OK, FOR THOSE WHO ASKED, HERE IS OUR END OF SUMMER UPDATE!!!

Hello everyone,

We can't believe that in exactly 1 week our girls will be going back to school and this marks the end of a wonderful summer! We certainly hope that all of you had a marvelous summer and are looking forward to what we think is the "Best Season " of the year: YEAH, HOORAY FOR FALL!!!

This month we celebrated 6 months together and boy oh boy, how much fun have we had attaching, adjusting and bonding as a family! Yes, we are "Normal" - at least we think we are! :>) and did have a few "ups and downs" in the beginning, but overall we just cannot stop being grateful for how blessed we are to have such beautiful and precious daughters. Catalina, Patricia and Daniela never cease to amaze us, how they can be so resilient in the way they just opened up their hearts after 10, 8 and 6 years of not knowing us or having us in their lives and completely by faith, decided to love us and let us into their hearts. What an amazing honor this is!!!

We indeed had a wonderful summer, where the girls experienced and learned many new things. They had never owned bikes and did not know how to ride them, so they enjoyed the generous gifts of new bikes and gear that Grandma Gloria & Grandpa Stan showered them with. It's amazing how Catalina couldn't ride the bike in the morning that she got it, but by late afternoon was begining to ride on her own and was a pro by day 2. Patricia, not wanting to be "outdone" by her big sister, worked VERY, VERY hard at it and in less than 1 month (with the help of Tia Marina & Tio Freddy), she caught on and said "goodbye" to her training wheels - Yippee! Daniela, is still taking her good old time and just "loves" her Barbie training wheels, she says: why rush? I now have a "Forever Mami & Papi" and they will help me until I'm ready to ride on my own!!!

The girls had the fabulous experience of participating in summer camp. They went to the local YMCA camp for several weeks and it was extremely helpful to their language acquisition goal. It was awesome for them to spend so much fun time at camp with other kids their age. It was great that they were in 3 separate groups, so they could not use Spanish with their sisters and had to branch out in English, communicating and making friends with others!

In July we had a wonderful time celebrating Papi's B-day in Frankenmuth (German Town) and the girls just loved taking in the new culture and learning about their Papi's German background. They are soooooooooo adventurous, trying all kinds of new foods. It's amazing how they came to us sooooooooooo skinny and underweight, not wanting to eat hardly anything specially vegetables and now, they eat just about everything and certainly know the difference between foods that are just: "delicious but not nutricious" and the ones that are "nutricious and delicious!" We are very fortunate that "candy" is not a big deal for them, because they never really had much growing up and now, after much of Mami's coaxing :>) veggetables are no longer the "ENEMY NUMBER ONE OF CHILDREN," but actually a great friend to their tummies. We just love to see Daniela who's only 6 years old, eat a big bowl of salad and then ask for a second helping!!!

Spiritually, the girls are growing, they asked us all about the Lord one day and who was Jesus? They also asked us some tough questions, such as: "why does God allow little children to suffer and go hungry"? and "why does God allow adults to sometimes be so mean and uncaring to their kids"? Grandma Luiza, Papi and I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and explaining things to them and one night, the 3 of them said they wanted to pray to ask Jesus to come and live inside their hearts and they also wanted Jesus to help them leave their past behind so they didn't have to live "Afraid" anymore. What a wonderful night that was and of course many tears of joy were shed by Mami, Papi and Grandma!

The girls just love to pray, specially before their meals and it's so sweet to hear how they always start: "Dear Lord Jesus" - Yes, in English!!! Another thing we appreciate is how they ALWAYS thank God for having food and parents who work so hard to provide, we never taught them to say these things, it just comes straight from their hearts. The funny/or I should say VERY SPECIAL thing that happened the other day, I had to take Catalina to an orthodontist appointment and they had given her a form to fill out, so she could tell them a little bit about herself: likes, deslikes, etc. One of the questions was: Who is your hero? her answer: Jesus & Papi! Jesus, because He is just sooooooo good to me and takes care of me. Papi, because he always buys me food, always goes to work and doesn't hurts us or Mami!!!

Physically, the girls are thriving, growing leaps and bounds. When they arrived to us, they could barely walk around the hotel without huffing and puffing and having to sit down several times. Now, their favorite activity is playing soccer. They played lots of it at camp and will be participating in a soccer program this fall. They are very, very good at it. OK, ok I am a proud mother but hey, don't forget that they are Colombian, so the truth is that just as their brazilian Mami, soccer is in their blood!!! :>)

Academically, they are doing quite well. They were a bit behind at first due to not having had much of a foundation and school was never a priority when they were left alone to fend for themselves. However, they were tested and they are considered to be very bright little girls with no learning disabilities whatsoever. We just have to work hard with them, to build the foundation they lack and help them catch up. Rather than unecessarily pressuring them, because they had only attended 3 months of 1st, 3rd & 4th grades, we dicided that they will go back to the same grades as the new school year starts next week and they will have a chance to complete their grades from the very start - a fresh new year!!!
Acquisition of the English language has finally become more natural to them, they were really struggling with the language in the beginning but we almost felt as though they were afraid to start trying, just to be sent back to Colombia again. They acted as though they didn't believe this "New Family Situation" was really true and permanent, maybe it was just too good to be true. Now that they are more comfortable and accepting of their "Forever Family" it is just wonderful that we have now started to listen to their interracting with one another and noticing them use English amongst themselves. We just laugh and laugh with them, when they use some of our expressions at the right time. Daniela's favorite: "Oh my goodness," Patricia's: "Now we're talking" and every time we leave the house Catalina always says what I say: "off we go to the Mulberry bush!" Just too cute!!!

OK, this is it for now. I could go on and on, but definitely have no intentions of boring y'all with my "Proud Mommy talk and report". This is just an update of all the wonderful things that have gone on during our first 6 months, with our very precious and beautiful daughters. God is just tooooooooo good to us!!!!!

Hope you all have a fantastic Fall Season, enjoying lots and lots of apple cider and pumpkin pies!!! :>) Don't forget to leave a wee comment for the girls, they just love reading them and knowing who has been enjoying their journey!!!

Love to all,

Michael, Sharon, Grandma Luiza, Catalina, Patricia, Daniela and we can't forget the mutts: Madison, Rosie-Posie & Gigi and also, the grouchy old kitty: Brownie!