Fiddlebugs

Out and About, Embassy Appointment, Shopping and Cultural Show

2010-06-17T22:03:00.005-05:00

Since we had our embassy appointment in the afternoon, today, we spent a little bit of the morning bumming around a bit. Steve needed to shop of a baseball cap because he got sunburned a bit yesterday, so we went to shop for one. There are shoe shine boys everywhere in Addis, which is sort of funny, because it is so dirty and there are not really any paved streets, so your shoes just get dirty right away, but Steve thought it would be fun to have his shoes shined. He had two boys each do one shoe and paid them both the full price...they thought that was really funny. While I was busy taking photos of the shoe shine, some of the local people wanted to have their photo taken. They thought it was really cool to be able to see themselves on the LCD panel. After I took the Muslim woman's photo, I showed it to her and told her she is "very beautiful". She took may arm and kissed it a bunch of times...how cute is that?

Double Team Shoe Shine

After our outing, we went back to the Guest House and played with Amelia a bit, then took photos with some of our new friends. What awesome men and women we had that took care of us, cooked for us, drove us places and helped us bring Amelia home. We are honored to have been able to spend time with them.

Abynish, Amelia, Noah and Lalese

Kitus and Amelia

Handsome men...Kitus and Korsa

Girba, Gina, Amelia, Steve and Kitus

After the Embassy appointment, we stopped at the Post Office shops (open shops across from the post office). This is where you can buy cultural gifts and souveniers and you can barter with them a bit more than other places. Kitus, our driver, was always looking out for us...asking for "last price" or telling the sellers that "is too much". He was a great shopper! He carried all of my bags for me, made sure I got the correct change back and even specifically took me to a place that had a bunch of dress shops because I was looking for some dresses for Amelia and one for myself. I got pretty good at bartering. Usually, I would ask for the price, decide what I was really willing to pay and then I'd tell the seller that "this is my last price". If they said "no", I'd tell them "ok, I'll look at some other shops" and as soon as I would walk away, they'd come back and offer the item for me at the price I wanted. Kitus thought it was really funny. I think American woman are probably much more bold than Ethiopian woman.

Steve told me I owed this nice man a kiss for selling me a musical instrument at "my last price".Look at that happy face! ;)

Later, we went to the Robera coffee shop to buy a couple of packages of Robera to take home. I don't think it will taste nearly as good as when Lalese and Abynish made it, but we'll try!

Finally, we treated Kitus, Korsa and Lalese to dinner and a show at Yod Abyssinia, a local restaurant. The restaurant serves traditional Ethiopian food while presenting a cultural show that features singing, dancing and traditional Ethiopian clothing for the various tribes of Ethiopia. There are over 80 tribes in Ethiopia, each speaking their own dialect and having their own customs, dances and special clothing styles. The show featured barious dances and was AMAZING! Talk about dancing! Incredible talent...and I am surprised no one throws their shoulders or neck out! Very fun!! I posted video snippet for you to see, too.

Kitus, Noah, Lalese, Gina, Steve and Kitus at Yod Abyssinia Restaurant

Menu
Hand washing

Yummy traditional Ethiopian meal. Mmmmm!
Coffee Ceremony
Waitress serving coffee
Our dessert, coffee and popcorn.

Hospital Visit/ Leprosy Colony & Neighborhood Photos

2010-06-16T11:50:00.006-05:00

Kids loved to have their photo taken and to be able

to see it on the LCD display afterwards. They kept

following me so I would take more photos of them!

X-Ray Room/Table

Cast Room

One of the things we were advised to see while we were in Addis was the Leprosy Colony. The director seemed to misunderstand us a bit, so before we actually went to the Leprosy Colony part of the hospital grounds, we got a little tour of part of the hospital itself. This hospital is the most preferred hospital in Addis Ababa. Notice how old all of their equipment is. It really felt like stepping back in time. One of the things they were most proud of was an old exercise bike that was used for physical therapy. The bike looked like the exercise bike my mom had when I was in college (20+years ago). I kept thinking to myself, "I have two practically brand new pieces of exercise equipment in my home...and don't even use them half the time. How wasteful and spoiled I am as an American".

The leprosy compound was amazing! Many of the people who live there have few or no fingers and do intricate weaving and needlework. Items are for sale in the shop, however, the shop was not open the day that we visited. The man who is rope weaving on the ground, had no fingers at all. When our driver, Kitus, asked him if I could take a photo, he said that I could if I promise to bring a copy of it back for him the next time I visit. How sweet it that? I hope I can live up to that promise!!

Leprosy Handicraft Area (Original Hospital Building)

After we got back to the Guest House and Amelia was napping, we took a walk with Girba (the gatekeeper/bodygaurd) to the supermarket. Below are some of the things we saw.

Goats right outside of our guest house. There were about 20 of them grazing all day. This is very typical all over the city. Not quite sure how each farmer knows which animals are his, but somehow they must be marked...and how they keep them all together and don't get hit by traffic is beyond me. Risky farming!

More animals in the streets.

The ice cream truck/shipment was dropped off while we were at the supermarket. Must have known that there were Fidlin boys shopping.

A taste of home....mmmmm!

Shelves in the supermarket. Lots of familiar things and some not so familiar.

Store workers.

Primary School gate...right around the block from us.

Street behind our guest house. Typical neighborhood.
Matress store...The Sleep Shop??
Tire store (just pull over and they will fill your tire or put a new one on).

Church of the Holy Trinity and Live Lion Zoo

2010-06-15T15:15:00.006-05:00

Today, our driver, Kitus, took us and the director of Better Futures (ET) to The Church of the Holy Trinity. The church was founded by Emperor Menelik II soon after he moved his imperial capital from Mt. Entoto to Addis Ababa. The original church, built of wood with intricate carvings, was constructed with the help of artists from India. Located close to the Imperial Palace, it was frequently visited by the royal family.

The church was made the burial ground for those who fought against the Italians both inside the country and in exile. No other persons, other than high clergy, are allowed to be buried on the grounds of the Cathedral itself (although there are a public cemetery and a public masoleum behind it). Emperor Haile Selassie built a mausoleum for his family in the crypt under the Cathedral, and the Imperial family continue to use it as their tomb.

Trinity Cathedral has been the site of many great church and state ceremonies, including the enthronements of the Patriarchs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the consecration of all Archbishops and Bishops.

Noah and I with our driver, and friend, Kitus.

After the tour of the church, we went to the Live Lion Zoo. Wow! The Animal Rights people and OSHA would have a field day there!! We could literally get close enough to touch the lions. There was a little amusement park next door as well as a coffee/soda shop. After our visit, we treated Kitus and the director to a cold Pepsi.

We arrived back at the Guest House and were greeted by a table of traditional Ethiopian food; Injeera and Wat, followed by an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. M-m-m-m!!
The roll that looks like a napkin in the top left corner is injeera bread, which is a sour dough, spongy type of bread. The bowls, from left to right are Chicken Stew (Doro Wat), another Stew (lamb?), lentils and Tibs (sauteed vegetables). To eat, you tear off a piece of bread and scoop up food with it, to eat it. Traditionally, no utensils are used.

Gotcha Day!

2010-06-13T07:44:00.000-05:00

We awoke to the smell of something burning...only to find out it was Ethiopian coffee (Robera). At first, I didn't like the smell of it at all, but by the middle of the week, it was comforting to know that these loving women were hand roasting and making our special coffee for each meal of the day. Robera tastes like SUPER strong American coffee. I usually added some water to mine as well as some powdered creamer and sugar to sweeten it up a bit.

The women at our guest house (Lalese and Abynish) made us three meals a day, plus, room delivery of either homeade chips or homeade french fries for an afternoon snack, each day. We felt like we were royalty!! In addition, they babysat for Amelia anytime we wanted to go sightseeing, as it was not acceptable to bring her out in public until our embassy date on Thursday. Two of the guest house workers, Abynish and Girba (the gatekeeper and bodygaurd), lives in a little shack behind our guesthouse. The other worker, Lalese, lives in an apartment with her brother (our case worker in ET) Korsa. When guests are in, Lalese stays at the guest house with them, to cook, clean, and care for the baby.

After our breakfast of pancakes (more like crepes), fresh mango juice and robera coffee, we met with Korsa and the director of Better Futures (ET) to discuss our plans for the week. Then, we were off to get our little Amelia. After driving through the gates, we were met by lots of little ones, running up to meet us. They all wanted to hold our hands and get attention from us. We were first taken on a tour of all of the rooms in the orphanage and then, all of a sudden, one of the nannies brought Amelia to us. We brought some items to donate that Noah gave to the orphanage director and then he got to hand out suckers to all the kids. The director said that there are 40 kids in the orphanage righ now. It is heartbreaking to see all those little ones who don't have forever families yet.

