They won't be home this year.

Well, the word is in and CIC has said that the Visas will not be issued this year. From what I can tell we are one of the lucky ones who gets to have all their documents re-verified by immigrations........ hoping to get a bit more information next week, but due to Christmas holidays here and in Nairobi looks like it may be a while. We probably won't get anymore updates till the New Year.
Well, just think how much we'll save in flights missing out on all those high season prices and I would hate to not be able to travel with Hazel and Ramona........ Sorry, trying to find the silver lining.

On a bright note I got to help out at preschool today for their Christmas party and they even dressed me up as a Christmas tree. The kids had a blast and I had fun laughing and singing with them. They really just light up this time of year!

That's it, enough is enough!

I realize that things have not gone as we had planned or ever imagined they would have. However I have to realize that there are some things that we have absolutely no control in life over. I have spent the past few weeks in despair avoiding people so not to have to explain what is happening as it appears that no one really knows what is going on or why our file has been delayed while others along side us where not. It breaks our hearts to think that we will not be with our sweet ones for Christmas. The stocking are hung and presents are bought but it is something that we need to come to terms with. The last while I have been unable to sleep, tossing and turning and filled with dreams that don't make sense. I can't sit still yet I don't have the focus to carry out task or projects. But I have decided that instead of wasting the precious days I have I will try to embrace each day and try to make the most out of it. Today Cohen and I spent time outside going for sleigh rides and sliding down hills. We both really needed to laugh. I need to remember that this is hard on him as well as he is constantly asking when we can travel to his brother and sister and I keep finding extra things packed away in our suitcase that he has added thinking we will need. So for the sake of sanity and for the sake of my little man I am going to do my best to make the most out of everyday and do our best to add some laughter back into our lives. This was not what we had hoped for but we will make the best of it. It is time to live life and not just move through the motions of it.

To those out there also waiting and hoping for a miracle I wish you the strength to live the life you have and the courage to continue your journeys to your wonderful waiting children.

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to each and every one of you.

You knew just what I needed......

Last night some dear friends of ours stopped in on the way through town and seemed to know just what I needed to try and cheer me up.

1 - they brought yummy take-out comfort food
2 - a new foot spa
3 - chocolates
4 - great company!

So after you left and Dale went out I poured myself another baileys and coffee, had a couple chocolates and watched a movie while enjoy a nice warm foot soak!

Thank you guys for being there when we needed you. Who could ask for more!

Sending out a huge thank you.

I just wanted to send out a great big thank you to my dear husbands boss. Without your patients, flexibility, understanding and compassion you have shown to us throughout this process I know that we would be under even greater amounts of stress. You have been so great through this whole process and we can't thank you enough.

No go....

I think I can actually feel a piece of my heart breaking off as I type this.....We are soooooo sad to report that we will not be taking those wonderful flights our travel agent was able to find for us for Sunday and we have NO idea what is going on! We are so tired, sad, heartbroken, disappointed, you name it. I am so tired of living day by day waiting for the call and having our hopes and dreams smashed to pieces. When will this end. Do we have to hit every single road block there is. I know, I know I am just feeling sorry for myself, but I'm just tired of having no control over my own life. It has been almost 3 yrs since we started this process and I have held these 2 beautiful children in my hearts for the past year as I have not been able to hold them in my arms. Please, Please let there be a happy ending to this and please let my arms finally get to hold them!

We need everyones positive thoughts and prayers

Hey everyone. Whether you are a believer in prayer or positive energy please send some our way. We are still waiting to hear something from our agency this week but we are planning on going ahead and booking our flights today and praying for the best. At this point if we stay till Jan 1 we will be at the max timeframe for a visa to be issued. With the holiday season coming we are watching the flight prices increase daily and the available flights are disappearing. So pray and think positive thoughts that we will hear good news tomorrow and that our travel agent can find us some good flights out for this weekend!!!

