It Finally Snowed!

It snowed, it snowed! Okay, so most people think I'm crazy but Jessica and Joaquin have not seen a real snow storm ever...and finally it snowed enough to get off of school for a few days and to be snowed in. They expected to have snow at Christmas, because in all of the Christmas movies there is always snow on the ground. So when I put away the Christmas stuff they kept saying, "But it hasn't snowed yet!" I promised them it would snow, really snow soon enough and FINALLY it came! So needless to say we spent some time sledding and playing in the many inches that accumulated between yesterday and today.



You can't really see him, but poor Nate is on the bottom.

Jess said "Mom look, Popsicles are hanging on the trampoline" And of course they had to each eat a few. Gross I know.


We had some ice over night and then several more inches of snow, which caused for some beautiful scenery. So Jess went outside today and said, "Look MOM IT'S NARNIA!"

Big Milestone for Joaquin

It's below 30 degrees today and he was running around bare foot and shirtless, but then put on a winter cap...crazy kid! I had to finally make him put his shirt back on.

My little man, Joaquin, has to know where I am at all times. As he is eating lunch, I often do laundry and a other chores while he is sitting still. However, ever since we have been home, I have to tell him when I leave the room or he starts calling for me in a bit of panic. If I go to the bathroom, I have to tell him. “hey little man, I am going potty.” After about 3 seconds, I hear him outside bathroom door. If I go to the laundry room, same thing, in about 3 seconds he will be at the door. I noticed about a month and a half ago that this starting getting better. It still happens on occasion, but without panic. Only about half of the time would he follow me, and I didn’t have to announce where I was going in order for him not to have slight panic.

But going to the mailbox was a different story. Walking out of the house to get the mail without him was pretty much forbidden. Even if I told him where I was going and told him he could watch me from the window, he still had to walk out the door with me. It broke my heart at first, but I knew he would eventually become comfortable. It kind of became a sort of routine, announce where I was going etc. But about a two weeks ago, I noticed that he was no longer following me to the mailbox. He was okay staying in the house playing while I made the quick trip down the driveway and back. So today, I thought I would test the waters. I told him I was going to take out some garbage, and would be right back. He can’t see me from the window when we go to the garbage cans on the side of the house. He didn’t even bat an eye. He just kept eating lunch and was perfectly fine when I came back. A few min later I went out to grab the mail and again, I came back to a perfectly happy little boy. Way to go Joaquin!

He will still on occasion yell “Mom?” when I am in another room, and I answer “I’m right here little man” and he just goes on playing. He does it unconsciously, but I think he is starting to heal a bit. And he is even finally growing. Once we got rid of the parasites he started showing signs of some growth!

My little man is growing and learning by leaps and bounds.

He loves his pups! Pretty soon I'm gonna have to not let him sit on them anymore, but they sure don't mind. He sits and lays on them all the time, and sometimes he falls asleep like that.


He loves to ask Jazz for kisses and then to be smothered in doggie kisses. (Gross...I know)

2009 Really?

Yes, I know it’s been a while…again. I just have the hardest time finding time to sit down and post.


So…our holiday was awesome! We had our re adoption hearing on Dec 22, so that was a nice gift for us. It feels good to have it all complete.

Jessica ended up being Jessica Ann. She writes her name, Jessica Ann, on all her school papers, it’s so cute. When the hearing was over the judge asked the kids if they had anything to say. Jessica spoke right up with a big “Thank You!” On the way there Joaquin asked if they had to go back to La Maria now, and we told them again they were with us forever and no more court stuff. On our last photo pages I made for our adoption reports for Colombia, I explained that Colombia wanted to see how they are doing and growing. I think they are finally really letting it sink in that they are here forever. Even though we tell them, they are just young enough and just old enough at the same time for it to be confusing. Now they comfortably talk about wanting to see their friends at La Maria and want to go back to visit. I tell them we have to pray for their friends to be put with forever families like us.

Anyway, the kids all had a great time spending time with all of the family. We got to see everyone and didn’t even have to travel, they all came to us! The kids got way too much stuff, but let me tell ya, Jess and Joaquin play with everything they received and they love it all.

Today was back to school and I’m kind of looking forward to the routine again and getting the house back to normal. I love love love the holidays and this year was sure a lot of fun, but I’m ready for 2009, for Spring and for our big Disney trip this summer! But I can hardly believe in just a few weeks it will mark a year since we got the referral call about J and J. Wow, 2008 flew by! And Jessica’s birthday is coming up and we haven’t gotten to celebrate her birth yet so that will be a great day. My mom and dad got them each baby rings. Joaquin’s has his initials on it and Jessica’s has her birthstone in the middle, Eric’s birthstone on one side and mine on the other. Very Cool!

I could go on and on, but really all I need to say is we have had an amazing 2008 and feel so very blessed by our friends and family who have offered so much support this last year.

2008 in a few words…A year of miracles, inspiration…humbling!