Easter with the family

Our house has been hoppin for the last week!

It has been great to have Cindy's parents from BC and Cindy's sister and her family from Alberta come out for a while.

We were able to introduce Mesele & Abinet to their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Even 2nd cousins from BC were out here for a wedding. I wonder if Mesele & Abinet are begining to think that everyone is related to us! (not that they understand the whole related thing!) Watching the kids play together was great to see!

When the dust had settled a bit from Cindy's side of the family, we had our Easter celebration over at my parents place with my side of the family. Again, the boys got to see their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins... except this time on the Klassen side. The boys experienced everything from meeting new people, thanksgiving dinner, new homes, searching for Easter baskets, quad rides, pet dogs...yes they are beginning to sleep through the night! At least for now!

It has been very busy for them with so much new stuff. They've even experienced video conversation on the internet and phone calls on the telephone which, by the way, was interesting for us because we couldn't understand a word Mesele said except "Gedeon" which is the name of Mesele's best friend from Ethiopia! "Gedeon! Gedeon! Gedeon!" he said, over and over until Gedeon, who now lives in Calgary, could finally get a word in! Then the nattering back and forth began. If only we had THAT telephone call on video....that would have been a keeper! Oh well, I'm sure we'll get another chance soon...although if we wait too long it just won't be the same. English will soon be mixed in among the other words and even the distance between Mesele & Gedeon might change the way that they talk to each other and the phone.

Mesele & Abinet have already changed sooo much its amazing to think back just a few weeks to when we could hardly understand each other!

While we were in Addis, we were able to tour around and see different areas. One thing that always caught our attention was seeing the loads that the women would carry on thier backs or heads. Women would carry large loads of wood or water, not the men. The men would do the building but women were to bring all the supplies that were needed. Even in the city, it would be the women shoveling gravel, etc.

We also went to see scarfs being made. I was so surprised when we walked into this dark and tiney room and there were six little stations set up. Men and women would sit in here for 8 hours and thread by thread, they would make these scarfs! They were beautiful when they were finished, but talk about a monotonous job!

Brent got the opportunity to go the an orphanage and meet a man who remembered our boys! It wasn't the same place that Mesele and Abinet were, but just knowing that one of the workers remembered them was very special.

Picking up the boys...

The next day arrived and going back to the "Foster Home" to get the boys was great. When we saw them this time they were wearing the clothes that we had left for the them the previous day and they were just as excited to see us as we were to see them! We had a bit of an opportunity to meet with Haregewain (the woman at the Foster Home who really is amazing because of what she all does to make these adoptions happen) Haregewain knows these children better than anyone and so it was a very valuable time for us to meet one on one with her to talk about Mesele & Abinet before taking them with us forever! We talked about everything we could think of including eating habits and sleeping habits for each of the boys.

Even though we were taking them from the home that they knew and the people they loved the boys came with us very eagerly...such an answer to prayer! Our van drivers, (more about them later) were a huge asset! They were locals who spoke the language and loved kids. Often one of them would talk to Mesele or Abinet and we would ask him what he had said to the kids... "I just explained to them that you are mommy & daddy and that they are taking you to your new home in Canada" or "This is momy & daddy...what do you think of them?" what did the boys say? we asked, "I love them" was their responce!

Another huge help was that we were a group of 8 families and so when Mesele and Abinet left the Foster Home there were 8 other children that came with...some of them were very close in age and some were infants but all were familiar/friends to our boys.

Our boys seemed to feel pretty comfortable with us and adjust quite quickly to using the potty & new beds! Although sleep time would be something that we would have work on.

Finally, our parenting begins!

The first time we met!

The time had arrived. We piled into our vans and headed off to the foster home. Cindy later told me that she literally felt sick on the way to the foster home with such anticipation! All of us piled into what would be called the living room/dinning room and waited for our children to be brought in... one family at a time. If I remember right we were second. In walked Mesele & Abinet. They looked right at us and Mesele headed straight to us with Abinet hesitantly following. They were beautiful. And the seemed to like us. They gave us such a warm welcome that it seemed so easy...so natural. They both were quite quick to give us hugs and play with us. Shortly after meeting the boys and taking a few pictures we headed outside and spent a few hours just playing together. We had brought a few toy trucks, squishy balls, stuffed animals. Others brought stickers, balloons and even stuff for blowing bubbles. The kids were all so happy. Playing together was so much fun and our time went so fast! After a couple of hours our time was up and we had to say good bye. We would have to go back to our "Guest House" and wait until tomorrow to see them again, although next time we wouldn't have to say good bye!

