Wednesday 17 December 2008

Our visit to India


We have just returned from spending two weeks in Chennai with Sunama and the children. Barry and I rented an apartment in the city and our Indian family came from her village to spend the time with us. We all had a great time together. Everyone was more relaxed as we knew each other from our previous visit and had plenty of time to take things easy.
I gave Sunama a copy of "Love Our Way" and she was thrilled. Although she can't read, she was delighted to see the photos and to hear that thousands of people now know her story and send her messages of love and support.
Gopu Mohan from the newspaper Indian Express interviewed us and published a story here.

Saturday 13 September 2008

Update


Well, it's now a couple of weeks since "Love Our Way" was released and we have been really touched by the many emails and blog comments we've received. It is heartwarming to know that so many people are reading our story and are interested in the welfare of our family in India.

Unfortunately I am unable to reply directly to messages on this blog, so if you would like me to respond please email me at jurol@hotmail.com instead. I will answer a couple of questions left in recent comments...
* Yes - we are interested in publishing in the US. My agent will be looking for an overseas publisher but the publishing process takes a long time, so email me if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book.
* Donations can be made directly via the Paypal button on the right side of this page. All money received goes in total to supporting Sunama and her children in India. We have looked into obtaining tax deductibility for donors but, unfortunately, we cannot meet the requirements for recognition as a charity as set by the ATO.

Vidya recently visited Sunama and the children. They are doing well, though all of them still greatly miss Babu. Sabila was delighted to hear that Fareeda won an award at school for dancing. Sabi intends teaching Fareeda and Zarina some simple classic dance steps during our upcoming visit.
We were happy to receive these photos of the children, all dressed smartly in their school uniforms. Jaan Basha and Zeenath, in particular, have grown up so quickly!

Thursday 17 July 2008

"Love Our Way" hits the shelves on 1st September


Love Our Way: A Mother's Story
By Julia Rollings

Price: $32.99
On Sale: 1/09/2008
Formats: Trade Paperback

Managing a household of eight children takes a lot of love and patience – and amazing parents. When six of your children are adopted from overseas, learning to adapt to any situation becomes a survival skill. Having created a riotiously happy family, Julia and Barry Rollings thought they could handle anything life threw at them...

Read more

Sunday 13 July 2008

Finding their feet again...

Vidya visited the family in their village following Babu's death. A lot of relatives had travelled to be there. Vidya let me know that Sunama is being quite brave. The family and relatives were visiting for the funeral and would come back to the village for a ceremony that is held forty days later. The children are happy and playing around, and seemed to be coping well with the loss of their father. In many ways the past year has been preparation for that loss, as Babu was severely disabled by his stroke and has been in and out of hospital many times over the past twelve months.
Sunama will have to shift to a new house, as the owner of her current one wants to have it back. Jagan will fix another house for the family, and they will remain in the village.
Vidya also told me she has found an apartment for us to rent when we visit India at the end of the year. Sunama and the children will come and stay with us in this apartment, so we will have a lot of time together. Akil and Sabila are very excited and already making plans about how to spend time playing with their little brothers and sisters.

Friday 13 June 2008

Sad news

During the evening of 11th June we received the sad news from Vidya that Babu had passed away. We will all miss dear Babu.

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Babu's health worsens

This morning I received an email from Vidya, telling us that Babu is unwell and his condition has worsened recently. He is frequently losing consciousness and is not eating well. Babu has been admitted and discharged several times from local hospitals, but they now say they cannot help him any further. Vidya is investigating the possibility of having him admitted to a private hospital.

I am so grateful that we have Vidya, and also Jagan and his family, there to support Sunama through this awful time.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Into 2008


Vidya recently wrote to tell me that little Zeenath had been sick with the measles, but we can now see from this recent photo that she is is doing well. Akil and Sabi were delighted to see Zeenath looking so grown up and cute. She celebrated her first birthday in early January and has grown so much since the tiny seven week old baby we met.

Barry and I are taking Akil and Sabi back to India again in November 2008. We told our family we would visit again in 2009 but we have brought plans forward as we were missing them so much.