3 Weeks and Counting Down

Happy Friday, hopefully just one week left for us!

All is well here, just a normal day. Jessica and Joaquin had English this morning and were so excited to go. They go upstairs which is a loft kind of place, so I stood down in the open lobby area for a minute so I could hear them. They asked a lot of questions and it sounded like Jessica was a bossy tail with Joaquin. My feeling was right, because when it was over, Carmen said that next week she would rather have them separately because Jessica just wants to tell Joaquin what to do the whole time. She said they were doing well but have trouble sitting still and listening. This was good and bad news. Good in that I know it’s not just us, but bad that they need to learn this skill. Carmen said, I don’t want to be “rude” and tell them to stay seated. See what I mean about no discipline here. She thinks it’s rude to tell them to sit down. Ohhhh, they are in for a rude awakening when they get to the US. I have a time trying to keep Joaquin seated at meal time, but Jessica caught on pretty quickly.




A family from the other house came over today for their English lesson too. The girl and her mom fly out tmw, they are from Columbus. So when the lesson was over we got together for a few min to say good bye and Carmen interpreted some questions the little girl had for her mom about the flight and leaving etc. Jessica sat very intently, listening to every word that was being said. I think it was good for her and might have answered some of her own questions.

Everyone is excited about Aunt Jeanie coming tmw night. I told Jessica and Joaquin that she would arrive after they went to sleep and she would be here in the morning when they woke up. So they wanted to know just where she would sleep and pulled out our picture book to show me her picture. And Uncle Brian’s pic, but the say Brian really weird, it’s funny. They really enjoy looking at the book having me repeat everyone’s names. They wanted me to cut out a pic of them to add to the book. Something I haven’t thought about. I told them all our pics are on the computer and I don’t have one on paper of them. Then they remembered we had passport and visa pics of them in the safe and wanted to use those. I told them we needed those pics for them to be able to go to the US, so they dropped that idea real quick.

After lunch we took off for Crepes and Waffles to meet a few families from the other house. The little girl who is leaving with her mom wanted Todo Taco for lunch and then Crepes and Waffles one more time, so Peggy called to see if I wanted to go with them. Thanks Peggy! It was nice to see some friendly faces and of course to get some incredible ice cream. I forgot my camera…shucks. In my ice cream I got a little paper umbrella and gave it to Joaquin, because Jessica’s ice cream had one too. On the way back it started to rain and Joaquin asked Nate to pick him up so they could use his little umbrella. They were being silly, I wish I had my camera.

I was so proud of Jessica and Joaquin. The are starting to understand how to behave in a restaurant. They knew the routine today and we so well behaved you would have thought they had been with us forever. When we left the house they both grabbed my hand, knowing the routine. At the restaurant as I was paying, they told the waitress they were going to the US in an airplane in just one week. She looked at me and said, she knew it had to be adoption with our red hair, we didn’t look anything alike. So we giggled. Then on the way back Joaquin was willing to hold Nate’s hand. I had planned to go to the park, in spite of the mud, but it was raining a little so we came back “home.” One the way back, as we were crossing the street, almost completely across, a car started to turn toward us. So fearless Joaquin puts his hand up to the car and shouts (in Spanish) “Stop Senor!” Nate was dragging him the rest of the way across the road. Oh boy, they keep me laughing. I turned to look at the guy in the car and even he was laughing.

Jessica tested the waters just a little today, just to see if I would enforce rules like daddy did, but nothing major at all. I am amazed at how far they have come. I know I have said it before, but it’s so true. If you could see first hand at how they were 3 weeks ago and see them now, they are really different kids. I can’t even fathom what they have been through and how they have coped for all this time and then to be put in a family and to learn the ins and outs of how a family works and to figure out what is okay and what is not…I really can’t fathom it all. Jessica called me Senora a few times yesterday on accident and caught herself, then called Carmen Mami today on accident. She catches herself so I know she is learning, but I feel sorry for her really, it’s hard to figure out. So what is a Mami anyway? She has no idea, but I think she is starting to catch on. Joaquin is doing better now with calling only me Mami, I haven’t heard him call anyone Mami for a long time now.

A few tidbits about Jessica, Joaquin, Emi and Nate…
Joaquin does not like to be woke up at all, he like to wake up on his own. Jess gets right up and gets to business. Jessica, if you can get her to try something (food) she generally likes it. Joaquin could live on fruit I think, especially bananas and apples, but loves all kinds of melon too. He will eat a banana an hour if we would let him. Jessica loves television, and Joaquin seems to love music. Jessica likes her clothes comfy and doesn’t care if they match. Joaquin loves to use his imagination and Jessica likes games. Jessica is going to be a major Daddy’s girl and is going to give Emi a run for her money. Joaquin is going to look up to Nate and want to be just like him, they will be great buds at some point. Both are smart and like to learn and both have a true beauty about them when they let it shine. Oh and they love to aggravate each other. I most certainly can’t imagine our lives with out them after only 3 weeks. It’s amazing to me how that happens. Emi is doing well but has moments where she doesn’t understand why Jessica doesn’t have to follow all the rules like she and Nate. We’ve tried to explain we can’t fix everything at once, it takes time, but I don’t think she gets it totally. You know she had this fantasy idea of being a big sister, she had no idea, no matter how much we thought we prepped her, how difficult it would be at first. But it’s not even been a month. Nate takes everything as a grain of salt and just minds himself. He is a very good boy and does as he is asked without moaning. Emi does too, she just gets aggravated if things don’t always go well. They will both be glad to get home and on their own turf, but have been real troopers here. I couldn’t be any prouder of both of them, and I mean that 100%!

Why am I thankful today? Because our flight to Atlanta is only 4 hours and 45 minutes, then just 1 hour and 45 min to Cinti. The Germans left and their flight is 11 hours to Spain then another 2 to Germany…Oh I am glad I live in the US. Joaquin had to give his little friend a kiss and then asked if he could give his motorcycle to Diaro for the plane ride. Then when the taxi came Jaoquin wanted to help them with their bags and had to stand on the sidewalk to see them off. I laid my hand on Jaoquin’s chest when I was talking to him while they were loading up and his heart was pumping out of his chest. His friend gave him one big hug just before he got in the taxi and we had to stand there until the taxi was completely out of sight. I can only imagine what was going through Joaquin’s little mind.

Thanks Margie for the idea about making some welcoming things for Aunt Jeanie. Emi got board this afternoon and took you up on your idea. A little paper and some crayons can go a long way. You have some great comments for us and I love the yearbook idea. you’re the best!!

Well that’s about it for today. Thanks for the emails letting me know mom is okay.

We plan to hit the park tmw for a while, hopefully the weather is okay, if not we may get ice cream at McDonalds so the kids can play in play land or something. It’s nice to even get out for an hour or so, just to break up the day a bit. Or maybe if it rains we will make water balloons and get real wet, just for fun.



Sorry, this is it for photots. We only took 5 pics today...oops