The foster home wasn't quite what we had pictured since CAFAC had very recently moved from the home we were expecting to see to the one we did see. We didn't get a tour of the home because we didn't want to invade all the other kids privacy but it was still good to see what we did see. It is a very nice home plus this one had running water which I can imagine would be kinda nice since they have room for about 80 kids!
After leaving the home we made a quick stop at a store for some of the next week's necessities. We bought what we thought we might need to take care of 2 children, dropped it off at the "Guest House" and then headed out to the Crown Hotel for a traditional supper with music and Ethiopian dance. WOW! The pictures I have to post are a sorry excuse for telling the story! I didn't think that God had created the human body to move like that! Some of these people move like they are being watched in fast forward! Quite an experience!

Highlights from the trip to Africa…

Friday March 7th at 4:00am we woke up grabbed our bags and caught a ride with mom & dad to the airport to catch our first flight. Shortly after 7:00am we were on our way! Saskatoon to Toronto. From Toronto we flew to Frankfurt, Germany. Then from Frankfurt, Germany to Sudan for a brief stop before heading to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Somewhere around 8:30pm (Addis time) on March 8th we finally arrived at the Weygoss Guest House (sort of a hotel) the place that we would spend the next week and a half. We checked things out settled in and laid our heads down. I don’t know whose idea it was to lay our heads down but it didn’t work! I got up shortly and went and stood out on the deck of our room overlooking Addis. I could see for miles. Mountains, traffic, buildings, construction (with scaffolding 15 stories high that wouldn’t pass the safety standards of any 10 year old boy building a tree house!). I heard sounds. People & traffic. Then at 5:00am I began to hear the chanting of the churches in the area. Around 6:00, the roosters calling. And finally, I saw the sun rising somewhere from 6:15-7:00. The day was finally here! The day that we would get to meet Mesele & Abinet for the very first time. We no longer would have to look at the picture on the fridge or the picture that had been in my back pocket since Oct 17th and wonder what kind of personalities these boys would have, what kind of reaction they would have when the meet us. Today we would get to see them face to face. Today we would get to hold them in our arms!

Fun in the sun...uh...snow!

The boys had a blast playing in the snow this morning!

Kicking the soccer ball, swinging and checking out the little play house was so much fun that it wasn't hard to get a picture of them with great big grins on their faces. Every once in a while one of them would lose a mitten and very quickly come over to either me or Cindy shaking their hand as if the cold was biting their hands (probably was!) asking us to put their mit back on their hand. Although, now that Mesele & Abinet both have all the winter gear that they need I can see them playing outside alot!

Happy Birthday Abinet!

Today we celebrated Abinet's 2nd birthday!

The boys haven't even had a chance to check out everything that they already have in our house and they already are receiving more. This evening Abinet (and Mesele too) received alot of gifts when Darren, Keli, Jada and Kaela and mom & dad came over for a birthday celebration. We had cake, opened presents and played, although watching the kids meet each other for the very first time was half the fun. I can see many fun play days ahead at family gatherings.

At the end of the day was a quick bath time followed by bed time. Mesele climbed into his top bunk listened to mom read from the new kids Bible and contently layed his head down. When I looked down to Abinet, who was beside mom on the bottom bunk, he was fast asleep after only a 2 minute story!

Getting older must be hard at any age!

Hopefully Abinet sleeps as well tonight as Mesele did last night... He is really in need of a decent night sleep.

We're Home!! All four of us!

After a long day in Addis Ababa filled with shopping, sight seeing and hanging out, we made our way to the Addis airport March 17 at 7:00pm Ethiopia time to begin our journey home! As expected we had problems, loopholes and trying times for the next while as we made our way home. We knew that the journey home would be difficult but I guess you kinda have to experience it to know for sure. Yup, it was difficult! Finally, March 18th around 11:00pm Osler time we walked into our home! "Home" as Cindy & I knew it anyway. For the boys, it was a whole new adventure just begining! After checking out a few new things like cold weather, parkas, car seats, snow, etc. Mesele & Abinet began to check out their new home! When they finally made it to "their room" they got to see what you have all seen in the first post...a blue room decorated with sesame street and a giant cookie monster! Their eyes lit up with excitement again! Even though a bed that had been calling our names since about March 8th was only a few steps away from us, Cindy & I didn't actually get to sleep until mom & dad came to the rescue around 10:30am the next morning. Cindy & I both slept in complete peace for a few hours! The rest of the day was gone in no time checking out our luggage, going for a walk, eating meals and just hanging out!

