Yesterday we arrived back home after five days in Florida visiting family and attending the wedding of my grandfather. It was a whirlwind five days of seeing family, stocking up on things we can’t buy in Costa Rica, and eating some of our favorite foods. I enjoyed eating at Chick-fil-a and Olive Garden while Marissa re-united with her friends at Target. Avalyn enjoyed seeing her best friend Zach while Analeigh got to meet four great-grandparents for the first time. It was too short, but we are thankful we got to see so much family. Here are a few pictures from the weekend…

Zach and Kaylee are Avalyn’s best friends, and she was so excited to spend some time with them. They were so cute playing ring around the rosy on the beach. Zach and Avalyn stayed up until 11pm playing until they finally came in an begged to go to bed.


Nana and Pop took the girls to Target. And yes, that is a Starbucks cup in Avalyn’s hand.

Avalyn enjoyed watching the sunset with her Paw Paw.

Avalyn also enjoyed showed her Great Papa how she could write her name

Analeigh warmed right up to her great-grandparents

One of the churches we have connected with is First Baptist Church of Naples. Through their Great Commission Connections program, we have become friends with a family in Naples, and we were able to visit them while we were in the States. Avalyn enjoyed meeting them and playing in their pool!

Avalyn showed us that she really is a professional traveler

Sorry for the delay in updating the website.  We started our 2nd trimester of school and things have been fairly crazy.  We just wanted to give everyone an update on our adoption process. This past week, our home study was completed, which was a huge step in the process. Our I-600A (the application for permission to adopt from overseas) was sent to the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Service) and they are processing it. Now we are getting the last of the paperwork together for our dossier, which will be translated and sent to Ethiopia. This will be the next step, and while that is being done we will begin applying for grants and financing to help with the significant cost. We are thankful that we have gotten this far, and we are still praying that the process can be completed by December. We appreciate everyone’s prayers and support as we continue through the process. We’ll keep you updated!

Last week my grandfather came to visit, and we had a fun week showing him around. We spent three days down on the Pacific coast, and then spent the rest of the time visiting things around San José. We had lots of fun! Here are some pictures from his visit.

Marissa and Avalyn enjoyed some fresh coconuts on the beach

Our family by the pool at the hotel. Avalyn spent much time in that pool….

Avalyn had so much fun with her Great Pappy

Avalyn got a new tube for the pool, and loved it

She’s getting so big!

Back at the house Avalyn had plenty of books for Great Pappy to read her.

Analeigh did manage to get a little time with Great Pappy in between books.

We went to the Basilica in Cartago (huge Catholic church)…Analeigh enjoyed it.

We also visited the ruins of the old basilica. Here are the girls in the garden.

We also went up to the top of Irazú volcano (11,260ft). Here are the girls huddling together for warmth.

Avalyn might be two thousand miles from her old home, but she is still a Kentucky girl at heart. Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby, and my living room was transformed into a Derby watching party. Avalyn donned her big green hat and got ready to cheer for her horse. In this video she explains whats going on…

After changing her mind several times, Avalyn decided her horse was #6, Stately Victor. She cheered for her horse (and possibly bet her inheritance on it) but sadly he came up short. Here Avalyn explains why she is so sad…

Two days ago we celebrated six months in Costa Rica. In some ways it seems like we have been here for a long time, but in other ways it seems like only yesterday when we left our last meal at Chick-fil-a and headed to the airport with our 3 tons of luggage. We have learned a lot in six months, and most of it was not Spanish. Learning to live in a new culture with no car, no air conditioning, no Chick-fil-a, no dishwasher, no microwave, no Chick-fil-a, no family nearby, no cell phone, and no Chick-fil-a teaches you a lot about yourself and about God. Although our struggles here in Costa Rica pale in comparison with those faced by some of our friends in more remote areas of the world, they are nonetheless real, and we are thankful that God has given us peace and joy even with the frustrations. We know this is where God wants us to be and we wouldn’t trade living here for anything. Thank you all for your throughts, prayers, phone calls, e-mails and packages. We are so thankful for the loving friends and family that have prayed for us and supported us through everything. We love you all and are so thankful for you! Now since I know everyone would rather look at cute pictures than to read my rambling…here are some pictures from the last few weeks…

This is Avalyn posing at the old ruins in Cartago

Analeigh loves to sit in her Bumbo chair and play with her toys

Avalyn is going to teach Analeigh so much (good and bad I’m afraid)

How can you not love that face?

Sometimes you just need a siesta!

