WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

6 Random facts about me.

I was tagged today by Rana to write 6 random facts about me on my blog. So here goes.

1. I am a Days of our Lives addict. I record it on a daily basis on my PVR and discuss it with my sister like it's our own life gossip. In fact, i'm watching it right now.

2. I am deadly afraid of heights and spiders. I'm good with spiders if they don't move but the second they start moving they turn into a giant monster and my heart races and I can't do anything to help myself. As for the height part, I'm lucky I can stand on my own two feet without being scared...lol

3. I had plastic surgery...i'll let you all guess on that one.

4. I love all musicals, and wish I could see plays more often. If you see a commercial about a musical movie coming out you can be sure i'll be in the theatres watching it and then it will be in my DVD library.

5. Chris and I are both the babies of the family with two older siblings, how two people who were always the babies can get along so well and have good balance i'm not sure but so far its worked amazingly.

6. I am the type of person that goes 110% when I get my mind on something. Whether it be the adoption, my career, a new hobby, moving out of town, whatever it is, once i've made a decision to do something I don't look back I just do it. For example, one week Chris and I were saying we would never move back, the next week, we decided it may be a good idea, the next week our house was sold and we had bought another in our home town the next we were getting jobs back home. I just don't like to dwell on something and second guess our decisions.


I must tag others so here it is, Jaclyn, Alicia, Tammy, Sebrina.

Have fun.

Please VOTE - Support Ethiopia Reads!

Ethiopia Reads founder Yohannes Gebregeorgis is one of the 10 finalists for CNN's Hero of the Year. You can vote for your choice of 'hero of the year' here: http://heroes.cnn.com/default.asp

The winner will receive $100,000 for their program!

Ethiopia Reads is a grassroots non profit/non government organization geared toward bringing literacy and literacy related resources to Ethiopia. Yohannes has started a lot of different projects including a mobile donkey library to get books to kids in poor rural areas- very cool!

Thanksgiving

What a great day. Yesterday we had a nice big turkey dinner at my mom's house. My brother and sister in law came home and we had a great day. At night it was so nice we got to sit outside by the fire. One of the few we had a chance to sit by this summer. and this morning we all went to out and took family pictures with a photographer, the weather was perfect and the colors were perfect. I will post some pics once I get them but for now i'll show you a few my mom took with her camera.

I hope you all had as nice a weekend as I did.

Dad and Chris by the fire.

6 month mark

Today marks the 6 month mark since we began this wonderful journey. Okay, at times not so wonderful but most days wonderful and the end result will be priceless. I received our translated marriage certificate today so that officially marks the last paper work we need...for now i'm sure.

Not much else going on here, the weather is amazing, we are having thanksgiving dinner this weekend, my brother and sister in law are coming down and we are doing a large family photo shoot on Sunday. Can't wait to show you all the great pics.

Have a great thanksgiving all.

Bracelet fraying

Not sure if you all remember but at the beginning of my blog I showed you all a picture of my "red ribbon bracelet" and explained how over time the red ribbon with start to fray and eventually disappear and become an invisible thread from my heart to my son's. Well it just started fraying, I have not taken this bracelet off since I got it, so it's done pretty good so far.

Scrapbooking

To keep busy I have begun to scrapbook, I have attached below a few of my pages. So far I really enjoy it and think it's a great way to use pictures, I can't wait to have pics of Kaysen to add to the mix, however I'm sure that once Kaysen arrives I won't have time for this kind of stuff anymore.

POEM ON ADOPTION

I read this poem today on another adoptive mother's blog and felt I needed to share it with you to help you understand what I've been feeling from day one.

Song of the Waiting Mother

I'm pregnant, but my tummy isn't growing.
And no one ever calls me "Little Mom."
The public simply isn't overflowing
With questions that I'd handle with aplomb..
There are no special clothes to mark my waiting.
Nobody stops and smiles as I pass by.
The absence of a due-date is frustrating
And looking at the nursery makes me cry.
When I'm overdue no one will worry.
The phone won't ring and ring as friends check in.
I can't induce my labor in a hurry,
My new life as a parent to begin..
Adoption is a worrisome endeavor
,And waiting all alone is not much fun.
To be "with child" a year seems like forever.
Dear God, we're ready! Please send us our little one!