Donna
(with fingers and toes and everything else crossed)

The finished look of A's room

After countless delivery delays we finally got the furniture for Almaz's bedroom (thanks to some help from our brother-in-law Jason).
I had been collecting bits and pieces over the past 6 months and was a little worried that I might not be able to pull it all together but I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think? Do you think it is a room fit for an Ethiopian princess?
I am hoping to pick up some art work and mementos for her when in Ethiopia to put on the top shelf so that her little brothers won't be able to get to them.
Hard to believe this room started out with walls painted all the primary colors. It took 4 coats of white to cover it. So much for 1 coat paint. LOL!

Not the news we where hoping for.

Well out of the 6 families currently waiting for Visas 3 got them issued today. We where not one of them. Our is currently still under review. For what we are not sure. So, it looks like we will be gone for Christmas. The question now is what to do. Do we wait for word on our Visas, or do we take a leap of faith and book tickets? It such a hard decisions with Christmas coming and flights filling up. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! I have nothing more to say!

Do you believe in horoscopes?

So reading the paper this weekend I thought I would check out our horoscopes (don't normally!) and here is what they read:

Dale - Travel is coming soon. You are really looking forward to this, but don't get ahead of yourself. There are still a few tasks to attend to before your great escape.

Mine - You've been wishin to hear something positive from a particular person, and you finally will. A phone call brings favourable news. Tonight, make sure you've finished a job all the way through.

Sounds promising! Do you think maybe, just maybe?

What to do?

So we are hoping that the visas will be issued in the next couple of weeks however in the meantime I have been looking into flights for Dec 4 and 7th and the prices jump enormously! From the Nov 27th to Dec 4th depart dates the cost incrases about $500 per person and if we don't leave till the 7th the price jumps another $3,000+ per person (yes the zeros are right!). What do we do? Sit and watch the prices increase or take a chance and book? Oy, I thought this was going to be the easy part!

My head is spinning!

Can't believe I'm done work.....

I am officially on holidays till the middle of December at which point I will be on parental leave. Can you believe I am not scheduled to return to work till Jan 2011! Wow that sounds wierd.
We had really thought that Nov 27th would be the worst case for a travel date but unfortunately we just got word that the kids travel Visa's have not been issued and the person who handles them is going to be out of the office most of next week. So it is looking like we will not be leaving for a couple weeks now. Too say we are extremely bummed and disappointed is an understatement. We are really hoping that at this point we will be leaving Dec 4th or 7th as the closer we get to Christmas the harder flights will be to get.

So for now we sit here with our bags packed and wait!

Whirlwind of activity

Well we have been shopping and packing and doing copious amounts of laundry and trying to get things organized. It has been a very buisy couple of weeks since we got our exciting news. We are still hoping that we will be able to travel this Friday but if we don't find out our Visas our ready we will be holding off travel till the following week.

Come on Visa's!

It's official we are now a family of 5!

I think I am still in shock and can hardly believe it but we got a call yesterday telling us that we not only have a court date, but that we have already passed court and our documents have all been in Nairobi for 2 weeks already! I can hardly believe it! We are so excited, relieved, you name it!

We had gotten to the point where we had almost completely lost hope of travelling before the end of the year. I am very happy to say that we are know hoping to be able to travel in the next 4 weeks. YAHOO!

I was getting to the point that I thought this was never going to happen and as you can tell from the blog I was pulling away from the adoption as a form of coping. NOW, we are in full gear and the serious nesting will begin!

We have some things that I don't think will be ready for when they get home, but as long as we are ready to love them (which we have been for far too long now) that is all they will need to start with.

**Interesting note: For those who have been following our journey/blog you may recall my dreams prior to the referral. In my dreams the kids where 7 and 15 months. Little A will be 15 months in November! How coincidental is that?!?!? Totally meant to be!

Melkam Addis Amet - Happy New Year!

http://

Leaving on a jet plane....

