Thursday, March 01, 2007



Wow, it has been a long time since my last post. I would like to say that we have done some amazing things in that time but it has mostly been day to day. With the anniversary of seeing the picture of our kids for the first time coming up I have thought so much about the changes in our lives this past year.

I have often thought about the feelings prior to going to Ethiopia and my feelings since.
Roman said to me the other day “I don’t even think about the kids being adopted anymore, they are just my brothers and sister.” It made me think about my feelings soon after coming home. I remember feeling like this was the longest babysitting job I had ever taken on and there wasn’t enough ice cream in the world that would make me feel less overwhelmed. I love the kids and knew they belonged with us but it just didn’t seem real yet.

I don’t know when or how the change occurred but it seems like I have been a mother of five forever. I have a hard time remembering my life before Ethiopia and can’t imagine my life without Ethiopia.
Just for fun I am posting a couple of the first pictures of the kids…….my how things have changed

Friday, December 22, 2006

Blizzard Country

Well I have been trapped at home for the last two days with all the kids and a bunch of laundry. The Colorado blizzard has given me time to reflect a little and think about what I am thankful for. The neighbors are out talking to each other and I even got to let someone borrow butter, it is nice to see people digging each other out of the snow and helping each other out. We are all making sure the older people don’t have to shovel their own drive. Sometimes we don’t appreciate the fact that we need time to absorb the season and what it is about. Before our much larger family happened I used to have to tell Roman and Sierra “it is Jesus’ birthday not your birthday”, I haven’t had to say that much this year and that is okay with me, from the looks of the Wal-mart parking lot others may not have the same idea.

The other thing I have thought about since we got home from Ethiopia in June was how much we missed with our new kids. No first steps, no first words, etc, etc. A pastor who was a huge advocate of adoption once said “when you adopt a baby you get mystery, when you adopt an older child you get history”. I always felt that there was so much we missed. We did get their first blizzard, their first snow ball, their first sled, their first trip to the mountains to cut down their first Christmas tree. Can you get luckier than that?

Wednesday, November 22, 2006


The latest family picture.....

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween is here

This is all the the little ones with a couple of the neighbors thrown in, notice Batman and Robin hehehe

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Proud Day
I learned how to change my backround and add a links section. Check my links out these are some of my favorite organizations.

Friday, September 22, 2006

I am back to work so my posts are getting farther and farther apart. Just wanted to tell a few stories and update everyone on how we are. We have lost or misplaced the digital camera so we don’t have any digital pictures to post, hopefully I can rectify that situation real soon.

Roman is doing very well he seems to be enjoying his first year of high school. He explained to me that he really puts himself out there and has met a lot of interesting people that way. He says “I just sit down with different people at lunch, and get to know them.” He is doing well in cross country and is very committed, practice is everyday with some weekends thrown in there also. Next weekend is homecoming and I am still trying to convince him to go. I even tried to bribe him with offering to buy the tickets. I didn’t do any of those things in my high school career because I didn’t see the importance in it. He is so different than me in so many ways and so the same in others. Last weekend I took him to see the Dalai Lama speak he said “thanks Mom that was cool”, about 12 years ago when I wasn’t much older than Roman my mother took me to see the Dalai Lama, I thought it was cool too.

Sierra has really blossomed lately but you wouldn’t know it if you heard her getting ready in the morning. She is definitely like me when it comes to mornings. She has started girl scouts again, karate, soccer along with a kids religion club. She really takes charge now and as become a great big sister. This morning I lay in bed while I got to listen to her talk to Saba as she did her hair. They both like the hair in the eyes doo.

