think the idea of being there by herself is very overwhelming. So I am going to take her tomorrow and see how it goes. I think she would enjoy it if she can get over her fear of being without us. Today she has been asking if Tamene can go to school. I explained that Tamene is little and Geta is big. She seemed ok with that response. So we will see what tomorrow morning brings...

Today we took all the kids in the "Morin Family Bus" to Chicago to meet Mike's parents. We had a great day visiting with them, and with Mike's sister's family. Geta and Tamene didn't take long to feel pretty comfortable in their new surroundings. Grandma had prepared and had Uno and Sorry ready to play, so that helped a lot! Tamene even took a nap in one of Grandma's beds. He fell asleep quickly and about and hour and a half later, he sat up in bed and called my name. I thought for sure he would wake up screaming, but he did just fine.

I am adding a few pictures of Geta with her weaving project and then some Ethiopian dress up.

We continue to thank God everyday for both of these kids being a part of our lives. They are so precious and we are truly blest to have them for our children!

Please pray for Geta as she struggles with school. (and for me as I will be a total wreck worrying about her!) I start back to work part time tomorrow, so I will be at work during the time she is at school. At least I am close if the teacher needs me to come get her.

Kristen

Geta goes to school -- Tamene meets Barney

2009-03-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have been scolded 4 times in the last 48 hours for not posting on the blog. I don't have the camera handy, so I am going to add pictures later. But I thought an update was better than nothing!

The big news at the Morin house is that Geta starts school Monday morning. She has asked us frequently if she can go to school. This is something I had never considered (assuming she would not be ready), so Mike and I have been calling around all week trying to figure out what the best option for her is. Part of me feels that she is very ready to go to school. But I am also hoping that we are not pushing her too fast. She has come so far in the last month. I would really hate to screw that all up by putting her in new and terrifying situations. But how can I tell her no when she asks, no actually she begs, to go to school. She sees the other kids leave every morning and she asks, "Geta school. Please Mommy!" Yesterday, I was reading books to her. She was talking through the words she knew from the pictures and I was reading words. She said something about a story and I showed her how her letters make words. Her next question was, "Mommy, Geta school please!" She definitely relates school to learning and if she is ready, who am I to stop her. So, she will be starting at ECDC at Notre Dame on Monday morning. We go tomorrow so she can see her classroom and meet her teachers. I plan to let her stay there for as long as they will let us in the hopes that Monday by herself won't be so bad. I, of course, will be a wreck, but I hope she has a great time and loves it! It is a 5 day program from 8:30 to 11:30am and conveniently starts when I go back to work. So part of me feels God is helping make that transition a little easier.

The other news at the Morin household is that Tamene saw his first Barney video and LOVED it. We have been singing Barney songs all week long! Their favorite is the "Hello and How are you" song. But there are several that we sing through. I happened to be trying to find the second verse to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to help Geta learn more body parts. I was watching a video on YouTube hoping that they sang the second verse. Tamene woke from his nap, so I showed him the video. He was mesmerized! It has definitely been a blast from the past for me. Our other kids LOVED Barney, but we haven't played his songs in many, many years. I am kicking myself for giving away all those videos!

Anyhow, on another front, both Courtney and Joshua lost teeth this past week! It seems to be the thing to do at the Morin household! We spent the majority of dinner last night counting all the teeth that everyone has lost. I believe the count went something like this:

Tamene = 0
Geta = 5
Josh = 3 (with 2 more hanging by a thread)
Emily = 8
Patrick = 12
Courtney = 17

Thank you to everyone at work for the AWESOME party this afternoon. It was really great to see everyone and to catch up on what has been happening around work. Geta thinks Mommy's work is lots of fun and wants to come back. (Hee Hee) I tried to explain to her that that was just the place I work, but that we were having a party. I am not sure she got it, but I am glad to know she likes my work! Tamene loved hearing Mr. Scott play guitar for him! It was great fun and we truly appreciate all the effort and support you have all shown during this special time in our lives!

I will post tomorrow (I hope!) to let you know how school goes.

Kristen

Geta lost a tooth!

2009-02-26T15:45:00.000-05:00

Big news at the Morin household! Geta lost her first tooth while in our care. It happened Tuesday night at dinner. We were feasting on Tacos provided by the Karban family and Geta opted for the hard shell. After a couple of bites, she started fidgeting with her front tooth. She was making it twirl in full circles, so we knew it was hanging on by a thread. Mike pretended to pull his own tooth out and Geta was not impressed. She opted to work on hers by herself. She came and stood by me, just to make sure Daddy didn't pull any fast ones on her. After a few minutes she had the tooth in her hand and all her siblings were rushing to congratulate her. How exactly does one explain the tooth fairy to someone with limited English skills? Well, we put the tooth in a little baggy and marched her up to her room to place it under her pillow. She looked at us funny, but it seemed to be as good a place as any to store a tooth you don't need anymore. So she felt ok with it. The next morning (being Ash Wednesday) was a hectic morning, so we opted to have her check under the pillow Wednesday evening. She was ecstatic to find some money (which we had just learned about on Tuesday afternoon thanks to Josh's center worksheet that came home from school) and a lollipop. I am still not sure she gets the tooth fairy concept, but I guarantee you she will put her next tooth under her pillow to see what happens!

I also introduced Geta and Tamene to the piano. I was playing one morning and Tamene was very intrigued with the music. He played with me for awhile. Then he sat on the floor while Geta explored this instrument. After close to 1/2 hour of playing with her, I opted to break out Emily's keyboard. We have already replaced the batteries and will need to do so again, but they really love the music!

We also took Aunt Aimee's weaving project to a new level. With Courtney's assistance, the kids all weaved placemats for the kitchen table. Geta made placemats for mommy and daddy using a mosaic instead of weaving. Geta, Miss Lisa and Courtney all ventured out today to have them lamentated, so we will use them the first time tonight for dinner. Geta was so proud to realize what we were going to use these for. While they were out, Miss Lisa stopped by the craft store to get Geta a loom so she can weave a pot holder. She is working hard on that now!