I have to apologize for not being able to update this blog while in Ethiopia like I had planned. I heard that blogsites like this are actually blocked in Ethiopia which is why I couldn't access it myself but thank you to those that updated it for us. You did a great job! I would love to continue to add to it now that we are home and post what it was originally intended for....pictures! Our plan is to try our best to set all four of our clocks to Osler time as quickly as we can. We don't mean to be anti social, but adjusting to life in Canada for the boys will take a while, and it is also going to take Brent and I a while to adjust to being parents. We really appreciate all of your prayers and comments that you have left us and we would ask that you please continue to pray for all of us. The language barrier is quite difficult and we need to get our sleeping schedule figured out! Once we think that we are all settled in, we would love to see all our friends, family, co workers again. Please feel free to call! We love you all very much! Thanks for being so patient with us!

On Our Way

Ed phoned and talked to Cindy - they were packing up their stuff and very tired. Yesterday (Sunday) they had gone to see a magnificent hotel, like they had never seen before - they were able to go swimming and relax at the pool.

At 10:00 am Monday our time (7:00pm Ethiopia time) they were leaving the hotel for the airport. By the time they get to their home in Osler, it will be 38 hours later. And add to that the 12 hour day they had just had in Africa before they left, they will have been up for 50 hours.

They absolutely need your prayers - particularly for the next 30 hours. And in general for the next days and weeks.

As many of you already know, Brent and Cindy (based on the advice of CAFAC) have requested that their arrival at the airport be low-key and uneventful as they will be exhausted and need this time as a family. They will be seeing all of you soon!!

God Bless,

Grandma and Grandpa K

Ready To Come Home ...

Well I (Kelly) talked to Cindy today (Friday, 10:45am our time). Grandma and Grandpa Klassen asked me to call today as they had appointments in Saskatoon so I was the lucky one to get the report and blog about it!!

Cindy said she is doing good but is tired and ready to come home. Their days have been filled with sightseeing. Today they went to the hot springs which was a 2 hour drive one way. I asked Cindy how the boys liked the water and she said Mesele was fearless - even though he can't swim. She said they had to watch him very closely as he would just jump in regardless of whether or not Cindy or Brent were there to catch him! Abinet, on the other hand, hates the water. Cindy said even in their hotel room when they would fill the tub with an inch or so of water he would not sit in it but rather stand in it and cry. So it took Cindy awhile at the hot springs to get Abinet comfortable and she said that in the last half hour he was splashing a little bit and getting his face a little wet. Progress!! Cindy told me that it is so important to be persistent with the boys as the experiences in their lives have been so different thus far. A lot of things they will be experiencing in the next few months are going to be completely new and different for them, and also scary.

The next few days for them are a lot less busy and for that they are thankful. Tomorrow morning they are going to a soccer game that CAFAC is involved in.

Cindy mentioned that the communication is a big challenge. She said that often the African people would help them out by first talking to the boys and then to Brent and Cindy to try to get them to understand eachother - they have been very hospitable and genuinely nice.

They had a visit to the Doctor to make sure the boys were healthy. Cindy had a few questions for the Doctor and he reassured her that the boys are perfectly healthy, so both Brent and Cindy were very pleased to hear that!

Abinet and Mesele sound like they are typical boys - very active and curious. They like to poke and touch everything. They are also very happy and full of smiles. Abinet has very long eyelashes and is adorable! Cindy said the boys are smaller that what she thought they would be and a lot of the clothes she brought with her are too big for them! Cindy said everyone was amazed at how their boys came out smiling the day they took them as opposed to some of the other children who were hesitant and had tears.

Bedtime continues to be a struggle. The first few nights went well and the boys slept all night long, but lately they have had a hard time getting them ready for bed and a hard time settling them. They have been whimpering in the night, not fully awake.

Cindy said she is nervous and scared about the flight home and asked for lots of prayer on the 17th and 18th as they make their way home. The flights are long and very draining and she is nervous about how the boys are going to do.

Overall though, Cindy sounded upbeat and happy. She said she "has her moments" (which I think all parents do!!) but they are all doing well. She is really looking forward to coming home to stay and getting settled in their house. She said trying to be a "family" in a hotel room has been challenging.

