A New Blog - A new start

I finally started a new blog.  It still needs to be personalized and updated but here goes.

After a year off from blogging that included 2 more trips to Ethiopia,  thousands of miles in America travelling in a car with my 2 children and a non-profit that is slowly coming up off the ground I have a lot to talk about.

I have changed the focus from Adoption and Ethiopia to just include the adventures of my life.  Who am I? What will I do when I grow up?  Those are things that are changing from day to day- so jump on board my new start and enjoy the ride...  http://fendesha.blogspot.com

and as always... I hope your life's journey is an adventure you enjoy and others will remember!

Time To TAKE OFF....A New Adventure Awaits!

http://fendesha.blogspot.com

Thank you for Hanging in there..

Our lives have taken an interesting twist in the past few months and thus a new blog has not yet been designed as promised. Thank you for hanging in there with us.

My brother in-law that we are very close to (one of our children's god-fathers) has been diagnosed with a terminal disease. We as a family are adjusting to this news. Although -how one ever adjusts to "planning" on the loss of a loved one that is close to ones own age, is a mystery to me.  I do believe however that despite what I thought-I'm excited to say that we will be heading off to Norway for the holidays soon- I'm just saddened by the reason ..........and even more so that we will not be bringing our children because we sat on their refinalization-and as of today-they do not yet have their passports. Although- It is exciting to think of having time with "just" us again...

Our business was keeping my dear husband out of town  most of this past fall- and when he was here-he was primarily focused on work.  Because of this- in the past three months- personally I like to believe that I have grown in strength as a mom. Still far from perfect-laugh. But I must admit- I became quite the competent family member-laugh.

My husbands travelling makes me think of those families with loved ones in the military on extended assignments and how strong and creative the resident parent must be. My heart goes out to them this holiday season and I am no longer just thankful for the freedom that is provided for my volunteer work as I can go freely back and forth to Africa and Europe simply because of the color of my passport--but now-also I think to the sacrifices their families are making for that freedom. Thank you....

As for me and my personal growth, I've been focusing on the details of running my non-profit. Now that I've seen some success and an interest in it-I'm truly inspired. So, although I am not a web-developer- I'd love it if you'd check out www.hayelkidsaid.org.  It's been up and running for only a couple of days now and it's not perfect but I'd say it's not bad for a first try!

I'm also working with a friend to create a travel company in Ethiopia. We are in the process of buying a vehicle as I write this and I'll be heading out this spring for an un-determined amount of time to work on both the non-profit and our travel company.  Yes, my return to Ethiopia this time is for an extended amount of time and the length is as of now un-determined.  Planning an extended move while all of the above pieces and parts of our lives are also moving around is proving quite challenging.

The name of the Travel company will be Exodus Travel. We've had about 10 customers in the past month or so and things are going well- although it's not yet with out it's hick-ups and we are still in the licensing process I remain hopeful. I can't wait to say more about this in the future.

So many transitions, so little time.  I hope to create a new blog -but I am looking for one that is not blocked in Ethiopia at this time and blogspot is. It seems to me that it would be exciting to blog about my impending departure from America to slowly becoming an Ethiopian Resident. So many questions yet-to be answered.

So, for those of you watching our lives- I hope this post keeps you hanging on. Someday soon- when the "dust settles" around us- I will start again.

Thank you for all of your support both those silent readers and public ones.  It's been nice to share our journey.  BTW - our kids- they are sooo amazing and the highlight to each and every one of my days!

Truly they are my sunshine in these otherwise cloudy winter skies...

End of this blog and a long journey home

On my last trip to Ethiopia I learned a lot about my children's life from their birth family. It would not be possible for me to explain the emotions around meeting their family members, seeing where my children were born and learning of their day to day life before they came to us.  It felt like the birth family meeting I thought I would have-but did not last year.  I now feel a sense of closure or transition that I had anticipated but did not when we first brought them home.

Although I am saddened by the path my children had to take to become ours, I am and will forever be grateful to their family for making the tough decisions they did-for allowing their children to leave their loving arms and find mine/ours. Their Birth family and Adoptive families hearts all ache over their journey but rejoice and are excited about their new path.

With this closure has also come the decision to end this blog.  The focus of our lives is no longer on "adoption" but that of becoming a family and the ordinary challenges that go with it.  Together we are working and teaching our children to lead productive and happy lives-with any hope that will be through example. We will continue to balance their Ethiopian heritage and their American Citizenship. Our adoption was complete a year and 6 months ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday-but mostly it feels like an eternity ago- a lifetime ago.   The first year was difficult-more difficult than I ever imagined it would be- and it is still challenging. But eventually, somehow- we became parents and our children also worked hard and are now very much our little Ethio-American children.  

Our life will likely take on the form of a new blog-full of adventure and unexpected twists and turns along with the expected ones- when I figure it out I'll post the link for a week before closing the blog officially.

Thank you to all of you who have followed us through this trying and exciting time of our life!

Hugs, Peace and Love to you all,
Kimberly, Denis, Habtamu, Debritu and Geneva...