Is anybody alive out there?

can anyone hear me?

10 points to who knows what movie that's from.

Anyway, hello again. It's me. I feel a little bit like I should reintroduce myself to you all.

In a lot of ways the last months away from the blog (and really a lot of social media in general) has been kind of liberating. I have noticed a difference in the amount of time I'm present with the family when I don't have internet access at home. It was really nice.

That said, I still don't have internet and now that the kids are at school during the day it'd be super if we had it. :)

Now I'm trying to figure out if it's best to just start from today or try to tell you all that's been going on since last we spoke. How about a few pictures from this summer to tide you over?

We got to go to the Mehaber!!! Though we'd been before it had been 4 years so we were due. And there were just too many people going that I wanted to see for me to come up with any valid excuses.

Amanda was so generous in letting my entire family (sans Zach, who can never make it what with a camp full of kids and all) move in.

If there is a girl around, Dailah will hone in on her and stalk her like prey. Sometimes I feel so sad for her that she has no one to make bracelets with. Samry was AMAZING at playing with Dailah and doing whatever she wanted.

We got to stop at Amanda's parents' house that happens to be beautiful and lakeside. The kids were in hog heaven there.

Love "catching" them when they aren't posing.

This was their faces watching Ethiopian musicians perform. Hilarious.

We ate delicious, delicious Ethiopian food! My kids were so incredibly happy.

We got to see people we traveled with too! Agiro and Twedros treated Tariku like their little brother in Ethiopia. It was so fun to see them all together again.

We also learned how to make injera (plug: you NEED that book! It's essential if you want any hope of successfully making injera. This amazing lady taught me that. I bet you can find out how to order the book there too? But look at Dailah's injera! It's in the shape of an Africa! Amazing!

Speaking of her, there she is in the green. And Cathy. I've mentioned Cathy before. I'll mention her later too. Of course I go to the Mehaber to keep the kids in touch with their Ethiopian roots but seeing some of my favorite people is a really big motivator as well. I got to meet Kim too (no idea how no picture was taken, alas...). She is doing a ridiculously great job with those boys of hers. We needed more time!

It was hot. So. so. so. hot.

Those of you in the adoption world would be so jealous of the people I got to travel with when we picked up Tariku. We traveled with these guys too. This family is really just too beautiful.

My Bean

There was a station where women would write your names in Amharic. Fun.

Cathy was able to come over to Amanda's afterwards and bring her kids. We are soul sisters. Sometimes I feel like that's all that needs to be said. Also, she should move to the midwest, that should also be said.

When I went to Cathy's in Colorado I couldn't get over how much her oldest reminded me of my oldest. Some of my favorite moments in Colorado were when I was talking to Carver about life because I could imagine having the same conversations with Trysten in a few years. They met and, well, Trysten is still talking about him.

Amanda. She took on 5 kids and this hair. Come on, she's amazing.

We stayed up way too late every night. I think this picture of Dailah was at about 10:00pm. She was delirious and hungry.

The crew. Tariku and Teshome (right next to Tariku) were besties in Ethiopia. Every time I think of their relationship I get tears in my eyes. It is a priceless, priceless thing for him.

This was everyone (but me) for almost the entire 6 hours home. We were exhausted.

This is my favorite picture I've taken of my favorite people I took all summer (maybe thus far all year?)

The big 3 went to resident camp again this year. Trysten was in his own cabin away from his brothers for the first time. I can't tell you how good it was for him to just be Trysten and not be the oldest brother. But ugh, it was rough on me this year.

And these two? Had so much fun. Tariku still struggled with re-entry (more on that later) but otherwise they just can't wait until next summer.

Their counselors...Nacho, you've heard me talk about him (far right) is the best at what he does, there really is no comparison. And this year they got Optimus too who was just as attentive and wonderful.

Trysten was with 2 British guys, which is exactly where a Harry Potter-lovin' guy like himself wants to be (he's just like his mom, amiright?) But seriously, they were everything I could want in counselors for my boy.

 Those were the pictures I had ready on my computer. Nevermind that they are a few months old.

But I figured out a way to blog more so you'll hear more from me. I promise. Off to read the blogs I've missed since my absence. Love and hugs.

where we've been

Binyam got fitted for a brand new foot brace. His left foot is as perfect as it's going to get, but the right one still has a kidney bean shape. Because of that his foot is often sore at the end of the day. The orthaped doc thought this brace should help the situation until his next surgery (when he's done growing, so we have awhile). 

Family picture. Come on, love them so much.

Until last year my parents owned a house on a lake. It was awesome. It's been a little weird not having that to go to this summer but a few weeks ago they took the boat out on to another lake. Dailah hit her stride immediately.

Here's a little factoid about me, I was originally born in a town called Pleasantville. Seriously. And they have an amazing pizza place. Hadn't been for many years but I was able to take my kids there a few weeks back and it was just so cool. Something about those moments of full circle that I love.

Love going to my parents' house. Because they are so good about doting on my kids that I get to put my feet up and just revel in their joy without thinking about how many loads of laundry I'll have to do when they're done.

