SOCCER TIME!

The boys played in the YMCA Soccer league this past fall!  They had a BLAST!  It was all a little new to Negash, but he learned quickly and started to love it!!

 Look at these HANDSOME MEN!!!  Can you IMAGINE the GIRLS in a few more years?!?!?!?  So stinkin' handsome!!

Fall Pictures

 The boys waiting for Dad to finish his Race!  Chris ran several races this summer/fall and we loved watching him!  GO DAD GO! :)

 The Boys HAMMING it up in the backyard!!  They are so crazy!  Always wanting to show off their muscles!! :)

Negash was "KING FOR THE DAY" on his Birthday!  He was so Proud!!  :)

Summer Fun

A little update via Pictures!! :)

We had a BLAST over the Summer!  We got to go to North Carolina and have a blast with Casey and Megan and family... And we had our family vacation at Dad's!!  It was a lot of fun!! :)  Negash was FEARLESS on the Jet Ski and at the lake!  (like that scary kind of fearless!)  So many great memories of the boys' first summer together!

And NOW introducing.... ASTHMA!!

The Friday before the 4th weekend, Negash's school called and said they heard Negash wheezing.  They then asked if I knew that he had asthma or anything...  I had heard him wheeze twice before, but always with a cold.  I just assumed that I had gotten a little over zealous with the Cough Suppressants before school! :)  Once I decongested him, he was fine!

So I conceded and left work to go get him.  Once there, he was really pulling air HARD!  Poor fella!  I took him on to the doctor FULLY EXPECTING to get the "you over did the suppressants and need to decongest him first, push fluids, and monitor" speech.  INSTEAD we got a Chest Xray, blood work, and a breathing treatment.... and ended up with the diagnoses of Pneumonia, Strep throat and ASTHMA!!   Poor fella!!

So began our July and August "DANCE WITH ASTHMA MEDS."  

Asthma is new for me... I mean, OF COURSE, I studied it in school and I get the basic anatomy and physiology of it... but I had no PERSONAL experience with it.  THANKFULLY, I've had people come out of the woodworks with personal experience!!  They taught me many "tricks of the trade"!!  I'm so thankful!!!

We had to go back and forth every 2 weeks after some pretty big attacks for more steroids, changing inhalers, new drugs... etc.  *NOW (September) we are on twice a day breathing treatments.  And the rescue inhaler as needed. 

Negash is so cute... he called it his  "MyHaler"  :D

Please pray for my baby's little lungs!!

June in Review!

As I tiptoe back of the past few months, I fully anticipate making a diligent effort and even SCHEDULE if I need to, to keep this a bit more up to date!  I usually post all the cute and funny things that happen on Facebook, but I will be sure to post here as well! :)


June brought more adjustment and bonding.  The boys were out of school and spent a week or so at the YMCA having a blast!!  Negash's school has a summer camp/"summer camp for scholars" and they worked with him one on one to help him with his English.  I'm just amazed at what he knows!!  


We also got to celebrate Father's Day! :)  The night before Father's Day, we got to go to a wedding of one of my PRECIOUS patients!  These pictures were taken after the wedding!

Still so hard to believe that Negash has been with us 3 months now... it completely feels as if he has ALWAYS been here!  His FULL ,  CRAZY personality is starting to show in FULL Force!  Again, only the HAND of a POWERFUL and MIGHTY GOD can pluck this child from a foreign land and insert him so PERFECTLY into our family!!  


I LOVE to come home and just let the boys go play!!  I love turning them loose in the cove to play with the other kids!  We have 3 boys next door (who are moving soon) and 4 girls next to them... all between ages of 4-10!  How perfect!!  


Caleb cracks us up as he "TRANSLATES" for Negash.  This is usually just re-stating the EXACT SAME MESSAGE with a few silly hand motions... but HEY... it works! :)  


The boys got new bikes!  Negash is still sort of like a "Bull in a China Shop" at many things!  He falls off his bike almost daily!  He comes in with a bloody knee all for me to clean up for him! :)  I love cleaning his Boo-Boos.  He thinks it's funny that we make a big deal about it.   


I love my boys!! :)

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!! :)