We are off to Indy this Saturday to go to an Ethiopian restaurant and meet some other families who have adopted from Ethiopia. It should be lots of fun, but will make for a very long day! We hope to see Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Bob while we are there.

More next week,

Kristen

New Hurdle...

2009-02-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I will not get the prize for frequency in posting. I have great intentions, but days just pass so quickly!

We had a great weekend. Friday marked the first "official" day with the new school bus. Ok, it is really only a 12 passenger van, but it sure feels like a school bus. The kids love it because they have lots of room, but I.... Well, let's just suffice to say, I am not nearly as impressed with it. So Mike drives it (and anyone who knows Mike, knows this is a very dangerous prospect!) But I must say I have been quite impressed that he has gotten it in and out of the garage (with very little room to spare) 3 days in a row now. (I am wishing I had pictures of how tight a squeeze it is!)

We spent the better part of the weekend playing Uno and spending quality family time together. We have been so blest to have so many meals provided to us, so I don't have to worry about cooking! I did venture out to the grocery store on Sunday because poor Oscar (our cat) had nothing to eat! But the rest of us are very well fed and can't thank everyone enough for taking such good care of us! We actually had Ethiopian food twice last week and Geta and Tamene were in 7th heaven! They were so happy to know that Injera can be made in the United States, too. They also really enjoyed watching all of us enjoy the food they love so much! It was a really special time. Our friends, the Costellos, enjoyed the second Ethiopian meal with us and brought photos of their newest son's time at he care center. Geta was so interested in the pictures of African huts and the familiar surroundings of the care center. Joshua was thrilled to see his friend Tariku, who was the guard at the guesthouse who played lots of basketball with Josh. We were so happy to have them over and meld some of the past with where we are today. These types of situations lay the ground work that will one day lead to a very emotional discussion with Geta and Tamene about their past and thier birth father's wishes for them. Geta doesn't talk at all about her past, but some day, I will have to find a way to help her deal with her grief.

Uncle Timmy and Aunt Aimee also got to meet Geta and Tamene for the first time this weekend. Geta and Tamene were a little shy in the beginning, but warmed up pretty quickly. (Come on, this is Uncle Timmy! What can you expect!) Aunt Aimee won Geta's heart by teaching her how to weave with paper. Geta has spent the time since then working to redecorate the kitchen! Between the weaving and then learning that tape makes things stick to walls, I am not sure which she liked more. But it has been hours of entertainment which would have otherwise been spent playing Uno. So I am glad for the distraction!

Please let me warn you that if you have a weak stomach, then you should stop reading now! But if you have a stronger stomach, I must share my latest hurdle. I have to get a stool sample from Geta. Tamene's is much easier since it is right in his diaper and he prefers a clean diaper when it is time to produce "Ca Ca". That is Amharic word for excrement of any kind so can apply to trash, poop or even daddy! But I am struggling with how to explain to Geta that she needs to poop in a cup. After my first attempt to explain, she nodded, took the cup, filled it with water and drank out of it. Hmmm... Back to the drawing board. The directions say that no urine can contaminate the sample. Someone suggested I put a trashbag over the toilet to catch the "Ca Ca". But how do I explain that she should not pee in the trash bag. I can't wait to read all your comments! Sorry for the disgusting topic, but you have to admit it is kind of funny! At this point, I have no idea how I will get the sample, but I am sure I will have more stories to tell!

More updates later.

Kristen

PS You might all want to bombard Mike with email asking when he will post next. A little pressure can go a long way!

Please and Thank you

2009-02-18T13:53:00.000-05:00

So I ventured out yesterday to take Joshua to the Eye Doctor. Tamene and Geta went with me, but once we reached the doctor's office, Geta was too overwhelmed to stay. So she went home with Miss Lisa and the older kids while Tamene and Joshua and I stayed for the appointment. While we were waiting, Joshua asked me what I did during the day. I told him about all the games of Uno I lost and then all the games of Go Fish that I lost. I also threw in the fact that I had given both Geta and Tamene a bath. His very frank response was, "well you didn't really do much today." It is sad but true! It seems like we make progress everyday, but we don't do much of anything.

Geta loves to play games. Unfortunately, they are the same games over and over. And she is quite competetive, so she always has to win. She is not above cheating to win!

Tamene has learned the word "No" and uses is often and with enthusiasm. I guess this is normal for a 2 year old, but I liked it better before he knew that word! Geta has learned to say Please and realizes this gets her what she wants. We are still working on Thank you. She won't say it, but will smile and bat those beautiful eyelashes at you. For now, that is just as good as a Thank you! She has also learned all the words to Barney's "Clean up" song. We ONLY sing this song when it is time to clean up, so hopefully that will help Geta learn that she has responsibilites around the house also.

I took Geta and Tamene to St. Joe Grade School today. It went pretty well, but Geta was a little shy. Joshua's Kindergarten class was at music, so we got to explore the Kindergarten classroom. I am hoping this will make Geta a little more comfortable in the classroom when she has to attend Kindergarten visitation day on March 20th. Yikes! That will be here soon and I am hoping she is ready.

Anyhow, I have to go play more Go Fish!

Kristen

PS Happy Birthday Cam!

One week home

2009-02-14T14:10:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we have been home a full week already. In some ways, it seems like we never left. Our older kids are all back in school, activities are back in swing and Mike is back to work. But life is far from normal!

Geta and Tamene continue to do as well as can be expected, but it is a challenge to keep Geta entertained and maintain Tamene's schedule. I think they are both a little bored with just me and Lisa here. They, of course, take it in stride, but they are thrilled when other kids arrive home to play with them.

Geta continues to understand more and more English, but doesn't say very much. So far, other than letters and numbers, she says "more", "water", says all of our names, plays peek-a-boo asking "where's (insert name here)?... Peek-a-boo!" and "all done". She continues to expand her diet slightly each day, but she is pretty picky about food. She whines a lot which Mike and I are both hoping will go away when she can communicate better. She is frustrated that Courtney isn't here very much. Courtney is definitely the highlight of her life right now. Geta has really taken to electronic devices. She loves the ipod, washing machine and digital camera. She is not very interested in the TV, but also likes to play Candyland, Bingo and Mancala. Well, she is only happy as long as she wins! She definitely has a competetive streak!

