Magical Monday

Ethiopian adoptive families' gathering at our favourite Ethiopian restaurant on Friday, 30 Jan. A few shots of families old and new.

Ethio friends...

At the end of November, a group of local Ethiopian adoptive families met at a great Ethiopian restaurant for a meal and some catching up. One new family that is still expecting was there (represented by mama, L), and four of us whose kids have already come home.

Here are a few shots of the gathering. (The last picture actually is from our October get-together!)

Afternoon with friends

Right at the end of summer we met up with a couple of Ethiopian adoptive family friends (who couldn’t make it to the gathering a couple of weeks earlier). One of the families lives on a farm about an hour’s drive from the city and has all kinds of animals rescued from animal shelters. Since Mustang LOVES animals, I invited our family out to the farm. Finney made it a super fun afternoon by inviting SK and her gang of four, as well as Finney’s sister and her kids.

It was a gorgeous late August afternoon. We basked in the sun (and shade, when it got too hot).


The kids (and a few grown-ups) got a soccer game going in the yard. Everyone said Button was a pro – get your autographs now!!


Then there was the pond, complete with frogs…


After playing we had a lovely supper with Ethiopian food made by SK’s nanny.


Then the three of us headed over to Finney’s sister’s place, a short drive away, because she had HORSES!! Each of the kids took a turn riding the pony bareback (being led).

Local Ethio friends

A week after we got back from our summer holiday we met up with some of the local Ethiopian adoptive families. We took a short hike at a nice marshland, then had a picnic after. About four families made it out.

Here are a few shots of June*, who had just arrived from Ethiopia with her family about one week earlier!! (Or was it three weeks? Anyhow, not long…) She was doing just great.


*as usual, not her real name.

Adoptive family friends

Our trip out west was also a chance to meet up with a few other adoptive families. First we had a picnic in the park with Lin and her two Chinese girls, Carol and Rae. I first met Lin almost three years ago, when Mustang and I visited Edmonton for the first time. At that time Carol was just 2 1/2 and a lively youngster. Since then, in January 2007, Lin took Carol back to China to adopt her little sister Rae. That fall, Carol fell ill with some strange and debilitating symptoms that the doctor's just couldn't figure out. With much persistance on Lin's part and consultations with a wide range of specialists (including in the US), she was finally diagnosed with neurological Lyme disease and some co-infections. Now that she is being treated she is starting to recuperate, and there is hope for a full recovery, but she is still anxious and less verbal than normal for a five-year-old.

(Mustang was happy to be meeting some Chinese girls for a change. "They're all Ethiopian kids!" she'd been complaining to me...)

Rae, Lin and Carol:

The four kids enjoying playtime in the wading pool:
Button and Mustang, all wet:

And, yes, we did visit some Ethiopian adoptive families, too. Two of Button's closest friends at the Transition House had ended up in Edmonton. One, Kenean, was the oldest of sibling group of three, who had just come home about three months earlier. With a three- or four-month lead over them, Button's English was notably better - but that had no impact on their ability to play together! They definitely remembered Button and I think he remembered them, too. We had a blast and I sure hope we can visit again.

Kenean, Shay, Kai and Button: Tracey with her three and my two:
The kids enjoying some water play:
Mustang, button and Kenean all dolled up: My angel Button (or is that a princess?) and Kenean goofing off:
Button and Kai:
Shay:
Little Kai:

Northern BC

From Kelowna, we headed north into the BC interior on our way to northern Alberta.

We stopped for a visit with Elsha's family, whom we had met in Addis Ababa. They were picking up Elsha at the same time as we were getting Button. It was good to meet Elsha's big brother, little D (who hadn't gone to Ethiopia with them). Elsha has settled in just fine and loves her home, family, mom & dad & bro! I don't know if Button recognized or remembered her, but the kids all had fun playing together for an hour or so.

From there, we continued north in our clunky bus. Laoye is the main driver, and it gets tiring to drive, so we have to stop every two to three hours for a break. Every time we did so, the kids would head off to the closest field or strip of grass with their butterfly nets to catch butterflies, grasshoppers, or anything moving.

At suppertime we reached Justine's home. This is another Ethiopian adoptive family who was still at that point waiting to bring home their two daughters. (The girls came home in late August - wish we could have met them too!) Justine & Ray have six boys already, aged 3-17. All but the oldest were home, so again the kids had lots of fun playing on their sizable country property! We stayed for supper and playtime, then spent the night at a nearby store parking lot.

Button, Cooper (I think) and Briton enjoying some shenanigans!
Justine, her 5 and my 2:
The little kids by the bus.

Ottawa Ethiopian Adoptive Families

When I started the process to adopt Button, there were only about 4 families in the region (about a 160km circumference) who were adopting from Ethiopia (that I knew of). Since then our group has grown by leaps and bounds; we’re now up to about 25 families! Back then I started organizing some get-togethers for the group. Our first was in April 2007 and consisted of me (with Mustang), Justice (who didn’t bring Wild Thing that first time), and a woman visiting from northern Alberta (who also had a Chinese daughter!).

In mid June we had another get-together and it was quite a different story! Justice was there (with Wild Thing this time!), Zia and her family attended, Mark & Mira with Summer’s photo in hand, Shane and Ashley with Isaiah’s photo in hand, Sandi’s gang, Allison and Mei Le (still waiting for a referral at the time), and Mona (also waiting for a referral at the time). I hope I haven't missed anybody.



I’m so pleased at how the connections are building in our group and we’re forming a little community. I’m also very pleased at the fact that there are several other ChinEthiAdian families being formed. Ours won’t be so different after all. (Well, it will, but certainly not unique, and we’ll have friends whose families look just like ours. Single mom and all.)

When everyone else had gone, my gang headed across the park to where another celebration of sorts was wrapping up. We got there in time to have faces painted and to snag a bunch of balloons that were being taken down.