December 2011
Jobe had many exciting experiences this year. Best of all he was in a professional dance performance in Los Angeles, "Silent Roar." Despite having no experience on stage or with dancing or gymnastics Jobe did an awesome job. He worked along side of professional dancers during the rehearsals and on stage. Jobe was a quick learner and benefited from the comments and corrections from the director and the other dancers. By the time of opening night came around Jobe knew exactly what to do and when to do it. After each show he received very positive comments from the audience and the cast. After the two-week run Jobe decided that he wanted to take dance and gymnastic lessons. We hope if the play goes national that Jobe will be considered for the part. This will likely happen unless he grows too much.
The other awesome experience that Jobe has been enjoying is getting to know his younger biological brother, Nico. Coincidently, Nico was adopted by another Southern California family who had an interest in having the boys develop a relationship. The boys get together about once a month and have even had a sleep-over. This opportunity has been such a positive experience for Jobe and his sense of self and belonging.
December 2010
Jobe's adoption was finalized on December 1, 2010. Jobe's understanding of adoption is that he received "paper number two" which meant that he was not going to move from family to family anymore. Although the whole adoption proceeding was the shortest I'd ever been through, Jobe was thrilled to get a very large remote control car from our homestudy agency, Hope4Kids, as well as, to select a stuffed animal from behind the judge's desk. Jobe wanted to verify with me several times that day following the adoption that "I'm going to stay in this family forever, mom?" Still four weeks later he continues to ask me that question several times a week. I am sure it is difficult to understand why a an adoption fails, especially for a child. In an effort to help the boys' understand the situation without blaming themselves for the disruption. In our family we just talk about the first adoptive family being the "foster family." This seems to make sense to the guys as many of my boys have spent part of their lives in foster care and fully understand that foster families are a temporary situation.
Jobe has done very well at Kline School. The teacher reports that he is very competitive at seems to always try his best. Jobe enjoys reviewing his report card and loves to count the "A"s and "B"s. While I try to not pressure the boys too much about school, I am delighted that Jobe takes his studies seriously. Even at age 9, he is already talking about college! Very cool!!
July 2010
Jobe (8) joined our family this month. Jobe is a
very athletic and smart boy who was originally from
Ethiopia. After spending most of his life in an
orphanage, Jobe was adopted a little less than a year
ago. His first family needed to disrupt his placement.
After a quick transition, Jobe joined our family. Jobe
seems to be a great fit for us. Despite behavioral
challenges related to RAD, Jobe is a fun-loving kid who
is full of energy. We are having a lot of enjoyment
getting to know Jobe and trying to figure out what makes
him tick. After the end of summer, Jobe has been
accepted to Kline School. I am thrilled that he will
have the best opportunity to increase his academic
skills. Additionally, I am looking forward to parenting
Jobe and helping develop appropriate relationships with
us and his peers.
View Younger Pictures of Jobe >
