Kidney Stones

Actually, just one, but it is fairly good sized. He has pain every few weeks for a couple hours....and the ultrasound shows it is higher up and not going anywhere. He is on some medicine now, and goes back next week for another ultrasound. Next, they will bring up some "tapping" machine from Portland....and try that method. The 3rd option is somewhat....ehem....evasive. I will leave out the details! Here is an article that recently came out on kids with kidney stones, but bottom line, Sami is not big on fluids....so I think that contributed to it. Another factor is black tea.....how much tea do you think he drank in Ethiopia? ;) I am so thankful for health insurance and being close to Children's Hopsital! They are amazing.

"Koro-Ko"

One afternoon we went to our friend's house in Addis. We were able to meet their uncle, who used to work for the U.N. in Addis. He had a very interesting life story, and his wife had worked in the Haile Selassie govt. Their house, which they had just completed, (that we were sitting in) was taken over by the Derg in the 70's and they finally got it back 20 years later. It was an amazing house, and had an outfoor garden in the middle. The gov't had let different gas company execs use it over that 20 year period. He said, each family from around the world (a 4 year stay) would completely redo the house to thier liking, so it was very will kept up!

As we were there, he remembered a song he was taught as a child by some Canadian school kids (in the 40's??) Anyway, Tsion ran with it, and always has so much respect for grandparents. It was so cute! He loved remembering it and reciting it with her. Here they are! :))

Ethiopia Take 1

I am not going to document the trip by day, but will chose a few different highlights of our trip. As usual, being in Africa, is was a fly by the seat of your pants trip! :) We visited Sami's family in the first couple days, anxious to see the new baby. Sami's step-mom made it perfectly clear by her body language, that I was not taking this baby to America! (phew!) I only held her a couple times. We were happy to see she appeared healthy and well fed.



As culturally conscious I am in Ethiopia, we "surprised" their family on our first visit. They knew we were coming at some point, just not that day. Just an FYI.....I do not think "surprises" are as fun there as they are in America. :) We scared their step-mom to death as she was doing laundry, and within 5 minutes, the extended family was there thanks to a phone call. Someone ran and got their cousin Helen from school, and she ran all the way home, thinking there was an emergency. Poor girl!





I was shocked to see Euyrus sleeping in this beautiful crib, with a mosquito net. It had been given to Sami and Tsion parents from an Israeli family that their Dad had worked for. I just realized, it must have originally been for Tsion.....we brought the dolls. :))

This cracks me up, their grandma hugging Tsion, she is searching for a way out! :)

Very proud gma, and all Sami's friends thought he was so FAT!!! Such a compliment there.

S and T's Dad's new baby. Helen raised Tsion after her Mom died, she is their 16 yo cousin.

Tsion LOVES LOVES LOVES Helen.

Step-Mom, Woolala (yes, how it sounds!), and baby Euyrus. Gotta love Mary in the background!

Baseball Season Kicks Off......

We were fortunate enough to get all 3 boys on one team. Makes life a bit easier in our house.....except everyone has to have their own pants, cups and socks ready....and no borrowing! I had to buy 3 pairs of baseball pants. It is almost like having triplets! They have the same pants, same size....but fits all 3 boys completly different. Sami, making sure his never get mixed up, had me label his with his name.

Tsion is also playing, due to a family member "cap" on cost. She plays for free! Cannot beat that. :)) This first game, she informed us that we were no cheering loud enough for her.....so we are working on that. The fact that she is one of the only kids who can actually run the bases is a plus. These Ethio kids have ta lot of athletic ability, they seem to excel at everything. And since I have no biological connection to their abiility, I do not feel bad bragging!
A couple pix from the first week.....

Has yet to pick any flowers in the outfield, she is always ready in her "athletic stance."

T.P.

This week we had the funniest thing happen (so far, funny....the problem has not been solved, it could turn not funny fast!)


The cardboard TP roll "somehow" was in the toilet and partially flushed. This is a larger problem at our house due the the septic system. (We cannot even used cheapER t.p. due to the septic.) Course, no one fessed up until late into the night, and it was Tsion. Accident you think?? No, she had no "soft" to wipe with so she used the cardboard!!! Nice.


Then, one of the boys said "Well, I just used the Lysol wipes cuz we were out of tp."


Really? Lysol wipes?


So Tsion, after being here for 2 years and 3 months, still keeps blanking on the word toilet paper. And my eldest really likes to rub it in. This is the conversation I witnessed today between a loving brother who rarely teases his sister.


