We've been so encouraged this week with the outpouring of support and feedback regarding Bo's short story. We've had over 700 blog views this week alone! If you missed the posting, you can find it here. We are selling sweatshirts as part of our adoption fundraiser and have already sold 7!! Here's the link if you're interested in purchasing a sweatshirt: https://www.tstacker.com/view/bumpyandmaggie
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Bumpy and Maggie’s Adoption Adventure by: Bo T Blumenshine
The herd of elephants would walk through the bright green jungle and eat grass from the ground and leaves off of the trees. Maggie especially liked to eat the leaves of the banana tree. The herd of elephants would bathe in the slow moving river. Bumpy loved the river, he would splash and splash in the cool, clear water. Bumpy and Maggie loved to walk with the herd, but they felt like something was missing. Lots of the other elephants had little elephant children to teach about the tastiest leaves and splashing in the river. Bumpy and Maggie saw how good it was to teach the baby elephants about the jungle walks. ‘We should have a little baby to raise as well, then I could teach him which leaves are the sweetest,’ said Maggie. ‘Yes we should,’ answered Bumpy, ‘and I could teach him how to spray water high into the air.’ Bumpy and Maggie told the elephant herd that they were going to leave and search for a baby of their own. The herd did not want to see Bumpy and Maggie go, but they were happy that the two might find their own little baby to raise. The herd had a loud party the day Bumpy and Maggie walked away to find their baby. Elephants have the best parties and their goodbyes last a very long time. As Bumpy and Maggie walked away into the jungle the elephant herd lifted their trunks and let out a great big noise that shook the treetops. Bumpy and Maggie knew the herd loved them and that they would return after they found their baby. First Bumpy and Maggie searched the forest for a little baby they could raise. They walked and walked until finally they came upon a mother tiger with two little tiger cubs. Bumpy and Maggie told the mother tiger about their walk to find a little baby they could raise. The mother tiger listened to Bumpy and Maggie while her two little cubs played tiger games. ‘I have listened to your story,’ said the mother tiger, ‘but I do not think a baby tiger would be right for two elephants.’ ‘Elephants like to eat grass and leaves,’ said the mother tiger, ‘but baby tigers cannot eat grass and leaves.’ Bumpy and Maggie thanked the mother tiger for listening to their story and then they said goodbye. The mother tiger wished Bumpy and Maggie good luck with their baby search and then she said goodbye. Bumpy and Maggie next searched the desert for a baby. The desert was hot and dry and the two elephants were very uncomfortable, but they knew they needed to look everywhere if they were to find a baby. After a short while walking in the desert Bumpy and Maggie met a mother snake with a nest full of unhatched snake eggs. Bumpy and Maggie told the mother snake about their search for a baby and they asked the snake if she would give them one of her eggs they could love as their own. The mother snake thought carefully about all Bumpy and Maggie had said, then she shook her brown head and said, ‘I do not think a desert snake would walk well with two elephants.’ ‘Elephants like to play in streams and rivers,’ said the mother snake, ‘but desert snakes do not enjoy splashing in the water one bit.’ Determined to find a baby to walk with them Bumpy and Maggie said goodbye to the mother snake and continued their search. Bumpy and Maggie walked into the mountains next to search for a little baby. The mountain air was cool and the elephants enjoyed the mists that tickled their big ears. While walking in the mountains Bumpy and Maggie met a colorful mountain bird feeding her many chirping little chicks. Bumpy and Maggie told the mountain bird about their search for a baby and how they wished to teach a baby about the best parts of being an elephant. The colorful bird twitched her head back and forth as she listened to what the two elephants had to say. Quickly the bird began to chirp her response to Bumpy and Maggie’s story. ‘I do not think a mountain bird would make a good baby for two elephants,’ said the mother bird, ‘mountain birds need to spread their wings and soar up into the clouds while elephants stomp very slowly along the ground.’ The mother bird wished “good luck” to the elephants and then returned to feeding her hungry chicks. Bumpy and Maggie felt like they had searched everywhere for a little baby. There was no baby for them in the forest. There was no baby for them in the desert and now there was no baby for them in the mountains. Bumpy and Maggie decided to walk back to the herd. The elephants had long, sad faces as they walked, they thought their dreams of raising a baby were over. On the walk back to the herd Bumpy and Maggie passed a big noisy truck that was carrying a large cage in the back. In the cage was a sad looking rhino with tears running down her face. Bumpy and Maggie did not know why the rhino looked so sad, they wished they could help her in some way, but the truck was too fast and soon the truck and the rhino were gone. Bumpy and Maggie continued to walk and soon they saw a small baby rhino crying by the side of a muddy little pond. Bumpy and Maggie knew that this little rhino’s mother was the one they had seen in the back of the truck. The elephants decided to help the baby rhino. Maggie grabbed some tasty leaves from a tree and gave them to the sad little rhino. The rhino gobbled up the leaves and let out a big burp. Bumpy then sucked up a trunk-full of cold water from the pond. Gently Bumpy sprayed the cold water over the baby rhino’s head, the little rhino stopped crying and began to giggle. ‘He really likes the leaves I gave him,’ said Maggie. ‘Yes, and he seems to like to play in the water as well,’ said Bumpy. Bumpy and Maggie knew that this little rhino had lost his mother, but they thought maybe they could take care of him. The elephants asked the little rhino if he had a name, but he did not seem to be able to speak yet. The baby rhino rubbed his little face against Maggie’s large leg then made a soft grumble sound. ‘He really likes you,’ said Bumpy, ‘let’s see if he will follow us.’ The elephants began to walk in the direction of the herd. The baby rhino looked at them for a moment and then as quick as he could the rhino shuffled his little legs to catch up to the big elephants. Bumpy and Maggie walked slowly and the little rhino found his way between the two large elephants. Looking up at Bumpy and Maggie the baby rhino smiled as big as a rhino has ever smiled.