After we got Amelia, we went back to the guest house for the day. We spent the afternoon playing and getting to know her. Lalese brought us our first afternoon snack of homeade potato chips and braided Amelia's hair for us and fed her. She even slept with her the first night so that she would be more comfortable and we could get a good night of sleep.

Ethiopia, Here We Come!

2010-06-12T05:31:00.006-05:00

We were packed and on our way....however, our first flight, out of Milwaukee was cancelled due to weather. So, we pitched in with a few other people and got a limo to drive us to O'Hare so we could make our next flight in time. Grabbed some lunch at O'Hare and then we were off on our 2 hour flight to DC. And, finally, our 16 hour flight to Ethiopia, with an added hour for refueling, cleaning the plane and loading more meals, etc...at our stop in Rome. We couldn't, get off the plane, though, so all in all, it was 17 hours on the same plane! Yikes!! We were pooped by the time we arrived in Ethiopia! Next, we had to wait in line to get our Visas. Glad we waited to get them there, as they were only $20 (US) verses $70 (US) if we had gotten them in the US. Steve changed our money to Ethiopian Birr (1 Birr = apporximately $8) and then we found our Better Futures Sign and new friends. Got the luggage and loaded into our new vehichle for the week.
Van similar to the one we used.

Barbed wire on top of gates and fencing.

As we were riding to our new home for the week, I was thinking, "Boy, this is really a God thing....to be able to trust that these three Ethiopian men, who don't speak much Eglish, are truly employees of Better Futures, and that they really will take us to the Guest House and that we will be safe. We were the only family in our travel group (unlike when we got Emma...we had 15 other families with us). As we drove to the house, we were a bit in shock. Along the entire roadside, there were small, run down shacks with little lighting but tons of people standing around inside and in front of them....extremely run down!! We turned onto a very bumpy dirt road, which was the street to our Guest House and then the driver had to honk so that the gatekeeper could open the gate to the Guest House. All of the homes are gaurded by either a steel gates and fences with barbed wire on top of them or a gate and broken pieces of glass on top of the gate/fence to keep people out. Sort of scary looking, especially when it was dark and we were really overtired after our long flight.

Lalese, one of the workers at the Guest House, showed us to our room. We asked about a bed for Noah, as there was only a King sized bed and a crib in our room. She led us across the hall to show us where Noah could sleep....but none of us felt comfortable with that, so all three of us squished into the King sized bed and that is how we slept the rest of the time we were there! We woke to the sounds of dog fights about 3:30 a.m., followed by this strange singing that was broadcast on speakers around the city. We found out later this was Muslim prayer, which is done three times a day. By the end of the week we sort of looked forward to it. But on that first night it was pretty freaky! The dogs, we found out, were wild dogs....and they are EVERYWHERE in Addis Ababa. They just roam the city, along with sheep, cows and donkeys. On Monday we will meet the Better Futures Ethiopia Director who will take us to the orphanage to get Amelia.

Muslim temple speakers....

Wild dog sleeping.
Donkeys

Visa 37...finally at the Embassy!!

2010-06-11T08:59:00.001-05:00

After two weeks of craziness...we are finally cleared to bring Amelia home!

Dear Ms. Fidlin,

According to the National Visa Center, the Visas 37 in your case was uploaded to Share Point (the computer database) yesterday. It is now available to Embassy Addis Ababa. I hope this information is of assistance.

Sincerely,
Ruth
Adoption Divison,
Office of Children's Issues
Overseas Citizens Services
Bureau of Consular Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.

Three Days Till We Become a Family of Six!!

2010-06-10T08:39:00.004-05:00

I'm finally back!! Sorry for the large gap in my blog, but I tend to post on FB as it is quick and easy to post little snippets. I am ready to start updating my blog more often now that we are ready to travel to get the newest Fiddlebug.

There are many things that are on my mind right now....
*Visa 37...will it arrive by tomorrow morning so we can travel?
*Praying for safe travels for us & safety while we are in Ethiopia.
*Hoping it will be a fun week for Caleb and Emma.
*Wanting to soak up all of the culture we can, so we will be able to teach others.

And the things on my heart....
*I pray that God will use this trip in a big way. I know this trip is not just about our adoption, but that God has an even bigger plan in all of it. I can't wait to see how He uses it for His Kingdom!!
*I pray for Amelia and all of the big changes that are about to happen in her life. I know God has it all worked out, but I pray that it goes smoothly.
*I pray for Amelia's birth family. We will likely get to meet them and I pray that God gives me the perfect words to say to them. How do you thank someone for the gift of their child?
*I pray for the other orphans at the orphanage and care center that we will meet. I pray that they will be in forever families soon.
*I pray for the staff of our adoption agency and all of the work they have done and continue to do for the orphans in Ethiopia.
*I thank God that He has placed the desire to adopt so heavy on our hearts, and that through the adoptions of Emma and Amelia He has reaveled to us more and more of who He is.

Blessings to you all!
Gina

Homeade Applesauce

2009-11-06T20:51:00.004-06:00

Wow! Have a been a slacker with my blog, lately! Here are some photos of Caleb and Emma helping make homeade applesauce. Emma had so much fun cutting the apples all by herself. Our house smelled wonderful as the apples cooked away in my big slow cooker and after peeling and cutting two big bags of apples...we have only three containers of applesauce in the freezer. I can't believe how much the apples cook down!

>

2009-08-07T14:39:00.004-05:00

I am never in photos....and finally, this vacation, I ended up in some. I have way too many photos from our vacation to post this way. So, I wanted to post some photos of me with my family. I will post more vacation photos when I get a chance to put them into a slideshow.
Emma zonked out on our long bike ride in Marquette.

Emma and Mommy just a swingin'!

Me and my first baby Fiddlebug!

What a handsome young man!

Emma and Mommy.

Me and my man! ;)

Mommy and her Fiddlebugs!

Me and my sister, Becky.

Me and Caleb...ain't he cute?

Me, my little sissy and our dad!

Help Bring a Child Home

2009-08-07T07:40:00.003-05:00

My friend, Terri, has a good friend who has an immediate need to raise money to bring home their daughter from Taiwan. Please consider donating to their adoption fund or check out Terri's raffle on her blog. All raffle money will be donated to the Johnson family's adoption. Also, please keep this family in your prayers.

Moving Along...

2009-08-05T15:47:00.005-05:00

Here is the latest update on our Ethiopia adoption...straight from our agency:

Hello!
Just an update for you. Your dossier has been sent from our office to Washington D.C. yesterday, August 4, 2009. There it will be authenticated and then sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Once in Addis, the documents will need to be authenticated then translated into Amharic and then authenticated again before it reaches our office in Ethiopia. Please allow 2-3 weeks for this process. When your dossier is received in our office in Ethiopia, you will then be “officially waiting”. If you have any further questions feel free to contact us at any time. We hope you have a wonderful week!

Molly

Great news! We are praying for the health and safety of our daughter and her caretakers. We can't wait to get a referral with photos, soon, to see God's perfect match for us! Please continue to pray for our daughter.

Paperwork is off to MN and then to Ethiopia!

2009-07-11T21:16:00.005-05:00

Paperwork has been collected and the things that needed to be notarized have been notarized. Passport sized photos were ready at Walgreens today. Wrote out two checks and got one money order and I think we're good to go....off to MN to be all checked over. Then the dossier documents will be authenticated and forwarded to Ethiopia for processing and approval. Hopefully we'll get a referral by early next year and travel next spring. Hang on baby girl....we're coming to get you soon!

Day in Milwaukee

2009-07-07T06:37:00.000-05:00

Spent the last day of our four day weekend in Milwaukee. Milwaukee County Zoo, fingerprint appointment, Lakefront (got to see the Cicus train cars, too) and finally, our first taste of Ethiopian food.

It must have been our lucky day (notice the lucky ladybugs we found)....our fingerprint appointment was at 3:00, we got there about 15 minutes early and ended up walking out the doors at 3:03! Quick and painless!

Visted Alem Ethiopian Village for dinner. We ate in traditional Ethiopian style, sitting around a woven table "thingy" (not sure what it's called). Aparantly, these large tables are woven with very tall grasses, by the Ethiopian people. Traditionally, the food is all cooked and served right on the table. We tried one of the Ethiopian samplers. It was a combination of vegetables along with beef, lamb and chicken. The food is served "family style" on a large piece of flat bread called "Injeera". The different foods are placed on top of the injeera and then there are rolled up pieces of ingeera around the platter that you unroll and use to scoop up the food with. Silverware is not used at all.

