Family Expecting

I think it is now safe for me to announce that my brother and his wife are also expecting their first child. We found out just before thanksgiving of this year but wanted to wait to let the world know. However, now that she has passed her 12 weeks and all is good, i'm posting. He/She is expected to be born at the beginning of June, and if all goes well and we are referred a young baby our babies will be very close in age. So now, I get to experience their pregnancy and once their baby is born our will be announced shortly there after.
Congrats to them both, I can't wait to be an Aunt again.

OFFICIALLY EXPECTING!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, i am now officially able to wear the t-shirt. Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia this morning, and was delivered to the agency office at 9:36am Ethiopia time. Of course, I couldn't control the tears. The relief of knowing it's there, and it arrived safe without any loss documents is the greatest feeling. Here is what our dossiers travel looked like



November 20, 2008 09:43 Kitchener - Canada Shipment picked up

November 21, 2008 21:42 Toronto - Canada Arrived at DHL facility in Toronto - Canada

November 21, 2008 23:03 Toronto - Canada Departed from DHL facility in Toronto - Canada

November 22, 2008 01:35 DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA Clearance processing complete

November 22, 2008 01:35 DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA Arrived at DHL facility in DHL Wilmington Airpark

November 22, 2008 06:15 DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA Departed from DHL facility in DHL Wilmington Airpark

November 22, 2008 06:57 New York City Gateway, NY - USA Arrived at DHL facility in New York City Gateway -

November 22, 2008 13:13 New York City Gateway, NY - USA Departed from DHL facility in New York City Gateway

November 23, 2008 22:44 Leipzig - Germany Departed from DHL facility in Leipzig - Germany

November 24, 2008 05:49 Frankfurt - Germany Arrived at DHL facility in Frankfurt - Germany

November 24, 2008 10:48 Frankfurt - Germany Departed from DHL facility in Frankfurt - Germany

November 25, 2008 07:02 Addis Ababa - Ethiopia Arrived at DHL Facility

November 25, 2008 07:04 Addis Ababa - Ethiopia Arrived at DHL facility in Addis Ababa - Ethiopia

November 25, 2008 07:57 Addis Ababa - Ethiopia With delivery courier

November 25, 2008 09:36 Addis Ababa - Ethiopia Shipment delivered

What a journey our dossier had to take, now the waiting begins, we were told we are now expected to wait 7-8 months before a referral. I thank you all in advance for your patience with me in the next 7-8 months as I know i'm just in the starting gate of the roller coaster that is to come.

Quick update

I received a question today about my dossier, and where it's at right now. So here's a quick update, I got an email last week that it was ready to go and that they would only let me know once it has arrived in Ethiopia as they can't provide me with a tracking number because my dossier is with others, or other documents. I'm trying not to think about it, which is pretty much impossible, but rest assured, i'll let you all know as soon as I get the news that we are officially expecting.
Thanks for your questions and caring coments.

Canadian Soldiers

This morning I am on my way to my sister's home for a family breakfast to welcome home my niece Jessyka's boyfriend Evan. Evan has been in Afghanistan for the last 3 months fighting to protect us and the innocent in Afghanistan. Unfortunately he is not here to stay and must go back in a few weeks for another 4-5 months. I wanted to show my support this morning and ask that we all just take a moment to say thank you to our soldiers as they are providing a gift that we can only talk about and, I know speaking for myself, never have the courage to do.

Thank you Evan and all the Canadian Soldiers.

A Gift

This is a song my sister told me about, it's a poor recording but I couldn't find any other one to post. I did download it on my itunes and it sounds great.
Enjoy.

Tagged

I was tagged by a fellow adoption blogger, so here's how it works,

Open the book closest to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there. Tag 3 others once complete

The book closest to me right now is, "A long way gone, memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah" I have yet to begin reading it.

Page 56, fifth line is

"His face was too wrinkled to still be alive, yet his dark skin was shiny and he spoke slowly, gobbling the words in his jaws before he let them out. As he spoke, the veins on his forehead became visible throught his skin.
"Everyone ran when they heard of the "seven boys' on their way here. I couldn't run at all. So they left me behind. No one was willing to cary me and I didn't want to be a burden"

Wow, just these few lines make me want to start reading it now. I may just do that this afternoon,

I tag the following to do the same.

1 Tammy
2. Rhonda
3. Rana

Have fun.

