(Sunday, Jan. 02, 2011, ELTOPTIA, Tri-City Herald)-- An old upright piano stands in a living room overlooking the small farm town of Eltopia. The entire top of the piano is filled with photos.
Every smiling face -- brown or white -- is one of Julie and Eric Keskitalo's 10 children. The couple have brought five children from Ethiopia to Eltopia across the past two years.The family of 12 now needs a full-sized van for outings, as Eric and Julie already had five children of their own before they adopted five more from an African orphanage.
Eric and Julie, both raised in large Christian families, never had any doubts about adding to their family through adoption. They knew it was the right thing to do."We can give them a safe and healthy home," said Julie, a stay-at-home mom. "We give them a chance at life," added Eric, who builds houses with Julie's father and brother.
Their five biological kids -- Alanta, 13, Victoria 12, Bryce 10, Annabel, 7, and Blayd, 5 -- never showed any resentment over sharing their home with five new siblings from another continent -- Alemu, 9, Samuel, 7, Rahel, 9, Ashenafi, 7, and Esayas, 6.
Race was never an issue either. The young children saw their new siblings' different skin color and commented on it, "but never in a mean way," Julie said. "Annabel told her brother, 'You're like chocolate.' "
Ethnicity in the family has become blurred -- a picture Samuel drew of himself and his new parents shows Julie and Eric with brown skin.
Cultural boundaries have blurred, too. Alemu taught Bryce his former pastime -- catching grasshoppers. The food served in the Keskitalo household has changed. Julie learned how to make curries and all of the kids sprinkle Berbere, an Ethiopian spice mixture, on their hamburgers and hot dogs.
The transition wasn't seamless for everyone -- it took love and patience, which seem to be abundant in this family. FULL ARTICLE AT Tri-City Herald »
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