I really liked the Doro Wat (chicken stew)as it had a really good, spicy flavor. The food is all in a really heavy, thick, spicy sauce...it reminds me of gravy sort of. The injeera will have to become an aquired taste for me...if I ever really enjoy it at all. It reminded me of a cold crepe. It's like a flat, cold, rubbery pancake. The texture and temperature of it is what got to me the most. I prefer really hot and "non-rubbery" foods!

I am sure that authentic Ethiopian food, in Ethiopa, will taste different than the American version, anyway. Chinese food in China, was definatly different than it is here in the states....spicier and tastier!

Enjoy the photos!

Fun at Bay Beach

2009-07-05T05:57:00.000-05:00

Spent a whoppin' $15 for four hours of fun on the rides at Bay Beach. It was a perfect day for it...not too hot and not too busy. We even found a "Grandpa Look Alike"...can you guess which Grandpa he looks like??

The UW-W Gang

2009-06-19T10:57:00.003-05:00

We had my UW-Whitewater roomates and their families up for a cook out and get toghether last weekend. I can't believe how fast 17 years flew by. Seems like just yesterday that we were locked out of our apartment and the guys next door came and showed us how they could get into our apartment by using their credit card. (SCAREY)

We had a fun time together and it's always fun to see everyone's kids, too. Notice that three of the six kids are Fiddlebug kids. All of the other girls have only one child. Are we crazy or what? I wouldn't have it any other way! :)

Mighty Max

2009-06-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

Steve really wanted to get a little lap dog and had been bugging us the last month about it....so, I finally gave in and we made a visit to the kennel. Yeah...RIGHT!! The kids and I have been bugging Steve about getting another dog. Ellie can use the socialization of having another dog and this summer seemed like the summer to do it. I just LOVE to potty train, aparantly. Emma is just about trained, except for the occasional accident. Now, we'll work on the dog....and next summer the new little one! The fun never ends at the Fiddlebug house!

So, here he is...or new baby boy...Mighty Max. He is 15 weeks old. He's a Lhasa Chon (like Chakkah Kahn?), a cross between a Lhasa Apso and a Bichon. He is 8 pounds right now and will get to be about double in size when he's full grown. He's a little sweetheart!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

2009-06-01T07:40:00.000-05:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank You Eliana!

2009-05-19T14:16:00.003-05:00

Thank you to the Nichols Family and especially to little Eliana, who sent such an awesome Birthday gift for Emma. We did a birthday exchange between some of the kids in our China travel group. What fun it was for Emma to get a package in the mail and open up the gift to discover all sorts of fun things to create with. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Happy Gotcha' Day, Emma!

2009-05-13T13:54:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrated Emma's "Gotcha' Day". We ordered out for Chinese food. Emma LOVES eggdrop soup. She ate four bowls of it! We also gave her a special gift that we bought when we went to China to get her. What a little Asian Princess she is!

Two years ago, today, I celebrated Mother's Day, thousands of miles away in another country. I flew thirteen hours from home, to receive the most awesome gift a mother could receive. The gift of a child. My body did not carry this child, but my heart sure did. For two years, I dreamed of this big day. The day this little Chinese girl would be placed in my arms and I would be her mommy...forever. A day that God, Himself, ordained, before he even created the world. As I reflect on the past two years, I am in awe, that God chose, me, to be Emma's mom. I am humbled beyond words and I am grateful, not only to the God of the Universe, but also to a woman, somewhere in China, who honored the life of a child, by choosing life for her. I pray that she is safe and healthy and has a peace that only God could provide, and I thank her for giving me the most precious Mother's Day gift ever!

Happy Gotcha' Day, my little Emma Bug!

Emma's New Wheels and Sandbox

2009-05-01T13:40:00.001-05:00

We bought Emma a sand table for her birthday and decided to give it to her a little bit early, so she could play with it. She loves digging around in the sand and "cooking up" food for us to eat. I love the fact that she doesn't have to "sit" in the sand to play! Why didn't they have sand tables when Noah was a toddler? The turtle sandbox was cute, but very messy!

The babysitter also found Emma a "toesy toupe tar" (Cozy Coupe Car) at a rummage sale. One day, while I was at school, Emma and Brenda had a carwash outside and cleaned up the car together. Then, Brenda put Emma's name on the license plate for her. She loves to drive around the patio and take her car to "Walmart" to buy stuff. She also likes to put things in the trunk...notice Caleb's skateboard!

Such fun for an almost three year old!

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Fiddlebug's House

2009-04-13T14:54:00.002-05:00

Here are some photos from our Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Fiddlebug yesterday. Hope your Easter was filled with many blessings!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My Beautiful Savior!

2009-04-13T14:40:00.005-05:00

This music video is AWESOME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBkJBndGh_c

#1 I absolutly LOVE this song and Kari Jobe's voice is phenomenal!

#2 It shows just how GREAT a price Jesus paid for my sins.
I am saddened at how weak and wicked I am, yet amazed at how
GREAT and AWESOME is He!!

#3 It is a video that can change lives. Will it change yours??
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

Happy 40th Birthday, Steve!

2009-04-13T14:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I pulled it off. A surprise 40th birthday party for Steve. I had it at Pullman's in Appleton. Steve's new co-workers helped get him to Pullman's and both the Alta and West crew, along with family and friends, joined us for drinks and appetizers. Our friend, Brenda, was kind enough to take the kids for the first part of the party and then she drove them over to join us for the last part. We ended up having about 50 people in all. Then, after it cleared out, we enjoyed dinner with my parents, Becky & Randy, our kids, Brenda and Seth. It was a fun time. Thank you to everyone who came and made Steve's birthday extra special!

Uranus.....My What???

2009-04-01T16:36:00.003-05:00

Well, here you have it....out of the mouths of babes. Yesterday, our first graders had a special Solar System/Space presentation for parents and friends. All 75 (or so) of our first graders, their teachers and parents, gathered for a program in the commons. Each child made a home-made space vehicle that was put on display for viewing and each child also wrote a factual report on one part of the Solar System. Mrs. W's kids wrote their reports in the form of a letter and each child chose a teacher to write to. Then, they read them in front of the audience. So, here is the letter one of Mrs. W's kids wrote about Uranus (or actually, mine). Unfortunatly I only teach in the morning, so I did not get to hear the lovely facts about my behind!! But, I had a good laugh today when my teacher friends told me all about it.

Easter Chick with Easter Chicks!

2009-03-31T20:03:00.004-05:00

Emma had fun making these little Easter Chicks. It amazes me how precise she is when we work on little art projects together. She really seems to enjoy those types of things. She is also into coloring...big time and even stays in the lines. I've never even showed her or told her how to color inside the lines, she just started doing it on her own. She prefers to use only one color, though. Lately it's been a lot of purple! :)

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-18T19:58:00.000-05:00

Some photos from St. Patrick's Day. The top photo was after the kids ate their St. Patrick's Day dessert....green frosted cupcakes. Notice the nice green moustache on Emma. The bottom is a photo of our neice who does Trinity Dancing. She's the cutie in the middle. Happy St. Patty's Day!

Little Artist...and Singer!

2009-03-10T14:41:00.004-05:00

Here are some recent photos of Emma coloring...don't you just love that "cheesy" little smile. She is just too darn precious! I also uploaded a video of her singing the Wonder Pets theme song. It's her favorite show right now....and I love it too. Anything with music is a hit in my book!

French Fry Thief!

2009-02-21T10:55:00.002-06:00

Conversation with Emma on the way home from the babysitter's on Thursday:

E: "Mommy, I be naughty at Ba-Ba's (Brenda's) house today."

G: "You were naughty? What did you do?"

E: "I eat Dee-Dah's (Meleesa's) fa-fy (french fry)."

So, I called Brenda, and sure enough, my little stinker was pestering Meleesa by taking her french fries and her fork to tease her. At least she's an honest little stinker!

2009-02-21T09:19:00.002-06:00

I am always amazed at how personal our God is. The past two weeks I have seen God at Work several times and I just have to share it with you.