Our dear frineds in waiting Lisa and Jason are leaving in just 2 sleeps to bring home their 2 adorable children. And while they are there they have agreed to meet and deliver a package to each of our darling children. I will be forever greatful for them doing this for us. I hope you all have a wonderful trip and I can't wait to welcome you home at the airport.
And since you ditched me for this weekends Ethiopian cookfest I guess I am going to have to try to pack your freezer full of Ethiopian comfort foods for your children all by myself! LOL!
Take care and have a safe trip! We'll miss you!

The courts have closed.....

and we did not get through in time.

The courts are scheduled to reopen the end of September and we hope to be able to quickly get a court date. We are still hoping to have our children in our arms by Christmas.

My little man turned 4 yesterday.

I can't believe 4 years have passed by already. Where has the time gone little buddy you are growing up far too fast. I hope you had a great day! I love you and could not imagine life without you!

*Edit* Yes that is a fireman's outfit and he wore it everywhere for almost a week......including out shopping for a new car!

Pictures from our 'birthday party' for Abdeta

We had some Sombosas.............

mmmmmm, they where good!

Passing along our well wishes......

The cake.....not one of my better creations!

grandmas, grandpas and great-grandmas,

and last but not least cards and presents!

All we where missing where two special children.

Our little boy turns one today!

We wanted to do something special to recognize this special day and the special little man.

So, last night Cohen and I baked a cake......well actually we mixed up a cake and the oven decided to spark and smoke instead of heat up. So off I went to a friends in town to bake our cake.

Cohen made a sign/card for Abdeta (with the help of mom) and we wrapped a couple of presents we bought for Abdeta on our trip. Cohen picked out a cute little truck wood puzzle that he said his brother had to have. He also mentioned that he would not mind if he opened it and tested it out. I asked him if he would like Abdeta opening his new toys and testing them out and he said "that's ok mom, I won't get upset". Uh huh....


Dear Abdeta,

Today you turn one and though we are not there in person to hold and care for you please know that we are loving you so deeply from afar. I hope that you have someone there that can celebrate your day and the special little person you are. It is so hard to understand how a person can love someone they have never met so completely. I long for the day that we can hold you close and love you forever. Until that time, I am so glad you have your beautiful big sister there to love you and share this day with you.

Love mommy

A fun trip!

We had a fun family trip this past weekend and spent lots of time shopping, water sliding and going to the zoo. Cohen and I even got to feed and pet a Giraffe. What amazing creatures they are!

No court date yet.

But we hope to have updates very, very soon. This will be our very first update and I am so excited!

This weekend we are heading on a roadtrip with some dear friends that we have made along this journey. While some of our children will be spending time together in Ethiopia the rest of us will be spending time together here wishing they could all be home on a family vacation with us. This will be so wonderful for them to have someone they spent so much time with in the foster home close by and I feel very fortunate that our families have made this connection.

I hope to be able to post more very very soon.

Camping take 1!

Well last week we decided to take our 1st family camping trip. We have wanted to the last couple years but things just have not worked out the way we had hoped. So we packed up the truck, pitched a tent and spent a couple nights under the stars in a tent. Cohen had a blast. I think if he had his way we would just sell the house and live outdoor.

Here are a couple pictures to enjoy.

...are we there yet??!?!?!!!??

mmmmmmm.......smores are good!

Really I am just this sweet and angelic!

Packing up....everyone helped out.


Stoppin off for a quick dip in a pool on the way home

So, what next and why no pictures?

Many people have asked what happens next and why we have not posted any pictures of our beautiful two new additions to the family.



Right now we are currently wiating for a court date to declare the children are legally ours. The court date will be in Ethiopia and we don't have to be there for it. Our representative in Ethiopia from the agencey will attend on our behalf. Until after this court date we are not allowed to share pictures of our children electronically as that is when we will be their legal parents and the Ethiopian government states it is against the law to post any pictures on a public site until this time.

Meant to be!

I think that this is just way to cool not to pass on. I wrote the following on an online adoption group I am part of......