A HOPE FOR CHILDREN

Here I am wearing my "A Hope for Children" tshirt, I got Chris and Kaysen one as well.

here a small blur of what "A Hope for Children" is all about.

AHOPE for Children is a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the children of Ethiopia, with a primary emphasis on caring for orphans infected with HIV.

In Addis Ababa, AHOPE's two pleasant, well-staffed Children's Homes care exclusively for orphans who are HIV+ and have no extended family to care for them. Many of these children are now finding their forever families through adoption.

AHOPE's Community Outreach Program enables orphaned children to remain within their extended families and culture, while receiving medical care, education, food, and other services.

If you would like to support this charity feel free to click on the link on the right side of my blog.


Here is a picture of Maddux with his favorite toy. It only last a few weeks as it gets ripped but my mom always buys him a replacement every few months and every time it's like it was always there, it makes the noise of a duck and he loves it. Thanks MOm

Boys playing at the park,

Here are some pics of my boys playing in the park.

My 1st Montage

I have seen on many blogs some montages of families and I had to try it. This is a quick one with no theme or thinking involved but I still think it's super cute. Hope you enjoy.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What a great day.

I woke up this morning nice and early and went to town to meet my mom and sister for breakfast. We then went and did some shopping. Mom has to leave as she was headed to camp with my dad so Ren and I kept shopping. We took our time at Costco and looked at everything, something Chris hates to do when he's with me, we then went to Starbucks, sat by the fireplace (no fire) and enjoyed a coffee. I then came home, had an early dinner, took a nap and went out for a walk with the dogs. Fall is my favorite time of year and walking the dogs in this weather is the best. They got new toys today so it was fun to see them fighting to play with them. Unfortunately, this women came to the park and chose to walk directly towards us with her little dog which then made us leave. I just don't get it, this field is extra, extra, extra large and there is plenty of room for everyone, so why did she have to walk near us and get the dogs all excited and place us all in a situation where one dog can get hurt (sorry just ranting as it's the one thing that upset me today). Ok, back to my great day, we then came home relaxed on the sofa, watched tv and now i'm catching up on episodes of Days of our Lives. I'm off this weekend as well which is making it even better.

The one thing I love about being back home is being able to spend time with my mom and sister, we have such a good time together. My sister has been working most of this year and she has been missed, she now has a job that allows her to still have the freedom to hang out with us. I'm so happy she is back. I used to dwell on the fact that I didn't have a "best friend" to go to when I needed anything, but since i've been back home I realize that I do have a "best friend" I actually have two, my mom and my sister, they are always there for me and although, my sister and I sometimes argue, we always forgive and forget and no matter we know we are always there for each other.

Ok, I know, just going on and on and probably boring you all, but they are important and they make this journey somewhat easier.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Again, I was reading someone else's blog (Sebrina and Mike) and she had this beautiful song in heres. It doesn't only have one of my favorite songs "Somewhere over the rainbow" but it also has the song that I danced with my father to at my wedding "it's a wonderful world" I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Passing the time

Since the waiting period has begun i've been trying to find ways to keep busy. One thing I started to do was scrapbooking, when I think of taking pictures of my projects all post them. I hope I don't bore you all but from this point on, or until I have news I will post things that I find on other blogs that will mean alot to me one day when I look back on my blog and see how things have changed. Needless to say, if you are only looking for updates, please do skip these post that are simply to keep my busy and my mind on other things.

(I took this one from Sebrina's blog)

Four

4 jobs:
Real Estate Agent
Customer Service Manager
Customer Service Rep.
Waitress

4 movies:
Grease
Chicago
Beaches
Dirty Dancing

4 places i’ve lived:
Val Caron ON
Acton ON
Mississauga ON
Chelmsford ON

4 TV shows:
Days of our Lives
The Office
Grey's Anatomy
Roseann

4 Vacations:
Boston
New York
Punta Cana
Toronto

4 dishes:
Sushi
Pasta, any kind
Steak
Pizza

4 sites:
Yahoo
facebook
CNN
TMZ

4 places i’d rather be:
in Ethiopia picking up my son
in a tropical area
in Ethiopia picking up my son
in Ethiopia picking up my son.