God At Work #1:
"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." Daniel 9:3

I have been studying the book of Daniel this school year in my lunch hour Bible study group. Last week was specifically about Daniel Chapter 9, in which Daniel cries out to God in prayer for the his people. The lesson I was working on really spoke to me personally, because I am typically a "go-go-go" type of person. I LOVE to be busy and have a very hard time slowing down. When I do slow down, it is usually to read or be on the computer. I know that God was specifically speaking to me as I read about Daniel and his prayer life. I know that God wants me to be in His Word, reading and listening for Him and then speaking back to Him in prayer. I also know He wants me to be still in Him, too. VERY HARD for me!!

So, last Saturday, I did my lesson on Daniel 9 and prayer. Sunday night, I opened the church bulletin to see what the sermon title was....it was Daniel 9!! The following day, on my way to work, I turned on Family Christian Radio...and again, the topic was prayer. Wow!!! Some people would believe this is all "chance" or "coincidence"....but for believers, we know that our God is a personal God and this is the way He speaks to us. It humbles me to know that if I am in His Word, He will speak personally, to me!! How cool is that?? I know God wants to talk to me all of the time, but because of my self-centeredness I don't always take the time to really listen.

God At Work #2:
On Wednesday night, as I was praying with Caleb and tucking him into bed, we had such an awesome little conversation...it went like this:

C: "Mom, I prayed the prayer with Aaron at school today."
G: "Really? That's awesome, tell me about it."
C: "Well, I asked Aaron if he knew that there is only one way to get to heaven. He
said, "yes". I asked him if he said the payer to ask Jesus to be the leader of his
life and he said, "no". So, I asked him if he wanted me to pray it with him and I
did. Because, mom, I really like Aaron and I want to see him in heaven."

Wow!! If we, as adults, could have that "childlike faith", how simple it would be! Instead, we try to complicate things so much...with our minds and the world, that we can't just rest in the knowledge that "our God is BIG...and can do anything"...we don't need to understand it all...or we wouldn't have a need for Him. We just need to give our lives to him and rest in that. Out of the mouths of babes!

God At Work #3:
I had a haircut and color yesterday. It seems like whenever I get my hair done, the topic of "religion" comes up. I think some of this is because in everyday conversation, I usually have something to say about my church, or a book I am reading, a movie I've seen, etc...and it often has something to do with my faith. So, we were chatting about what we were doing this weekend and I mentioned something about having to serve pizza at church on Sunday. This lead to a discussion about churches. My stylist and her boyfriend are trying to find a church home. Well, as the discussion continued one of the things she said was "Well, everyone is entitled to worship the way they want and what really matters is that you're a good person". BOOM....door opened!! Thanks God!! I just got quiet, b/c I wasn't sure the words I should say about this. So, after a few minutes of quiet....BOOM...she asked me "How did your husband and you get to the point in your faith that you are?" WIDE OPEN DOOR!!! So, I was able to tell her my story...but I was still trying to figure out a way to tell her how to "receive the gift". BOOM....I told Caleb's story (see #2)...with a few extra details, about how heaven is a real place, how we are all sinful and no one can be "good enough" to go to heaven or to be in God's presence b/c He is such a Holy God, how Jesus is the only way for us to get to heaven, but that we need to pray and ask Him to be the leader of our life."

What an awesome week of God sightings!!

Happy 60th Birthday Grandma!

2009-02-15T19:36:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Grandma! We hope you have a great day!!

Love,

The Fiddlebugs

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2009-01-30T18:36:00.005-06:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Lots to celebrate this week:

1. After 13 years at his company, Steve gave his resignation on Monday. He will start with a new company on February 9th. He will go from managing 14 programs and about 50 employees to managing 1 program and 13 employees. A great and much needed change for him. The really cool thing is that when the CEO interviewed Steve, Steve noticed several photos hanging in this gentleman's office. The photos were of children of different ethnicities. After the interview, Steve inquired about the photos and the man said that he does work for World Vision. Very cool....we sponser a little girl named Somkit, through World Vision. She lives in Thailand. If this was any sign of the type of company this is, it will be a welcome change for Steve!

2. My Distiguished Service Award (see previous post).

3. Our application with Better Futures Adoption Services was approved and we can begin the process of bringing our little girl home.

4. It's Chinese New Year!

To celebrate all of these things, we decided to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. The boys wanted to order off of the "adult" menu, and Caleb was determined to try the duck. Of course, his meal was the most expensive of all of ours, but he loved it. We all liked it. Caleb took the leftovers to school for lunch the next day. The funniest thing is that Emma kept saying, "I eat duckie"....I'm sure she was thinking of one of her bathtub duckies. Fortunatly this "duckie" was not rubbery, like the bathtub duckies.

Happy New Year!

Distinguished Service Award

2009-01-30T18:15:00.002-06:00

My job share partner and I were recent recipients of our school district's Distiguished Service Award. We were each nominated by our principal. We were presented our awards at the monthly school board meeting, along with about 15-20 other teachers and school personal. It was quite an honor to be acknowledged for the work we do with our students.

It is an even greater honor to be entrusted to help mold and shape these little minds. God has equiped me with some great gifts for teaching and learning. He continues to strengthen my character by hand choosing each little child that will be in my class for the year and allowing me to learn from him or her. I thank God every day for the opportunities he gives me!

Snow (Cold) Day Fun with Caleb

2009-01-15T17:17:00.004-06:00

We had a snow day/ no school today due to the extremely cold temperatures. So, today we invited Becky, Kyra, Braden and Kenson over for lunch and to play. We made homemade chili and ginger snap cookies, played a game of Scrabble and I even had time to vacuum my downstairs and mop the wood and tile floors.

Tonight's low is -20 degrees with a windchill of -40. Brrrrr! Wonder if we'll have school tomorrow?? Being a teacher is challenging at times...but snowdays and summer vacation make it all worth it!!

My Little Reader

2009-01-15T14:20:00.005-06:00

Emma stayed up a little later than the boys on Tuesday night so we read some books together. When I was done reading, she wanted to read to me. Pretty darn good for a 2 1/2 year old, I'd say. As my teacher friend said, "Emma has good book orientation, understands left to right, gets meaning from pictures, understands that words must make a story. Needs work on one to one and needs to begin making some text to self or text to text connections". We'll work on that....ha!

New Friends

2009-01-11T10:36:00.003-06:00

It's amazing how many people you meet and become friends with through the adoption process. Our China travel group friends are some of the best friends we have made, because we share a common bond...our children!

Yesterday, we were able to get together with Melissa and Scott and their little boy, Micah. Melissa is the woman I spoke about in my blog entry on December 8th, entitled "Is That You, God?". Melissa and her husband, Scott, traveled to Ethiopia in December to adopt Micah. We wanted to meet them and find out more about their experience with Better Futures Adoption Services out of MN, as we are planning to use them as we begin the process of adopting from Ethiopia. They had nothing but good things to say about the agency and their experience....which is good news for us. And even better news is that we've made new friends...friends to get together with and correspond with as we begin this new journey.

About ten minutes after Melissa and Scott left, I ran out to get our mail. What did I find, the latest issue of Adoptive Families magazine....and guess what was on the cover? A little African girl. I looked inside the cover, and sure enough, she was adopted from ETHIOPIA. I flipped the magazine over....and on the back cover....another little one adopted from ETHIOPIA. God is just too AWESOME!!! How humbled I am to know that God speaks, just to me and gives me his approval!!

Later in the evening, I looked back at my previous issues of my Adoptive Families magazine and the last time there was an African child on the cover was March of 2008. Which, ironically, was the month we started to think about starting adoption number 2. At that time, we were thinking Taiwan....maybe God was trying to tug at my heartsrings way back then and get my heart prepared for His plan, because the doors to Taiwan were then closed for us (as we do not quilify for Taiwan) and the doors to Ethiopia became an option for us. Really, the only option, unless we would adopt domestically. How GREAT is our God!! AWESOME and MIGHTY and HIS plan is always much better than my plan could possibly be!

2009-01-11T10:19:00.004-06:00

Kyra, Becky, Braden, Randy and Kenson
Randy and Braden
Kenson and Emma making pizza
Caleb and his new hockey stick
Maria, Rick and six reasons for birth control :)

Kenson in his new hat, with Uncle Steve
Grandma and four of the six kiddos Chris and Mark

I finally have some time to post some photos from Christmas with my family. We celebrated on New Year's Day at our house. My parents, my sister and her family, my step-brother and his girlfriend and our friends Mark and Chris joined us for the day. We decided to have a "homemade pizza" meal. Mom made her famous homemade cheese and sausage pizza, Becky made homemade taco pizza and I made homemade BBQ chicken pizza. Then, everyone brought an appetizer, too. The food was great and the company even better. Never a dull moment with 6 kids running around. It's hard to believe that just between my sister and I, we have 6 kids. I would have never thought we'd have that many children....God has truly blessed our family!! Enjoy the photos!

