May in Review!

May was another fantastic month of *FIRSTS* for Negash and our adjustments to being a family of Four!!  My 8 week Family Leave drew to an end...  Negash and I had a great time together and we were able to get out and do lots of things each day!  We worked on school things too and I felt like we had made some good progress!  When it was time to enroll him in school, I had no idea I would face such opposition.  Apparently, TN state law for BOTH private and public schools states that ALL children must complete a Kindergarten program.  Because Ethiopian schools (and the rest of the non-American world) run on a January to December school calendar, he had only started Kindergarten.  They were requiring Negash start Kindergarten in August... when he would be 7 years old.  No negotiating even the possibility of moving him up once language was acquired... was told "we can catch him up in Junior high".  Nice...  BUT, the LORD KNOWS, and He had planned a different environment for him!  We found a Montessori school that was willing to help him out during the summer to get him as caught up as possible and for him to start 1st grade in August!!  AND... when I toured... found out that HIS TEACHER is ETHIOPIAN!!  Isn't GOD so GOOD!!!  We have been blessed by his little school that has a HUGE Personal interest in his learning and his growth!! 

He started his school in early May and loves it!!

We got to visit my brother and my niece in St. Louis!  The boys had a BALL!!  We went to City Museum (all these pics) where the kids got to climb in and through EVERYTHING!  It was incredible!!

This pic is from the 10 story slide through the middle of the building!

 Caleb and Brooklyn fearlessly went into every Nook and Cranny in that place with Negash right behind them!  Caleb has always loved climbing like a little monkey, and this place is the MECCA for that!! :)

 This was at the pool at the hotel!  We are pretty sure this was the first swimming experience for Negash!  He is FEARLESS!  Once in the water for 15 mins, he was jumping and putting his head under!!  Awesome!!

We also went to Six Flags in St. Louis.  Negash rode one of the fastest roller coasters in the nation and did SO GREAT!!  He was lovin' it and laughing the whole time! So Precious!

 My precious friend Stacy, her husband, and son came up to Memphis and we went to the Children's Museum.  Negash had the BEST time riding the police motorcycle and climbing all over the fire truck!

We are seeing more and more of the Negash's precious personality coming out as each day passes!!! He and Caleb have just about figured each other out and are getting along great! Of course, there is tattling... and more tattling... but we are very careful to make sure we hear Negash's side of the story too! :) Getting back to work and getting into a Routine was also nice... It took some adjusting, but we all did great through it all!

April in Review

April in Review: Here is a brief look at some pics and some activities from April.


The boys and us with Dad.

Some of the Random Craziness that goes on around here!!  The Lord has Magnificently PLACED Negash in our family and he SO Completely MATCHES our craziness!!  God is so Good!

At the Zoo - Being cool!

Brotherly Love!!  Not sure if it's choking, or hugging... either way... They love each other! :)

My Handsome Prince!

Easter Morning, 2011

Loving on their precious Daddy!

Negash in HOG HEAVEN... He LOVES Firetrucks!!  ...and Motorcycles!

Negash has settled in so well!  It's more like he's been here all along!! He's witty and sneaky and so funny!  He's learning so much everyday and is very motivated and eager to learn!  We are so blessed!!  

The Week in Review - March 20th - 28th

WOW!! What a week! To Summarize: God is SO GOOD! Negash is so Funny! We are all adapting and having a BALL!!

It has been so neat to witness all of Negash's FIRSTS..... I've been posting in Facebook many of these firsts as they occurred... so I am copying and pasting here those posts in order, so that any of you who do not have Facebook can ENJOY!! :) Or for us ALL to Enjoy AGAIN!! :)

~Negash had a BLAST in his FIRST "BATHTUB" Bath!!! He laughed the whole time!

~FULL of Thanks for the Faithfulness and Fellowship of the Father on our Fryar Family of Four!! Looking forward to fun-filled days full of friends, faith, french fries, fruit, fighting, and firetrucks!! :D

~First Bike Ride, First Ham & Cheese Sandwich (that he proceeded to eat Ethiopian style - immediately used the bread like Injera and used it to eat the meat and cheese separately!! LOVE IT!!!, First Walmart Trip, First Apple Juice (hated), and First Amharic Gospel music played in this house! :)

~More Firsts: First Chick-Fil-A playground - so neat to see him so nervous at first and testing each step carefully... then once around by himself, he was ALL GO!!!!

