Merry CHristams to all!!!

Some fun holiday photos...We are having a great time and enjoying all the holiday happenings in Park City! Happy Holidays!

off to our ranch in Utah for Christmashol

Waiting for luggage after a 2 hour delay getting off...



Look at all the fresh powder awaiting us at the ranch!! It's going to be a great 10 days!!

Happy Holidays to all!! OX

Early Christmas

The kids have been staring at these big boxes that came in the mail for weeks. We are going to have an early mini CHristmas before leaving for the ranch so the kids can open some gifts that will not make it out there...
Opening their new wooden POGO sticks...
Bennett in his new Oregon sweatshirt...he LOVED it!!
Cameron opening his new converse sneakers...
Christine and her graffitti art from the art festival last summer...

We had a mini Christmas with some gifts that we are not bringing out to the ranch. The kids were excited to tear into some gifts knowing that real Christmas is still a week away in Utah. Jeff got stuck in London when he missed his connection from Lisbon due to flight delays so we had to do mini CHristmas without him...He'ss meet us at the airport to fly straight to Utah...

...why things happen...

Why do certain things happen??? I was reading the holiday issue of Oprah magazine. Came across a page with a photo of a guy(named Barton Brooks) standing in a group of African kids...instantly got my attention. The article was about a guy who left his big job and now travels around the world helping others. Closed the magazine...immediately went on his website. One of the places he had gone to help was Ethiopia. He learned of the fuelwood carriers and their situation. I had brought back photos of these girls when we were there as well.

They get up at 3 am to gather wood in the forests. They then strap up to 75 lbs of wood against their back and walk all day-up to 18 miles-to sell the wood at market for $2 in oreder to feed their families. Many of these women are young girls as young as 9 or 10. They need to help feed their families and so need to carry wood instead of going to school. Barton and a friend spent the day carring wood along side them to better understand their life. This was difficult for 2 big grown men, let alone small kids whose wood loads are sometimes close to their own body weight. These girls end up with stunted growth and physical problems as a result of years of carrying wood at such young ages.

What he learned is that we can not change the situation but we can make it better. He wants to have packs made to help them carry the wood in a more comfortable, supported way. Right now the wood is against their backs cutting into them and held on with wood straps that cut as well. Next he wanted to get them some sort of MP3 player/ipod that could have educational material on it so the girls are learning while they walk since they cannot go to school.

Do you know anyone who can help with this?? If not can you help us fund it? I am already at work trying to come up with a back pack design to help carry the wood and am trying to find someone who can produce it...let's all put our heads together and help these young girls!!

email me @ lizjonas@cox.net

Holiday Happenings...

breakfast with Papa to celebrate the holidays since we will be away for Christmas...
Papa gave each kid their gift...
cute ornament cupcakes at Cameron's class party...
CHristine and I went to Cameron's party...

We have had a busy week celebrating the holidays...Tess had a class party on Thurs (forgot my camera) Cameron had his class party and music concert this week too (He is playing the trombone) Christine is home from college, Bennett had an OPERATION SMILE fundraiser dance and we had brunch with Papa since we will not be seeing him over the holidays. Jeff is still in Portugal so I had all the holiday running around to do myself...Everything went well, all the performances were stellar and I loved going to all the kids activities...those are the best gifts I'll get!!

There is no easy way to put this into words but we have decided not to continue with our adoption of sweet little A. During an international adoption process there are many steps during which we recieve information on the child we are adopting. We recently recieved information on this little girl that was very sad. She has been through some very difficult things and is going to need a lot of help to heal. We had some long conversations with our social worker and a therapist to help us understand what could be involved. After struggling and praying for clarity we have decided that our very busy family with 4 children may not be the right family for this sweet little girl. She will require a great deal of time and energy soley focused on her and that would be very difficult for us as we have a busy daughter in college and 3 kids still living at home that also require a great deal from us already.

It has been one of the saddest, most difficult things that we have ever gone through but we had to close our file. We are praying that she will go to the perfect family-maybe one with no other kids, to focus only on her and get her the help and healing she will need. The good thing is she now has lots of people praying for her and she is in the CWA system so she will definietly get the perfect family for her. They are working on it already. She did not know about us yet so I am relieved and thankful for that.