Makin' Strudel

2009-01-03T11:32:00.002-06:00

Thought I should post a photo of our Strudel making on Christmas Day. This is a special recipe that is a Fidlin Family tradition. Steve's grandma, who is 87 years old, used to make these a lot when Steve's dad was young. Most people would call these pocket sandwiches, but for some reason, they were named "strudel". It is bread dough wrapped around a mixture of ground beef seasoned with lots of all spice seasoning and sauerkraut. Then they are baked until they are golden brown. We all love them, but they are a bit unusual. I don't know that everyone would like the flavor combination. We made 25 of them on Christmas morning and then we made another 35 "pizza pocket" sandwiches today. We bake them all in batches and then freeze them in bags of 5 for quick and easy meals.

Christmas with Steve's Family

2008-12-28T12:18:00.003-06:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Polar Express in 3D

2008-12-28T11:40:00.001-06:00

Happy Chinese Christmas Eve!

2008-12-26T17:08:00.007-06:00

2008 marks the 9th year of our Chinese Christmas Eve dinner! This year we had our family, my sister's family, my step-brother and his girlfriend, Maria, and Randy's parents and sister join us for AAC's 4:00 Christmas service and a Chinese dinner at our house. We had a total of 19 people!! My favorite thing is to decorate the tables all fancy. Here are some photos of this year's table.

2008-12-26T17:06:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T15:41:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Build A Bear Workshop

2008-12-20T18:06:00.005-06:00

Caleb wanted to buy Emma a bear at the Build A Bear Workshop for Christmas. So, today she got to make her very own "Emma" the panda....which not so coincidentally, is the exact same bear with the exact same name as Caleb's Build A Bear panda (wonder why she chose that one?)! The trip to the mall wore her out completely. Visiting with Santa, walking around the mall AND making your very own teddy bear is exhausting for a two year old....heck, it's exhausting for a 38 year old!!

Here are some photos of her making her Emma bear.

Visit with Santa

2008-12-20T16:57:00.004-06:00

We took Emma to see Santa at the mall today. This is the same Santa that we took Noah to when he was just 3 months old. We only took the boys the first couple of years. The last time we saw him was 2002 when Noah was 4 and Caleb was 2. This Santa is from TN and comes every year to Appleton. He gets paid $55,000 a year to play Old Saint Nick. He stays at a local hotel and stays until Christmas Eve. He's sort of an icon here, in the Fox Valley. He's really nice...very soft spoken and good with the kids.

Emma wasn't scared at all. She walked right up and sat on his lap, gave him a hug and said "Thank you" and "Merry Christmas" to him. What a sweetheart!!

Christmas...or Halloween?

2008-12-16T21:15:00.007-06:00

A couple of days ago, Emma started singing a song...and we realized she was singing Trick or Treat Smell My Feet. Her version goes something like this: "Tick or teat, nell my veet, veet, veet....all da way hooome"! I think it's a combination of Trick or Treat and This Little Piggy Went to Market. It's soo funny!!

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-13T06:49:00.005-06:00

The kids were my "guinea pigs" to test out some Gingerbread Houses that we are planning to make with our Book Buddies at my school on Monday. They had fun, but the icing was a little too runny and it made the pieces slide around a bit. It got stickier as it dried, so the longer they spent playing around with it, the better their pieces stuck. Emma had fun but was concerned about her "toenails" being gone (frosting over her fingernails). Notice the wet shirt. Concentration produces lots of drool! :)

Is That You, God?

2008-12-08T15:04:00.001-06:00

Many of you know that Steve and I have been toying with the idea of adopting one more little girl. God has placed a strong desire in both of our hearts and we did a lot of calling and researching last year. Originally, we hoped to go back to China, however, we are not eligible to adopt again from China due to the new regulations. That is probably a blessing in disguise as the wait time now is several years.

The next country we had looked into was Taiwan, and after lots of researching, we found out that their regulations are the same as China's. The only country we are interested and qualified to adopt from is Ethiopia. In summer, we decided to put it on the back burner for a bit and finish our basement project and see where God leads us.

Well, Steve walked up to his office last Thursday, taking the same route he always does, past all the sales pods and he overheard a lady talking about Ethiopia adoptions and telling someone that they are working with an awesome agency that specializes in Ethiopia adoptions, in fact, that is all they do. Well, he decided to stop and talk to her a bit (never really met her b/fore) and found out that she and her husband were leaving for Ethiopia on Monday. They talked a while and Steve got the name and a contact at the agency they are using, etc...

Anyway, the cool thing was that this lady's last day of work was on Friday. What are the chances that Steve would "overhear" this conversation the day before her "last day" at West Corp.?? And, what are the chances that she was adopting from Ethiopia, when that is the only country we are eligible and interested in right now?

Steve was so excited, he called the agency to get info and called me at work to tell me "I think this was a God thing, Gina"....and he proceeded to tell me the whole story. I was excited b/c usually it is me who does the searching, etc...and to hear Steve this excited and feeling that God was speaking to him, is very cool!!

The plan right now is to start working on an adoption in summer (when I am off and have an easier time running around to do the paper chasing), with hopes that we'd submit our dossier next fall and travel in Spring of 2010 to get a 1-3 year old little girl.

Please pray for God to continue to give us more signs and provide the means for us to begin another adoption.

Lessons & Carols

2008-12-06T15:18:00.002-06:00

Dad, Noah and Mom
Granpa Fidlin, Noah & Grandma Fidlin
Grandpa Humke, Noah & Grandma Humke
Today was Noah's big "Lessons & Carols" Christmas service with the Appleton Boychoir. It was beautiful as usual, and nice that the Senior Choir got to sing several songs this year. Last year, as a Junior Choir member, Noah only got to sing for two songs.

Both sets of Grandparents came up to see the afternoon performance and Uncle Randy and Aunt Becky went to see the evening performance.

Caleb's Holiday Concert

2008-12-05T14:28:00.001-06:00

We made a wise choice this year and sent Emma to Becky's house to play while we went to Caleb's holiday concert at school. Last year, Steve missed the whole concert because Emma got crabby and he ended up walking the halls of the school during the concert. We got great seats and super parking. The concert was really cute and Caleb got to be in a special group of singers for two of the songs....hmmmmm....another Boychoir member??? He already informed me he would never want to be in Boychoir b/c he'd have to dress up!! Ha! Enjoy this little clip of one of the songs. It isn't the best quality, as we taped it on our digital camera. I am hoping to buy a Flip soon and I think the quality will be better.

Caleb is on the top left about three or four kids in from the end.

First Snow

2008-11-26T14:18:00.002-06:00

Here are some photos of the first snow this winter. We were supposed to get a "dusting" on Sunday night, but ended up with about 3 inches when all was said and done. The boys were so excited to get home from school and play in it. Emma had fun helping me shovel the driveway while the boys played with the neigbor kids.

Kyra Turns 6!!

2008-11-26T14:05:00.002-06:00

My neice, Kyra, turned 6 on November 18th. We celebrated the weekend before her birthday. The big birthday treat this year was getting her ears pierced. What a big girl she's growing up to be. She and Caleb have big plans to become pilot missionaries when they grow up. It will be

awesome to see how God works in their lives!! Happy 6th Birthday Kyra. We love you lots!

The Handsome Prince

2008-11-09T22:25:00.005-06:00

Here is a photo of my handsome prince on Halloween. Aren't their costumes great? And that horse....a strong and noble looking one indeed!

2008-11-02T06:41:00.001-06:00

Cut My Pumpkin!

2008-11-01T13:36:00.003-05:00

I thought we could slip one past Emma and just carve the boys pumpkins this year...aparantly not. Emma decided on Halloween night that we should "Cut my pumpkin". She looks so serious about it, too!

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-01T09:27:00.005-05:00

Steve had clients in on Halloween this year, so he had to be a "brave one" and join in on the fun at work. Usually, he avoids it like the plague. Not his thing. The idea his group of teams came up with was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...and guess who got to be the Handsome Prince?? Doesn't he look great?

The boys dressed as Star Wars characters and since I wasn't really planning on having Emma trick or treat, but decided on it at the last minute, we borrowed a costume from my sister and Emma went as a duck. I originally thought Emma wouldn't make it too far, as it is usually so cold, but it was in the 60's yesterday, so she made it down our long street and all the way around the other side of the block...which took us about an hour and a half. She was quite the trooper, especially considering she did not nap yesterday. She spent two hours singing and rocking her panda instead of sleeping!

