THE KURTZ FAMILY........OUR ADOPTION JOURNEY

Well, it’s been many weeks since I last wrote down some thoughts. We arrived home the afternoon of September 6th. We were fried from the travel but it sure was great to be back home and see the rest of our family.

On the final stretch home, Deb and I talked a lot about how much we missed the rest of our kids. As exciting as it was to go to Ethiopia to bring home Denaye and Maya, we were more excited to return home and get back to a "normal" life.By normal we mean routine. Believe me nothing is normal around our house. The girls have adapted beautifully.
The English words are coming slowly but surely. Maya is already in kindergarten and loving it. They love their big brothers. Whenever any of the boys come home the girls scream their names and run to them to give them hugs and kisses. The boys are loving it.
The girls still have their moments when they get on each other nerves. We can’t necessarily understand what the disagreements are about so we have to try our best to be peacemakers anyway.
We have a neighbour named Nicki who we are so thankful for. Our son Taylor has a friend Joe...Nicki is his aunt and she speaks Amharic. What a blessing!! Maya has had a couple of moments when she is simply quiet and a little sad. We called Nicki to see if she could find out what the problem was. Maya simply didn’t want to talk about it. Who knows...maybe some memories coming back from Kembata. She cried for a moment and then she was fine. I jokingly said to Deb later....that’s a woman for you!! A good cry and everything is better.

Our home feels complete and definitely FULL!! It’s a busy house but a joyful one. We are so thankful to have our daughters and we just love every moment with them.
All along we’ve called the adoption of Denaye and Maya a journey.....it definitely has been that.....and the journey continues.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us, supported us, loved us, and joined us on this journey. We still feel likes it’s just beginning.
More thoughts later.....MAYBE!!

Rod