Tamene is learning how to "touch nice" instead of hitting. It was totally adorable yesterday at lunch when he reached out for my hand and laid it on the table. Then he started rubbing it with a very expressive look on his face. I was so proud of him! We continue to have several temper tantrums a day as we try to regulate his sleep and eating schedule. He does better when we get out of the house. (Oh and by the way, he still HATES his bath. He screams just at the mention of it!)

I ventured out to Target with Geta and Tamene on Friday. They were both nervous and totally overwhelmed by the store. We just walked up and down the aisles and looked at different things. By the end of our time there, Geta had found several items she wanted to purchase. I picked one of them and then after we checked out, she announced to the entire line behind us in a very gleeful voice, "All Done!" She was very proud of herself!

More soon,

Kristen

Progress?

2009-02-10T22:29:00.000-05:00

So I have not slept past 4am any day that we have been home. Geta and Tamene are having a hard time adjusting to this new timezone. However, the warm weather (clearly brought back by us when we left the equator... no thanks necessary!) has been wonderful. We took advantage of the beautiful day and walked over to Trinity to collect Courtney from school. Geta and Tamene were a little nervous when 10 of Courtney's classmates spotted us waiting and came to visit. But they handled it beautifully and took it all in stride. Courtney finally showed up (imagine her being the last one out of the locker room...). Then all was better.

Tamene walked the whole way from our house to Trinity and back. He has actually lost 2 pounds since he has been home (and that is not from lack of eating!) I think he needs to get some good exercise!!

So here is a quick synopsis of our time at home: Geta eats NOTHING that she isn't sure she likes. But we have expanded from only liking Life Cereal to adding Peanut Butter and apples (minus the skin) to our diet. We have had several tantrums (which I am very glad to see since it means we are releasing energy and fear). I, as a mother, can't believe I am saying that and putting it in writing! But it is something I worried about. Our youngest kids have been through so much and I was very afraid that they would cope by hiding their emotion. Well, I am here to tell you, they are not coping in this particular way! But thank God for that!!

I will end with a wonderful video of Tamene listening to some Ethiopian kids music. Where did he get his moves? I, as his very proud mother, am convinced it is natural talent!

Thank you for your continued love and support. I feel so blest to have so many people praying for us. At this particular moment, that is what we need most!

Please say a prayer for their biological father and siblings also. While we have recieved this wonderful gift of Geta and Tamene, they still struggle back in Ethiopia. Having met their birth father, I can't possibly look in their eyes without thinking of him. They look soooo much alike. He said that we were the answers to his prayers and I can't help but think that if we sent tons of prayers his way that God would bless him by making life just a little easier for him.

More later (after I get used to life with a toddler again....)

Some pictures of the kids...

2009-02-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting some pictures of Geta and Tamene, so I am going to add some and will post with more details later. Enjoy! They are just precious and I can't wait for everyone to meet them!

We are home!

2009-02-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry we didn't post the last 2 days of our stay in Ethiopia, but the internet wasn't working at the Guest house. But I am happy to say we have arrived home safe and sound. Although VERY LONG, the trip home was uneventful. The kids did great! (all 6 of them!) We left for the airport at 2am in Ethiopia (6pm Thursday here in South Bend). We finally arrived home at 2am Saturday morning (South Bend time). Mom and I both commented several times that Friday, February 6, 2009 will forever be the longest day of our lives! But God was definitely with us and guided us safely and peacefully all the way home!

So, just a few details about the trip... Geta started getting nervous when we were packing. There is no doubt that she knew exactly what this meant. We put all the kids to bed at 7:30, so they could get some sleep before we woke them up at 1:30am. This plan actually worked pretty well. The kids were sleepy enough that they didn't have much energy in the airport while we waited to board our first flight, but they were awake enough to still carry all their own luggage and backpacks! Tamene was thrilled to have a whole new place to explore. Thank goodness he has allowed others to entertain him. Patrick and Josh were awesome big brothers and kept Tamene "relatively close" while we got all the luggage checked in and filled out all the forms for customs. As luck would have it, there were computer problems while we were checking in, so the process took almost an hour. (Nothing goes fast in Africa! You have to just kind of go with the flow.)

Once we made it through customs, dad was kind enough to buy a shot of coffee for me. I mean that literally. What I would have given for a Starbucks coffee, but instead I got about 3 tablespoons of strong, sweet coffee. At 4am, I wasn't complaining. Geta loosened up a little bit when she saw the airplane through the window. She can't say much in English yet, but we still talk to her like she is fluent in English. She just grins and shrugs her shoulders, but I think she takes comfort when we make things "seem" normal. She watches how we are acting and when she sees all the laughter and happiness, she musters up the strength to try all these new things. She was really nervous when she heard the engines of the plane rev up for take off, but in normal Morin fashion, all our kids and daddy had their hands up in the air and were giggling and laughing. Before we even left the ground, Geta was joining in with her beautiful giggle.

We flew 4 hours to Damascus, Syria, were on the ground about an hour to refuel and add some passengers and then we were another almost 5 hours to London. We arrived on-time but realized that we were not checked in to the flight to Chicago. (Gotta love Ethiopia!) Since the plane was scheduled to leave in less than an hour, this made for another long wait while the clerk tried to find us some seats together. We literally got to the gate, walked onto the plane and were ready for take off! Tamene slept the entire 8 hour trip to Chicago, laying in between mom and I. Since he had his shoes on, Mom probably has a few bruises to show for it! Courtney, Emily and Geta slept for 7 of the 8 hours, having eaten (or picked at) dinner first.

Speaking of food, Geta was not impressed with the food on any part of our journey. She ate none of the plane food and didn't like any of the 7 varieties of snacks I brought for her. She survived on rolls, Pistachio nuts and water for the entire trip. We also learned that she hates apple juice! I am not sure I have ever met a kid who doesn't like apple juice!

