More Michael photos

I am a fairly terrible photographer and most of the time I easily accept this about myself since I prefer to absorb the moment rather than document it for posterity.  Sometimes, though, I wish I was better at taking pictures and this is one of those times.  Michael is such a cutie and I cannot really capture it on camera.  These will have to suffice until others get a chance to meet him.

 Enjoying some tummy time.

 Sisters introducing him to the joys of eating snacks in front of the TV.

Fun with the girls

Sleeping teddy bear.

Last vacation for the Bellows 4

Before getting custody of Michael, we went to the coast for our last vacation as a family of four.  We  hung out in relaxing Watamu, even more relaxing during low season when the seaweed is thick on the beach.  It didn't stop us from having a great time though.

Welcoming Baby Michael

Hello Family and Friends....

We are thrilled to be welcoming Michael into our family and embarking on the first leg of our adoption journey here in Kenya.  Expecting a child around 1 year, we were surprisingly matched with Michael who just turned 3 months.  He's very precious and we feel incredibly lucky.  Of course, we still have a long road to go before everything is finalized... 3 months fostering, however long the legal process takes to finalize in Kenya, and then the 2 year + process of getting his U.S. citizenship.  But, as any parent knows....time moves fast when caring for little ones.  We're hoping to be matched with our second boy in about 6 months.  That's when things will get REAL interesting.  Looking for prayers, good vibes, whatever you got.  :)

 Mary the social worker with Michael.  Mary brought him from the hospital (Pumwani) to the orphanage (Thomas Bernardo) after he was born.  She is the one who gave him the name Michael.

Climbing Mt. Kenya

I had a great trip up Mt. Kenya this past week.  As part of my online scrapbooking, I've added some photos here:


Day 1: Walk in to the first camp site.  Feeling pretty good.

Day 2: Longer walk to the second camp site.

 Rock Hyrax - pretty much the only animals you see once you get at serious elevation.

Made it to the second camp site

Day 3: Day of "rest" to acclimatize.  Nice hike up to the ridge and back

Day 4: Big day.  Ready for our climb at 3am.

We made it to the top.  Very, very cold.

Did I mention the cold?

Heading back down

Beautiful walk through Chogoria Valley

Day 5: Thanks to the team as we head out.

Christmas in Egypt!

We went to Egypt for Christmas this year with our friends Simon and Rachel and sons.  Its was a great time.  We were a bit worried about Egypt being in the news an awful lot in our run up to the vacation, but we didn't encounter any protest-related difficulties.  In fact, it appears to have kept the crowds away and lower the strength of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, which is terrible for the Egyptian economy, but pretty nice for us.  

Here are a few highlights:

Christmas Eve ~ we took a "one-horsed open sleigh" called a caleche to the sound a light show at the Karnak temple in Luxor, singing Jingle Bells the entire way.

Christmas Day we had a treasure hunt organized by Rachel and went to church in town.  Since the church catered primarily to tourists, the mass was in Italian, French, English, and Latin.  The best part was probably the sermon, which consistent of 5 minutes of silence.

The temples, tombs, statues and museums in Luxor were amazing.  We were limited in taking photos -- particularly in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.  They were the most impressive with the original painting still vibrant after 3000+ years.

Fun in the sun ~ Ani caught some fish nuggets on the Nile along with swimming and general relaxation.

Finally, what's a trip to Egypt without seeing the pyramids?

The Many Days of Christmas Vacation!

School holidays are always a bit of a challenge for me.  I'm hoping to keep the kids busy with crafts and activities so we don't descend into the whining woes until the afternoons. So, here we go:

"On the first day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.....with a homemade nativity."

thanks to http://marloesdevee.blogspot.com/2010/12/make-your-own-christmas-crib.html

"On the second day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.....with a portrait of baby jesus."

"On the third day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.... with a hideous gingerbread house and matching pyramids to represent our ill-fated vacation."

"On the fourth day of Christmas vacation my mommy occupied me... with a homemade snowglobe"

"On the fifth day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me with various other crafts such as snowflake making, cookies, and general art projects, but she was pretty well burnt out by the end of week one."

Happy Halloween

We had a nice Halloween this year.  Ani was a leopard and Leena was a skunk.  They visited about 15 houses and raked in quite a bit of candy.  They are sleeping now, so perhaps it's time to raid their bags.....

Happy Halloween!

Family Tree

My upstairs neighbor's piano music inspired me.

She -- I think it's a woman -- went through a particularly intense song phase, pounding out low notes with force.  As a result, a few of our old family photos fell off the wall and the frames broke.  Hanging up things here in Nairobi is difficult since the walls are concrete so hanging something up requires drilling a hole in the wall, filling the hole with wood and then pounding the nail into the wood hole.  Not great if you are imprecise, like me. So, I decided to freestyle a fabric fancy tree and affix the photos to it, instead.

As usual, I get points for creativity and NOT for careful execution, but overall, I think it turned out okay.  We'll see how long it hold with mere double-sided tape, but at least it won't come crashing down with shattered glass the next time a moody broody piano piece is played.

My girls

Here is Ani and Leena's sibling photo from their old school at Madari Kindergarten.  I like my girls a little disheveled - it means they are having fun. Since Ani started primary school, they now go to Braeburn here in Nairobi.  They both like it a lot, although we miss Madari's small and comfortable setting.  

Getting back into it

Like most reluctant blog owners out there, I have been letting Facebook function as a way to keep people updated on my growing girls.  But, as some people leave Facebook for either security concerns or the time-suck that Facebook can be, I have been asked to get back into the blog world.

So, here's the status of my little -- or should I say not-so-little -- ones.

                                                                              photo by Jean-Marie Detcher

Little Leena is 3 years old now and hilarious.  She is supremely confident.  She walks into a room and says, "Hey everybody, I'm HERE!  It's LEENA!"  and thinks everyone should applaud.  Her favorite things are: Diego, chocolate, comfortable leggings, and playing with boys.

                                                                                        photo by Kim T Seels

Annice is 6 now and started primary school.  She gets up every morning and puts on her uniform and trots off to her class at Braeburn Primary.  She loves school and I love that her name seems extremely boring compared to many of her classmates (Shlok, Ngonie, Yuli, Tirok, King, Milka, Shami to name a few).  Annice is our resident artist and our walls are covered with her creative creations.  Who needs to buy art when you can just have a rotating installation that is continually improving?

Ben and I are just doing our thing and not particularly interesting, but there are potentially interesting elements for the blog in the future - an upcoming Christmas vacation in Egypt and then a hopeful plunge into the Kenyan adoption process.