Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hooray, Hooray! We love Christmas and the new year!

This Christmas season was very special for us as we were able to see all of our families in America, and spend lots of quality time with them. It is nice to be back in the Dominican Republic as we were all done with our winter experience; six weeks was perfect! The girls loved the novelty of the snow, but also loved coming inside and getting warm. We had a one day trip to the Oregon Coast and froze...it didn't stop Madison from getting waist deep in the water with her Aunt Anna though! I kept telling myself, and anyone who would listen, that the coast in Oregon was beautiful, but in one week we would be laying on the sand and soaking up the sun 40 minutes away from our house in the DR! :) Being with family and forging those bonds was something unforgettable that the whole family will cherish for a long time to come. It was the highlight of our year. 2007 was a crazy and eventful year--like most every other year in the Tobias and Niki Bradford family.

January 2007 brought us here to the Dominican Republic and the detoxing from Russia began :) Actually, being in D.C. started the process, but having our own home with all of our things and a "normal" life and schedule really sealed the deal. Madison and mommy had been living out of suitcases since May 2006-we were ready for some stability! After the original adjustment to the heat, mosquitoes, washing everything with bleach before eating, and the constant threat (not as bad as we were lead to believe) of crime . . . we had our stuff unpacked and organized almost by the end of February. It took us four months to hang the pictures because of the cement walls, finding steel nails and figuring out to get them to stay in and not fly off the rock-hard wall while nailing them in! Moving is always a huge chore, but we welcomed this one whole-heartedly. The Dominican Republic has been nothing but wonderful for us.

Niki turned 30 shortly after arriving and we celebrated with some new friends with yummy food and lots of laughter. Tobias gave her 30 calla lilies and her dad gave her a beautiful bouquet of roses and daisies that helped brighten the crazy house atmosphere of the first few weeks. Madison started a little preschool and mom started to return to normal after so much moving and new babyness. We are lucky to have someone who helps us keep the impossible marble floor of our gorgeous, but BIG house clean and do some occasional babysitting. No carpet, just beautiful and HARD marble floors. Mikaela was six months old when we came and was just learning how to sit up. She ended up with a few nose bleeds and now after a year has two chipped teeth. Poor girl! We love the marble, but it might not be the best for tiny babies :) Juana, who helps us at home, is a lifesaver! Thursday nights are date nights and Juana watches the kids and puts them to bed. She spends the night since going to her house in the night is not particularly safe. We love having her around as I think any mom would!! The girls love her and their Spanish is now excellent. Madison would only talk to Mikaela in Spanish and Mikaela will only say some things in Spanish; it cracks us up!

Some of the other highlights of 2007 include Mikaela turning 1 and Madison learning Spanish! For Mikaela's birthday we left her cake on top of the car while going to a friend's house...only to discover it on the road home :( Our friends made an impromptu cake and we had a great time anyway. Madi ate most of Layla's cake which we thought was hilarious...Mikaela didn't seem to know what to do! Right after her birthday some Columbian friends came to stay with us for, it turned out to be, three months. Clarissa was a single mom trying to make her way here with her 13 year old daughter. Her boss ended up copping out on his end of the deal and Clarissa was kicked out of her apartment. After three months of searching and trying and much pain...they were able to get their lives in order and return back to Colombia. We miss them! They were such a great addition to the family for a while! Truly they were part of the family. We learned lots about Colombian cooking, hard work and "pride." We joked with them all the time because they didn't love the DR and would always say it was better in Columbia. If anything ever frustrated us we would say, "ah, if only we were in Columbia!" Madison had a great time with them too. This last year has been a big one for Madi! So many moves, a new little sister and starting school. She ended up really not liking the all Spanish school we put her in and so we switched her for the next year. The three months we spent with the Colombian ladies Madison learned Spanish with no problems and loved having two other people to love and pay attention to her! Funny how we can do and learn things when there isn't pressure. If only we knew how to create the right environments!!

Madison turned four in November, but already can write her name and knows lots of letters--all thanks to her new little school. It has been such a great thing for her to "try out" school and work out some of the bugs that come with a classroom setting. We are all learning a lot about learning and about working together as a team in our family. It has been a hard year in that aspect, but we have worked really hard and feel that the Lord has lead us to things we needed to know about and change. We have learned so much!

Our two favorite things here in the Dominican Republic are the beaches and the Botanical Garden. We have spent tons of time at the beach and the our whole family acts like fish. The girls just lounge in the sand and water like that is where they belong--so much different from Russia! The snow phenomenon only lasts so long in our house! We go about 3 or 4 times a month to the ocean and just don't get sick of it. Any of you are welcome to visit any time!! The National Botanical Garden is right in front of our house and so we go walking there almost daily. Niki has recuperated her back for the most part by walking in the garden. It is an incredible place! So many trees and oxygen-- a great place to escape the city :) The girls love to feed the fish and the pigeons there so we go at least a few times a week as a family. Mikaela goes with Juana every morning when Niki walks for exercise and therapy.

The next Bradford adventure will take us to Mozambique, Africa in the capital city , called Maputo. It, too, is a coastal city which we are all excited about (that means beaches close by!!!). Madison will start "real school" there and hopefully we can stay for three to four years. Tobias will have a wonderful job where he will be in charge of the public affairs section of the embassy and have lots of responsibilities. He is really excited to do something more in his area of interest. Working with visas has been challenging, and has made him realize that our immigration system could use some serious reform! At least we get to be in the Caribbean doing all kinds of fun things while he completes this work assignment. We look forward to Africa a lot, but we are just not ready to go yet. It has been a lovely place for us as a family and we don't want the "honeymoon" to end! Oh well, life always has stages, right?

This is a new blog site so we are hoping it is user friendly and that you like our updates. We love staying in touch with everyone, but feel uncomfortable sending so many mass emails. If you guys are interested in our crazy lives, you can check up every once in a while. By the way, we LOVED getting all the Christmas cards. We love friends and family and love seeing everyone's pictures and hearing of their lives. It is a connection that we don't take for granted--thank you!!! We love you guys! May your new year be filled with lots of the changes you want to make and lots of love from those close to you. Hope you like the pictures. It is amazing how time flies! Love to all!

The Bradfords