COMMUNITYHERI

TAGE

www.heritage.com July 29, 2010

1-CPAGE

SALINEThrough Friday, July 30

DI Fridays will be offered through Saline Community Education. Each workshop will stretch the participant’s imagina-tion, boost problem-solving skills and improve teamwork. The class is for kids in kindergarten through eighth grade and will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at Liberty School Room 4. The fee is $10. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

Through AugustTwo Twelve Arts Center and My Favorite Café will host Art

at the Café. Students from Two Twelve Arts Center will display their work of watercolor, pastel, pencil drawing, clay wall art and fiber art. My Favorite Café is located at 101 S. Ann Arbor St. in downtown Saline. For more information, call 944-4054.

Saturday, July 31The Pick Up the Pace, Saline! Community Walk will be held

in downtown Saline. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Saline Farmers’ Market on South Ann Arbor Street and Michigan Avenue for a walk to the newly developed Henne Field and the Depot Trail. The walk lasts one hour. Wear your walking shoes. For more information call 429-2313.

Monday, Aug. 2 through Friday, Aug. 6Saline Summer Kids Camp will be held at the Saline

Recreation Center for youth ages 5 through 12. The theme for this week is “CSI.” Activities include daily swimming, games, crafts, sports and a field trip on Wednesday to the Putterz Miniature Golf. Register by the week or by the day. For more information, call 429-3502 or e-mail salinekidscamp@cityofsaline.org.

Monday, Aug. 9Morning youth tennis lessons will be offered by Saline Parks

and Recreation for youth ages 7 to 9, 10 to 12 and 13 to 17. Lessons take place Monday through Thursday mornings. The session runs for two weeks and costs $59. For more information, call 429-3502.

Monday Aug. 9 through Friday Aug. 13Saline Summer Kids Camp will be held at the Saline

Recreation Center for youth ages 5 through 12. The theme for the week is “Michigan Adventures.” Activities include daily swim-ming, games, crafts, sports and a field trip on Wednesday to Rolling Hills Water Park. Register by the week or by the day. For more information, call 429-3502 or e-mail salinekidscamp@cityofsaline.org.

“Learn to Study and Take Tests” will be offered through Saline Community Education for children in sixth through 12th grades. Learn various study and test taking strategies that will help you prepare for upcoming tests and quizzes. Classes will be held Monday through Friday at Liberty School Room 20. The fee is $199. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

A musical theater intensive will be offered through Saline Community Education. The class is designed for students in ninth through 12th grades and will concentrate on choosing and preparing monologues and preparing a musical theater piece for auditions. The classes will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the High School Drama Lab. A final presenta-tion for family and friends will take place Aug. 13, also in the high school’s Drama Lab. The fee is $100. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

“One on One Sports – Soccer Skills Camp” will be offered through Saline Community Education. Coaches will help improve participants’ ball control, shooting and passing techniques, as well as defensive skills. T-shirts will be given to all campers. The class is for pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade, and will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday at the Old Varsity Soccer Field. The fee is $145. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

“Abrakadoodle’s Beach Party Art Camp” will be offered through Saline Community Education. There will be spray bottle painting, sand and shell designs and lots of other cool beach-themed projects. The class is for kids in first through fourth grades, and runs from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at Liberty School Room 6. The fee is $65. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

Friday, Aug. 13A Children’s Art Show will be held at Two Twelve Arts Center,

212 W. Michigan Ave., with an artists’ reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Free. For more information, visit www.twotwelvearts.org.

Monday, Aug. 16 through Friday, Aug. 20Saline Summer Kids Camp will be held at the Saline

Recreation Center for youth ages 5 through 12. The theme for this week is “Space Camp.” Activities include daily swimming, games, crafts, sports and a field trip on Thursday to the Jump City. Register by the week or by the day. For more information, call 429-3502 or e-mail salinekidscamp@cityofsaline.org.

Monday, Aug. 16 through Thursday, Aug. 26The Summer Sandbox Preschool Program will be offered by

Saline Community Education. The preschool program is for chil-dren ages 3 1/2 through 5. Children will enjoy fun summer activi-ties and learning projects through hands-on experience, based on different themes each session. Activities include storytelling, movement and music, games, art projects, dramatic play and more. The fee is $170 per session. Registration packets are available for walk-in or phone-in registration at Saline Community Education, 200 N. Ann Arbor St., Saline, 429-8020.