~First Wiggles (Loved!), First Little Einsteins (Nah), First Dora (Nah), First Sesame Street (TRIPLE LOVED!!).

~Ok so... Can I just tell you guys that I totally love these boys?! Negash was completely convinced that a Flour Tortilla was Injera (or pretty darn close!) So we named it "Kinda Injera"! He was THRILLED about tearing the tortilla to eat his meat, cheese, and lettuce (all separate) Ethiopian Style! Even got Caleb into it! (Caleb did not like the texture of Injera in ET). SO EXCITED!! I now have my MEXICAN family!

~SWEET TEA!!! YAY!! We LIKE Sweet Tea!! He doesn't like any other drink really, still obsessed with Water (Which is a GREAT thing!) But FINALLY, we found another!! He likes Sweet Tea! :) ...with very little ice...

~Another first... this one was a BAD first... FIRST Baby Shots! 5 of them... yuck! We further confirmed that he is VERY Strong, especially in the legs!! Poor fella... So sorry we had to do that...

~What a Champ!! Woke up this am, limped a little then proudly declared his legs didn't hurt!! But.... His belly does. Poor fella. Still trying to figure out easy breakfast foods for him - he does not like cold cereal. Loves eggs, but I can't see fixing those everyday. Loves bread, but need some protein. Hates milk in any form. Likes some yogurts.... Hummmmmm.......

~Is it bad that I am SO thankful the people downstairs moved?!?!? Negash only knows: STOMP. JUMP, SKIP! It certainly has decreased my anxiety significantly!!

~First Barbershop!! First Movie! First getting to pick out his own New Shoes! First Carousel Ride! ... AND... Mexican Restaurant!! :) YAY! Life is Good!

~YAY!! My life is Good! Negash thinks the "Let's Match Socks" Game is FUN!! :) YAY! Laundry time now reduced by time and frustration! :) He's such the little loving helper! He loves to set and clean off the table too! Hummmm.... I *SO* see a Dusting Game about to be created!!! Too bad Caleb can already see through my game ideas!!

~SHUT-UP! Negash just completely INHALED some Chicken Wings... Haven't seen that kind of eating since Brasil - with about 10 13-16 year old boys!! Seriously!!! We completely had a SMASH N CRASH Pizza/Wings night tonight!!!

~Negash's first full day of "Fryar's Christian Institute of Higher Learning" and we are happy to report that neither of us had any Blood Shed!! He's learning!! He loves to trace letters, but hates to write them himself... but can be BRIBED with some Gummy Bears to do so anyway!! :)

~I just spent a FULL 4 minutes trying to explain that ICE is NOT Poison, or Vegetables!! Even tried to let him watch it melt and PROVE that it is *INDEED* just WATER..... to no avail..... I would have been better off to just stick Broccoli in his water! LOL!!

HOME - Sunday update

We got home on Sunday, March 20th! It was so nice to be home!!!!!! The flights went very well! Negash's ear cleared up nicely and he didn't seem to have too much trouble with it on the plane. He and Caleb did great on the plane rides! Negash didn't quite know what to do with all the buttons on the tv remote on the plane. He just kept pushing all of them repeatedly and ending his movie. He eventually gave up watching his, but watched CALEB's Movie. BUT he continued to mash the buttons... LOL!!! We had a layover in Amsterdam which was nice! We ate a little, walked around a lot, and played on their kids' playground! The playground had 2 slides that Negash and Caleb just about WORE OUT! It was nicely placed next to a recharging station and we were able to get some emails sent and some things done too! Our flight to Memphis was delayed because 4 of the 7 toilets were not working properly... ummm... I'm thinking that would be a key detail to fix before you load 300 passengers on the plane!!!!! I was fine to wait for that!!! We were delayed about 3 hours. Paul picked us up at the airport and took us home! It was so fun to watch Negash enter our house for the first time... and head to his room! It was priceless..... He and Caleb played IN THE CLOSET for an hour! So glad to be home as a Family of Four! God is so good, He is so Gracious, and He has Masterfully completed His plan, yet again!

A Few Pics!!!

Here are a Few Pictures from this AMAZING Week!! :)

Happy Birthday to me!!