They have not had access to the Internet at all and are still hoping to find access somewhere. I told Cindy that there have been lots of comments on their blog so far and Cindy was quite excited to hear that. I know they are very thankful for your prayers and continue to need them as they get closer to their departure back to Canada.

So, please continue to pray for them. For communication between parent and child, for patience and understanding on both parts. Please also pray for the flights home.

Thanks for being a part of their journey!!

Kelly Klassen

P.S. Leave comments!!!!!

"The 2 little Angels Are Getting a Little Tired!"

Map of Africa - they are in Ethiopia.

Map of Ethiopia, they are in Addis, Ababa.

Wednesday, 12:20 pm (9:20pm Addis time)

As I talk with Cindy, I hear Mesele crying in the background. They have had another long, tiring (but fun) day. And Mesele doesn't want to put his PJ's on. (I am thinking the line between being loving, cuddly and comforting, and being firm and in control must be awfully hard to find!)

She asked for lots of prayer as the boys are starting to stretch the limits a bit. Brent was trying to calm and comfort Mesele in the background.

Tuesday - they had gone to see a stone church and a museum - they were really neat. Then to a linen shop where they make beautiful scarves - amazing! They work 8 hours straight without a break.

Then Brent and Cindy and the boys had supper and off to bed.

Wednesday - Brent worked on the Visa's, then went to visit an orphanage where they played with the kids (60 of them) giving them balloons, etc. Brent said some of them were so sick they probably wouldn't make it. Cindy and the boys had stayed back and she was glad that they had as that sight would have been quite depressing. Then the family had a nice supper.

Mesele is kissey and cheery during the day, but as the boys tire they don't care for all of the travel. But Brent and Cindy do want to see and experience as much as is possible of this - their boys heritage and culture, before they leave. Not being able to communicate very well with the boys makes this all the more difficult.

Tomorrow they were hoping to go to the "hot springs" outside of the city. They are looking forward to seeing the countryside, rather than the poor and polluted areas that they have seen so far.

Cindy said she had seen an Internet cafe somewhere and really hoped they could find it again and find the time to go there.

As I was talking to Cindy her voice got stronger and stronger. She was saying it was hard to get over her cold. They are looking forward to coming home and getting into a normal routine. She asked for prayer as they go through this transition of the boys stretching the limits, wanting their own way.

God Bless,

Grandma and Grandpa K.

Mommy and Daddy!!

This is actually the button-popping, shirt-splitting (proud!!) Grandma and Grandpa signing in for Brent and Cindy. It seems the Internet is not working for them in Africa, so we will try to relay messages to y'all. Please feel free to comment to Brent and Cindy though, because there may be times that they can get online, and even when they get home they will love to look at this to see everyone's comments!

First, they want to apologize for not being able to blog for you as they had promised.

7:30 am call (Monday, March 10th, our time) Today they picked up the boys. Mesele and Abinet had walked straight out to them, dressed in the clothes that Brent and Cindy had left for them the previous day. They may well be the happiest, cheeriest, most obedient, easy going children there!! They ate together, drove somewhere together (the boys traveled well) and they saw some amazing traditional African dancing.

The driver, who also spoke English, asked Mesele who Brent and Cindy were,

Mesele replied, "Mommy and Daddy" in his own language.

The driver then asked, "What do you think of them?"

Mesele replied, "I love them!"

And then he asked Mesele, "Where are you going to live?"

Mesele replied, "In Canada."

The boys even had a little nap already - sleeping for a couple of hours!

Brent was reading the boys a book and he asked Mesele, "Who is that guy?" and Mesele responded, "Who is that guy?" He was repeating what Brent said verbatim - amazingly, learning English already!

They put the phone to Mesele's ear and I talked to him for a bit, he didn't respond. Brent said he was amazed that a voice was coming out of the phone, and amazed that Brent talked into this thing.

Now they will be busy getting Mesele and Abinet's paperwork in order.

There is another couple from Calgary who are adopting 2 boys, one of which is a good buddy of Mesele's. It would be great if they could keep in touch!

So ... again, prayers and comments from you are extremely uplifting for Brent and Cindy, Mesele and Abinet.

God Bless, Grandma and Grandpa Klassen.

We're There!