It should come as no surprise that language learning is fraught with danger. As one’s vocabulary grows, it becomes increasingly possible to say something close, but profoundly wrong. Here are some amusing examples from us and our fellow students…enjoy!
- While talking to a taxi driver about sports, he explained that he didn’t like American football because he didn’t understand it. I attempted to explain that American football does have a lot of rules (reglas) but instead told him the game had lots of gifts (regalas). He left more confused than when we started.
- While looking for eggs (huevos) in the grocery store, one of our friends became frustrated when no one could tell her where the Thursdays (jueves) were.
- Upon leaving language school and arriving in her new country of service, one of our fellow students was asked to share something with her new church. She politely declined, but the pastor insisted and so she came up front somewhat nervous and flustered. She attempted to say “I am embarrassed. I told the Pastor I didn’t want to, but he insisted.” Unfortuantely for her, she used the word “embarazada” which sounds like embarrassed but means pregnant.
- Marissa once told someone that she had a man (tengo hombre) instead of saying she was hungry (tengo hambre)
- One of our friends introduced his new pastor to his wife and teenage daughter, only instead of using the word for daughter, he used the word for girlfriend “This is my wife and this is my girlfriend.” Great first impression!
I’m sure these are not the last of the language bloopers we will make!

In a somewhat related language mistake, Avalyn is fascinated with letters and words. She has taken to writing for large portions of her “play”time and is loving every moment of it. I arrived home from the grocery store today and Avalyn showed me a note she had written me. I scanned it for all to see….

I was unsure what to think (Is this a ransom note?) I asked her what it said. “Daddy,” she replied somewhat annoyed, “it says ‘Dear Hello Kitty!’” She is enamored with Hello Kitty and wanted to write her a note and she so proudly wanted to show me the beginning of it. Funny how one letter changes everything!

In between having Avalyn and Analeigh, I really got into running. I started running 3-4 times per week and really enjoyed doing longer distances. It not only got me in shape and helped me lose weight after the first baby, but it brought my border-line high blood pressure down. It also gives me a time in which nobody needs me; my only goal is to get from point A to point B the fastest I can. Since having Analeigh, I have once again been running. Like many things, it is a little different here in Costa Rica. Come with me to the gym…
Here in Costa Rica the gym culture is to come with full blown makeup and hair, cute outfit and MAJOR perfume. I’m not even joking. They put perfume on their BABIES…..so these women like to come in and I can only assume it’s to be seen there. Then, enter ME, the woman who comes to run on the treadmill because it’s too dangerous to run on the broken sidewalks, dodging huge busses, a criminal or two looking to score a new ipod and the pollution of a capitol city. So I run my 5 miles….and I’m working it. I mean, you know the kind where you’re working so hard the inside of your bent elbows are dripping? Yep…that’s me….three days a week. Running alongside and breathing in the putrid air of whatever perfume the Barbies have drenched themselves in. Therefore, I have begun opening the sliding glass door windows that are lined up in front of the treadmills (in leu of air conditioning) and hope that the buses speedily passing by on the main road will force some moving air up into the sliding doors and exchange the perfume for smog. And as I’m running towards those windows on the treadmill, there’s just a strange feeling as there are no screens or any mechanism whereby as to stop anyone from stepping out the sliding doors and falling directly two stories down onto the busy road below. Perhaps on second thought, I’m not quite sure which venue is safer!

Today, Avalyn turns four. It seems like only yesterday when we left St. Joseph’s hospital, all the while thinking “they just let us take this baby home. No test, no instructions…what are we going to do now?!?” Somewhere along the way, however, we started to get the hang of it.  Meanwhile, Avalyn got really big, and started walking and talking and singing and dancing and speaking Spanglish and knowing everything and being so smart and adorable yet some days driving us out of our minds. Sunday we had a birthday party for her, and five of her friends from school came over. They had a tea party, destroyed a piñata, and painted fingernails. It was 100% fancy Nancy. Because she is so fancy, and because she absolutely LOVES to match with Analeigh, we bought the girls matching outfits for Avalyn’s birthday. Here are some pictures from the party, and of the girls in their “big A”and “little a” outfits…

Here’s the girls in their new outfits

They start so sweet and tiny…

But they get big (and start to stink!)

The table is set for the big tea party

Avalyn contemplates the need for new fingernail polish

Avalyn vs the piñata. After every child had bashed it several times (and almost each other), we had to mortally wound the piñata and let them try again (sort of like a bull fight). Needless to say, the piñata gave up its candy and everyone was happy.

In Tennessee there is a wonderful coffee company called Just Love Coffee. They roast high quality, organic and fair-trade coffee from all over the world. Two years ago, the owner of the company adopted a child from Ethiopia, and since then has decided to use their company to help families pay for adoption. In order to help with this, they have set up an online coffee store for us, and for every bag of coffee ordered off our site, they will put $5 toward our adoption. We know many of you are avid coffee drinkers, and so we would love it if you would try some of Just Love’s coffee, and help us adopt at the same time. To shop, just visit

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheHessFamily

Its important to use this link so that the money goes toward our adoption.

Thanks, and enjoy!