What a Nice Joan

This is our Joan

She is a big part of the reason our transition has gone so smooth.  Trent interviewed her before the kids and I got here so I was a little nervous to not be able to pick out my sister wife....Don't be scared I am only kidding.  Joan is like The Good Fairy that does all of the jobs that most of us hard working house Mommies dislike bathrooms, laundry, putting away laundry, preparing/sometimes making dinner, mopping, dusting, changing bed sheets, etc. She is also good for things like "Hey Joan would you mind killing that roach the size of Texas that is creeping around" or "Hey Joan we have a poo-pee on child #3". Okay, so she does not  clean up all of Emmy's treasures but she is really good at seeing what needs to be done and going for it. She is our built in baby sitter and we have been faithful in taking full advantage of that bonus. Joan speaks great English and often times she is who I turn to when I need some one to translate. She works six days a week from 5:30 am to some time after I have gone to bed (because I have such hard days:) She usually leaves Saturday afternoons and comes home Sunday night. Just typing this makes me tired for her.

On a more personal note, Joan is 47 years old. She is a single parent to a twenty year old son whom she has raised alone. She is currently putting him through college and like most mothers I can tell she is very proud of her son.

Every one wants to know if I like her, is she good with the kids, do the kids like her, does she like living with you? How can I NOT love someone that serves my family from morning till night? Having Joan makes it so I can enjoy all the best parts of being a Mom. I spend a lot more time with the kids with out the guilt of "all the things" I should be doing to keep a house up. I feel like I laugh more, am tired less, and have so much more quality time to enjoy my family. Yes, Joan is lovely.

She is more quiet by nature but I love making her laugh and I can see that she really is starting to love our little pack of punks. I would Say, Syd is more indifferent and it would not matter who was living with us she would go on with her happy little self. Tate...calls her all of the same naughty words that he calls me (I tell her to embrace those words) deep down he loves us. And Emmy loves Joan...She wakes up in the morning and marches down stairs and yells "Joan's....cereal...hungry!" Joan reads her books, rocks her to sleep and is pretty good at answering her early onset of two year old demands.

This is what I come down to in the morning. Do you believe it? I don't.

Now you know why I call her the Good Fairy. Trent is going to have some hard times adjusting when we go back to the states....so am I.

Pork Adobo

Tinola

I asked Joan to make us an authentic Filipino meal one evening. It actually tasted better than it looks. I was a little nervous when she had the guard pick some leafs to add to the tinola. I told Trent "Enjoy dinner, we are eating weeds from next door."

To make you rest a easy, our eating has not changed a whole lot. We just pay a little bit more than normal to eat our good American food. Joan has been great and I am so thankful that she has become apart of our family. It has been much easier than I thought it would be to have someone live with us. She works so hard and we appreciate all she does for our family.