Here are the totals:

4 Milky Ways, 1 Take 5, 1 100 Grand, 9 Kit Kats, 8 Smarties, 7 Miscellaneous Chocolates, 4 Fruit Snacks, 4 Skittles, 8 Twix Bars, 3 Milk Duds, 1 Starburst, 2 Laffy Taffies, 3 Licorices, 2 Almond Joys, 3 bags of Pretzels, 22 Suckers, 5 Whoppers, 2 High School Musical Gummies, 4 3 Musketeers, 3 PB Kisses, 3 Sour Patch Candies, 19 Tootsie Rolls, 4 Crunch Bars, 4 Jolly Ranchers, 8 PB Cups, 5 Butterfingers, 5 Bubble Gums, 5 Snickers, 1 Nerds, 1 Dots, 1 Hannah Montanna Candy Bracelet, 25 M&M's, 3 erasers, 3 pencils, 1 bag of Cheetohs, 1 bag of Sunchips, 1 popcorn ball, 1 Now & Later, 2 boxes of Candy Sticks, 1 Easter Egg filled with junk (who gives out Easter Eggs on Halloween) and 2 used Mc Donald's toys (odd??)

For a grand total of 193 treats for the Fidlins!!

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-26T09:22:00.002-05:00

We carved pumpkins on Sunday with the kids. Of course, the boys wanted to do Star Wars characters...so they searched online for some ideas and here's what we came up with. Darth Vader and Yoda...not too bad, eh?? We only carved two pumpkins, as Emma's pumpkin was so small, we wouldn't have been able to carve it too well. Emma had fun helping pick the seeds out, which we roasted afterward. Yum!!

One more Handsome Boy...

2008-10-26T08:22:00.003-05:00

I posted photos of my handsome boys a couple of weeks ago....and here is the youngest of those handsome guys. Caleb joined Cub Scouts this year and boy is he excited to wear the uniform. Go figure, the child never likes to dress up. Jeans and a t-shirt is the dressiest this boy will get....except for Cub Scouts. Maybe he'll be a police officer someday?

Future Girls Choir Member??

2008-10-26T08:01:00.004-05:00

Emma loves to sing. She often spends the first 20-30 minutes of her naptime singing songs to herself or anyone else that will listen. Here is a little video clip of her singing away in the bathtub. She seems to have a love of music. Maybe she'll be a future girls choir member...or maybe she'll use the piano that Steve worked so hard to re-finish and is currently just collecting dust in our dining room.

Bubble Duh

2008-10-26T07:16:00.005-05:00

Emma loves gum...any kind and anytime! She amazingly has only swallowed it two times. Here is a little video clip of her asking (demanding) some "bubble duh".

Fun at the Apple Orchard

2008-10-13T14:55:00.001-05:00

We took the kids and made a drive around the lake to the apple orchard for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. The weather is soooo warm. It was in the 80's yesterday and the trees are just beautiful. We spent a few hours walking around, seeing the animals in the little farm area and playing on the playground. It was a nice way to end the weekend.

My Handsome Men!

2008-10-13T14:47:00.002-05:00

Noah had his first Boy Choir performance yesterday. The Senior Choir sang three different songs during two services at a local church. Don't my boys look so handsome all dressed up? What a lucky mom and wife I am!!

Ham Dance & Jumpin' Bean

2008-09-26T21:34:00.005-05:00

Emma has dances for all the things she loves..milk, ham, bubble gum. Here's a video of her "ham dance", which is actually a "turkey dance" since we were all out of ham. The second video is of her jumping. Her latest little trick that provides hours of entertainment!

Emma the Nudist

2008-09-26T21:21:00.003-05:00

When we had our travel group reunion, in July, Emma must have gotten some "stripping" advice from her Fuling sister, Jadyn. On two different occasions we have found Emma in her crib, after a nap or in the morning, lounging comfortably in the nude. In addition, her latest thing to do when she is mad about something is to pull down her shorts. It's like her little mind is thinking, "I'm just so mad, I'll show you, I'll pull down my pants". Tonight she did it while company was here and after pulling the shorts down, she proceeded to take off her diaper. My friends said that I should be sure to get this captured on camera and video to play at her wedding someday. If her husband is like most, he'll be trying to make her mad often...just to get those clothes off of her!

September Photos

2008-09-26T20:45:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more photos from September. Emma munching on her corn at the West picnic, a "cheesy" pose on the patio and a photo from the first day of school....Emma was all set to go, too, with her "Emo Ba-Ba".

Golden Birthday Boy!

2008-09-11T14:20:00.003-05:00

Noah's golden birthday is today. Eleven years ago today, our world changed in a big way!! We became parents!! Noah was our first baby. He was a laid back, "easy" baby which was a blessing to us as new parents. Noah loved to play, read books, color and create....and he still loves those things. He is a great friend to others, kind, caring and respectful. We're excited to see how God will work in Noah's life as he becomes a young man! I know He has big things in store for Noah! Happy Birthday "No-chee". We love you!!

Happy Grandparent's Day!

2008-09-06T07:41:00.001-05:00

Thank you for all you do and all you are to your grandchildren. They love you more than you'll ever know!! Have a great day!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday, to Me!

2008-08-28T14:06:00.000-05:00

This year, my birthday fell on my very first day back at work. I had an enjoyable 12 hour celebration that included building meetings, team meetings & staff development, complete with a lunch catered by the school food service. Then, onto a few hours of open house to top off the fun!! Actually, it really was a good day. We had a lot of work time and I was able to meet 9 of my 15 students and their grown-ups at the open house.

Steve and the kids surprised me with an ice cream cake from Cold Stone for dessert, when I came home. Notice, I didn't have the right numerals for the cake, so I opted for three single candles and the numeral 8 to make 38....ha! Can't quite believe I am 38 years old, though. Two more years left and I will join the "40" club...yikes! It's a good thing I don't FEEL that old. I think having a little one running around keeps us young!!

The kids gave me a Starbuck's gift card and travel mug and Steve gave me the sweetest gift...he had my old rocking chair (from when I was a little girl) repaired and "polished up" so that Emma could use it. It looks so cute and she loves rocking in it!! I love thoughtful things like that! It made my day!!

Bay Beach

2008-08-18T15:55:00.001-05:00

We planned to take the kids up to Green Bay to Bay Beach Amusement Park on Saturday. Our babysitter called to see if we could take her son, Seth, overnight that night, so she and her husband could have a "kid free" night. So, we just piled all four kids into the van and headed up late Saturday afternoon. The kids had fun and you can't beat the price. It's only 25 or 50 cents per ride (depending on the ride). It's great, cheap fun. Here are some pics from our night.

My Baby is 8!!

2008-08-11T14:51:00.005-05:00

Today is Caleb's birthday. Eight years ago on this day, out popped a loud baby boy, complete with a pouting lip! Our family of three became a family of four...and I was outnumbered....three boys and one girl! Caleb was our fussy baby. He was loud and never quite content with anything. He cried ALL THE TIME!!! Steve & I made many doctor visits with him, trying to figure him out. Was it his ears, his tummy, colic...please....tell us it's something! Fast forward eight years and we now know our Caleb is just a "busy guy". He is always on the go, from the minute he wakes up until he falls asleep. He is extremely social and loves to be with friends. He loves the outside, animals & nature and being crazy. He always makes us laugh. Our house would be way too quiet & serious without our Caleb. Happy Birthday big guy. We love you!!

Wedding Reception...Bucky Style

2008-08-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

My job share partner, Cheryl & her husband, Peter
First Grade Teacher, Jen & her husband, Kevin
First Grade Teacher Kari & her husband, Mike

My friend Kathy's son got married on Saturday. Kathy is one of the 5 other teachers on our first grade team at my school. Steve and I went down to Madison for the wedding and reception on Saturday. Both Kathy & her husband, Dave, as well as Michael and Jen (the groom & bride) all are UW-Madison graduates. So, the reception was complete with the real "Bucky" mascot. He stayed for about an hour to dance and take pictures with people. Here are some photos of the people I work with.

Check This Out

2008-08-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

Our friend, Pat, is the Senior Pastor at a big church (like ours) in TN. He just began a new sermon series entitled "Dare You To Move" and he and the staff made a video to kick the series off. It features the staff's rendition of Dare You to Move, by Switchfoot. Click on this link to see it. It's pretty funny. The Switchfoot version is below. Enjoy...and check out the church website. If you need some great things to listen to on your iPod, I highly recommend his sermons. They are excellent! I listen to him when I excercise!

"Fee-oot" On!