My flooring project

This week I took on a renovating project in my kitchen, when we moved into this house we had white cupboards, white flooring and light yellow walls. Well the first thing to go was the yellow walls, I painted them a night burnt rusty color, then this spring I painted my cupboards, asa full kitchen renovation is out of the budget range and now this week I redid the flooring, below are some pics. Next is the counter top and that i'll be done in the kitchen for now. For the flooring I used this new product called "Resilient Vinyl Tile" they are almost as think as ceramics but they are made of vinyl, they are peel and stick but not like the cheap peel and stick and you can cut them using a utility knife. You may choose to grout them as well, which is what I did or not. Really easy to work with, the end result looks like a ceramic tile but it's not cold or hard like ceramic.
I forgot to take a before pic, but in this one you can see the old vinyl flooring.

My dog Ziggy, trying to help I guess, he wanted some attention and this is how he got it. I couldn't believe it. lol

My dear husband kept the dogs away as I would have never got work done like this. Not that my joints didn't hurt enough without the added 20lbs.


The finished product, after grouting,

In this one, you can see the new color of the cupboards as well, but I still have the white counter top, it is next to go.... just have to save up for it.

Here's another one my sister found

Have you ever had a dream so wonderful it haunts you?

A desire so great it laughs in your face?

Anything worth dreaming of, isn't easy to reach.

So let it haunt you, laugh at you,

One day you will be the one laughing back.

Another great Women's World moment.

i've been having a hard time dealing with something in the last 24 hrs, of course it has to do with the adoption but i'll leave it at that. Needless to say again, I was reading a women's world, as I have many of them to read, my mom gives me a bunch at a time, and this was the quote I read.

A Wonderful Future is waiting for you!

A wonderful future is waiting for you! and today, you will be another step toward it. Whether it's a baby step or a giant step or somewhere in between, it will bring you closer to your destination: the life of your dreams. There may be some unexpected twists and turns in the road, but the journey will be shorter than you imagine. And there will be more joy than you think along the way!

So, from now on, if i'm feeling blue Women's World is who i'll turn to....

Lenght of time in Ottawa

Hi all, just wanted to answer a question I should have mentioned in my authentication post as I know I am as obsessed with time lines as the next and every bit of information helps. So here it is. Our file left Cambridge for Ottawa on November 7th 2008 and got back to Cambridge on the 18th 2008 so that is 11 days total. Hope this helps.

Blog layout

I've been getting comments about my layout on my blog and thank you all for noticing but if you all visit http://www.thecutestblogs.com/ you will have a chance to change yours as well it's so easy and allows us to customize as the seasons come and go. Enjoy.

Authentication Check

I received an email from Imagine Adoption today, and our dossier has now returned from Ottawa and has been Authenticated. She said it would be leaving for Ethiopia by the end of the week, so i'm guessing i'll officially be expecting by next weekend.

Calendar is in

I received my Ethiopia Calendar yesterday and wanted to thank everyone at Canadian Humanitarian for all there had work. The calendars are pictures from Ethiopia from others in this journey that have traveled before and the proceeds will go to helping different programs in Ethiopia. Needless to say, Money very well spent!!!
Thanks again.

Santa Claus Parade

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. For as long as I can remember I have sat in front of the TV on a particular day in November, with some hot chocolate and watched the Toronto Santa Claus pararde. The only years I wasn't in front of the TV to watch it was if I was actually there live. Its the Christmas milestone for me every year. After the parade i tend to get in the Christmas mood, start decorating the house, start shopping and just enjoy the season. It is my favorite time of year, some may call me a Christmas freak but I just find it warms my heart to have the house all decorated and family get togethers. I can't wait to start sharing these traditions with my son. I know that I will be the luckiest person in the world to have Kaysen in my life, but I also feel lucky that he will have the family traditions and love that have surrounded me my whole life, as a major part of his life. He will never be short of love and support as I still receive it on a daily basis and i'm 32 years old.

This evening will be even better as my mom called me this am and said that she was planning on coming over with a movie for us to watch, so I have recorded the parade, we will make some hot chocolate (will a little added adult flavoring) and cuddle on the sofa to watch the parade and Shrek Christmas, nothing like starting the season off in such a special way. Chris is working all night and my dad will be in bed early so we are having a girls night. I can't wait. I hope you all have a great day and hope that you all get to experience the traditions and love in your lives that I have and will continue to experience in mine.

HO HO HO

Update

The only update I have from the last post is that we've decided to take it one day at a time and see what happens. I am looking for another job but I will keep my Real Estate license, as for the office and expenses, we have decided to make that decision once I find a job. Thank you all for your support and kind words.

What to do???What to do???