Tuesday, Aug. 17 through Thursday, Aug. 19Driver’s Education Part II will be offered through Saline

Community Education. Students must be 15 years and 9 months old before the first day of class. For more information, visit www.salineonline.org or call the Saline Community Education Office at 429-8020.

Friday, Aug. 20A free movie in the park will be hosted at Mill Pond Park.

Saline Parks and Recreation will be celebrating more than 10 years of this movie festival by showing its first movie presentation: “A Bug’s Life.” Starting at 6:30 p.m., there will be games, concessions

PLEASE SEE CALENDAR/7-C

FamilyExpanding

Lana and Marty Walsh of Saline always knew they wanted a big family –– at least three or four children.

Mother Nature had other ideas, but thanks to adoption, the couple has the foursome they always dreamed about.

After the 2002 birth of their son Thomas, who will start second grade at Woodland Meadows this fall, the couple experienced problems having another child.

In December 2005, they met with an adoption agency about domestic adop-tion and left realizing that an interna-tional adoption was the best fit for them.

They began the paperwork right away and it was submitted to a foreign coun-try in June 2006.

Although they had had requested a young girl, they found out about a boy available for adoption through another foreign country.

“After watching a video of him crawl-ing in his orphanage, we were hooked,” Lana said.

They quickly completed and submit-ted another batch of paperwork to this country, while still waiting for their little girl, as well.

“Unfortunately, we ran into problem after problem, but we continued to try to bring him home,” Lana said. “Now we were waiting for two children in two

different countries, and these two coun-tries were coincidentally going through quite a few changes in their adoption programs. There was no end in sight for us.”

Still determined to adopt, they started exploring adoption from Ethiopia.

After their second child, Sadie, was born in May 2008, the couple decided to pull their paperwork from the other two countries and redo all of the paperwork for Ethiopia, requesting a girl and a boy.

The paperwork was submitted to Ethiopia in January 2009. On Oct. 30, they received the first pictures of Evan, a 20-month-old boy, two months older than Sadie. On Nov. 6, the first pictures of 9-month-old Nora arrived; the two children are not biological siblings.

The Walshes passed court Jan. 22 by way of power of attorney given to their attorney in Ethiopia, and officially became parents of Evan and Nora.

While Marty stayed home with Thomas and Sadie, Lana traveled with her aunt to Ethiopia.

Arriving on March 19 in the evening, Lana and her aunt stayed at a guest-house affiliated with the orphanage, with two other adopting families. The following morning, everyone was taken

to the orphanage.“We were taken to the meet-

ing room and left there alone for a few minutes. Then two nannies brought in the children,” Lana said. “We spent about two hours with the children. Both fell asleep on us for most of the visit. They were both obviously pretty sick with an upper respiratory illness.”

After returning to the guesthouse for lunch, the families checked their chil-dren out of the orphanage, and met for dinner.

“It was pretty exciting to watch our servers extend the tables and bring out more dishes to accommodate our newest family members –– very surreal,” Lana said.

“Nora adapted pretty quickly. Evan was pretty timid and quiet. Later that evening in our room, my aunt started blowing bubbles at Evan and he giggled and giggled and giggled –– music to our ears. Up to that point, he had barely made a peep. Nora was laughing, too. It was great.”

Two days later, Lana had an embassy appointment in Ethiopia and later received the children’s passports. Evan and Nora were finally ready to travel to the United States to meet the rest of their new family. The group arrived in Detroit March 25.

“It was a very quick trip,” Lana said.

By Sheila PursgloveSpecial Writer

By Steven HowardHeritage Newspapers

The product resulting from a collaborative effort between the Two Twelve Arts Center, Saline Parks and Recreation and the Saline District Library can be seen flying around the city in the form of fish-themed wind art, also known as windsocks.

The art center’s Cindy Barnett said the library was already conducting a summer reading pro-gram when she and her colleagues approached officials there about creating a piece of conceptual art based on the “Make a Splash” subject.

“We sat down with them at the library and said we were thinking about doing windsocks,” she said. “We’re always trying to do these

Walsh family adopts from

Ethiopia

Windsocks represent community art Photo by Steven Howard

Artist Keith McGuire addresses a group of volunteers who collabo-rated to construct the wind art installation project this year at the Two Twelve Arts Center.

Library, recreation center, art center team up for project

PLEASE SEE ART/3-C

PLEASE SEE FAMILY/3-C

CALENDAR