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

The kids carved pumpkins on tuesday. The girls had never seen a pumpkin before and were quite intrigued. When I cut off the top of the pumpkin, Denaye said supper, and Maya took one look at it and siad "no.....it stinks" It was quite funny. Maya was such a good helper. She cleaned out both pumpkins with very little help from anyone. Sam lost interest in that part after the first scoop, but Maya was amazing. They really enjoyed this, but had no idea what it was all about. Trying to explain Halloween to them was difficult. The girls don't have much of a sweet tooth yet, so candy is not a big deal to them, however they love to dress up!!

Maya getting right in there and scooping out all of the seeds etc.

Denaye and Sam worked on a pumpkin together, but soon Sam lost interest, he just wanted to carve.

Maya thought the pumkins were stinky and it was yucky she said, but she kept going!!

Maya carving the pumpkin. I was amazed at how well she could use a knife. I didn't wan't to let her do it on her own, but she was determined. She did a fine job!!

Sam carving his pumpkin. His has 3 eyes and freclkes

The finished product....3 very proud kids!!!

On saturday some friends of ours had a 'welcome home party' for Denaye and Maya. It was very nice of them to do this. They also got the girls bikes. I know that they are going to love them. Maya has been wanting to ride Sam's bike ever since we got home. They won't be able to try out their new bikes until the spring , but that's o.k.......Maya says it's too cold anyway. We are so blessed and the girls had a great time with all of the kids. Thanks to all of you who came and who helped to make our girls feel special and also thanks to all of you who helped to put it on. We all had a wonderful time!!! Here are a few pictures of the event.

On thursday the 3 of us who travelled at the same time to Ethiopia to get our kids, got together for a visit. Sharla who is waiting and waiting and did I say waiting......anyway sharla and her kids were with us as well. It was great to see the kids and how well they are all doing. Denaye and Maya had a great time dressing up in their princess costumes.

Sharla's kids and Denaye.....they were actually sitting quietly watching a movie. I have evidence!!!

Maya and Samra.....Heather's daughter. She is a gorgeous baby!!!

Maya trying to get Samra to look at the camera.

Samra, Maya, Talia(not sure of the spelling)....she is Michelle's beautiful daughter and Denaye somewhere in the distance.

Reid, Samra, Maya, Denaye and Talia.....Talia is a busy little girl.....I love the look on her face. We've interrupted her playtime!!

The 4 princess's......Snow white, Princess Bride, Cinderella, and Ballerina Princess.....I think they look quite cute!!!

This is very cool......a simple way we can all help make a difference!!!

I was tagged by a friend from Calgary......Lisa.....we will meet someday. We live to close together to ignore that detail.

Jobs I've had
1) Prairie Insurance...receptionist
2) Mariposa..sales clerk
3) Bull/Houser/and Tupper...law firm...receptionist
4) Captiol theatre in Moose Jaw...by far my favorite job. I got to see all of the movies for free and eat as much popcorn as I could and drink as much coke as I could drink....this was in high school...does it get any better.

Places I have lived
1) Edmonton
2) Saskatoon
3) Vancouver
4) Moose Jaw

Food I love
1) pasta
2) rice...I know who likes rice.
3) turkey dinner
4) chocolate

Places I'd rather be:
1) I am happy where I am
2) I would love to build a house on an acreage
3) I want to go to new York...just for a visit
4) in Hawaii with my husband...we didn't get to go for our anniversary...we went to Ethiopia instead.....however pretty happy about that!!!!

Movies I love:
1) Titanic
2) Mission Impossible movies
3) The Notebook
4) Grease

TV shows I watch:
1) grey's anatomy
2) House
3) So you think you can dance
4) American Idol

Books I love:
1) 28
2) chicken soup for mother'/daughter's Soul...I know a little lame, but I have daughters now....a totally new concept for me.
3) Rich Dad Poor Dad
4) Adoption Stories....wonderful true miracle stories of adoption.

Bloggers I am tagging:
1) Lisa Goguen
2) sharla
3) Lisa Rempel
4) Nicky

Rod put together a little video of life since the girls have come home.....

My brother Don and Shauna and their kids Matt and Kendall meeting the girls.

We went to the corn maze on the weekend. I have never been before......it is huge. We had a good time.....a lot of walking. There was about 20 of us.

Emily and Denaye playing in the hay bails at the maze.

The boys playing in the hay bails
Zack and Maya hanging out

Matt I couldn't resist....you look beautiful!!!!!

I thought the girls looked adorable in their dresses. They are not used to our chilly air, so they needed tights on their little legs. They were still cold......can't imagine how winter is going to be for them!!

This past week we had a family photos done. There is this organization out there that celebrates adoption by offering families a free session and some other perk (they will talk the other perk over with you, but it's good) The photographer who came out to our neck of the woods is from Red Deer. She was wonderful and did a fantastic job. I have not seen all of the pictures, but she put a sample of them on her blog. Her website is http://www.deannahallphotography.com/
The website of the organization that she is a part of is called CELEBRATING ADOPTION. The web address is http://www.celebratingadoption.org/
This is a fantastic organization and if you live in the Central Alberta area and have recently adopted give her a call. Celebrating Adoption is all over North America. In Canada it is in Ontario and Alberta....so far.

