Friday, July 11, 2008

Tia Claudia

This is definitely overdue. Inexcusably, completely and totally way too late in getting posted. I have somehow lucked into having a true angel come into my life. Here's the story, in brief. My mom had the incredible fortune of working with this amazing woman, Claudia, while here in Southern California. When Claudia heard that we were adopting from Ethiopia, she was so excited for us (and we really didn't know her then other than brief "Hellos" here and there). When we got our referral for Olivia and Ezra she SHOWERED us... utterly SHOWERED us in kindness. She gathered up her niece and nephews hand-me-downs with her sisters' help and gave us a ridiculously amazing haul of wonderful things to use for our kiddos and to take to the orphanage and donate when we traveled. She got me a great Mother's Day present for my first Mother's Day and an incredible necklace that I LOVE for no reason at all! I've never known a more loving and giving person.

Now, what's seriously cool to me is that my children have the amazing fortune of getting to call this fantastic woman their "Tia." She's going to help me teach them some Spanish (ok... she's going to teach me some too!). She's come over a few times to just hang out with me and give me some adult conversation time during naps and has cooked incredible, yummy, and AUTHENTIC Mexican food. To top it off, when she heard we were going to Colorado she volunteered herself (and undoubtedly does NOT understand how much she's volunteering for!) to stay at our place and feed and love the doggies for us while we're away. No easy task considering what it takes to feed our pups... and medicate Chloe! Ugh.

There is really no way to thank her for everything, as her love and friendship couldn't have come at a better time for me. With my mom moving back to Colorado a few weeks ago and my very short list of local friends disappearing from my life (sniff, sniff... wish I understood what happened there... am I that boring or do I just suck that badly?! ;-) ), Claudia has been a lifesaver. During a time in which I would otherwise have no one else close by, she rose to the challenge of being an incredible friend. THANK YOU TIA CLAUDIA! Ezra and Olivia are so blessed to have you in their lives and to be able to call you their Auntie. I am even more fortunate to be able to call you my friend. You rock! :-D

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh man!! She sounds like a wonderful blessing from the Lord! I know what it feels like to have everyone keep moving out of state!! STINKS!! I'm so glad you have someone like Tia to encourage you!!

Laurzie said...

Oh, I love Tia Claudia for you! Friends like that are just angels!
I'm sorry your former friends have been weinies (disappearing weinies at that), too. :( We had the same experience when we started having babies. No fun.
But, now you get to develop a whole new group of loved ones who are a little more durable.
Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!
xo

alpidarkomama said...

Jesi,

We have a Tia too!!! My sister has always been Tia, and I've always been Tia to my two nephews (6 & 9). It's great to have a tia. :)

And with the coming of little children, I also found that all of my relationships went through a big shift. I had many friends about 10 years ahead of me or more in having kids, and many friends who did not have children at all. So when I had Amirah I started to feel less of a connection to both sets of friends because how we spent our time was vastly different. It really took a year or two to find new friends. Now I feel like I have 3 really good friends, and several other people I like to hang out with. It definitely gets better as you transition into a different kind of life, but I know that at first it's hard. HUGS

-Kerith

los cazadores said...

She sounds super sweet!

Cindy

Selah said...

Jesi: I wish I had a TIA for my kids like Claudia-- I am so happy you have her. It is strange how the list changes once your babes enter the picture-- I so remember that. I wish we were closer and could all hang out and enjoy kids growing and learning. Love to you from Oregon my FRIEND!!!

Kimberly