Tsion: (hollering from the bathroom) "Zach, bring me a RAG!" So, being the helpful brother he is, he brought her a rag. "No, no, you know what I mean, "paper towels!'" So, Zach comes out, "Mom, throw me the paper towels". At this point I am about rolling on the floor laughing. Tsion is getting ticked...."you KNOW what I mean." Zach played it for while, and finally gave in. Poor girl. Things should get very interesting in the next 5-8 years around here! ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I found these Green bagels at the Market today! Yum :)

Yes, we are Alive!!

I promise, I did have good intentions on updating about our trip. I had frantically called my sweet sis-in-law from the airport, so I could post to wordpress from Addis. Even with a computer and internet in our guest house (Addis Kidane Guest House, it was great!) the snails pace dial up barely let us check our e-mail.

We had a great trip, and if you want to be facebook friends :) you can see a good portion of our photos. I will choose some highlights in the near future (haha!) and tell about a couple fun things we came across. And to be a bit honest, after spending 6 weeks in Addis in the last 2 years, I am pretty burned out by what I have experienced and seen....which is another reason I have not blogged. As I look back now, the frustrating experiences are fading and I am remembering the good things!

Since we have been back, we have:

*taken my ET son Sami from school
*Sami has a possible Kidney Stone? TBD at Children's Hospital next month.
*went to Silver Mtn. in Idaho on a YL ski trip, not to ski but to play at their amazing water park!! And btw, it is a gorgeous resort!
*3 kids in indoor soccer
*4 kids starting baseball, luckily 3 are on the same team!
*went from homeschooling 1 kid in the fall, to hsing 2.5 this spring.
*working my butt off at the gym, gone from running 1 mile to 7 miles in 2 months.
*Lance will be on reduced salary after this month (I know, join the club!) Pray for fundraising!
*I got "reading glasses" Guess that comes with being 38. I was told to wear them only when I was reading or on the computer "working" for an extended period of time. I asked if blogging and facebook counted?? ;)
*We will celebrate our 14th Anniversary this Wednesday.
*Leaving to visit family in SoCal on Saturday.

I will post some pics, and hopefully i will blogging poolside next week. :)

Hello all.

This is Ilka, Karleen's sister-in-law, updating their blog. The Klopps are probably in the air on their way to Ethiopia right now! Anyway, they are not able to use blogger over there, so Karleen set up a wordpress account, that they will hopefully be able to use to update us during their trip. Use the address below to go to that page.

kloppfamily6.wordpress.com.

Need a Gift Idea?

Rent this!

Angels in the Dust. You can find it on Netflix. It was eye-opening in many ways, and an amazing story. You can read more about it at Dream Out Loud.

Updated Pictures

Proof that we are still alive and well! ;)

Thanks Josh, nice bunny ears!

A nice blustery day at Edmonds beach!

Lance's Grandma, Happy 90th!

My and my grandpa, happy 85th!

Life Goes On....

In the midst of utter chaos! We leave in 11 days. Newsworthy items:

*We have over 300 pair of NEW shoes donated and and at least another 100 gently used pairs to bring. We have purchased shoes in Addis (in large quantities) twice in the last year and the quality is not great. We decided this trip to make shoes our priority. We are starting to pack orphanage items tomorrow night as a team.

*All 6 of us visited the Travel Nurse last week. She had a spreadsheet ready! We had a 3 hour block of time scheduled, and luckily made it out sooner.

We all got the Flu "mist" (50 percent more effective that the shot last year). Sami and Tsion caught up on a couple vaccines. Our typhoid shot (good for 2 years) expired, so Lance, Zach, Josh and I all got the Typhoid pill....which lasts 5 years. The negative is you have to take 4 pills every other day, on an empty stomach. (Which means 2 hours empty, then one hour till food) A pain in the rear especially on Thanksgiving!

We walked out with a prescription for Malaria pills (we will be in Nazret for 4 days, although we only saw one mosquito last year we will take it), an anti-diarreahal (a good thing to have!) and Ambian for Lance and I.....although I may rethink that later....just Kiddin!!! And...no, I have not picked them up yet, and I will probably have to pick up an anti-anxiety pill first, cuz I am sure it is well over $500. Yikes!

*We celebrated Lance's grandmas 90th birthday last week!

*Lance's Mom received her Doctorate 2 weeks ago.

*Tsion was listening as I asked Lance to do something, and he didn't hear me. She looked at me and said. "Mom, sometimes Husbands don't do what you tell them. But you still have to love them because we are a family." Speaking of which.......

*Lance and I got a free night at the Red Lion, and spent a relaxing couple days in Seattle last weekend.

*We discovered the ExOfficio store in Seattle, and headed straight to the clearance room. We got some great lightweight clothes for the trip, for a fraction of the cost. And just so you all know, we will be packing 3 pair of underwear from there as well. ;)

*Zach and Sami have two more "outdoor" soccer games, Josh starts indoor soccer this weekend.