Awwwww...... Another nice crisp morning!!

Until... Nash got up with two big Softball sized swollen lymph nodes on each side of his head!!!!! Oh no!!! Bad ear infection!!!! He's had a cough all week but had gotten some better with cough meds. However.... This is not good!! We are due to fly tonight! Ran downstairs and told the lady housekeeper we needed to call Abel. His phone would not work as network was down. So instead, we called Birtikan, the owner of the guest house. I wasn't sure what "protocol" was for kids who are sick away from orphanage, but was sure there was one. I prepared Chris that we were about to spend all morning and afternoon at the Emergency room. BUT..... Finally got ahold of Birtikan who asked if she could just go to the pharmacy and get the meds that we needed since I knew what was wrong. I said Absolutely!!! However, as I learned in Brazil, not all generic names are the same. So she discussed with pharmacist and brought home Augmentin!!!!!! Absolutely Perfect!!! Within a few hours of his first dose, the swelling was gone and he was able to tell us that it was not as painful!!! Praise the Lord!!!

As all of you know, you can fly with just about any ailment Except Ear infections or troubles!!!!!!

Once again the Healer provided. Right on time. Exactly what we needed!!!

After all that settled down... I remembered... It's my Birthday!!! :). What an Awesome Gift from God to be able to bring my son home on my Birthday!! What a great and Mighty God we serve!!

Sent from my iPod

Friday Update

Friday was an Incredible day! We got to lay around and have some more incredible Breakfast by the loving staff at the Morning Coffee Guest House. We headed to the Bethany office at 11 to pick up all of Negash's paperwork! I was SO THRILLED to finally have it in my hands!!!

We got to spend a little more time with our Social Worker and the Nurse there. We were not aware that Negash had only been in "formal" school for 1 month... this changes our plans for entering him in 1st grade this spring... BUT... all in all, I'm sure it will end up being better for him!!

We spent the afternoon driving back up to the Mountain to look at the countryside... so beautiful!!

Friday night we said Goodbye to some more dear friends who we have met during this journey!

Embassy!

Got up this morning and went shopping with the girls. Abel took us through some more impoverished areas and it was so humbling... One year's salary for the majority of this country is what we paid for our lunch for our family of four!! We went to a Christian book
store and got some CDs and some books in Amharic. Then we hit the other market stores.

After arriving home with our loot, we quickly changed and headed off to lunch and Embassy.

We got all nicely dressed and took some pictures that are INCREDIBLE!!! Will be posting soon!

We arrived at the US Embassy and were on US SOIL for a short time!! We got checked in and were told it could be a long wait... but after just 20 minutes they called for us. The interviewer asked us some basic questions and some detailed questions... then said...

"CONGRATULATIONS,

YOUR ADOPTION IS COMPLETE!!"

So Excited, So Thankful, So Speechless.....



The Fryar Family
**Chris, Beverly, Caleb, and Nash**

Great Night!!

What a Great First Night!!!!

Absolutely hilarious last night... We put the boys both together in the shower. Nash was laughing the whole time... he thought it was so hilarious that both boys were together for the bath... he kept on laughing and laughing!! Chris ended up getting just as wet as the boys, as he was the Sprayer Controller! All 4 of us in such a tiny little bathroom, I'm sure would been hysterical for anyone to see!! He thinks everything new is FUNNY! I love it!! His little laugh is contagious!!

He slept well through the night and other than Caleb having a nose bleed, all was uneventful! He loved laying in the bed with us in the morning and playing!! He is such a JOY!! We are now hanging around in our PJs with the other families waitin on breakfast. We will have lunch out then some training/conference time to discuss tomorrow's Embassy visit!

The awesome thing is that everything feels so Incredibly NATURAL!! It's so neat to hear Nash calling after Caleb (he pronounces Caal-leb *short e) and then proceeding to tell him what Mummy and Diddy just said! Precious!!

WE LOVE OUR LITTLE FAMILY!!!



The Fryar Family
**Chris, Beverly, Caleb, and Nash**

Pics soon!!

I promise to post pics as soon as allowed..... which means Friday afternoon!! :D

However, may have to wait until Sunday in Amsterdam for good internet connection!

Love you all and thank you so much for following our story!! :)

So Incredible!!