I am praying hard for sweet little A. and will always be sad about it but God has other plans for us both. It makes me so very grateful that God has brought us Tess. I will go into the holidays humbled and full of love and gratitude for my 4 beautiful children and my LOVING husband, who has been amazing through all this. Please keep us in your prayers as we all try to move through this loss and especially pray for sweet A. that God keep his hands on her and move A. forward into a life of love and healing with the perfect family for her.

JOY!

I know this is a busy time for everyone! Stop and feel JOY for all that we have!! Please take the time to realize how blessed we are to live in this great country with all the comforts we have! I will always hold in my heart the beautiful faces of the Ethiopian children that have big smiles while not having much else. Please take a moment to send up heartfelt prayers for those who are so much less fortunate and struggle for food or a warm place to sleep. So when we are feeling stressed about gifts or schedules just know all that really does not matter. We are loved and fed and blessed beyond belief!!

Tess has a new favorite hobby...puzzles

It has been cold (for us) and rainy so Tess has asked for some new puzzles. She loves to sit and work on them-preferably with someone. We had a busy week with our adoption papers. Jeff and I had our fingerprints done last week and our medicals. This week we had our individual intake interviews and tomorrow our social worker Jan is coming to the house to talk to all of us as a family. SHe got permission to do Christine's interview over the phone. I forgot what a long process this is and how out of our control it is...I just keep praying for things to go well and for A. to be safe.

A conversation with Tess

Tess came home from school today talkative as usual...but her story was so cute I have to share it...

Tess: "I like to teach things to people"

Me: " that's great, what do you like to teach?"

Tess: "well, today my friend and I were talking and she asked me, "what does 'stepfather' mean?"

Me: What did you tell her?

Tess: I told her that if your dad died and your mom married a new man, he would be your stepfather.

Me: wow, that's exactly right!

I am always so surprised she knows what some of these words mean!!... here she is teaching english words to an american child after only 15 months here!! She continues to amaze us!!

She was also helping me stuff our Christmas cards in the envelopes and she said " Just think, mom, next year A.(our new daughter) will be in our cards too. We are going to have to take all new pictures with her". She is so excited! She talks about her new sister all the time. This week we were fingerprinted and had our updated physicals...keeping things moving along!!!

tis the season...

Christams is in the air at the Jonas house!! We put up our tree yesterday and today we made a gingerbread house and Christmas tree. It was funny to watch the kids...they started out all excited and happy and about half way through they were frustrated and cranky...especially Tess. I had to explain that things like this take time and patience...and yes, they are messy! Sometimes it's a good idea to wash your hands half way through the project!!...But in the end we pulled together and finished our holiday masterpieces!

Gobena Coffee helps feed children...

Tess putting labels on the coffee that we just got in...She really loves to help and knows that the money goes to help kids that are still in ethiopia and need food...
The sticker says "147 million orphans. You just fed 1 for a month." It's that simple.

I know, I know...give it a rest...but I can't because every bag sold feeds a child for a month! How simple is that!! It makes a great gift if you don't drink coffee. Add it too any gift and know you are really making a difference. I am not set up to distribute but go to their website and order it...it gets shipped to your door!! www.gobena.org

Thanksgiving @ the ranch

Mom and Tess quading...
Our Ranch...
The boys fishing in the backyard...

Cameron and Tess at our favorite diner in Oakley...
Bailey and Tess quading...

What a nice peaceful week we had at the ranch for Thanksgiving. We missed Christine since she went to spend Thanksgiing with my parents in FLorida, but Bennett's friend Bailey came with us. It was really cold (in the 20's) which made it fun and really felt like we kicked off the holiday season (since in California it was 75 degrees). The boys went pheasant hunting and snowboarding and the girls went shopping and out to lunch...just as it should be!! We had fun quading, taking long walks and going to the movies. Tess can't wait to ski in December when we come back. So peace, love and happy start to the holiday season!!