*We are finalizing our trip projects. The first few days in Addis will be important as we work on that. Please pray for wisdom and discernment for us during that time.

Happy November!

Since I am so lame at blogging lately, I will at least leave you with this last video...maybe till January! We leave the 13th of December for Addis. (Note to mail thief: we have in-laws who now live here. Do not steal my Christmas cards this year!) Tsion and Sami will get to visit thier 4 month old sister, and we will be working on projects in Addis, as well as holding Young Life camp again.

One cute Tsion story. We found a pumpkin outfit on sale for $1. We grabbed it for her baby sister Eyrus. Sami was like "no, no way." Tsion looked at him in her semi-sweet and sassy way and said "I can decorate my sister however I want!!"

You can pray for our group and trip in December. We are dealing with some corruption in the orphanage we have been supporting the last year. The goverment in Ethiopia is involved, and we are not sure what will end up happening. More importantly, please pray for all 100 kids who are and are wrapped up in the mess.

Enjoy your family this Thanksgiving!

Ta-Da!

Did you notice? Sami got his contacts. It is so great not to have to worry about glasses and sports, and going to get the adjusted all the time cuz they are falling off!! His vision without glasses was around 20/2200. With glasses it was about 20/40. Now it is 20/25! Having the lens on his eyes helped that much. He is VERY exited about showing them off to his family and friends in Ethiopia!

Happy Halloween?

We did, I s'pose, have a "Happy Halloween." We have not celebrated Halloween for a few years, mostly because of my eldest. When he was around 8, the night started freaking him out. He has a discerning spirit, and he was asking "Why do we celebrate this night?"

So, while everyone is chatting about political flip-flopping, this year we flip-flopped on Halloween. The kids wanted to dress up, and hang out with their friends. We dug thru the Young Life bins, and came up with costumes....(except for Tsion, I had found her a cheerleading costume at Goodwill). Then, we did what everyone does...get in the car and drive to the "cool neighborhood." This neighborhood is almost completely blocked off, and cars have to park on the main road. There are kids EVERYWHERE! It was crazy. Will we do it next year? Maybe, but I would rather just buy a big bag of candy and stay home. ;) Zach did rename the night, he called it the "get-as-much-candy-as-you-can-night."

I happened to snap this as the smoke machine off!

Digging thru their stuff, they couldn't wait till they got home!

This was actually someones house! The yards here were decked out. You can see the ghost on the top right, he was going back and forth on a pulley system.

Pumpkin Party

This week we went to a pumpkin party at one of my friends house. She has the coolest set up for kids. They turned their garage into a "game room" with everything a kid could want! PS3, big screen, bean bags, 2 pin ball machines, a driving video game, and even a real Mrs. Pac-Man for us moms. ;) A great way to entice the high-school/middle school kids to hang out at YOUR house! (And yes, Sami is missing.....he was in HUGE trouble, and stayed at home with Lance's parents......)

I have a Wyldlifer

Really? Is is possible my oldest is 'officially' in Wyldlife?

Got Ketchup?

We go thru ketchup way too fast around here. And yes Mom, I know how much sugar it has. Tsion hated ketchep when she came, now her and Josh cannot get enough. It has to be on the hotdog, as well as a "dipping" place. Imagine how happy I was to find this at Wal-Mart the other day. On another note, I say a guy at Costco the other day with a shirt that says "I put Ketchup on my Ketchup."

Starbase Atlantis

Sami's classs was able to partipate in the "Starbase Atlantis" program at the nearby Naval station. They had a series of 5 full day field trips, and at the end of the program they built and launched a rocket. They had so much fun! We all got base access, and were able to watch. Sami's rocket did not go the first time, but he was the only kids who actually scored a goal upon landing! :)

Fundraising Letter

The kids are helping us write our letter for December....here is what they are looking forward to!

I am most excited about going to Legedadi. We did a lot of work there last time. It was very cool to give them all shoes and toys and to be able to see how grateful they were. They would love anything we gave them, even one pack of bubbles. I can’t wait to go there and see all the people and help them with their needs. ~Zach

I cannot wait for Alemwok to make me French fries again, and to play four square with the kids. ~Josh

I want to go to Ethiopia because I want to help people. I liked to give out shoes and shirts to the kids. I want to help them get food. I like to pass out stickers and books. ~Tsion

I want to go to Ethiopia because I want to see my family. It was fun giving out clothes at the orphanage, the kids look cute. I like all the dancing at the camp. I like everything that we can buy, and eating at Fin Fine. It was fun having John and Tamrat help us with everything. ~Sami

The following is something we have to work on:

I told Tsion she needed to think of some reasons to share why she wants to go back to Ethiopia. I knew the answer before it came out. She looks at me, head and sholders moving all around.... "I don't want to go to Ethioipa." Miss Sassy Pants.