Tamene, on the other hand, ate everything in site (unless he was playing his favorite game, "throw my food at daddy"). Mike was a wreck with food all over him, but Tamene was having a ball!

In Chicago, we waited again to go through customs and then submit all the paperwork for Geta and Tamene's Green Cards. Then it was off to find the bus and make our final 3 hour long bus ride home. (See picture of Emily watching the back of her eye lids at O'Hare Airport!) The bus ride home, as I am sure you can all guess, was very long! Geta stayed awake for all but the the last 1/2 hour looking out her window and taking in all the sites. I wish I could hear her thoughts. She didn't seem nervous. It was more of a curiosity about what this new place was like. She has no idea what all the white stuff is, but definitely equates it with being cold! Tim, Aimee and Susi had dropped off both our vans at the ND bookstore, so we were able to get everyone (and all the luggage) home. I promptly fed all the kids some oatmeal in the hopes that they would sleep longer and at 3am, it was lights out. All the kids slept upstairs in our room. Geta and Courtney squeezed into Geta's bed and Tamene slept all by himself, with only a few wimpers in his sleep! That is definite progress and I was getting tired of having a fiesty toddler in my bed!

Oh and did I mention that Tamene is TERRIFIED of Oscar (our cat)! He screams bloody murder whenever he sees or hears Oscar. That is not exactly what I needed when trying to get 6 tired kids in bed at 3am!

Tamene (having slept well along the journey) was up and raring to go at 6:45am, so I have not had much sleep in the last 48 hours, but I plan to go to bed very early tonight!

By the way, check out the outfit that Tamene entered the US in! Go Irish!

Things are looking up

2009-02-04T03:43:00.000-05:00

Tamene now is a mama’s boy and really finds comfort in daddy too. He has been expanding his play group to include our various other children at times. He still shows some shy tendencies as now when the cook’s come to hug him or pick him up, he clings to his mom or dad, which is probably progress.

Geta, on the other hand, is a Courtney’s girl. She likes Courtney to do everything with her and go everywhere with her. The one exception was when Kristen, Geta and Tamene and I had to go the Embassy to get their final documents. Geta didn’t know what to think of the bus ride and I am afraid she thought she would never see the other kids again. But she made it through it.

Nighttime wasn’t as eventful as Kristen had suspected it would be (thank goodness). Geta wasn’t up for sleeping until Courtney laid in the bed with her, but once Courtney laid down with her, she fell asleep immediately. I am not a fan of having our children sleep with us, but all the literature on adoption says it is very reassuring and is something that should be done, so we let it happen for the first night. Tamene didn’t feel comfortable sleeping without being in our bed. I was actually downstairs when this happened, but as soon as Kristen put him in our bed, he went right to sleep. And here is the great news. They both slept through the night. At 5:15, Tamene made a quick peep, but I put my hand on his head which didn’t help much, but Kristen looked at him and said something (I was half asleep) and he went right back to sleep. They both typically rise at 6am, and didn’t get up until shortly after 7 today. That is my influence of course. I really think the days are only to get easier and better, but there will, of course, be tough days.

The one thing that I think is tough that Geta can communicate in Amharic, but none of us speak it. So, she is going through her third language transition in about 9 months. But she doesn’t seem to concerned about it. She can already count to 20, which I think is from her former schooling, and she can also say all of our names. She is picking up other words and we have a great book at home that some of Courtney’s classmates made for us. It has a picture of an animal, object or something, the word in English and then on some of them, the word in Amharic. I wish we had it here, but believe it or not, we will be home in a couple days.

It has been an adventure, but an awesome adventure. Ethiopia is so rich in culture, so joyful in spirit, but so poor materially. But it doesn’t seem to bother the local people at all. We picked a good 2 week stint as the electricity has not gone out at all. But I was told by an American who works over here, the week before we arrived, electricity went out every night from around 6 to around 8 at night. Dinners were tough, but it didn’t phase them. They also recently had a cement shortage, which means no work for those in construction, and again, no one complained, they just went about their lives. There is incredibly patience over here, and they have many attributes we could certainly emulate. Oh, that reminds me, let me tell you about the driving. There are no stop lights at all. And there are plenty of 6 or 8 lane roads. My interpretation is the right away goes to the one trying to merge into traffic. If that person didn’t have the right away, he or she would never get on to the road. You just kind of pull in and the other drivers move over, slow down or go on the other side of the road (even if it is the wrong side of the road). But what I find most amazing is, there is no road rage whatsoever. They just go with the flow. I don’t think driving over here is for the faint of heart, but they have a system and it works well.

We are very excited about our return home. We are anxious for our new children to get acclimated to our home, to meet Oscar and to get into life as we will know it. Bill and I are anxious to maybe read a USA today, and get caught up on what we have missed. I think Bill also longs for an easily accessible cold beer, and the news. Don’t tell anyone, but he was reading a book today. Okay, just the back cover of a book, but still. I will be happy to have easily accessible internet that can interact with my own personal computer. But this has been an awesome journey. Originally, I thought I could never afford to bring my family back, but now I wonder how I can not bring them back. But that is a ways away and a different topic. See you all soon.

Mike

A note from Courtney

2009-02-02T15:32:00.001-05:00

Hi Guys,

How are all of you? I’m great! Ethiopia is great too, but it is nothing like the US. So far I’ve done many things and met many people. I even went to the national museum and saw Lucy and pictures of Shelam, the two oldest most complete skeletons in the world that we studied in Ancient History this year!

I also met Geta and Tamene Friday. Tamene was not happy and Geta was scared but she played with us anyway. Both have made drastic improvements. I’ll have to see how it goes tomorrow though when we bring them back to the guest house for a while.

Ethiopia has many poor beggers on the street. It is really sad. Also many houses are very bare and have holes them. The houses outside of the city are different though. They are really cool.

I have to go now but I will tell you all about it and bring back pictures when I come home.

