Corn

Said by our darling Hiwot (to get the full effect, roll the "r"s):


"Tesfaye, baracho. Mommy, baracho. Daddy, baracho. Hen-jeh-rick, baracho. Hiwot, aye-cah-reem."


Smart girl, keeping the ice cream all to herself!
Apparently she decided we would all eat corn while she enjoyed some ice cream!


On a related note, Tesfaye is a master corn shucker. He is able to quickly take the husk off intact.
He has had a lot of practice, the husks were fed to the cow!

Play Ball

The Little Boys : T-Ball

Davis and Burke are both playing on the 4-5 Year-Old T-Ball team. This age is so much fun to watch: twirling and tossing gloves while waiting in the outfield, swarming together to catch a ball in the infield. Davis is an old pro (his second season). This is Burke's rookie year.

Playing infield, Davis is quick to get to the ball and is eager to catch each one. He has shown promise with his ability to stop the ball. At bat, Davis has been impressive and consistent hitting off the tee. Davis is one of the few veteran players on the team. He's looking good!
Burke is learning. He is easily frustrated playing defense, greatly desiring to make a catch. At the plate, his swing is big . . . a whole body swing, often taking down the tee! Focusing this powerful swing on the ball could turn Burke into quite the slugger. His first hit, Burke froze at the plate. With a little more direction, after his second hit, Burke ran towards first . . . then turned to the infield to field his own ball!

The Big Boys: Coach-Pitch Ball

Hendrick and Tesfaye are playing together in the 6-8 Year-Old Coach Pitch league. Both were super excited for the season to begin. The boys have been very supportive of one another - they're having a great time!

After several seasons playing, Hendrick has really learned the game. It's been fun watching him making great plays from Third Base during practice. At bat, Hendrick absolutely wallops the ball! (even with his eyes closed during contact!)
Tesfaye has had an impressive start to the season. He is fast, has an amazing arm, and quick to learn. He wowed the crowd during their last practice, leaping up to snag a pop fly and making an incredible catch. (He's only played baseball for 6 weeks!) Tesfaye is a natural athlete!

The boys are excited and ready . . . bring on the games!

Biggest Fans

This season, we have four boys playing ball on two teams. Practices have begun, games start soon.
Our family will be at the ballpark to cheer on our teams in 16 games. We're glad our boys get the "team" experience, and we're glad to have the rest of the crew out to support their siblings.
Plus it's been fun to watch Hiwot, Maegli, and Kolpin playing on the sidelines!
(They're having a ball!)

We're glad to make baseball a family affair.
Go Team!

Lucky Boy

The kids churned out beautiful paintings the other day, and insisted Kolpin join in the fun.
They were all so sweet encouraging and helping their littlest brother.
He was so proud of himself!

Kolpin is one Lucky Boy!

Our youngest has six older siblings who absolutely adore him (we do too!).
Each day, he is surrounded with kids who are eager to help him, play with him, teach him,
and shower him with affection.
Kolpin is well loved!
(He has also learned to be a tough little boy, a necessity for hanging out with six older siblings!).

Kolpin is truly the perfect seventh child.
* Our sweet baby is now 21-months-old *

He is easy-going, content, lovable, silly, sweet, giggly, snugly, social, and loving.
Kolpin is such a blessing to our family (and is so good!)

This lucky one is surrounded with Love!


*And He's Walking *
Continuing the trend in our family . . . our youngest start walking just as the new ones arrive.
Davis started walking the week Maegli was born.
Maegli started walking the week Kolpin was born.
And now, Kolpin started walking while we were traveling to Ethiopia to bring Hiwot and Tesfaye home!

One Month Home

It is hard to believe it's been one month . . .

It feels like Hiwot and Tesfaye just came home.
It feels like Hiwot and Tesfaye have been home forever.

We are so glad to have our kids home. It is so right!


Nearly everyday, Burke says: "I'm so glad God brought Hiwot and Tesfaye to our family!".

God has truly blessed our family!

Signed soccer balls, a much appreciated gift from Lexington High School soccer team!

At one month, we are all still adjusting: we are still working on bonding, we are still learning, we are still settling. Each day we are incredibly exhausted, and incredibly thankful. We have successfully kept our world very small. We are learning a new normal and establishing our new schedule. We've had our ups and downs (normal and expected), and it's been absolutely wonderful!
(We are incredibly grateful for meals lovingly provided by our church family during our time of transition)


The seven kids are growing fast bonds, it's been a joy to watch these relationships develop.

Tesfaye lost his front tooth two days ago!

Tesfaye is a perfect fit as the second eldest of seven. He is very easy-going and loves to stay busy, absolutely adores his big brother Hendrick and loves to follow and learn from him . . . AND he is an amazing big brother to the younger five. He is incredibly tender and a natural care-giver. Tesfaye is especially wonderful with Kolpin (who is enamored with his new big brother), caring for him and playing with him, and helping him in and out of his car seat. Tesfaye is always eager to help out, and is an amazingly hard worker. He is always eager to help with house-hold chores, is proud of doing school (he's so smart!), loves playing board games and coloring. Tesfaye is most happy outside playing sports! Coach-pitch baseball practices have begun, and Tesfaye and Hendrick are on the same team - He's a natural athlete!

