October 1

Hello!

It's been a while since we wrote. Life is busy and things are going well this month. Shahra turned two on Tuesday, September 11, and grandpa Paschke came to visit for the occasion. Shahra celebrated her birthday with grandpa and her friend Autumn. We made a cake for her birthday on Tuesday and Shahra had a SECOND cake for the party the following Saturday. Lots of cake and lots of sugar makes for one happy two-year-old.

Shahra is going to move to the two-year-old classroom at her daycare on October 1st. The room has a few more big kid toys but is pretty similar to her old classroom. We hope she enjoys her new teacher as much as she liked Ms. Shannon. Later this month, Tracy's parents are coming for a visit. Tracy's mom is quite excited since she hasn't seen the new place and misses her Shahra.

Tracy's work is going really well. She always hoped to have a job that was fulfilling and helped her feel she was doing good for the world. While she's enjoyed her other jobs, working at hospice is incredible. It is such a privilege to be with families in some of their most difficult moments. She finds herself looking at the clock thinking "It's already 3:00? Where did the day go?" Certainly, there are many challenges with the job. Tracy finds herself frustrated on occasion when families apparently have not been made aware until they enter hospice that their loved one will soon die. Perhaps it is a combination of denial on the part of the family and choices made by physicians not to share the "bad news" until the patient enters hospice. However, once the family has entered the program everyone at our facility works together to make the patient and family as comfortable as possible. Being part of a team like this is one of the biggest rewardsTracy has experienced.

Jeff is enjoying his work at Ball State as well. Ball State is one of the leading universities when it comes to the integration of technology and learning. The entire campus is wireless (even the sprawling lawns) and the instructors are encouraged to use media in the classroom. Jeff has been surprised by the freedom he feels in this environment. He is really energized by these new learning techniques and is constantly looking for new examples and teaching styles. There are ample opportunities for group collaboration and Jeff finds this helpful as well.

We hope you are all doing well this fall. We love to hear from all of you. We expect we'll have some new and exciting updates for you all in the next few weeks...stay tuned for more specific and less veiled info (email if you're curious, just not ready to post everything on our blog)

Happy fall!

Tracy, Jeff, and Shahra

Sept 1

Hello again! Wanted to post another update as we settle in to our new jobs. Shahra began daycare a week ago and is loving her time with new kids and new art projects. Perhaps you are aware that Jeff and I don't really do a lot with arts and crafts. Shahra has played with crayons and pictures, but has never before enjoyed activities such as "Pink Week" (all art projects involved the color pink), fingerpainting flowers, or "Fun with Foam" (this included playing with shaving foam and other fluffy, messy things). Jeff's schedule allows him to pick Shahra up earlier most days, so she isn't overwhelmed by her time in daycare.

Jeff began work two weeks ago and made some wonderful acquaintances. Right now, he is examining the history of the teaching of college composition t from 1960-present and reading Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Jeff also took on the task as web master for his department's "Graduate Student Advisory Board," which advocates for student resources, including travel funds for conferences. He will update the GSAB website and keep things in good working order. Fall is a great time on a university campus, with excited freshman, new programs, and numerous activities. The only problem is that the freshman get younger every year and we keep getting older! This year's freshman class was born in 1989. For them, Russia has never been communist. Freshmen also don't remember a time without the internet or a personal computer in the home. Quite humbling if you think about it!

Tracy began work last week at St. Vincent Hospice in Indianapolis. Things are going well as she spent a lot of the week in orientation and learning about hospital policy. Her coworkers are great and are religiously diverse. The commute isn't too bad, especially compared to Twin Cities traffic!

Labor Day weekend was very relaxing. We toured Mounds State Park on Labor Day and hiked on a few local trails (I'll post pictures another time, just haven't uploaded them yet.) We also ventured into Indianapolis Sunday afternoon and did a bit of shopping. Shahra's 2nd birthday is next Tuesday, so we began the hunt for presents. Right now, Shahra enjoys her Elmo toys and new Elmo slippers from grandma and grandma.

That's about all for now. Hope this post finds you well.

We've arrived!

Hello again!

After a week of travel, followed by a week of unpacking, we are finally in our new home. We left Minneapolis Aug 5 and drove down to Nebraska to see friends and family. While there we stayed with Grandma Johannes and saw several friends and family.

This included visits with Jeff's aunt Carol and her daughter, Tracy's work friends Brian and Sarah, and college buddies Steph and Christi.

We stopped by Midland Lutheran College and took a family picture by the fountain. 5 years ago, We had wedding pictures taken at the same spot. It seemed appropriate to have a new one with the whole family.

We were surprised to run into our former professor Dr. Carlson, who gave us a tour of the new rock displays and talked of his recent travels. Shahra received a souvenir geode as well. Our trip then took us to Peoria, Illinois, and finally to Anderson.

Our new place is a townhouse style apartment. We like having the office upstairs and away from the main floor since it makes it easier to work. Shahra is adjusting well to her new room and hasn't had too many problems. We visited her daycare and all looks well. She'll start next Monday. Her latest adventures include learning to count to 8 (or so), singing "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" and the "ABC" song and saying "Barak Obama" (the story behind this: Tracy randomly said something about Barak and Shahra now says "Rocka Momma" and giggles while running around the house. We showed her his pic online and she giggled saying "yeah, Brock Omama" This is almost U-tube worthy :) )

Since we've been here, we also reconnected with several Muncie friends. It was wonderful to get back to our church, where we are surrounded by many supportive folks. Shahra has found a new friend, Autumn, and will certainly meet more of the the 2 year olds in the nursery group.