Courtney

Playing with Geta and Tamene

2009-02-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

Today, Geta and Tamene got to come and play with us at the Guesthouse. Tamene, as expected, was not at all happy to see us! He cried most of the bus ride here and then for a ½ hour after we were here. Geta on the other hand was nervous to ride on the bus, but her face lit up when she saw Courtney and the other kids. She laughed and played and practiced English all morning. She is actually pretty good at dribbling a basketball (which made Mike very proud!) We got to eat with the kids and Tamene finally let me feed him. That is a huge milestone! He also played and laughed with us today. His siblings are still a little overwhelming for him, but he sticks close to me and is getting more comfortable. He fell asleep in my lap today as I sang him lullabies. We delivered them back to the care center and to school after lunch time. To be honest, I think both kids are still very relieved to be back in their familiar surroundings. They have bigger smiles when we leave then they do when we arrive, but we make progress with each visit. Tomorrow when we pick them up, they will stay with us the remainder of our time here, so that will be yet another step in the whole process. We will see how much sleep we get tomorrow night!

We have taken lots of pictures, but don't have access to upload them from this shared computer. We will post pictures when we return to the US. Also, we can't see the blog from Africa, so we hope that these posts are working correctly! If you have added comments, please don't think we are ignoring you. We just can't see them!

More later,
Kristen

Trip to Hosanna

2009-02-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a long, emotional day as we travelled down to Hosanna to meet Geta and Tamene's birth father. The bus left the guesthouse promptly at 6am, which Mike was NOT so happy about. It was a long 3 ½ hour bumpy ride and many on the bus had upset stomachs. However, we all faired pretty well, except for sore rear ends from sitting on seats without much cushion for so long. The meeting with Etore was priceless for both Mike and I, but I won't share any detail to maintain his privacy. We were so happy to have the chance to meet him and reassure him that we will raise Geta and Tamene with as much love as we can give them. He was so grateful that we had a big family and even took a picture with all of us!
After the meeting, we had a short prayer service with all the birth families and adoptive families. Each birth parent lit a candle and gave it to their child's adoptive family. There were many tears on both sides of the room. After a prayer by the birth parents and a prayer by the adoptive parents, we said our good-byes and they were escorted back to their village, about a 25 minute ride from Hosanna. I was very glad to hear that the birth parents were well fed while they waited for us to arrive. It was a day that Mike and I will never forget.
The adoptive families then celebrated a traditional coffee ceremony. While this was a nice cultural experience, it was also a good time for us to release all the emotion of the morning and take some time to ourselves to figure out how to deal with what we just experienced. There is a tremendous amount of guilt that I have come to know in this adoption process. The world can be so unfair. In Ethiopia, people work from sun up to sun down and then some. They come home to small, one room huts that they share with their cattle to have a very modest meal and then sleep on mats that lay on a dirt floor. There certainly is an upper class here in the city, but the rural areas are all about the same. One village looks just like the next.
We did get to stop by the Orphanage where Geta and Tamene stayed from May through September. We weren't allowed inside, but there is something about walking the path of your children that helps you understand their fear a little better. We also got to see a small bakery and school that our Agency has funded in the Hosanna area. It allows single women to work and local children to get an education. Finally, we stopped on the roadside to see the inside of one of the huts that our children would have lived in. It is amazing how well they manage space. The hut that we saw housed 5 or 6 children along with the parents and some cattle. It was probably 15 feet in diameter. The dirt floor was freshly swept and there was nothing out of place. There was a small garden behind the house where they grew food for them to eat.
We arrived back at the guesthouse last night around 4:30pm and had dinner. It was an early night for everyone. (Except dad and one other adoptive father who got up at 4 in the morning to watch the second half of the Superbowl!

Kristen

Another visit with the kids

2009-01-31T05:24:00.001-05:00

Well today was a much better day with Geta and Tamene. Mike and I started out at the CHSFS Office meeting with their social worker, doctor, nurse and primary nannies. It was a chance for us to ask questions, seek advice and just learn as much as possible about them and their time at the care center. We also got to preview the video of their birth family and time in Ethiopia. As you can imagine, that was very hard to watch and I was very glad to have brought extra tissue! It is a story that I am not anxious to show them, but know I will have to someday.

While we were meeting at the CHSFS office, everyone else went to the care center to play with the kids. Grandma took Tamene and rocked with him. He was no better than yesterday, just cried and hid his face. He also weighs a ton (hence the rocking chair!!) Geta was tentative at first, but Courtney opened her arms and Geta ran to her with a big smile. When Mike and I arrived, I took Tamene and we all played a game of duck, duck, goose. (Mind you I told the older kids NOT to pick me because I would never be able to get off the ground with Tamene!) But Geta really enjoyed playing. Her laugh is wonderful! We also read some counting board books. Tamene was very interested in that and perked his head right up to listen. He didn’t have enough courage to participate, but he was very interested in the activity and seemed relieved to see Geta laughing and having fun. Geta can now count to 10 all by herself in English and by the time we left at lunchtime, she also says all of our names without help! (I was so proud of her!!) Even Mike got a little teary eyed to hear her call him “Daddy”. I think, as a parent, that is a great moment no matter how your child came to you!

Tamene still won’t let me feed him and hit me and pushed me away a lot, but I also got some very big smiles from him today and he let me put on his shoes. While he cried a lot before I got there, he never cried once while I was there and he also ran to me when he felt afraid. For some, this might feel like a small step, but for me, it feels like I climbed a mountain!

Geta got to say prayer before lunch today, but I was with Tamene, so I didn’t hear. I have asked them to write the prayer for us so we can say it in America. It is an English prayer, but we can’t understand the whole thing. J Tamene also knows that when you say “Amen”, you immediately fold your hands and bow your head. It is absolutely adorable!

As we were leaving, both kids were getting into bed to take a nap. I got to hug and kiss both of them and we can’t wait to see them on Monday. They will be coming here to the Guesthouse for the morning on Monday to play with us and get to know this environment so that it won’t be so scary when they come to sleep here on Tuesday.

We are off for some shopping now and then dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant. Tomorrow we travel to Hosanna (about 3 hours south of Addis Ababa) to visit Geta and Tamene’s father. (…yet another incredibly emotional day, but one that I am so grateful to be able to experience!)

We miss all of you, but are having a great time in Ethiopia!

