In a previous “Un-photographable” post, I wrote about our road trip to Assala, to meet Ben’s family.

This week I am going to write about something that happened once we arrived in Assala.

I wish I had a photograph of the man that gave Ben the crackers.

As we pulled into Assala, we turned onto what must have been the “main road”. It was a dirt road, littered with boulders, rocks and pot holes. Chickens, donkeys, small half-starved horses and people of all ages and sizes walked up and down the middle of the road and covered the sides.

And yet in the middle of the... more

Yesterday was one of those crazy busy days and I was having trouble thinking of something funny, and then something funny happened. So forgive me for another “Wednesday funny” on Thursday.

This week and next week our Wednesdays are very busy. I try hard not to over-schedule our kids, and typically keep their after school activities to Tae Kwon Do and girl scouts/boy scouts. But we started soccer in the summer (which we have really, really enjoyed), and that overlaps two weeks with the beginning of Tae Kwon Do… hence the two busy weeks.

So yesterday, the bigger kids took the school bus right to Tae Kwon Do for their class, I picked them up and we drove out to the soccer field,... more

I just realized I forgot my “Wednesday funny” yesterday, so here you go… a Wednesday funny on Thursday, just to keep you on your toes. :)

Today’s funny is another one from Mr. Marcus. The kid is so “TWO” right now, and while he is strong-willed and at times somewhat volatile, he is also sweet and cuddly and extremely hilarious.

This past week Marcus hasn’t been the happiest guy in the mornings. You see, that rotten school bus has been coming and stealing six of his favorite people every morning…carrying them off to somewhere that apparently in Marcus’s mind is surely torturous and dangerous.

If there is anything that Marcus feels more strongly about at this point in... more

Time for a family update. Things around here are really great!! The kids started school last week and everyone loves their teacher, classmates, etc. Ben is catching on to reading very quickly and impressing everyone. It is SO quiet here during the day with just Amanda, Maggie and Marcus home and I miss my “big kids”, but it is nice to have so much time with just the little ones too.

Maggie and Amanda start preschool for two and a half hours, two days a week in September. They went last year and really enjoy their preschool.

I really enjoy being back on the “early to bed, early to rise” schedule and the kids are sleeping like rocks!

We are half way through our soccer... more

Wednesday funnies sure do sneak up on me. Especially now that Wednesday is our soccer day…things are busy around here on “hump day”.

Today I am going to write about Ben. The kid is hilarious. I often joke around saying, “Ah…just what this family needed…another comedian.” Seriously, we could have a “Last Comic Standing” just between my kids and it would be tough competition (especially if you enjoy some good potty jokes).

Ben is funny sometimes because he tries to be, and he is funny quite often when he isn’t even trying to be.

He... more

I wish I had a photo of us in our car on the way to Assala.

When we were in Ethiopia in February to get our son Benjamin (and which we didn’t know at the time, to meet our daughter Belane), one of the things we did was to travel outside of the capital city of Addis Ababa to the small town of Assala, which is about 3-4 hours by car south of Addis, and is also the town where our Ben was born and spent the first four and a half years of his life.

Our adoption agency arranged a car and driver (and translator) for the journey. We knew it would be a long and hot trip and had pleaded our case for a van, but when the time came to leave, we had a Toyota Rav 4 (which as the name implies,... more

Well apparently I bored you all to death with my immigration posts…four posts and not a single comment…sorry. They weren’t exactly fun to write, but I am supposed to have “how to” sort of posts and I do hope that they will help someone out. Immigration is definitely not fun reading (or writing).

Anyway, here is a Wednesday funny to hopefully change the mood.

Marcus is two. He is VERY two. He is truly hilarious, and it the source of a large percentage of the laughter around here.

He may grow up to be a lawyer specializing in equal rights for everyone. He is ALL about equality….power to the toddlers. It doesn’t matter what the other kids are getting or doing, he demands... more

As of today I get two new official titles. I am now a “soccer mom” and a “soccer coach”. (It was suggested to me that this post could qualify for the Wednesday funny, but I digress…).

Yes, we signed up our eight oldest kids for our town soccer program. I enjoy soccer and have coached before, so I volunteered to coach one of the teams, and I was assigned a team of 18 kids between the ages of 8-10, three of which are mine. I have Nate, Ryan and Des all on my team, and they think it is fantastic that “Mom” is their “Coach”.

Ryan thinks he... more

It is the tradition of the adoption agency we used to adopt Ben from Ethiopia to have a “going away party” at the end of the week for all of the children who are going home to America with their new adoptive families.

The party is emotional…the kids know that they are leaving and the staff and other children know that they are leaving. The adoptive parents are often filled with mixed emotions…thrilled to be hours away from starting the journey home with their new child/children, sad to be taking them from the wonderful country of their birth. There are tears mixed in with lots of excitement. There is cake and soda and singing.

Throw into the middle of all this…rocket balloons.... more

Today my Nathan turns 10 years old. It is pretty hard to believe! Nathan is our first child and our oldest biological son. He is the second-oldest now in our family, so has one older sister and eight younger siblings. He is a wonderful kid that I love with all my heart, and am blessed to be his mom. Here are some fun things to know about Nathan.

Nathan… -has never-ending energy -ALWAYS looks on the bright side and is hardly ever in a bad mood -is very tender-hearted -is outrageously smart -can find trouble just about anywhere -was the world’s... more