Here are a few samples of her work......

Rod put together this video highlighting our trip....it was hard to just do highlights. He did a great job and it will be a nice keepsake for the girls. It's hard to believe that we are home and have started our life together as a family of 8. We are so blessed and I hope you enjoy the video.....I did!!!

Debbie

September 22, 2007

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

September 5, 2007

Well, we’re in the airport in Frankfurt Germany on the way home. It’s been an incredible adventure. But to be honest we’re adventured out, and now we just want to get home.

We learned one thing on the flight from Addis to Frankfurt. Denaye hates the seatbelt....but she does like the stroller as long as she’s not belted in.

Our last couple of days in Addis were non-stop, hence why I didn’t write. Yesterday we went to one of the largest markets I have ever seen. It stretches for blocks, indoors and outdoors. If you love shoes, you would have been in heaven. Just the number of shoe shops and the variety of shoes was staggering. And there were linens and carvings and spices. Luckily we toured through it with our driver Selamneh.
We can’t say enough about Selamneh. He was not only our tour guide, our driver, but he was also a surrogate father to all the adopted kids. They love him and know him, so when he speaks they listen. He gave Denaye and Maya a little pep talk before we got on the plane about eating unfamiliar food, and they should eat what’s put in front of them because that’s all they’ll get. Ooops, gotta run....we’re boarding.
OK, we’re on board the flight to Toronto. One step closer to home.

Anyway one of the highlights on this trip was going back to the foster home where the girls had lived, and giving Haregewain the donations we brought from home. We took four bags of stuff, all from our friends back in Edmonton. Thanks to all of you who donated. I know Haregewain was blown away with your generosity.
We could tell the foster home was a positive experience for the girls by how they reacted when we arrived. They hugged and kissed all the workers. The workers were all crying. It was quite an emotional scene.

One of our most memorable visits though was later that day...we went to the Liga School. This is a school for kids who basically have nothing. It’s well outside of Addis. The road we took to get to the school was one of the worst we had seen, but we made it....thanks again to Selamneh. These children are impoverished, some have lost parents to AIDS. The school was started by two university graduates. They used their own money. They just wanted to make a difference and give these kid a chance at a better life. They are now getting some funding through CHOIR...the Canadian Humanitarian Organization for International Relief. The students sang and danced for us. You should have seen the joy in their eyes. They’re thrilled to just be able to be in school learning English. It was an emotional visit for all of us, again reminding us of how fortunate we are to have what we have in Canada, but also reminding us there’s much that we all can do to help.

Anyway, I’m pooped. More thoughts later.

Rod

September 3, 2007

It’s not that I didn’t want to write the past few days, we just haven’t had time and we’ve both been bagged at night. But I have to say it’s been incredible watching the girls start to come out of their shells.
I’m looking at them right now, asleep in the bed beside me and I can’t help but feel thankful. Thankful for lives we enjoy back home, thankful for our kids, including the two new ones. Thankful that God has blessed us so richly. I know I will come home appreciating that a lot more.
The girls are so great. Denaye has been such a little trooper. She has scabies, but on her left foot it turned into impentago, and then that got infected. We took her to the doctor today and he prescribed some medications, so hopefully those will work and at least keep her comfortable on the trip home.
The girls are starting to attach to us. They’re more open and cuddly, which of course I love....but we saw a little defiance out of Denaye today and that’s good sign. That might sound strange but it’s true. When we first got them they would do whatever we said. When they start to trust you more...then they’re more comfortable being themselves.

We were visiting our friends Jim and Heather Blake at their hotel. Denaye and Maya were playing on the balcony and I told them to come in so we could go down to the pool. Maya came in but Denaye did not. When asked her nicely...she refused. Trust me she knew what I wanted, it had nothing to do with the language barrier. I finally picked her up and brought her inside. She threw a fit...but moments later, she was fine. I’m sure there’ll be many more moments like that.
The girls are also leaving food on their plates. That’s also a good sign that shows they’re starting to understand there will always be more so the don’t need to gorge. All we seem to be doing these days is taking the girls to the bathroom.....they both have the runs.....hopefully that will end soon.
There are times when they’re quiet, even a little sad, Maya more so than Denaye. We’re trying not to over-think or worry about what that might be about. Maya is afraid at night and she wakes with night terrors. It could be any number of things and we just let it runs it’s course. We just hold them and let them know as best we can that we love them.
But we are certainly enjoying the smiles and playfulness.

We drove out of Addis yesterday to a hot springs. It’s inside a resort. But the entrance into the resort was flooded because of heavy rains. Thanks goodness our vehicles were diesel.
In the hot spring were a couple of hundreds Africans and four white people with black kids. Needless to say we felt a little strange at first but it was fine. The African people were all very friendly and kind. Maya loved the water, it was her first time swimming and she especially loves sticking her head underwater. We’ll have to do more swimming when we get home.

Everyday has been an amazing experience. One of my favourite parts of the trip so far was the drive to and from the resort. I loved just watching the people as we drove through towns and villages. Africa is just an amazingly beautiful country. It’s hard to put into words.
We’re taking lots of pictures and will have many stories to tell when we get home. We’re looking very forward to that now. We want to get home and share our beautiful girls with everyone.
More thought later.

Rod