Kristen

Just a quick note about Mom and Dad. Mom ate something else that didn’t agree with her and was up again in the night, staying very close to the bathroom. She said that she feels fine, so it is much better than when she got sick last Wednesday. Dad’s quote for the trip, “It is no wonder Ethiopians have so many children. There is nothing else to do here after the sun goes down!”

We finally meet

2009-01-30T04:30:00.001-05:00

We just met Geta and Tamene (Tommy for short) for the first time. It was everything they said and more. Being that I had no expectations (my typical m o in life), it was slightly different than I might have imagined.

Geta gave us a hug and kiss and sat with us. Tamene didn’t want much at all to do with us and stuck with his social worker. I took Geta and Courtney, Patrick, Emily, and Josh and we played some catch with a soccer ball. Geta to me and back, Geta to Courtney and back, Geta to Emily and back, you get the picture. She was clearly the center of the game. Kristen eventually got Tamene on a toy car and pushed while saying wee (which is wee in English) until he eventually put his feet down and wouldn’t let the car move anymore. She rubbed his back which calmed him down a bit until he eventually let her pick him up. Then they brought us together for a picture and since things were going well, they suggested I pick Geta up for the picture as Kristen was holding Tamene.

The picture went well, but afterwards Geta started crying, which you guessed it led to Tamene crying. Kristen held Tamene while he cried and I let the social workers comfort Geta as I sat on the ground across from her while she cried. This lasted 20 minutes. Yes, that is 20 minutes. It was very sad. Geta and Tamene have been through so much and for us to be taking them away from the place they now know, their friends, their caretakers, etc. I can only imagine what they are going through. It was truly sad. This is what many people said we needed to be prepared for, and Kristen said she expected it. Me, not so much. I had heard it might happen, but I don’t like to prepare for the worst.

Anyway, after the 20 minutes passed, it was time for Tamene to eat lunch. He sat down and Kristen and the social worker, Rosie (I think) took turns feeding him. Since Geta eats elsewhere at a different time, she had a cookie while clinging to Rosie and I rubbed her arm. The good news is the crying had ceased (temporarily, just kidding, it had ceased for the visit).

After lunch, we all moved towards the room the 2 year olds sleep in and the children sat in two rows of of training toilets. Child rearing at its best. Sorry, we weren’t allowed cameras in the orphanage so no photos of this awesome event for you. No seriously, this might have been our breakthrough moment. They literally sat there a half an hour. After 5 or 10 minutes, I started playing peek-a-boo from behind a nearby wall. The kids started taking to it, especially Tamene. We did this for 15 or so minutes (mind you, all the adults were there watching me look like a fool, but I think they were okay with it as I was possibly lightening up their new additions also). Kristen meanwhile was playing soccer with Geta and she had calmed down and smiling again.

After 5 minutes, Patrick and Courtney and joined me and I put them on peek-a-boo duty, but we were about done.

So, when it was time to go, I said bye bye from afar to Tamene (who of course, is still sitting on the toilet, heck for all I know, he is still there), and get this, he bellowed out bye-bye. Of course, so did 4 or so other of his potty pals. He kept repeating bye bye and we actually had good fun. I guess I need to get a bunch of kiddy potties for home. How does that sound?

I go up the stairs to get on the bus (and at this point, I don’t yet know that Kristen was with Geta and making progress) and I pass Geta and she comes up to me and gives me a huge hug and kiss. So, we get a nice farewell. She is hugging and kissing all the Morins. She is also blowing hugs and kisses to Grandma and Grandpa Carlson.

All and all, it was a very emotional experience, but one I wouldn’t trade, but am a bit glad it has passed. On the bus, I reflected with the people nearby, well, this is the worst it will ever be, of course, except for those days that are worse. Laughter wasn’t all that loud, but I think they all agreed.

We embark on our journey and I for one am full of emotion and energy. I am not one to feel love that quickly, but I can truly say after 2 hours, I sincerely love my two new children and can’t wait for them to know and feel that too. Wish you all could be here, but you will get to meet our two beautiful new children shortly. I am sure my excited and happy wife will blog again soon (if we have access to a computer).

Love from Ethiopia,

Mike

Catching up

2009-01-30T04:29:00.001-05:00

We have just arrived at the CHSFS guest house, having made the move in three cars to accommodate all of us and our luggage. Again it was quite a scene. We arrived just as the previous travel group departed for the airport and had a chance to meet them and their adopted children. It was with some sadness that we said good-bye to Helen, Caleb and the staff at the New Flower Guest House and to Ayele and Ashu our drivers. They have all been so attentive to us and we have seen much of Addis Ababa thanks to the two drivers.

On Tuesday we hung out at the New Flower guest house most of the day while the children did homework, journaled, played soccer and basketball in the courtyard and generally took a day off. We ventured out for dinner to an Italian restaurant called Makush, a short taxi drive down Bole Road. It was pretty much unanimous that we enjoyed the Ethiopian dinner the night before far more, although the food was not terrible. Patrick and Barb might have been hard to convince as the night progressed.

On Wednesday all but Patrick and Barb (who spent the day in bed after a very long night) took a day trip (10:00am - 6:00pm) south of Addis to two crater lakes and a lovely resort, a rock-hewn church (Adabi Maryam) and Tyia (grave markers of 12th century wariors). Ask Josh, he can tell you all about them! Courtney made the trip, but got sick on the way home (thank goodness for Kristen who provided the ziploc bag!) and went straight to bed. Those who were well enjoyed dinner with Awol, a former ND law student the Morins had met in South Bend last summer and have communicated with since.

Tomorrow we meet Geta and Tamene for the first time, so excitement is high. Hopefully we'll be able to post daily from the CHSFS guest house, so more later.

Barb

Reflections on our trip

2009-01-27T02:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a whirlwind of emotion. I am really, really enjoying our trip, but my heart goes out to some of the people I see here. There is clearly a good deal of poverty around, but there are also people who live okay. The amount of begging is tremendous. The people here who are guiding us tell us we can’t give or we will suddenly have a group of 40 around us begging. But we were driving in a car and mother’s with daughters in hands come asking for money for food as well as small children. I have to say no. But we were discussing it and Josh pointed out that the Bible says, ‘do onto others as you would have done to you.’ There was a stop light where no one was around so I could give someone 1 birr (about 9 cents American) to hopefully set a good example for Josh. It really is tough not to give anything to the children and people.