As to be expected, the Internet has proved itself to not be reliable in Africa. Brent and Cindy have asked me (Kenton) to keep you all posted as he fills us in with descriptive 3 min phone conversations. Our first conversation was mostly explaining to me how to enter into this blog account.
1st call we received from Brent at 9:30AM Sun : "We arrived to Addis safely. We had good flights. We met our boys! It was SO AMAZING!! They had huge smiles and were very excited to see us. They are so cheerful. Tomorrow we will be meeting with the boys again at 10:00AM (1:00AM Monday our time). This time they will be coming with us to stay." Then the call cut out.
2nd call at 1:30PM Sun: "We have been having a great time here. Everything is very different. The people are great the weather is great. The place we are staying in is nice. Our room is on the 4th floor (top) with a view of the mountains. It has a double bed for us to sleep in, a single for Mesele, and we're getting a crib for Abinet. This morning I watched the sun rise! It was beautiful." Call cut out.

Our church family is praying for Brent, Cindy and the boys. We are all excited to hear and see more about what is happening each day. This is a time in all of their lives that will change them forever. Experiencing an extremely different culture is often life changing, and to take some of that culture home with you will be forever rewarding.

Brent and Cindy are very thankful for all your prayers. It has given them the strength and courage to get this far. They would appreciate your continued prayers as they first take the boys with them.

Pack Your Bags!

After what seems like a rollercoaster ride for the last few weeks we finally have convinced ourselves that the time has come to start packing our bags! Back on Feb 6th we received the email that told us that we would likely be travelling to Africa on March 7th. We were so excited! Finally, we could see the date on the calendar. The date that would mark the day we would finally meet our 2 little boys. This, to us, was getting really high up on the rollercoaster! The view was getting more & more exciting everyday. Then, on Feb 22nd the rollercoaster very suddenly stopped its climb. We received an email that informed us that our boys' immigration papers were lost. All travel plans were to be put on hold. We were devastated but not without hope. But with each day that passed we felt our rollercoaster ride going lower & lower. The chances of the officials in Africa finding our papers in time for us to travel on the dates that we had purchased our plane tickets for were getting smaller all the time. On Feb 29th our ride sank even lower. We received word that our papers were lost. Nobody knew where they could be and if we didn't hear anything within days we would not be traveling on March 7th...maybe not for as long as 2 more months. But in our hearts we knew that there was still a chance. God could do a miracle. The following Monday March 3rd, the rollercoaster, not able to go any lower, turned upside down dragging our heads in the dirt. Our adoption agency had informed us that it was time to cancel our flights. We would not be traveling on Friday March 7th. We wouldn't be meeting the 2 boys that we had been longing to see since October, Mesele & Abinet. In fact we had no idea whether we would even be able to see them in the months March or April at all. With our heads dragging in the dirt wondering why this had to happen we went about our Monday afternoon & night feeling very depressed and asking God why and if He would just work a miracle. We contacted our travel agent to inform them of our cancellation and tried to remember that God knows best and that He has a perfect plan for us. That He could do anything and that everything is in His hands. Then the unexpected. On Tuesday March 4th our rollercoaster flipped right side up and shot up like a rocket with no sign of leveling out! We received a phone call telling us to Pack Our Bags! They found our papers and they are sitting right in the office that they need to be in! We're leaving in 3 days! Panic! We're going to Africa in 3 days and bringing Mesele & Abinet home with us! What do we do?! We need plane tickets! We phoned the travel agent only to find out that they hadn't even cancelled our flights yet! The rollercoaster continued to sky rocket! That's two miracles with in minutes of each other! Praise God! Only He could do that! At some point the rollercoaster is gonna have to level out but I suspect that it will take some time before we can catch our breath much less let our stomachs settle! I've been on rollercoasters before but never one quite like this. I suppose if I expect Mesele and Abinet to feel save in my arms...I too should feel safe in my Father's arms! It may be a crazy ride but its completely under control!

Our First Blog!

Well, this is such an exciting time for us! We finally get to prepare a room for two of the cutest little boys you have ever seen! I asked Crystal Ens to come over and paint a big Cookie Monster on the wall for me. She did such an awesome job. She even let me put the first coat of paint on his belly (then she took my paint brush away cuz she didn't think I could stay in between the lines!) Anyways, thank you so much Crystal, you did an amazing job!!
Brent and I also picked out bunkbeds and bedding to match the Cookie Monster theme in the room. It looks so cute and the only thing that is missing is the two little boys!