Life here in Northern Ontario has quickly taken a turn for the worse. The economy went from super good to super bad in less than a year. To give you a quick run down of what I did in the good times was change company and opened my own office with 2 great guys from the area. The issue now, is that alot of mines are closing. Mining is our life here in the Sudbury area, okay, it's not as much our lives as it used to be, but the mines still affect most industries in the area, including mine, Real Estate. So now, i'm sitting here trying to decide what to do, to make sure we get by the hard times and stay afloat. Real Estate has slowed to a crawl as people don't want to commit to a house when they don't know if they will have a job in the morning. I'm thinking I might go for a part time job for now just to have something to fall back on. Because if I don't sell houses we are in big trouble, no houses, no money, no money, no fun.... I'm totally okay with having to get a job to fall back on but what i'm wondering now is do I keep my office or do I let it go. It's costing a LARGE amount to maintain in business on a monthly basis. An amount that most of you would not believe, alot of people think Real Estate Agents make all this money but they really don't realize all we pay on a monthly basis just to keep our license going. So my big question at this point is what to do? what to do? I know i'll figure it out but i'm asking you all a small favor tonight, if you could please find time to send some positive energy my way I know that it will help us make this hard decision. Sorry this post is not about adoption, it's just about what i'm feeling at the moment. I want to make the right decision to be able to provide for my son once he is home.

Delivery for Kaysen Fournier!!

This afternoon, as i'm sitting on the sofa, doing school work, there is a knock at the door. After wrestling with the dogs to have access to the door, I open it to hear "I have a delivery for Kaysen Fournier" well isn't that enough to make a mommy tear up. Here is what was delivered, it's a gift from Chris and I that I had forgot was in Kaysen's name.

You can't read the tag but it says "Kaysen Fournier"

It's a collection of books and we have new ones coming every month, until I stop the subscription. After pricing books out in town I couldn't pass up this deal. and he received a free clock for his toy room.

First snow fall

we had our first snow fall last night. was suppose to be 2-5 cm but it wasn't much at all....which is quite alright in my books. So what's the first thing I ask myself when I see the snow....is it cold? will it last? will we have a good winter? no none of those...I ask myself "will this be the last "first" snow fall without my son? I know, nuts. That just goes to show how much Kaysen is on my mind. I know it won't be my last, but everything that happens in my life right now is followed by "is this the last time before Kaysen comes home?, no matter what it is. Its so hard to hear people say "next year at this time Kaysen will be doing ....with you?" and I always have to say "no probably not until the year after" I know I should be more optimistic about his arrival, but I would rather give myself an unrealistic idea instead of saying "yep, he'll be home" and then be devistated next year if he's not. I hope you don't think i'm sitting here venting this morning, as i'm not. I'm still on a high from my approval, I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of my crazy mind and how it goes through each and every day.

7 Months

Wow, I cant believe it's been 7 months since we began this roller coaster of love and emotion. Considering how slow the last 7 weeks went, 7 months wasn't all that bad. Just think, in 7 months from now, I will be so much closer to know what my son looks like. How will I get through the next 7months is a mystery. Thank God I have all the support of family and friends and adoptive parents to help me through. Chris and I are SOOOOOO ready for our son to come home, we can't wait to hold him, teach him, play with him and just have his physical presence around. He is definitely already a big part of our lives but his physical presence will just top it off. I never imagined we could love someone so much that we have never met or even seen. Our heart is torn on a daily basis as we imagine our lives with him. I pray that we get through this stronger than we were before and that time goes fast so we can be with our son. I have done alot of calculating since our dossier was approved and unfortunately we are looking at End of 2009 beginning of 2010 to be with our son. Which feels like an eternity, but i know we will get there.

Document received

OK, so today is a busy blogging day for me. I just got an email that the documents have officially arrived to my agency, which means they should be going out faster. We were expecting them sometime next week but they arrived this week. Thank you all for the great comments and yes, I do plan to celebrate, but it may have to wait for the weekend as Chris is working.

As mentioned in my comments.....Ethiopia here we come....

No wordless wednesday

PS...sorry I ruined my wordless wednesday, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow....Here are a few pics just for the fun of it.

Me wearing my bday gift, I lost my sunglasses last month and my hubby bought me a new pair for my bday.


me and maddux just chillin.

APPROVAL IS HERE

Hi all, so yesterday I broke down and emailed my adoption case worker over at Imagine to see if she had heard anything. She had not, but she decided to call the Ministry on our behalf to see where the file is. Well it's been approved and is just awaiting the Directors signatures...yahooooooooo. She said she is expecting the documents early next week, and seeing as i've sent the money she has begun the notorization process as well. She was saying that our documents are probably going to their lawyers office today. She also said everything is ready to go, so once she receives the hard copy our package will head out to Ottawa for authentication and then off to Ethiopia. She is optimistic about our file reaching it's destination by the end of the month, beginnning of next....yahoooo.

thank you all to those who have listened to me vent, and complain, I will try not to do it again for awhile, as I know the hard long wait is just begining. She told me the referral time line is approx. 7-9 months, which brings me right into the court closure but I will deal with that once I get there.