I feel the best I can do is buying hand-woven scarfs, local art etc to help subsidize the small income of some of the local residents and hopefully help their economy by spending money here. But I just wish we could do more. Obama is very popular here (sorry Rich), and I just wish America could find a way to help more over here. But that is another, longer and maybe more controversial post, so I will stay on task.

A brief story from an American Ethiopian I met on the plane. He said that he went to public school and there are kids who have enough to eat (live a middle-class life over here) right next to kids who are starving. He said as a boy at 10, he heard a 7 year old neighbor boy crying in the street. When he inquired what was wrong, the boy said his mom told him it was the girls day to eat. They had to rotate days to eat. For 8 months, this 10 year old snuck his lunch to this boy. His parents couldn’t afford to feed all the hungry so his food was for him, so he snuck it away figuring two meals a day was plenty for him.

Oh, and the driving here. There are no stop lights. Well, we saw one, but it wasn’t active (possibly due to the fact that the government turns off electricity about once a week for a few hours or a day to conserve). So, we are driving around and have to cross an 8 lane road (I wouldn’t call anything here a highway). All this with no stop signs and no stop lights. It was an adventure. I never felt unsafe driving or walking through the streets (though I have never been known for my judgment). But I think the general consensus is that life here is safe. But the resources are thin.

Oh, and all cars are old used cars from elsewhere. It seems to rain at night, and many cars have no functional windshield wipers. The one I drove in from the airport had wipers but no defrost. The driver kept wiping the windshield with his hand. Heck, that is kind of how I drive and do car care, but my wife beats me up regularly for that trait of mine.

The streets are lined with shops (called trading centers) that are little boutiques but not like we might see in America. They are six to eight feet in length and often not even 3 feet deep. They are selling scarfs, t-shirts, vegetables, fruit, anything they can. Apparently these people are often very poor. If you look interested in something and inquire, they give you a price, if you pass, they lower the price and follow you down the street in a desperate attempt to make a sale. They are all very welcoming, not just at the shops but everywhere. Apparently, Americans or outsiders are treated with the utmost respect. A good number of people speak English, but usually just the more educated people.

Oh, a quick story. So, we are at a restaurant having a milk shake for me and of course, a beer, for Bill and Kristen and Barb, but mainly Bill. We are ready to pay and Bill decides to inquire if they take credit cards. Bill asked the manager, not our waitress, but a guy who had been a bit attentive to us, if he can use a credit card. The guy is receptive and says sure, no problem. He takes the card. A few minutes pass and we see him conversing with another manager-type guy. They are looking at the card, the front, the back, the numbers etc and he puts in his pocket. It becomes clear that he sees this as a gift and was just being polite taking this token from Bill. Bill eventually summons him back over and tries to explain how a credit card is used in America. Good news, he still has his card and all is well, but it was a bit humorous. I am pretty sure the manager guy saw it as a nice plastic trinket some strange American gave him.

One other neat experience. We went to a zoo, but it basically had 8 or so lions and a few monkeys. But in a little garden area, people were sitting and monkeys were playing. So, the kids and I went in and played with the monkeys. We started by holding out our hands and we shook hands. The monkey took a liking to Emily. Before too long, he was on her back and Patrick too got in on the action. Of course, all the while, Kristen (often a bundle of nerves) was trying to summon us onward as she was worried about ringworm or other issues. But we won out and it was one of the highlights of the trip so far. Of course, one of the many highlights, but fun nonetheless.

It has been very educational, fun, joyful, yet sad. We have met many nice people, learned a lot and have only touched the tip of the ice berg. Until next time. Mike

Day 1 in Addis Ababa

2009-01-26T03:10:00.001-05:00

Today, after sleeping in until 11am, we ventured out into Addis Ababa. We walked along Bole Street which is a main street with lots of shopping just one block from our Guest House. It was raining off and on, so I was glad I brought our unbrellas. We had some St George's beer at a nearby restaurant and the kids had milkshakes. They were very impressed. Dad tried to pay the bill with a credit card. The waiter was a little confused and thought dad was giving him a gift. He thanked Dad and then, after reveiwing the detail on the credit card, put it in his own wallet. Dad, realizing that he wasn't getting it back, called him back over and tried to explain. He did end up with his credit card and just paid the bill in birr.

We had dinner at a very nice place called Canaan's Restaurant and Pizza. The kids ordered lamb wtih injera and Mike (of course) had Dora Wat. Patrick and Mike both had Pizza for dessert! The kids got a quick lesson on how to use toilets when there is no running water. Their journal stories are hilarious! Everyone was in bed early in the hopes of being better rested today.

I am attaching pictures of the taxi ride from the airport with the luggage piled on top, and of our walking trip and dinner last night.

We have Arrived!

2009-01-25T07:05:00.000-05:00

We finally arrived! We got off the plane at the Addis Ababa airport at 5pm Saturday evening (South Bend time) which was 1am Sunday morning in Addis. We spent the next hour and a half getting our visas to enter the country, going through customs and getting all of our luggage. Amazingly, everything arrived! We then proceeded to meet our driver who came to pick us up in a Toyota hatchback and could fit 2 people without luggage! He quickly found some extra taxi drivers to help get us all to the guesthouse. I have pictures of the luggage tied to the top of each taxi. But the dial up connection is too slow to upload them. So you will have to wait, but needless to say, it was quite a site! Did I mention it was pouring down rain, also? I, of course, had umbrellas for everyone, but no clue where they were in all the luggage. It was more important to just get to sleep than try to find them, so we all got wet!

We finally went to bed about 3:30am. We slept well and I got everyone up at 11am to start getting them used to this timezone. Josh and Emily are a little cranky, but I am really proud of all the kids. They did great on the flights and so far have been very patient. We are ready to venture out into the city, but wanted to let all of you know we made it!

