Christmas cards....humbug

So what I do to spend my time you may ask....? Well at this time of year I have to keep in contact with my clients, friends and family which makes for alot of christmas cards. And of course, I can't just sign my name I have to include a message in each one. So 5 1/2 hours later this is the end result... any volunteers for next year? Now I have to stamp them and off they go. At least i'm now done for this year.

only 6 stacks of approx 20 each...fun fun

8 months

Wow, today is 8 months since our journey began and if I remember correctly it wasn't all that bad. Another 8 months and we should be able to show off our son, well to friends and family anyways. I just wonder how I will feel when I'm posting an 8 month post for referral.... here's hoping it doesn't happen.

Christmas Shopping

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Today my mom and sister and I got together to finish most of our Christmas shopping. We had such a great day, laughing, joking and even a few tears. I know I've mentioned it in my blog before but they are so special to me and moments like these are moments I will forever treasure. We go shopping often but it's so nice to go together, even if most of our shopping was already done. Just allowing us to have "Girl friend" time together, where we can all just be ourselves and discuss what is on our minds. I love my time with them, moments like these were truly missed when I lived out of town and maybe it's because I've grown more mature in the last few years or maybe just because I was away for so long, but I now realize that moments like these are so special that I NEVER EVER want to leave them again.

After shopping we got together at my sisters for dinner as this evening was our Christmas for Evan, my niece Jessyka's boyfriend. Evan has been home for 3 weeks now and is leaving again on Thursday to go back to active duty in Afghanistan, so my sister decided to make his Christmas now as he won't be home for Christmas. It was a great evening. We are all so proud of him and what he is doing our there, not only for our country but mostly for strangers that he has never met and never will. His acts of unselfishness are something we can all aspire to do in our lives. We all wish him a safe return trip, and look forward to having him home for good in April.Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Yummy Christmas Traditions

Every year my family gets together to make some Christmas dougnuts, my mom was saying she has been making them for 38 years now. It's something we look forward to each year and is a tradition i hope to maintain as long as i'm around. I have added pics to share with you all and hope you all have a special tradition in your family to look forward to each year, as traditions are truly what make families special.


My niece Danika and I rolling out the dough

Such a great helper

Mom on frying duty. Isn't she cute in her little apron. My sister made her that apron when she was in the 9th grade and she wears every year.

Break Time.
My sister on cleaning duty. Thank god for that, i hate the clean up part.

The finished product....yummy.


The kids enjoying the finished product. (my nieces Samantha, Jessyka, and Evan (Jessyka's boyfriend, who is already a huge part of our family)

Secret Pal Gift

This month our secret pal gift exchange had the theme of journals, poems, cards, saying ect...that would help us get through our adoption. Although I sent my secret pal next months' theme, which is Ethiopia, I received this beautiful journal and photo album. For those who really know me, you know that journals are something I use everytime something big is going on in my life, and I have one started already for my adoption. So, I know that this journal will be used in a very special way. I'm thinking I may use it to document my trip to Ethiopia to pick up Kaysen and use the photo album to fill with pics of our trip. Thanks again Secret Pal, I can't wait till next month, although we have just begun this exchange I already look forward to my gift every month.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

As mentioned in a previous post I recently made some "Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars" (Click on name for recipe) and they were yummy. Were they the same tasting, not exactly as I found they were a little harder, but they were still really yummy. Here's a picture of my creation.

Time lines

Just wanted to comment that we are officially half way to our referral since the beginning of this journey. If you notice the time lines above we are 7 mths, 3week, 1 day into the journey and 7 mths, 3weeks, 3 days until our hopeful referral.

Song

Ok, so weird, i'm sitting here trying to find a great Christmas song to attach to the blog for the month of Dec. and I figured I like the beat of this one and it's a great song, i've known it for years. Well, as i'm listening to the whole song I actually realize what it says about Africa and if they even know it's Christmas time at all.... anyways, I hope you enjoy it, i always thought it was a great song, but now I think it's an even better one.

(song: It's Christmas Time)

Let it snow, Let it snow, let it snow!!

I woke up this morning to a great snow day. To bad I don't actually get snow days as I usually work from home anyways. But today was a day that I said "thank god I don't have to go to work today". We got about 20 cm and since the shoveling needed to be done and Chris is at work all day, I got dressed nice and warm and Maddux and I went shoveling. (if you are wondering why only Maddux, it's because he is the only one that stays in the yard, well until he decided to chase after the neighbourhood kids anyways...lol )

This is the only view you get of me. Wow, there was alot of snow.

Maddux doing his part, he was helping by digging for his ball and bringing the snow right back into the driveway for me to shovel. I guess he didn't want me to finish.
I can't find it....

Oh, there it is...

Although we had alot of snow, and I hate shovelling it, I mean, who needs a double driveway anyways right?. I love the way snow makes things look. This is the tree outside my front door and below is my little artificial light up tree that is in my walkway.

Now that i'm cooled off, I'm off to try out my "Starbucks Cranberry Bliss" homemade dessert.

Christmas has hit the Fournier house

This weekend was a great weekend. I got up on Saturday morning, started with a large cup of coffee, then put the Christmas music on the Sirius stereo and began my transformation. 8 hrs later and my house is complete.

On Sunday Am, I went to a course with my sister to make this centre piece, it turned out pretty good actually.

I hope to be able to add another stocking soon.

my little village.

Our tree, didn't realize the tv was on in the back ground but it still looks nice.

I bought these last year, they are just gorgeous,they go in my entry way.

My countdown santa

Have a happy December everyone.

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.