"What is this Halloween, mom????

Have you ever explained the concept of halloween to anyone?  It's a really weird idea when you say it out loud.  Tess keeps asking questions about it which tells me she's not really understanding...and she keeps seeing the creepy monster/skeleton masks, hundred of pumkins, princess costumes and isles of candy... the poor thing  is just plain confused. It really is an odd mish-mash of ideas...

 She chose to be CINDERELLA and Cameron chose to be a football player.  We've had the costume for weeks so today is the big day she's been waiting for!!!  She put it on first thing this morning so I already snapped a few of these shots as she jumped around the kitchen...it should be fun to watch her actually trick-or-treat...I know she'll get the candy part-no problem!!

paperwork...yuck!!

So, right now we are in the "post-adoption" paperwork.  We are preparing documents for a court date to legally adopt Tess in the US.  She still has an Ethiopian passport and is here on an

 R-4 visa.  We applied for a court date and got denied because they said we were missing some documents.  They asked for a death certificate from Tess's mother-which we never recieved...so our social worker is working on this.  Once we pass our court date I believe Tess gets a new Birth certificate with her new name ( Tesfanesh Grace Duarte Jonas) and social security # as well as a US passport.

We are then required by Ethiopian Law to file an update on Tess with photos until she is 18 years old.  Our international agency, CHRISTIAN WORLD ADOPTIONS files this for us.

carrying on...

Tess is a dynamite soccer player.  She really has a natural knack for it.  Her team has won every game.  She is always so happy when she has soccer.
Papa, Vovo and Vovo watch the game.  We're so glad they got to see the kids play.  It was great for Papa Don to have some distractions...
It was Christine's first time home since leaving for College in August.  We wish it was under happier circumstances.  It was so nice to have her around again.  At dinner we all sat around and listened to her funny college stories.
Cameron had 3 interceptions and they won the game.  It was nice to have some fun activities to distract us from being so sad.

Fascinating...

As we navigate this really sensitive subject of Grandma's death, we kept getting clues from Tess's questions that she was not really understanding...so we called our Ethiopian friend Tseiga.  He spoke with Tess in AMHARIC on the phone for about 10 minutes to make sure she understood what was going on.  We watched as she only answered him in English.  She kept saying "what", "what did you say".  When Jeff got back on the phone we were suprised when Tseiga told us Tess did not understand when he spoke to her in Amharic!!! Can you believe it!! She already does not understand her native language!!  She basically has no language right now.  We learned about this in our training classes.  It's common for the child to loose their native language before they actually master their new language.  This is exactly where Tess is right now.  Tseiga said she basically understood 50% of what he said.  I think she understands more than 50% of english so I guess from now on we will not need to translate into amharic anymore.  It makes me kind of sad to have her lose her beautiful African language but it is virtually impossible for her to retain it.

It is with a very sad heart that I enter this blog.  Our sweet beloved grandma Ann (Jeff's mom) passed away yesterday.  

I think God was smiling when he brought her into everyone's life...He was saying

"this treasure of mine will touch so many people in so many different ways...they will be blessed"  And how blessed we were!!  She was the definition of genuine caring and love.  She lived for her kids and grandkids-all 15.  Her love and dedication are something I will strive for the rest of my life.  She was a true servant, doing God's work.  I cannot begin to list all her accomplishments and involvements as it would be an endless list.  The ripple that has gone through our community and the names from the past that have come forward to share their story of how Ann changed their life has been amazing.

One of her friends wrote..."Sometimes life's most influential loving people are probably not aware of the things they teach and the lives they touch.  You are an inspiration to everyone who was blessed enough to know you."

Grandma Ann will be SO greatly missed.  She would ask each of us to fax her each grandkids sport schedule so she could create a master schedule to make it to as many games as possible.  She was always disappointed when she had to miss one due to an overlap...Now she will never miss another grandchilds soccer game or football game.  She will be with all of us all the time.

Addis Ababa to New York City...

Tess, Chrisitne and I spent an amazing day in New York City.  The weather was a beautiful 78 degrees with a clear blue sky!!  How lucky for October!!  We started our day having breakfast with friends and then headed out to take on Manhattan!! Tess was not overwhelmed at all!  Her fist word when she looked up at a skyscraper was "SCARY!!"  but then as we walked around and I explained that people worked and lived in those buildings, she understood.  