2008-08-06T17:27:00.002-05:00

Emma loves to put her swimming suit on....or as she calls it, her "fee-oot" on. She also loves her Dora swim diaper. Check out this cute video of her.

Wii're Having Fun!!

2008-08-06T13:59:00.003-05:00

The boys have really wanted to get the Wii gaming system. We told them that it wouldn't even be an option until our basement was finished. So, they began saving up all of the Walmart giftcards they have received for various holidays in hopes of buying one by Christmas time. Well, now that the basement is done, we decided to meet them halfway and pay for the rest of it as their birthday gift from us. Caleb's birthday is August 11th and Noah's is September 11th, so we decided we'd better give them the gift soon, as they were wondering what we would be doing for their birthdays (to celebrate). We wrapped it up and gave it to them on Sunday....and were they excited!! Of course, this meant that they would only be able to invite one friend to go out to eat with us on their actual birthday, as we don't usually spend big amounts of money on gifts for the kids....but they were just fine with that. They've been playing non-stop the last few days! I figure they better get it out of their systems now, before school starts and we have to set stricter time limits on it.

Panda Pals Reunion

2008-07-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

After a fun morning at Old Friends, we headed the rest of the way to Sevierville, TN, where we met up with our China Travel Group. Eleven of the 16 families met for our first annual reunion. We stayed at Hidden Mountain resort which is located right in the Smokey Mountains. We rented two large cabins, one with seven bedrooms & bathrooms and one with five bedrooms and bathrooms. They had an ajoining breezeway so we could go back and forth between cabins. There was also a shared outdoor swimming pool for the two cabins as well as a large picnic area with gas grills and tables. It was an awesome place to stay!

On Sunday night we had an ice cream dessert together. Monday our family just hung out at the pool, played and visited most of the day. Steve ventured out with Noah for a bit to check out some antiques (who would have guessed?). On Tuesday, we went to see Cirque du Chine which is a Chinese acrobat show. It was wonderful. Very similar to the one we all saw in Beijing, minus the tired travelers in the audience! The costumes were great and the acrabats were amazing. We finished the day with dinner at a Chinese restaurant (of course) and visited in the "big" cabin. Wednesday was packing up, taking last minute photos, discussing several options for next year's reunion and saying goodbye.

It was so fun to see everyone again and to see the kids. To sit back and observe the way each family interacts with their own children and each other's children is amazing. There is just such a "glow" from all the love flowing around! I can't even really describe it. The joy these little ones have brought to each of us is incredible.

Honestly, I cried on our way home on Wednesday. I know, I am an emotional fool....but leaving all these families and kids is tough for me, because of the bond we share. I really hope we can have a longer reunion next year! We have all been truly blessed.

Old Friends

2008-07-28T07:17:00.004-05:00

Before heading the four hours south to Hidden Mountains, on Sunday, to see our friends, we made one last stop, in Georgetown, KY, to visit Old Friends. Old Friends is a retirement home for Thoroughbred horses that were once race horses or breeding horses. It's really nice, because you can get right up close to the horses. The kids were able to feed them carrot chunks and peppermint candies and touch them. Caleb LOVED it!! Not sure why, but the big fun for Emma was taking gravel from the road and putting it on Steve's feet, again. Crazy kid! The masks that the horses have on are to protect their eyes from infections from all the flies. The tour guide said that as long as the horses will tolerate it, they like to have them wear them so that they don't get eye infections. Who knew that they made such fashionable and functional "shades" for horses!!

Churchill Downs

2008-07-27T20:00:00.009-05:00

On Saturday (July 19th), we visited Churchill Downs. It's funny, because I always pictured it as being out in the country, completely surrounded by green grass. It's actually right smack dab in the middle of the city! It is, however, really beautiful! We enjoyed the guided tour, but it was really HOT...97 degrees and sunny! Emma spent much of the time putting sand from the race track on Steve's feet...not really sure why.

Louisville....Loueyville...or Looovle??

2008-07-26T12:37:00.004-05:00

We left at 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning (the 17th) and arrived at our hotel in Louisville about 3:30 in the afternoon. We made a couple of stops for gas and breakfast but skipped lunch and made ok time. Chicago was busy and backed up for quite a while.

Went to eat supper at The Spaghetti Factory and then swam for a bit before bed. On Friday we went to the Louisville Slugger Bat Company and went on the tour to see how they make the bats. Everyone that goes on the tour gets a mini slugger bat to take home.

Funny bat story... a year ago, Steve had a meeting with a potential new client, right above the Louisville Slugger Company. So, after the meeting he went on the tour and got his own little bat. For some reason, whoever made his hotel reservations for the trip, made them at a pretty yucky "motel" and Steve was a bit nervous about spending the night there....so he barred the door with a chair from the hotel and then slept with his little bat in bed with him to "fight off prowlers".

After the tour, we swam and went to Joe's Crab Shack for supper and then visited one of the water front parks. It was a "water play" park with all sorts of water sprays and fun things for kids to climb and play on.

Lifest 2008

2008-07-25T21:45:00.005-05:00

Emma and her milk
Steven Curtis Chapman
Casting Crowns
Caleb waiting for Steven Curtis Chapman to start

Now that we're home from vacation, I am finally able to upload some photos from our weekend at Lifest. It was awesome! On Wednesday night, Caleb, Noah and I saw Natalie Grant and The Newsboys. Thursday night we opted out because it rained before the good bands started and we were afraid it was going to be really wet and muddy.

On Friday night, the whole family went to see Mandisa, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra and Steven Curtis Chapman. There was a standing ovation at Lifest when Steven Curtis Chapman and his sons, Wil and Caleb, walked out on stage with the rest of their band. This was his first concert since the tragic death of his youngest dauther, Maria. For those of you who don't know who Steven Curtis Chapman is, he is a Contemperary Christian artist, who started when Christian radio was just beginning. He is kind of a pioneer in Christian music, like Amy Grant. He and his wife, Mary Beth, have three bio children and had three adopted Chinese daughters. They are big advocates for adoption and even have a special fund called Shaohannah's Hope which provides adoption assistance to families adopting from China. In May, Steven and Marybeth's youngest daugthter, Maria, was tragically killed in their driveway. Lifest was the first concert since Maria's death. It was amazing to hear his testimony and how he firmly believes that this was God's plan for Maria. You could hear how much he and the family is hurting, but how strong they are standing in their faith. Amazing faith they have! He sang the song Cinderella and there wasn't a dry eye in the house!

On Saturday, just Noah and I went and we saw Rebecca St. James & Casting Crowns. Casting Crowns was awesome!! They are a great band!

Here are some photos from the concerts we saw.

On our Way!

2008-07-16T21:06:00.003-05:00

We are so excited...we are on our way to meet our China Travel group. We are making it our summer vacation. First stop, Louisville, KY. We will spend some time checking out the Louisville Slugger Bat Company, Churchill Downs and whatever else we come across. Then it's on to the Gatlinburg, TN area. We are meeting 11 (I think) of the 15 other families we traveled with when we got Emma. Last I counted there will be 32 children and a bunch of adults. We rented two big cabins in the Smokey Mountains for a few days. We are so excited to see our extended China family!! Our last stop will be Cinncinati to check out the Creation Museum, which is a museum that shows a Biblical view of creation and the beginning of time. We can't wait! When we get back I will post some stuff from Lifest last weekend...which was AWESOME and some stuff from our trip. Please pray for safe travels for us and all of our friends.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-07-09T07:37:00.004-05:00

My friend, Terri, who traveled to China with us to get her daughter, Teagan, has 'tagged' me. To play the game, I need to capture my life right now in six words.

So, after thinking about it for a couple of days, here is my six word memoir:

A Woman Abundantly Blessed By God

How else could I sum up my life right now? I have an awesome God who loves me just as I am, a husband who is totally devoted to his wife and family, three awesome children that give my life purpose and laughter and the two best jobs I could ever ask for...."mom" and "teacher". Why wouldn't I feel abundantly blessed??

Now, I am tagging five more friends...

Amy
Kathy
Suzanna
Wendy
Eileen

It's their turn to play and pass along the fun!

Photos...

2008-06-28T07:13:00.003-05:00

For some reason, I am not able to put text in the same post as my slideshow...it keeps sending me an error message and won't keep the slideshow in the post, so, here is what I was trying to type in the last post...

We had some new photos of our kids taken on Memorial Day and I finally had some time to put them into a slideshow to share on our blog. My friend Tammy Muller, from our church did them for us. She is very reasonable and gives you 4x5 prints of all of the photos she takes, as well as a CD with all of the photos. Then, you can take them wherever you want to have them printed out.