Will post more when I find a broadband connection!

Love from Addis!!
Kristen

A post for our designated worrier

2009-01-24T03:26:00.000-05:00

In true Carlson spirit, Brian is awake watching our flight on the internet and reading the blog to make sure we made it.

We are in London Brian. It is the top of the morning here, but it feels like 3am (I must be lonely) to me.

They had no cots on the plane, and I had no access to a camera to get pictures of all the other Morins and the Carlsons sleeping. I worked and read the paper and listened to music. No sleep for the weary.

I never did an all nighter in college but looks like I might start now.

We are safe, get some sleep. Mike

Mike's first ever blog

2009-01-23T17:31:00.001-05:00

Wow, what a month. And to think life is only going to get busier. We have spent the past year and especially the past month gathering paperwork, planning our trip, looking at vans, stressing about plane flights (Kristen) and getting excited. Kristen has read ever book known to adoption-kind and I have told her I like to take it as it comes and just be grounded in my principles and ready for action if need be. Some call that lazy (Kristen again maybe), I call it laid back. Okay, I am not laid back, but I am certainly not lazy. There is a long inside joke about that one (Ray), but I have only a few moments before we board the first of our planes.

So, in the past week, we have looked at a 12 passenger van. I love the idea of being able to have my entire family plus Bill and Barb be able to fit in the same van (Bill can drive) for any and all events; Redamax, camping, vacations etc. And as many point out, the white multi-passenger van will fit right in in my work parking lot. I won’t even know which one is mine. In my old job, I was the crazy one with 4 kids, in my newer job, I am just getting started with kids. We have Rich with 10, Randy and Tim with 7, but I passed Chris who only has 5. So, multi-passenger vans are the norm and mine will be obscured in the lot.

Oh and as I promised, here is a shout out to Lauri and Beth, you guys (gals) rock.

Okay, so is this blogging supposed to be free-flowing rambing? I know, not much different than a conversation with me, but I digress. I said it for you Bob.

So, we have had an adventure already. See the attached picture of the van. It is say 9:20am, we have to be at bus by 10 and I start to pack the car. We have 19 bags. I put the first 4 bags in and the trunk is full. Time for the 12 passenger van!! So, I jam some in the back seat and decide the kids will have to ride with their legs up. Still more bags keeping finding their way to the van for me to put in. Okay, now I decide, all 4 kids in the far back (don’t tell the police, the pictures don’t truly show us driving and it was only a mile or two to the bus) and I load bags in one of the 2nd row seats. Still more bags. Okay, I have decided I will kneel or squeeze in a second row seat myself as I now need that floor space too. All the bags are in and right on cue, here comes Kristen with the camera. She always wanted 8 kids. But then, I always said, if I were going to have a fifth, it would be a fifth of whiskey. Some may says she is off to get 6th and 7th, but I contend that I am a quasi-adult, just a kid at heart, so it is really only our 5th and 6th, not her 6th and 7th.

I promise my next blog will be more reflective of the experience we are embarking on, but as I did a week’s worth of work in the past hour and actually locked a loan, maybe two in the past half hour in the airport (have I mentioned historic low rates), I can’t keep my mind from racing a mile a minute.

And I say the kids on my basketball team need ridilin. I am off to relax and calm down on the plane, before all heck breaks loose with my new Super-Sized family. Sorry to ramble. Blogging off. Mike

Packed and Ready to go!

2009-01-23T00:10:00.001-05:00

Well, I think I have everything packed and ready to go. I had to do some rearranging tonight as a couple of suitcases were too heavy. But they all fall under the weight requirement now. I am attaching a picture of the mound of luggage for just Mike, me and the kids. Thank God we are flying on big planes!

Mom and Dad had water leaking into their house today. Dad spent a couple of hours putting salt on the roof to melt the ice. They also had furnace issues ths week, so life has been a bit stressful at the Carlson household!

Well, tomorrow will be a long day! We depart from Notre Dame on the United Limo at 10:10am. Our flight out of Chicago O'Hare is at 5:55pm (CST). We arrive in Addis Ababa early Sunday morning (1:25am) which is really 5:25pm Saturday here in South Bend. So you probably won't hear from me for awhile! I will do my best to update when we arrive, but no promises!

Thank you for all the many emails and prayers. Your support is truly overwhelming!

What to drive when we get home

2009-01-21T21:01:00.000-05:00

So, Mike calls me at work today and says he has found a deal we cannot refuse. A 12 passenger used van that we can actually fit our whole family in and still have room to carpool! Yippee!! We went and test drove it and, while it wasn’t as bad as I thought, it was pretty big! But it certainly seemed like a good fit for our family. One of my coworkers was joking about me driving a school bus and I must admit that it felt a little like a school bus! :-( So you might just see us tooling around town in this vehicle in the near future. I am going to miss my leather heated seats, navigation system and satellite radio!

37 hours and counting till we leave!

Barb's test

2009-01-17T21:45:00.001-05:00

Minus 6 days and counting. Packing is proving to be a challenge. We’re in the “I don’t need to take that” stage.

Barb

Courtney's 7th Grade Project

2009-01-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

Courtney worked so hard during Project week to complete her topographical map of Ancient Greece. She put in 30 hours researching, creating, and writing about Ancient Greece. She was very proud to talk to all her teachers and parents and friends who came to the project fair. Congratulations, Courtney! Awesome work!

Happy Birthday Geta!

2009-01-17T21:12:00.000-05:00

January 9th was Geta's "estimated" birthday and we just couldn't let the day pass without celebrating. It was sad to think that she probably didn't even know it was her birthday. But her family here in the US celebrated with her in spirit. The kids came up with the idea for the cake and I added her picture. We can't wait to meet her in just a few weeks! Happy Birthday, Geta!

first time posting

2009-01-13T22:59:00.000-05:00

OK, so I just setup this blog. I have never done this before. But I figure how hard could it be? I thought it would be a fun way for us to share our adventures to Ethiopia with all of you who have supported and loved us along the way. So, I may not be good at this, but please know you are with us as we head to Ethiopia!