WOW!!! What an AMAZING Day!! We left this morning for the orphanage and to see Nash and BRING HIM HOME with us!! (well... to the guest house... but close enough!)

When we arrived all of the kids at the orphanage were singing and clapping precious songs! Then Nash came out.. dressed to the "T"!! So Cute!! He looked very nervous because the Life Video people were there to tape the event for us and him... and everyone was staring at him... but he was still smiling! Then we were pulled to a separate room for his "Farewell Ceremony!" He came in dressed in a traditional Ethiopian outfit! SO Handsome!!

About 10 kids came in also and sang some songs for him and we just hugged and loved on him... and of course... I cried! So Sweet!!

Then they brought in cake for Nash to cut and all to eat! So Precious!!

We then went to lunch and he DEVOURED Fettuccine Alfredo and Spaghetti! Yummy! We ordered him a Sprite (like Caleb) but he quickly let it be known he was more interested in Chris's Coke!

We came back to the guest house and he and Caleb have been playing NON-STOP! And they had their first Squabble about 30 mins in... Caleb was irritated because Nash was pushing the "Next" button on the DVD player during a movie... Later Nash was using this to Purposefully Irritate him.... Too Funny! (But Yes, I did tell him NO!) :)

All in All everything has been WONDERFUL!! We are so glad to have him here with us!! He has been so precious to Love on us and be very obedient! :) Language has been a non-issue! We just learned he knows another English word: COLGATE! LOL! Hilarious!

He and Caleb are the SAME SIZE!! Caleb *MIGHT* have a half inch on him, but Caleb's size 5 jeans are high-watering just a little bit! He was SO EXCITED to get his own clothes!!

Love these BOYS!! Full of Life, ACTIVE, and playing nicely together!!

Thank you Lord for Your MIGHTY Provision!!! The Lord knows, He provides, He Plans all to PERFECTION!

Great is the Lord!!


The Fryar Family
**Chris, Beverly, Caleb, and Nash**

TWO WORLDS COLLIDE!

WE MADE IT!!!!!!  we arrived in addis ababa very very early this morning.  came in cleaned and showered, then headed off to see nash!!  we decided that the best plan was just to visit nash today and play and then go back tomorrow morning to bring him here with us.   We had so much fun playing with him today!  It was so awesome to see the TWO WORLDS COLLIDE!!  Absolutely incredible!  Caleb did great, Nash was awesome!  So neat to finally see them together after all this time!   More as soon as we get the internet situation fixed.   Our Embassy visit was moved to Thursday, but no worries with that!   SO GLAD TO BE HERE AGAIN!!  Feels like HOME this time!  :D     Fryar Family **Chris, Beverly, Caleb, and Nash**

In Dubai

We made it to Dubai! That was an incredibly LOOONG Flight!! 13.5 hours.

Arriving here was a bit chaotic. We had to circle around several times and ask 3 different people before we figured out what we need to do to connect to our next airline. Turns out, they will not let you get your new tickets until 3 hours before your next flight. So we'll just hang out from 10pm until 2am until we can get checked in.

So Excited to be getting closer to Nash! Really hoping they don't have Monday OVER-Scheduled as I'm going to need a SERIOUS NAP!! Trying to rest now, but....

Caleb did great on the big plane. Found lots of amusement playing Chess against himself and celebrating the CheckMate with PAWNS! :) LOL! He slept a lot, in fact, almost the whole way. He did really good! :)

Chris and I are trying to get a little rest now. Once we get into Ethiopia, I'm sure the Adrenaline will start running like crazy! So thankful that I will get to post pictures of his cute little self soon! :)

Thank you so much for reading this and following along with us on this Journey. We are so Thankful for all the Lord has done in our lives.... He is so Amazing and so Faithful!

Leaving Atlanta now!!! Heading to Dubai. Gonna be a long trip.... But so worth it. Caleb just said he plans to stay up all night playing games! ...Oh dear!!....

Caleb woke up this am and ran into our room, jumped on the bed and said "I cant wait to see Nash!!!". And.... Whats greatER... Is that he *never* followed that with "and I get to play games...". I love his little heart! His world is about to have a tornado run through it... But the Lord has prepared him and I think he will weather it well!! Just another turn on the potter's wheel as Jesus shapes him into an incredible Man of God. I cant wait to see all that He will do with Caleb's life!!