New friends

As I'm cleaning up all the holiday STUFF, I was looking through all the great Christmas cards we recieved.  These 3 are very special and new to our home this year.  They are cards from friends we are forever joined to through our beautiful Ethiopian kids!  2 of the families we met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this past summer.  We have kept in touch and I hope to get the kids together someday (they live in Colorado and Georgia).  The other family live in our neighborhood and have our sweet Kidus who I talk about so often (we went to the park yesterday with them).  They are a blessing and we are lucky to be sharing our journey with them!

growing pains...

We are going through some rough patches with our little Tess.  She came to us a bold spirit,  no reservations,  and no boundries...  Asking to go right into school, play on a soccer team and that she needed 10 pairs of shoes just like her brother...among other things...all within the first month!!  We overcame the initial difficulties,  when we had no language to communicate, but now we are experiencing some new challenges...

Thankfully we have a dear family friend who is a retired child psychologist...affectionately known to us as "granny"...that is who I turned to first...

While Tess is doing great considering the huge task before her, she is emerging with a bit of a "in your face" boldness that can put people off...for example-she has begun asking for things everywhere we go and then gets aggravated and cops an attitude when I say no...we have all been patient and try to simply exlain why that attitude is not OK, but it is becoming a constant challenge that seems to be getting worse.

Until now we have not punished, used time out or even taken away anything for fear of it being too harsh too soon, but Granny explained that we need to take more affirmative action and discipline with her so she can begin to learn boundries and what behaviors are not OK...for example, I'm now using behavior modification charts and rewards to encourage  preferable behaviors. She seems very motivated by the charts and the small rewards she will get when she hits certain goals.  I remember doing this with all 3 of my other kids as well.

 I am choosing to share this because we have met  2 other adoptive families of older kids that shared similar stories with us, so I figure that there may be more of us out there.  Adopting is challenging no matter what...but adopting an almost 8 year old brings additional challenges that are really just starting to reveal themselves...

we'll keep you posted on how things progress!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! from the Jonas family

The resort had a fantastic New Years party for all the guests.  It included a 10 man Mariachi band, happy hour, a beautiful 4 course dinner and fireworks on the beach.  Tess was mesmorized by the fireworks.  She's a party girl at heart and loves the commotion, so she was loving the party.  We met some great families that shared our week there so it was fun having everyone spend the last night of 2008 together.

The Forsums drop in for the day!!!

Our friends the Forsums ended up being in Puerta Vallarta for the day. Jeff drove over with Bennett to pick them up in our minivan... Mike and Sheila are Tess's Godparents.  We had such a great day with them!!  They brought 5 kids with them so we were a big old bunch!!  The kids surfed, boogieboarded and played on the beach.  Que Bueno!!

Our first family trip... Salyulita, Mexico, Holidays 2008

This was our first real family trip with all 6 of us.  Once Tess and I got to Mexico, everything went smoothly.  Tess did great and basically went with the flow everywhere we went.  On the days the boys went fishing or surfing, the girls hung at the pool and beach.  We would all walk to town, a 30 minute walk over the beach boulders and through the jungle, for lunch at Don Pedro's almost everday.  Tess and Cameron spent a lot of time boogie boarding.  Tess is in her glory at the beach...you'd never know she had never been to a beach 5 months ago.  She did great with the food...no longer ever a problem. 

mom and the kids on a beach walk in Salyulita...

at our favorite burrito stand in town...BURRITO REVOLUTION
at the market place in town...
the boys returning from surfing all morning...

Vacation fun!! Salyulita, Mexico 2008

Tess was in heaven...there was a kiddie pool just perfect for her...
Tess and Cameron hit the surf...
Our college girl at lunch...
mom and Tess on the beach...
This is the path from our rooms to the beach...we were in the jungle!!!
Our fisherman had a very successful day!!!  We grilled these fish for lunch!! Muy Bueno!!

greetings from Mexico 2008

Well, we got off to a VERY rocky start...

The 6 of us arrived at Los Angeles airport at 6:30 am.  We shuttled over to the terminal and checked in...or tried to...I had not brought the correct papers for Tess, who is still on an Ethiopian passport!!  Yes, they did not let her board the plane!!  It's a long story, which includes a trip to the Mexican Embassy in LA, but I thought ther passport with her valid R-4 visa in it was enough...WRONG!!  I needed proof of residency...which I had-at home.

SOOO, Jeff and the 3 kids left for Mexico and Tess and I stayed 4 more hours in the airport trying to get on some kind of flight to Puerta Vallarta.

Flash forward 24 hours and we were almost there...Jeff and the kids picked us up the following night and our vacation was officially under way...