To purchase your own Bumpy, Maggie and Moe sweatshirt, visit https://tstacker.com/view/bumpyandmaggie
The sweatshirt will be available for purchase until Monday, January 4th, 2016.
Hello All, applications and more applications are complete. We did fingerprinting/background checks and signed all sorts of documents. This month, we've been busy painting, dog sitting and decluttering garages. We are $635 short of completing payment for Phase 2. In addition to renting us, we are also selling Nerium as part of our adoption fundraiser. I have a couple extra bottles this month of night cream and firming cream (helps tackle the hail damage otherwise known as cellulite!) Here's a few Nerium before and afters that I love: If you're interested in sampling the night cream or the firming cream, send me a message and I'll drop it off or mail it to you. Thanks!
Help us help you by helping us! We've had several people hire us to do various jobs - ripping out carpet, roofing, painting and decluttering, to name a few. Feel free to hire us for any odd job that you've been putting off or not wanting to do yourself! Check out our fundraising page!
And just like that it seems that summer is over. The humidity dropped over night, the State Fair came to an end and the morning commute now has me sitting impatiently behind a school bus - not my husbands ;) This summer was full of exciting things, top of our list, the purchase of our first home! After months of travel this past year, we finally decided it was time to hunker down and start a settl'n in. It seems so strange to think we could be in one place for more than a few years. So far, we are loving it though and are so grateful to have our own place. We live in a small town, the local ballpark is a stone's throw from our deck. We can walk to the local ice cream shop and the butcher, who's been family run for over 100 years. We've met our sweet neighbors and couldn't be more thrilled with the beautiful setting we find ourselves in. The previous owners left our place in pristine condition. We thank God (and our amazing realtor, Matt Strobl) for finding this perfect home for us. In August, two of our friends from Bangalore, Sriharsha and Rakshith, arrived in MN for one month of training with OSI. It has been so fun to show them around and watch them be tourists. We've had them over for a few meals (both of which Sriharsha managed to do some of the cooking for. I'm now a mild - or spicy? - expert in making masala dosa). Roy and Bev, Bo's parents, popped up for a visit to see our new home and help us get settled in. It was a treat to have them here and finally be able to host them! My sister, Allison, also came for a visit. She came up from Austin for a whole week in which we spoiled ourselves silly with antiques, ice cream, 'Friends' and friends, family time, dutch blitz, sister sleepovers and a visit to the State Fair.
For Labor Day, we brought Harsha and Rakshith to Chicago. A whirlwind of a cultural food tour; mutton burgers at Roy and Bev's, Little India for Pakistani lunch, a quick stop for Mexican horchata and tacos, Awake Cafe to keep us moving, amazing pizza at Lou Malnati's, Indian/Nepalese dinner in Wicker Park. Oh and we toured! Selfies with the fire trucks, the water fountain, the bean, the river, the boats, the lake, the nightlife and so on... Here's to ending our 14th month in a row of summer weather! Fall weather and bright colors, yes please!
Hello friends and welcome to a time of transition for Team Blumenshine and The Curry Burger. Thank you for faithfully following the peaks and valleys of our globe trotting year. What a pleasure it has been for us to share our Indian adventure stories with all of you. Now that we have been back for a while we are finding that some of the less desirable aspects of our overseas life have already begun to fade from our minds. The comforts of home now gently soothe us back into a relatively sumptuous American lifestyle. The lessons we learned abroad however, stick with us like flies on an elephants back and they shall help us as we embark on a new journey. Adjusting back into our American rhythms has not been overly difficult. Greetings with friends and family are rich and joy filled when done in person. Scrumptious delicacies of pork and beef have reentered our diets and our palates are pleased. We are free to roam the land in our own vehicles once again, relishing that wandering spirit that courses through American veins. Megan does long for the more laissez faire attitude of the Indian road though (this concerns me greatly). We have been seasoned by our time in India (or masala'd if you will) and we have also found a new appreciation for the country of our births. It is now time for us to put our acquired educations to good use. Straight to the point already, Megan and I are entering the adoption process. This is incredibly exciting and a little bit frightening. This blog has been a wonderful way for us to share our adventures with so many. Now we want to share this new adventure with all of you. It is our hope to continue the kind of support our readers have shown us these many months. The adoption process is likely to be long, frustrating at times, and most certainly expensive. We will have an ongoing need for support in the form of prayers, encouragement, and funds. Notice the new pages on our blog titled, adoption and fundraising, they provide more information into how you can get involved. Our commitment to write current posts offering up stories of this journey will keep us connected to our readers. So please cheer on Team Blumenshine as we try to add a new member to the roster (hopefully a little power-hitter). Love, Bo and Megan Bo and I are excited to announce to our Facebook world that after months of preparation and planning, we have decided to embark on this journey into the unknown by accepting a position at a potential job site in Malawi. We depart on May 1st for 12 months. Good thing we didn't buy a home for the month we were back in MN. Looking forward to this new adventure. Come explore Africa with us! April Fools.
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Adoption UpdateOur adoption has been put on hold until Spring 2017. Stay tuned for more updates!
Giving Opportunities
If you feel called to help fund our adoption, please click on the Donate button below. Check out our adoption and fundraising pages for additional info. Mil Gracias, in advance! Prayer Opportunities
If you feel called to pray for us, please pray for peace, guidance, patience and safety for everyone involved in the adoption process. Thanks! Team BoganTwo curious mid-westerners with inborn wanderlust, we travel when opportunity arises and we recharge with loved ones at home in the interim. Archives
September 2016
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