Keeping Up With The Jones'

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Brandon and I have been married for almost 13 years, have two beautiful children, soon to be three! We are adopting from Ethiopia and couldn't be more excited to start this new chapter!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

One month home....

Well, we're a few days shy of being home one month. In some ways it seems like it's been only a couple of days and in other ways it seems a lot longer!

I have actually had Mamush in my custody for almost 5 weeks. I got him the day after my aunt and I arrived in Ethiopia on Aug 22nd. We flew in on the 21st and headed straight for the care center from the airport. He ran straight into my arms when he saw me, just like he did with Brandon. So sweet! I was prepared for him not to, given that he didn't know who I was and with all the training we took it was emphasized that he would likely be scared or very shy at first. He was not scared or shy, and when it was time for us to leave he cried.

I will write about my trip in another post with more detail.

Mamush absolutely adores Madelyn and Nolan. He bonded with them Day 1. He always wants to be where they are, snuggling with them on the couch, jumping with them on the trampoline outside, and he desperately wants to go to school with them. He asks for them multiple times during the day, and cries when they have to leave. Poor guy. :(

Mamush and Nolan have a great brotherly relationship. They love each other deeply and like to play but they don't get on each other's nerves at all....at least not yet. :) Madelyn and Mamush are a different story. They love each other deeply also, but she gets annoyed with him, and he picks on her. He is definitely the annoying little brother she hasn't had with Nolan. He barges into her room without knocking (we're working on that, especially when she is getting dressed), tries to lock her in and out of rooms, pinches her, and gives her the cold shoulder when he's upset with her. She tries to mother him and in return, gets defiance from him. (We're working on that too). However, he sneaks into her room in the middle of the night to sleep with her when he wakes up and can't go back to sleep and crawls into her lap before anyone else's when he wants to cuddle. It's a sweet relationship that is developing and I am curious to see how it progresses.

Mamush is a very loving, sweet little boy that we love very, very much. He is strong-willed and is really testing his boundaries right now. He does it WAY more with me than he does with Brandon. Brandon can tell him "no" and he accepts it and moves on, but when I tell him "no" he continues to do whatever it is he is doing without really caring about my response. It's always easier with Mamush when Brandon is home because he backs me up and tells Mamush that he needs to listen to me. If only he could be home all the time. :) I jest....no one wants that! It is getting better though...every day we make progress and even though we have "good days" and "not so good days" we always make progress and for the first time he asked for me to put him to bed. Made my mama heart melt.....

So...we continue to be consistent with him and pray that with God's grace we will make through to month 2. :) Until then.....


Friday, September 20, 2013

Road trip! - that never got posted!!!

Jamie, the kids, and I all took our first road trip together! What a fantastic time we had. We left July 11 and returned July 17. Going to eastern Washington for the week you'd think that we would have had nice, hot weather BUT alas, we did not. It was still a great time! We started our road trip by stopping at the Aplets and Cotlets factory in Cashmere. http://www.libertyorchards.com/?gclid=CPeX2d2d9qsCFegZQgodHyB8qQ We got to go on the tour and of course, had to wear hair nets. SWEET!






Yes, that is a two-headed calf and Nolan was enthralled!








Next up....

Addis Ababa