Great Lookin' Fidlin Kids!

2008-06-28T07:10:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-16T23:53:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Father's Day this year with the First Annual Ice Cream Tasting Contest. I bought 8 different flavors of Edy's Ice Cream and covered them all in tin foil. After church on Sunday night, the taste testing began! The boys all got sheets to record their guesses. Then, when we were all done trying a bit of each flavor, I revealed the answers. It was fun trying all the different kinds and now we have a few weeks worth of ice cream in our freezer! Believe it or not, Steve actually thought he had too much ice cream.

Happy Father's Day Steve. I am so happy to call you my husband and I am proud of the great father you are! I love you.

I also want to wish my dad and my step-dad, Rich, a Happy Father's Day, too! I love you both very much!!

Punch Balloon Fun

2008-06-10T08:02:00.002-05:00

Emma Turns Two!!

2008-06-10T07:27:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Emma turned two on June 1st. We celebrated "Elmo" style on Saturday, complete with Elmo invites, an Elmo poster, Elmo napkins and plates and an Elmo ice cream cake. Both sets of Grandparents came, as well as my sister and her family and Steve's youngest brother, Kevin. Emma was quite stoic about the whole thing, including the birthday song, cake and presents. She finally showed a little bit of her goofy personality later in the night when she discovered the punch balloons and how fun they are. The big gifts for the day were more babies, a few bubble toys, nail polish, a vaccuum cleaner, puzzles, a play sushi set and of course, more babies. She loves all of her new toys and has been playing with them non-stop since the party.

On a more sentimental note, we also honored Emma's birthparents by having two special cupcakes with candles in them at the party. I know that somewhere in China, Emma's mom is remembering her around this time of year and wondering where she is and if she is happy and healthy and in a loving family. I pray that God will give her an unexplainable peace that only He can give, helping her find comfort and healing. We are so thankful for her, as she gave birth to the little girl that was chosen, by God, to be a part of our family, forever.

Our Two Ring Circus: Ring 2...Nutty Noah

2008-06-09T19:24:00.004-05:00

And, here is another bit of entertainment, from Noah. Just think how funny it would be if he had dark hair and a unibrow!!

Our Two Ring Circus: Ring 1... Crazy Caleb

2008-06-09T19:04:00.004-05:00

Yes, the Fidlins have talent. Here is Caleb's newest trick. He spends lots of time trying to perfect it. It has become a real thing of pride for him. Think it could make us some money?? What is it with boys and bodily noises??

Momma Fiddlebug and Her Baby Bugs!

2008-06-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

This photo was taken at the ice cream social at the school I teach at. At the end of the year, our Guidance Counselor puts together an awesome movie of the year, for the students and staff. This photo was included in the show this year. I liked it so much I thought I'd share it. I don't make it into photos too often, as I am usually the one taking them.

He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay!!

2008-05-28T21:00:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to post this cute photo of Noah. Today was the 4th grade Lumberjack Breakfast at school, so he got to dress up...complete with a lumberjack mustache. Steve challenges himself to find a new and creative way to wake the boys up every day. So, of course, today Steve woke Noah up by singing the song "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm Okay" from the Monty Python movie.

That Sassy Dog!!

2008-05-28T20:51:00.005-05:00

That sassy dog of ours...The kids and I left to go for a bike ride and play at the park for a while tonight and this is what I came home to. My mistake was leaving the bag of garbage on the counter. I thought that Ellie would stay upstairs, since the gate was locked at the bottom of the steps....but either she jumped the gate or slammed into it hard enough that she escaped, and, well, the rest is history. She did what a dog does best...get into TROUBLE...with a capital T!! Not only did I have garbage to clean up in the kitchen, but also a chewed up diaper in the living room. And those wet diapers have all those little beads in them...yep....all over my carpet. In addition, she destroyed a Pledge duster today and left pieces throughout the house, and jumped up and grabbed a slice of pizza off the counter while I was on the phone to Steve. The most frustrating thing is that she NEVER does these things when Steve is home. It's like she just wants to see how much trouble she can cause whenever he is out of town. Maybe she is rebelling because she misses him so much....SASSY!!!

Cute Pics from the Long Weekend

2008-05-27T13:22:00.001-05:00

We also had photos taken on Monday and I will load some of them onto my blog when I get them. Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend! We're headed up to the U.P. to visit my dad next weekend. Lots of outdoor exploring to be had!!

Macnessa Turns 6!!

2008-05-27T13:10:00.004-05:00

Fergus watching big sister, Macnessa, blow out her birthday candles.

Our neice turns 6 on the 30th. Her party was last Sunday. The weather was great and the kids all enjoyed playing together. It's hard to believe Macnessa is already 6 years old. The time really does pass quickly!! Happy Birthday Macnessa!!

Toe Tastin' & Guitar Pickin'

2008-05-19T21:12:00.006-05:00

Emma has learned to suck on her toes. She often takes her shoe off to get a little toe action in. Wow! She is sooo flexible...makes me wonder if she could have been one of those Chinese acrobats we saw in Beijing last spring. This photo was taken when we were flower shopping. Too funny!

Uncle Rick provided free guitar lessons over the weekend...the boys thought it was a "rockin' " good time!

Braden Turns 4!!

2008-05-19T20:53:00.004-05:00

Braden & his Lego cakes
The new scooter...
Randy, Braden (4), Kenson (1) & Kyra (5)

We celebrated my nephew, Braden's 4th birthday on Friday. His new scooter, farmin' clothes (Carharts), gardening tools and "man tools" were right up his alley! He couldn't wait to put them all to use! He's gonna' be a man who likes hard work, just like his daddy! This last photo was one my sister took after Randy's awards night. Happy Birthday, Braden!

Forever Family Day

2008-05-15T15:30:00.003-05:00

Today is our Forever Family Day. It is the anniversary of the day that we signed and sealed all of the paperwork to make Fu Bao Yan legally a part of our family...
forever! It is the day Fu Bao Yan become Emma Grace Bao Yan Fidlin. Who would have ever guessed that a little girl, on the other side of the world, born to a beautiful Chinese mother and father, would be chosen, by God, to be placed in our family! Our family is forever touched by adoption in so many ways. Part of our hearts will always remain in China and we can't wait to go back someday! This adoption journey has also placed the most wonderful group of families in our lives. The hand of God was surely at work to bring all of these people together to form our travel group. They are really a part of our extended family. So, on this Forever Family Day, we celebrate not only our family, but the extended family we have gained. We love you all and can't wait for our reunion in July!!

We "Gotcha" Emma!

2008-05-14T21:11:00.003-05:00

One year ago, on this exact date, our little Emma was placed in our arms. Our family refers to this day as Emma's "Gotcha Day". Some adoptive families don't like the term "Gotcha Day", but for our family, it feels right to call it that. It is amazing to think that God had this all planned, even before Emma was born....even before we were born. I am so very grateful to Emma's biological parents, who choose life for her. I am also so thankful for the Lily Orphan Care Center and all of the nannies that cared for Emma in her first year of life as well as The First Hugs program which helped with Emma's attachment and bonding process. But most of all, I am thankful to my husband, Steve, who said "yes" to adoption and was confident that God would provide for us. He encouraged our family to take a step of faith and grow our family in a new way. I love you Steve...for saying "yes"!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

One year ago, on Mother's Day, I receieved one of the best presents I have ever received. My little girl was placed in my arms for the very first time. I am proud to be the mother of three great kids! God has blessed me beyond measure!

I would like to wish my own mother a Happy Mother's Day, too. You have been such an awesome part of my life. Your strength and determination has helped shape who I am today and I am forever grateful for that. I love you!!

Happy Birthday Steve!

2008-04-08T20:59:00.000-05:00

Steve's birthday was today. We had a great dinner, followed by an ice cream cake, of course. Notice the candles....4-1=3 and the 9 makes 39! Couldn't find the right numbers, but it worked! Emma looks pretty serious about this whole birthday cake/candle thing. She loved the ice cream though!

We love you Steve!! Happy Birthday!

Emnma Bug

2008-04-07T14:45:00.004-05:00

One more photo to share....Emma in her ladybug dress all ready for church. Complete with a scarf...or hat, as she calls it.

Who Moved My Cheese?

2008-04-07T14:39:00.003-05:00

Emma has suddenly become a cheese lover, which is a good thing, in Wisconsin. Recently, I gave her a slice of cheddar cheese and later discovered her "safe keeping spot" for it. She stuck it to the oven door to save for later!