Nicky on November 10th, 2009

Last weekend I flew away for four days to Los Angeles.  Yeah!  It was so nice to get away and be my usual professional self - to stay up late, talk business, and not clean up after anyone.  Not that I didn’t miss the kids… BUT I definitely needed a break.  I think I’d lost [...]

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Nicky on November 7th, 2009

The girls running full out for the first time in their lives. Something to see.

It’s true that most of Addis Ababa is a metropolis, full of highrises, malls, slums, gravel streets, red dust and goats.  But there is another side - and if you travel to Ethiopia in the off season, you can see the [...]

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Nicky on October 16th, 2009

 

Spice flat on her tummy and unable to get up with one arm. Pretty good little sport.

Well our trip to Calgary over the last four days was certainly eventful.
First of all, let me describe Spice’s “Worst Day Ever”.  We were just heading off to the Wiggles concert from my friend L’s house.  Spice had woken [...]

Continue reading about First Snow, Great-Grandparents and a Broken Collarbone

Nicky on October 11th, 2009

A week ago we drove for an overnight (which turned into two nights away) in Vancouver. We visited my BF, went to the aquarium, ate Ethiopian food, shopped at IKEA, and showed the girls the ocean.
Every day since one of our daily reading selections (we read about 4 books a day) has been Baby Beluga! [...]

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Nicky on October 6th, 2009

We spend a little time in rural Ethiopia - outside of Addis, around Adama and around Lake Langano.  I think future trips will probably include more venturing outside of the cities… now that we are more comfortable with the country and how it works.
To give you a sense of the places we went, in the rainy [...]

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Nicky on October 1st, 2009

We’ve been looking forward to doing this post, as I think it was both Jrock and I’s favorite part of our trip to Ethiopia.
For five days, we stayed at Bishangari Lodge, on the shores of Lake Langano.  The lodge is  a 5+ hour drive from Addis, south of Adama, but well worth the travel distance. [...]

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Nicky on September 24th, 2009

At first when we arrived, I was determined to cook at our hotel.  After all, there was a hotplate, and I love to cook.  Things I didn’t take into account: electricity (therefore cooking power) only once every two days; eating out being so darned cheap; and a complete inability to leave kids while taking off [...]

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Nicky on September 19th, 2009

I thought I would write about something lighter… A story that starts in Ethiopia and continues to this day

When you are thinking of adopting transracially, girls’ hair can be intimidating.  Try twins on for size!  Anyway, I jumped in with two feet and am really enjoying doing the girls’ hair.
What works for us: [...]

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Nicky on September 13th, 2009

Flying to Ethiopia the way we did, we were so afraid that 1. our kids would be dispersed to other orphanages and 2. that they would run out of food.
Well, if the Women’s Ministry hadn’t been in a training seminar for two weeks at that time, the transition home may well have been “reorganized” and [...]

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Nicky on September 4th, 2009

For those of you who have never been to Ethiopia, here are some pictures that will give you a taste of the captial, Addis Ababa.  For those that have been, you will also remember the sounds
horns honking, donkeys braying, children laughing, machiato cups clinking, blind ladies begging, diesel trucks roaring, friends greeting
and the smells
coffee roasting, [...]

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Nicky on August 28th, 2009

 
Thank goodness! It sure is nice to be back.
I just want to start by thanking everyone who was so kind and helped us out during the difficult time - from my mom jumping on a plane with 6 hours notice, to my sister posting this stuff up, to my friend T helping me pack, to [...]

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Ena on August 18th, 2009

Here are a few of my favourite pictures from Gramma’s camera. They aren’t necessarily the best pictures, but the ones that made me pause…that show my sis being a mom (so cool), that show a little about the girls’ personalities, and that just made me go “Awwww….”. I can’t wait to see the pictures of [...]

Continue reading about More pics from Gramma (Ena’s faves)

Nicky on August 9th, 2009

Howdy to all our Canadian friends!! A big thanks to K and M&D who sent Jrock some pics, and K - I got your CD.  Thanks so much!  R in the Nth Ok - we dropped off your package and it got into he right hands
 
So Jrock arrived 2 nights ago - and boy [...]

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Nicky on June 17th, 2009

We keep on putting off vacation… it’s this hope that “any month now” we will be whisking off to Ethiopia. So when Jrock had a couple of days between the end of one job and the beginning of the next, we left my visiting father in Kelowna and took off down south.  We stayed at [...]

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Nicky on June 12th, 2009

Two weeks ago I made my annual trip up north. 
Officially, I go up there to work - but really, I could do everything from home.  The real reason is to see my family - my parents still live up there and my brother and sister-in-law are living up there for two years as well.  It’s also [...]

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