Tess thought the taxi was funny because we all sat in the back...she also loved that I would raise my hand and they would stop.  She then became the designated cab hailer!!
Tess's first serious shopping experience...Bloomingdales with her sister -the shopping pro!!  
Taking a rest on a stoop- down in Soho. We walked around there for hours!! It also happened to be my birthday, October 13th!!

Tess and Christine in a taxicab...
A natural New Yorker already!!
Shopping with mom down in Soho...she just loved seeing everything!  I guess I've done a great job of teaching her how shopping works!!  She did not hesitate to ask for something everywhere we went!
I could not have had a better birthday than to spend the day in the city with my daughters.  Tess was a trouper because Christine and I are like the energizer bunnies when we get to New York City!  We had breakfast with Rachel and Josie, Lunch with my high school friends Sara and Tina and dinner with our great friends Lenny and Vickey...we did not have a quiet  minute and Tess hung in there! Just imagine what she took in!  I wish we could communicate a bit more so she could really express herself and what she thought of it all.  

During our flight out, she kept looking out the window and asking if the land below was Africa...I explained that all the land we saw was America...and everywhere we were going to go was America, but different states...but what does that really mean to a little Ethiopian child who has only been here 10 weeks?...what did she understand?...if nothing else, she now knows how to hail a taxi!!

Sweet Friends...

There are friends and then there are FRIENDS!!!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful poeple in our lives.  It really makes every experience richer!!  I grew up next door to the most fun loving family...who remain very special to us to this day!  Joan, Kate, Sylvia and  Jaime came to visit us at Eva's and meet Tess.  They brought Tess her most special gift to date...her very own American Girl Doll...She spends her time dressing her  and combing her hair.  She has named her Lollie and has not put her down since!  Thank you, thank you!! OX

My College friends meet Tess...

A Pi Phi reunion of sorts...We all met up at Carrie's house in Princeton for dinner. We got to catch up, reminisse and meet Tess.  It is always so great to see the people you love.  We all live so far apart, but as soon as we are together-it's like we just saw each other 2 weeks ago!!  Now that Christine is in college, I realize what a big part of your life that experience becomes.  My college friends are still my closest...it's  a bond that is hard to duplicate later in life...

A BIG thank you kiss goes out to Grace and Carolyn for flying all the way up from Florida just to see Tess and I.  It was so great to get to see you and have the girls play...
Thanks Carrie, Amy and Emily  for hosting such a fun weekend!  We love you guys!!

meeting the family!!!

This was a very special trip for us because Tess got to meet her Vovo and Vovo (grandparents) and her Aunt Eva and Uncle Jeff and my nieces, Brooke and Brittany.  We spent the first day of our trip at my sister Eva's house.  Her daughters are 7 and 8 years old so the girls hit it off.  Tess never saw so many toys in her life. We really don't have any toys at home because the kids are much older.( but...even when my kids were young, we never had that many toys!) They have a big basement full of girly girl toys...kitchens, dolls, ponies,dress up clothes, games...Tess did not hesitate to jump right in!!
My parents were so very happy to finally meet their newest grandchild!  They had been in Portugal since our trip to Ethiopia this summer so this was our first chance to get together.

We lucked out and had 3 birthdays while we were there...mine, my dad's and Brooke's.  Here we are toasting my dad and my birthdays!!  CHEERS!!!
At Brooke's birthday party...Vovo and Vovo with all the granddaughters...  Too bad we all live so far apart!  

Off to New York...

Tess and I are going to New York for 5 days.  We will be staying at my parents place in the city.  Christine is flying in from Dallas so it should be a great long weekend with my daughters!! Tess will be meeting my parents, sister and nieces for the first time.  I'm so excited for them to meet her.  I'll also be driving to Princeton to visit my sorority sisters who are having a BBQ for us as well as having lunch with some very special friends.  It's always a blast to get together with everyone. I will take lots of pictures of her and the skyscrapers to share with you.  Can you just imagine what will be going through her head??  I will not be taking my computer so that I can have a break from it!!!  I look forward to sharing it all when we get back.

Too bad she's not a happy child...

Bennett's first High School dance

Bennett was so excited for his first dance!  He asked Nicole and she said YES!!  Her dress was purple so this week was all about Bennett finding a purple tie.  We borrowed one from our neighbor.  The kids all went in a 40 person limo-bus and had a great time.  Jeff picked him up at 11:30 and said Bennett never got into the dance...he had on leather sneakers and no sneakers were allowed.  I guess more than half the kids never got in because dresses were too short or boys had on sneakers.  They made due and partied in the limo-van...ahhhh youth!!