The kids and I headed to my parents house for a week of camps. The 4 boys had wrestling camp (which Trysten and Tariku loved, the other two felt "eh" about it).

That same week we also took the kids to an old school ice cream shoppe. Felt like we were going back 50 years (in a good way). Delicious soft serve ice cream. Tomas hates ice cream so he got a slushie instead which insisted was the best ever.

The same week of wrestling camp was art camp. These 4 got to participate in that. It was really, really cool.

Dailah made this self portrait.

Tomas's (if you look closely you'll see he made himself into a hot air balloon with his head being the balloon. Love it.

Trysten chose to make a comic strip instead. It's pretty rad.

And because Trysten chose it, so did Tariku. Another rad comic strip.

We got to dog sit one of my friends' dogs. It was a small dog. We are used to only big dogs. She was really cute, especially when we decided to put her in a costume.

Lots of baseball games. Abe came with us to the last one, which he loved. (Pic by Dailah)

The kids' team. They didn't have a real winning season but they learned a lot and had such good kids/coaches. Couldn't ask for anything more.

The boys with 2 of their coaches (dad and grandpa).

While the kids were at camp (more on that later) I got to have long lunches with friends. I am so, so blessed by these relationships.

The hubby of my friend Chrissy got promoted to Lt that week so we went to a party store and decorated the crap out of their house. Totally fun.

 Oh, did I leave a cliffhanger last time? Ok, I promise next blog. :)

y'all

life is good.

My sister said to me the other day, "So...you just gonna blog once a month now or what?"

It's never my intention, obviously, I love this little space. Where I get to write about whatever I want and connect in whatever small way I do with all of you.

But life has been good. It's been busy. Not in the way that we're 400 places in a day or constantly on the move but in the, "I haven't taken a hike and caught helpless frogs for a couple hours, let's go do that" kind of way.

Which is definitely my favorite kind of way to be "busy".

The 3 bigs are currently playing Monopoly, Dailah and Bean are playing Barbies and cars respectively and I'm watching with a quiet grin. Thinking about how much I wanted to share all this with someone, with you.

I was thinking today on the way back home from Des Moines about all of the growth people see in their lifetime. I was comparing myself 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even 2 years ago to myself now and I couldn't believe how different I am now. I remembered how I thought I knew everything then, that I had it figured out and how now I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of all I want to know. I have days where I don't want to go to bed because I want to stay up learning, and living and loving. Are there enough moments in the day for all of that? Sometimes it feels like there most definitely aren't.

I was thinking about how I have some amazing friends in my life. I used to be one who just wanted the most amount of friends. Not so I could look around and say, "Wow, look at how awesome I am with all of these friends" but rather so that I could tell each one a little something but never have just 1 that knew everything about me. It felt safer that way. But I do now. I have friends who know everything about me and holy sh*t they still love me, that's a pretty amazing. I'm sure you all figured this out before me, but life is much fuller when you have these kinds of relationships.

Of all my sweet babies Tariku still struggles the most. More on this later but I think constantly about him and how much I wish things were different for him. That I wish brokenness and poverty and suffering weren't part of the picture for anyone in the world.

I'm reading a book called, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, How we can learn to fulfill our potential". Long title, interesting read so far. Now, I don't care much about "success" or not the general definition we Americans usually refer to it by but this book interests me a lot because it talks about a fixed mindset compared to a growth mindset. It's got me thinking about what we tell ourselves. The lies and truths about who we are, who we think we are and who we talk ourselves into being. We start young, if my kids are any indication, and various people throughout our lives can affect the way we see all of that. It's made me even more aware of the power of words, how a subtle difference between "wow, you're really good at that!" or "my goodness, you worked really hard at that!" can change the way we view success. Good stuff. Still have some unpacking to do with that.

My hair: have some really good thoughts on my hair. It's all feminist rant right now so I'll save that for when I have a slightly clearer head. ;)

Next weekend we are Mehaber bound. Very excited to see some good friends and sad to hear some aren't able to make it. Let me know if you'll be there and we'll figure out a way to meet!

Exciting news coming. More on that later too. :)

Summer break

ya'll summer is here. And I love it.

I get to wake up leisurely and then shuffle to Dailah's room where, still groggy from waking up, she opens her arms and beckons me to snuggle. Minutes spent breathing in her wonderfulness and talking about what she's looking forward to that day. Leave her to dress herself and shuffle downstairs.

The boys wake up before the girl so as I come down the stairs I give a quick, "Good morning, Klipschs!" and hear 8 tiny feet running to swarm me with hugs. They tell me of their dreams and then run off to start their chores.

I make coffee and begin the breakfast buffet.

Minutes later I hear daddy and daughter coming down the stairs together. I pour my love his coffee and set the table for my babes.

We eat together sometimes, or I postpone my morning breakfast to eat with the man I love more than anyone else.

Kids brush teeth and run to play outside, Zach and I shuffle to the couches to enjoy another cup of coffee together.

It's all so wonderful, so relaxed. I know the kids sometimes miss their friends from school but for me, I hit summer and never look back. It's everything to me having us all together for unrushed time in the morning (and sometimes all day).

So if you need me I'll be here, soaking in every minute, thankful I have them with these people in this spot.