Taye is as amazing as ever; the stories that he is able to tell us are amazing. One cool thing that has happened since my last post was his reaction to the foster boy down the street leaving for a more permanent family. We have been playing with Carl all summer and he had become a regular fixture in our house so needless to say I was happy for Carl but sad for us. Trying to explain what was going on to our Ethiopian born children was difficult to say the least. I know they were surprised months ago when they got here that there were “orphans” in America. So I just explained it how I think it was explained in Ethiopia, “Carl is going to his new family”. “Carl has family” was all Taye said. When Carl came over for his banana split party to celebrate his family he walked in the door and was tackled by Taye, “I love you Carl, I love you” he was so happy for Carl. I imagine this was how it was when the kids got their photo albums in Ethiopia. We had a big party and sent Carl happily on his way. At this point he doesn’t realize that Carl has many years to come of being in the system.

Gizachew or Yigzaw whatever you want to call him, he will respond to both, is doing great. I was so concerned how he was going to do in school, we put him with a very structured teacher and both of them are in love with each other. It is not the same for the teacher’s assistant however. I think he loves her, but she really doesn’t love him. I got a call last week that as soon as his main teacher walks out of the room that Gizachew goes haywire. She would ask him something or try to reprimand him; “I don’t understand English” is always the response. “Gizachew do you want a snack?”, “yep, ah uh sure” he understood English then. I did explain while the other two Ethiopian children are so eager to please that Gizachew was not as much that way. He can smell weakness and fear a mile away. The assistant teacher is definitely more timid than the other and he knows that and will definitely play on that.

Saba as always is doing well in school. Both she and Gizachew tested in the middle of their classes which always amazes me that they have only been here a little over three months and they are doing better than some of their native counterparts. Saba is so diligent in anything she does. The other kids will be long done painting and Saba will be redoing what she had already done. I am not so happy about it when she is painting right on the carpet. She is always trying to find similarities between her and everyone she comes across “Mommy has brown hair with some black, Saba black hair with some brown”, “Sierra wear pants, Saba wear pants”

At this point I have a hard time remembering our lives without our new additions, I do realize sometimes though that it is not always that way for them. While they do amazingly well overall, they still long for good times in Ethiopia. There are not as many tears shed when we talk about Africa but they all want to go back, at least now they say they just want to visit Ethiopia then come back to America. I think that in our naiveté you think that they will always be happy here, but even I long for our days in Ethiopia and yearn to go back. I miss the people, the culture, the view and most of all the family that were only theirs but now they are all of ours.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Okay the latest and greatest, the kids (all of them have started school) I thought it would be the happiest moment of my life. I was surprisingly crying as we dropped them off, they were not! I had a hard time letting them go as I stood by the classroom door, they did not!
The last couple weeks have definitely been filled with firsts. Roman started high school, and all of our Ethiopian born children were separated for the first time ever (each is in his/her own class) no teacher deserves two Mitchells at once. Sierra got to be the big sister at school as she is now in 2nd grade. She was very concerned how hungry she would be by lunch time since she had to wait for the Kindergartners and 1st graders to eat (just like a Moss). Of all things new things happening this year she is concerned with will she get a snack before lunch!
Everyone is asking what grades we put the kids in so here goes…..
Saba and Gizachew(Yigzaw) are in Kindergarten and Taye is in first grade. He should probably be in second but I don’t think Sierra is ready for that yet. Maybe we will move him up in mid-year.
Taye is quite popular and has been invited to one party so far and Saba yells to all her friends in the parking lot, however we hear she will not talk in class. It bothers me just because she might quite possibly be the most advanced in her English skills however she is to shy to show it. Gizachew’s teacher says he is so well behaved, our response was “really?” We used to enjoy being the ones he mimicked now he is saying “chop, chop” like his teacher.
No on to the fun stuff, last weekend we went to a friend of mines wedding, we felt very honored to be invited with all the kids. Just a month or two ago we would not have been able to go because the kids would not have been able to handle it, however they seemed to be the life of the party. Mitch and I got to pretend for a couple hours that we had no kids as we sat and ate in peace while they all heated up the dance floor. Taye spent his time mimicking a older more mature dancer and needless to say only one of them looked cool. In case you were wondering, Roman also had his share of dance partners and I was not one of them.
Well that’s all for now.

PS we have had another trip to the ER for stiches. If you are following the count we are still at 6 teeth and two sets of stitches in the last two months