Hiwot brings so much fun to our family. She is so full of energy (and requires a lot more of our energy). She loves to be a part of the action, often the instigator! She has a wonderful sense of humor and infectious giggle. She is always singing and dancing. (It's been fun to have two ballerinas in the family!) Hiwot has surprised us by naturally falling into the big sister role with Maegli. Maegli is so pleased to have a big sister! Although, practically the same size, Hiwot will pull Maegli up onto her lap to style her hair. Hiwot is extremely strong-willed and incredibly sensitive. She craves our attention and is incredibly loving and affectionate. She is our precious sweetheart.

We love Hiwot and Tesfaye fiercely!

They are our children.

Hiwot and Tesfaye fit beautifully into our family.

God is so good!

World Traveler

In his own words:

We were thrilled our seven-year-old, Hendrick, was able to join us on this incredible journey to bring his brother and sister home. He was a great travel companion!
It will be exciting to see how God will use this (life-changing) experience to shape Hendrick.
. . . Maybe he will move to Ethiopia :)

Airport Chuckles

One Month Ago . . .

Praise the Lord! At the end of our two weeks in Ethiopia, we were thrilled to be able to travel together and bring our kids home!
The journey was long. We flew 8 hours from Addis Ababa to Rome, for our hour-long fuel stop, then another 10 hours to DC. Then we had an 8 hour layover in DC before our short flight to Cincinnati, where we were reunited with the rest of our family.

While we waited out our DC layover. The kids had a lot of energy to burn!
The empty airport was a blessing.

Running through the airport in DC, Hiwot was loudly yelling out and giggling.
Several Ethiopians chuckled as she passed.

We later learned she was yelling out the Amharic word for "fart"!

Nice :)

Later she crashed in Amy's arms. Sleeping till we landed in Cincinnati. Sweet girl :)

Sugar Cane

Dessert is not common in Ethiopia. Sugar Cane is a special treat: juicy and satisfyingly sweet (a light, delicate sweetness). Hendrick was really excited to try sugar cane while in Sidama. We were gifted a plate of easy-t0-eat raw sugar cane pieces. The kids got added fun with freshly cut sugar cane stalks.

It's a bit messy to eat. The pieces are chewed to extract all the sweet juices, discarding the remains. For the stalk, the kids had to work harder: they had to rip the tough stalk apart with their teeth! Tesfaye expertly demonstrated how to enjoy this sweet treat: biting the top of the stalk and with a firm grip with the teeth, ripping a shred off the hard cane. This is then chewed and discarded.

Poor Hendrick struggled to eat his stalk. His American teeth not accustomed to such hard work! He was so proud of the little shreds he was able to produce from his Sugar Cane.

(We brought the sugar canes along in the car . . . not a good car snack - too messy!)

On the Road in Ethiopia

On this, our second drive South of Addis (in 2011), the hauntingly beautiful scenes of this gorgeous land still took our breath away. We are in awe of the majestic (and diverse) landscapes and its hard-working and proud peoples. Ethiopia is truly an amazing country.

Aregash Lodge

One of the highlights during our time in Ethiopia, was our two-day stay at the Aregash Lodge in Sidama.


The Aregash is set deep in the lush hills of Sidama, off the dirt road past Yirgalem - surprisingly close to Hiwot and Tesfaye's birth village. The 10 luxurious bungalows (tukuls), are made of plaster and woven bamboo in a similar style to the traditional Sidama homes. We were fortunate to rent a family hut for the night.


While there, we hiked out to a neighboring village, where we had our lesson in Kotcho; toured the Aregash grounds, fed rescued gerenuk babies, visited the organic garden that provides fresh food for the kitchens; hiked down to see the caves which housed Emperor Selassie's daughter during WWII, currently home to a pack of hyenas; successfully searched for grivet and colobus monkeys, while Tesfaye expertly threw sticks at them. The food served was the most delicious food of our entire trip: savory Ethiopian, lentil soup, home-made breads and preserves, freshly squeezed fruit juices, garden salads, wild-grown avocado drizzled with oil, fresh-cut sugar cane.


Saturday evening, we gathered together outside, enjoying the gorgeous view of the valley for a traditional coffee ceremony and hyena feeding. The staff feeds the hyena pack living in the caves each evening at 5:30 PM. Dozens of vultures circled overhead as we stood with eyes glued to the path below, then two tentative hyenas appeared. We were impressed by their size - hyena's are HUGE! (This was a highlight of the trip for Hendrick)


All of this made for an absolutely amazing place to stay, but the best part was watching our children. Being in a familiar environment (Sidama), the kids ran and played at complete ease. We learned so much more about Hiwot and Tesfaye during our stay at the Aregash. The employees at the lodge all spoke Sidamegna and seemed thrilled to have children from Sidama as guests. They were all incredibly nice, taking extra time to show us and teach us more about our children and their birth culture. It was impressive how quickly Hiwot and Tesfaye were able to revert back to their birth language, which they haven't spoken in (at least) 9 months. Tesfaye was familiar with the fruits and vegetables growing in the garden, as well at the wild animals. With Alemahyu, an Aregash guide, as our translator, we were able to talk to Tesfaye about growing up in Sidama.


A sweet(and beautiful) staff member pulled our kids into an affectionate embrace before we left, gently assuring them that we are their parents; they should not be hesitant to call us "mommy" and "daddy". She told our kids we love them.
I am so thankful for her taking it upon herself to talk to our kids. I am so grateful for the special care we all received during our stay at the Aregash Lodge.

Our experience at the Aregash opened up a window into their past, re-awakened their birth language, and brought us all closer. We were able to show our children we are eager to learn about them and from them.
Since, Tesfaye has been teaching us Sidamegna words :)


*Hendrick discovered he LOVES buna!. Now we have three children who love coffee :)