Ziggy

I just couldn't help by share this picture with you all. It's my dog Ziggy watching me get ready in the morning. He sits on the toilet and just watches. If I don't place him there he keeps scratching my legs until I pick him up. Enjoy.

Adoption Poem

I was reading another adoptive parents blog today (shannon and matthew) and saw this great poem. I wanted to share with you all and hope they don't mind me copying it.


Not flesh of my flesh,
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute,
That you weren't born
Under my heart,
But in it.

Author Unknown

Awaiting approval

Just wanted to let you all know that as of September 18-2008 our dossier has been in the hand of the Ministry of Child and Youth Services. It should be there for the next 8-10 wks awaiting approval from a minitry worker. Once we have that approval we move on to Ethiopia. I'll keep you posted as I get more news.

5 mths already

According to my little counter at the top of my page we've been doing this for 5mths already. That is great news as it seems like it wasn't that long, here's hoping the next 8-10mths are just as fast.

Quick update: I emailed my adoption practioner today and she said she has already mailed out our package. I'll be sending our agency (IA) their cheque tomorrow and I think that's about it for now.

Thanks everyone for your support and thanks to everyone in advance for puting up with me for the months to come.

HOME STUDY COMPLETE

YEAH!!!!! Our home study is finally completed. To keep you up to date with the last post, within 48 hrs of calling our local MPs office, we had our checks done and letters in hand. I still can't believe how a few phone calls can change the way some things happen. Needless to say I went and picked up the papers on Friday and met our adoption practioner Saturday morning before leaving for my brothers. Now according to that last meeting our Home Study dossier with all our paper work will be sent out to our agency worker tomorrow, Tuesday September 9th 2008, from there our worker will review it and make sure it's not missing anything. It will then take approx. 8-10 wks for them to receive our letter of approval and then 2-3 wks to get our dossier off to Ethiopia. If all the time lines work out our dossier should be in Ethiopia a few weeks before Christmas. At that time we will be waiting approx. 6-8 mths for our referral. I know I repeat myself with the time lines but they do change and as the steps get completed I receive more information. Now the waiting begins.

Chris and I went to a football game in Buffalo NY yesterday. They were playing Chris' favorite team the Seattle Seahawks, it was my first time at a live NFL game and we had a blast. It was raining like crazy but in the morning we had time do some tailgating, and make breakfast and walk around before the rain really fell. Seattle did lose but it was fun as the Buffalo fans were going crazy the games atmosphere was pretty amazing. Here is a pics of us at the game.

Causing issues....

So yep, here I am causing issues again to make sure all goes well. This is the "coles notes" version. Our adoption practioner told us that the Children's Aid of Sudbury was not processing our child welfare checks for both Chris and I, and she didn't know when this would happen. Well being the type of person I am, and seeing as that is the absolutely last piece of paper needed for Chris and I to send out our documents to the ministty I contacted our local MPs office and voila, within a few hours CAS was on the phone with me trying to get to the bottom of things. Well it looked like they had a mix up with my adoption practioner and she only verbally requested the checks, so she got in some kind of trouble for me contacting the MPs office. Needless to say I feel bad for getting her in trouble, but how long would I have waited had I not done anything right??? So within 24 hrs of my phone call, I have them working on the checks and will receive them within a week. Once I get those we are done for now. Our adoption practioner will then send the documents to our adoption agency, who in turn will send it to the Ministry for approval. Hopefully we will have an approval by Christmas and our documents can be off to Ethiopia by the NEW YEAR... here's hoping anyways.

I know I should have maybe let them do what they had to do, but I feel i'm waiting long enough for Kaysen to come home and every day with a delay is a day further from our baby....