Tracy met her supervisor and toured the hospice on Friday. The coworkers seem very friendly and excited to have an additional chaplain. The hospice facility is about a half mile from the hospital and is amazing. In addition to serving 75 at home patients, the hospice is a 25 bed facility with a beautiful courtyard. Each private patient room has french doors with a small private patio which opens onto the courtyard. The walk ways are wide enough to wheel out beds so patients can view a lovely stream with lilly pads and waterfalls. Several swings and picnic areas dot the grounds and give families a private outdoor space. Inside there are two large sitting rooms, one with a giant fire place and dinning area for private meals. While having a family member in hospice is certainly a difficult event, the staff and facility seem to provide as much comfort as possible to all patients and family members.

On Friday evening, we met some of Jeff's coworkers at a barbeque in Munice. The group was very friendly, and while there are not any toddlers, they seemed to enjoy Shahra. Several of the ladies enjoy scrap booking, so Tracy hopes to find some people to scrap with. Jeff has enjoyed meeting his coworkers and thinks it should be a good year of teaching, research, and education.

Everything is going quite well, but we have to say we miss our Luther community. Tracy has generally found a shared community in our neighborhood, but it has been more difficult here. There are some younger children, but we have not met any of the parents in our community. I certainly miss the evenings outdoors with all the Luther folks, our impromptu BBQs and long visits. Shahra does ask about her buddies, but she has looked at pictures which seems to work for now.

I hope all of you are doing well as you finish up all your summer plans. Love to hear from you when you have a chance. We'll post some house pictures once the last few boxes are stacked away and our pictures are finally hung.

We're all OK

Keep MN folks in prayer, but just to let you all know we are safe and sound. The bridge is within a few miles of our place. Phones are jammed up, traffic is going to be redirected by our home, but these are minor inconveniences when you consider those who were hurt.

Sad evening.

Tracy

Ethiopian Kid's Community Family Picnic

Last Saturday, we went to the Ethiopian Kid's Community Family Picnic. This is a gathering that Children's Home Society, our adoption agency, puts on every year to celebrate all the families grown through adoption from Ethiopia. There was good food, an Ethiopian coffee ceremony demonstration, and Ethiopian wares for purchase (Jeff got a bag of whole Ethiopian coffee beans and Shahra a variety of "pretties" for her hair). Shahra won a beautiful Ethiopian doll accompanied by children's book describing the experiences of an Ethiopian girl named Saba. Tracy is ordering a beautiful print of the Ethiopian countryside.

There were over 600 people attending and it was fun to hear their stories. We met American families who came from as far and wide as New Hampshire and Indonesia. We even met a couple who adopted triplets! Although Ethiopian adoption is exploding, it is a small world yet, and we got to meet a variety of parents and children we have heard about or communicated with online and elsewhere. Going to such a gathering brings our family a certain sense of relief, as does any opportunity to gather with families who look just like ours. One can't help but feel a little bit different from most other families in the world (and, in fact, we are different), and it feels good to go somewhere we can fit and blend into, to talk to others with familial experiences similar to ours, and to engage in the spirit and ethics of community that brings all these families together.

Tracy's parents joined in the celebration as well. They attended last year's picnic and enjoyed learning about Ethiopian culture. We appreciate that they are so involved in Shahra's life. The week before the picnic, Shahra was in Grand Forks playing with "mum-mum" and grandpa. Tracy spent the week scrapbooking and packing while Jeff worked.

Weeks of Transition

Tracy and Jeff are getting ready to live out of a car for a week...

We got a great big convoy planned for our move out to Indiana. Okay, it's not great or big, and it's only a convoy if a 2007 Toyota Yaris and a 2001 Toyota Echo count as a convoy. But we are truckin' acrost the country in our li'l economy rigs, suitcases and Shahra in tow.

First, we'll trek out of the Twin Cities, down to Nebraska to visit Jeff's grandma in Fremont. We may have time to visit some other folk too. (Send requests for visitation via email). Then we'll shoot off across the countryside, across the soft hills of Iowa, through the desolate, unpopulated highways of Illinois, and to Anderson, Indiana.

Our furniture and boxes will be trailing into Anderson a couple days after us, thanks to a company that'll drop off a trailer, let us pack it up, and ship all our belongings to our new home.

Most of our boxes are packed, and we have about two weeks to pack the rest.

The move

As you may know, we are moving to Indiana August 5th. Jeff will be working at Ball State UniversityIn Muncie, teaching English Composition and earning a Ph.D. in English. Tracy accepted a job as a hospice chaplain in Indianapolis. We are quite excited to begin this new journey. We have stayed in contact with several folks from our previous years in IN, so it won't be as if we are starting from scratch and we have some great relationships to build upon when we go back. But it certainly is difficult to say goodbye to all the new friends we've made (and the old ones we're leaving) in Minnesota. While this is difficult, we feel blessed to have met so many folks from different places. If we stayed put, we wouldn't have had these friendships. I guess there is still a little bit of a pioneer spirit in us!