I never taught it would feel so good to write up a large cheque with nothing in return, well not yet anyways. I had butterflies watching the teller write it up and then I swear I floated all the mail to the mail. Unfortunately the dollar amount was greater than it would have been a few months ago, due to the dollar value, but I really didn't care about that at all. Feeling this good is amazing, I can't even imagine how good I/We will feel once we are officially expecting or even better when the referral and court dates come in. I can officially say that the government of Canada/Ontario gave me the approval to be a parent....lol

Thanks again to you all.

YES TO CHANGE

Even thought I am not an american citizen i am so excited at the outcome of yesterdays election. It actually brought tears to my eyes when I was listening to Obama's speech. This not only means change for American's but change of the world, and the fact that the Americans voted in their first African American to run the county is a huge step for African American's everywhere. This change will have a direct impact on my son and how he sees the world. He truly can be anything he puts his mind to and Barack Obama proved it last night. Congrats to him and to all the citizens for electing change.

ARGHHHH 10 Pounds

What the heck is this about? I weighed myself yesterday and low and behold I have gained 10 lbs since this process began. I'm not pregnant, why would I be gaining wait you may ask. Well let see, since i'm not a millionaire and can't do as much retail therapy as I would like, i tend to do another kind of therapy....eating....not eating good stuff, that would be to simply...no eating junk food, all the time. I eat when I have a bad day, I eat when i'm nervous, I eat when I can't stand the wait anymore and so on. What will I look like in a year from now? I'm guessing alot bigger than I am now and still eating....lol

HELP ME STOP THIS GROWING MONSTER, any tips will do.

Things people say.

I copied this post from another adoptive parent (thanks Tammy) and felt it was important to share, as being educated on this subject is the only way people who aren't going thru it can somewhat understand...or at least be careful when they speak.

"When you haven't been through an experience that someone else has gone through or is going through you can't say to them that you really understand. The same thing goes for infertility or the process of adoption. If you haven't experienced it like I have, you truly can't understand what it has been like.

I've been thinking about a few things that have been said to me in the past 6 years where I just have either looked stunned or just had to inwardly shake my head in attempt to avoid exploding.
1. "Once you adopt you'll get pregnant."
*Yep-we've all heard that one before. You know what? Some people just can't get pregnant! It isn't possible and will never happen. Give it up already. I have!
*When you are adopting it doesn't matter if you can or cannot get pregnant at that point. Having an adopted child is the same thing as having a bio child!!! Treat it as such!

2. "You just haven't prayed hard enough."
*Yep, someone actually said that to me. It deserves no comment.

3. "How can someone just give their baby away?"
*Placing a child for adoption has involved months of thought, heartache and tears. A mother doesn't just willy nilly place her child for adoption. She makes the biggest sacrifice for her child so her child can have a better life. She isn't 'giving' it away. I have a tremendous amount of respect for birth moms...I love my birth mom already. I think about her ALL the time and I don't even know her.

This is one added by a fellow blogger and one I've heard MANY times over:
4. "You are lucky, at least you won't have to deal with getting pregnant and being fat."
*Yes, I am lucky! Being an adoptive parent is a true blessing and gift from God! (My response)*But I am getting fat! I'm gaining weight being depressed because I have no control over when I will have a baby. (My response)

Another from a fellow blogger:
5. 'Oh, you're adopting just like Madonna and Angelina Jolie.'*Yep, just like Madonna and Angelina Jolie. Only they don't have to remortgage their house just to finance the adoption. (My response: ok, I'm exaggerating...just a home equity loan...)

There have been other comments made that I just can't remember at the moment. I'm sure you have others. Please let me know and I'll add them to the list. It is important that we help others understand what type of comments help and which do not. Saying something 'thoughtful' versus the first thing that comes into your head."

Dinner out for my birthday

Last night my sister and her husband Pat joined Chris and I for dinner out to celebrate my birthday, we then went to my place and had a fun night of game playing. Here are pics for you to look at.

A quick kiss before we leave.

Happy after a wonderful meal

Pat (brother in law) enjoying an after dinner expresso.

me and my beautifl sister.

You're so close don't give up

The other day I was having one of those days, the 6 wk mark for approval came and went and I was a tad (to put it lightly) feeling down. So i'm reading a copy of Women's World, and I happen to read a side bar in the magazine, which I usually don't take the time to read. Here is what it said and I think it will be inspiring to many.

You're So Close---don't give up now!

Want Something with all your heart---yet still waiting for it to happen?
It's natural to start doubting whether it ever will, even to tell yourself that maybe it just wasn't meant to be.
But all that hard work and hope will pay off.
Happiness is your destiny.
And your dream could be just weeks, days or even minutes away from coming true!

It was just what I needed to boost my spirits that day. I hope it does the same for someone else out there.