Wrote on Nov 30, 2008:

A few weeks ago I woke up with this strange feeling that we should be adopting a 7 yr old girl. So that night I asked my husband if we could adopt again and this time request a girl under 8..........I think he thought I lost my mind! So this week I had this very vivid dream that we where referred a 7 yr old girl and a 15 month old (not sure of gender)??? That is where the gets foggy!Just thought I would see what other have dreamt about. This is the 1st time I have had dreams regarding our referral.

Wrote on Dec 1, 2008

It is weird how our minds can play tricks on us!The stress and lack of control are such a big part of too. We are probably all so used to having at least some control in what's going on in our lives that times like this can really test ones strengthsI am very curious to see if you are right about our referral Jessica I feel so strongly that we are going to get a referral for a 7 yr old girl it is almost eerie!

This was just the beginning of some very vivid dreams.
The pictures of the children in my dreams are definetly the children that we where referred. Almaz has the most amazing smile and Abdeta has these big brown eye and soft curly hair. I guess it just goes to show that some things are meant to be and dreams do come true.

The referral story....

The referral story.......leave it to me is all I can say!I had been carrying my cell phone everywhere with me lately and I had just come out of a meeting and went to the washroom at work when wouldn't you know it my phone start vibrating. Normally I would not check, but I had a feeling today was going to be the day so I quickly check and see that it was our SW #. I had time to do up my pants and quickly answer the phone. It has always taken me weeks to get ahold of our SW so I was NOT letting this call go to voice mail. I think I got 2 words out before the ugly cry started. I honestly don't know if I have ever in my life cried so hard. I was a blubbering mess. The poor people in the stalls next to me! LOL! I later found out who it was (the next day) and they where relieved to hear it was tears of joy! So after the call I tried to calm myself down enough to call my husband at work....he was in a conference call and I ask one of the girls to have him call his wife AS SOON as he got off the phone. I guess I did not do a very good job of sounding calm as she got him out of the conf call right away and had him call me.......again ugly cry where he had to try to decipher my blubbering. At this point I have to sneak back to my desk as I look like hell! I manage to phone my mom and by this point I have my entire team standing around my desk looking at me wondering if something bad happened or if I had gotten THE call.
****Notice: no cell phones where injured in this referral! Antibacterial wipes are great!

It's a BOY and a GIRL!!!

I am soooo happy to finally be able to announce that we received a referral for a 7 year old girl and a 11 month old boy. We are beyond excited and we are all over the map with emotions. This has been a day we will never forget! More information to come!

ACK!

We hit 19 months! I am suprised that I am actually doing better than I thought. Maybe it helps cause I am being kept busy or maybe I am just getting used to this dissapointment every Friday when another week ends with yet not another call. Whatever it is I feel better today than I did at the beginning of the week.
We are again trying to keep busy and are seeing what it will be like to have 3 kids as we are watching a friends 2 girls for most of the week. So far so good. 2 days down and they are not asking to go home yet. I think we are going to go and find some fun outdoor activities today since it is suppose to be so nice out. I had hope to take them for a day at the pool but I guess they don't open till tomorrow and Cohen has a bday party tomorrow afternoon.

Everyone send every ounce of positive energy our way so that we do not have to go one more week without news! And if you read this, please just put a simple comment in the comments so we know your energy and positive thoughts have been added to ours! It WILL help!

Please take my ticker away!

I am dreading that in a matter of hours my little ticker above is going to hit the 19 month mark. I ma not sure I can bear it. The past 2 weeks have been almost unbearable. I have had moments where I feel like someone is squishing all the air and life out of me and it hurts just to breath. So, I will try to look at this from a positive side.........at least I am 19 months closer than I was 19 months ago.....right?!?!?!? UGH!

I have come online to post something many times lately but have not been able to bring myself to doing it. I had wanted to wait until I could post some news worth celebrating but I am afraid I have nothing yet to share.

Hang in for another round. I am sure we should hear something....someday.......maybe?

I'm still here and I'm doing alright.

Just wanted to post that I am still here and surviving. There where a couple not so good days that many tears where shed, but I have decided to keep myself busy and my mind occupied.
And busy I have been! We have the fundraising garage sale this weekend which we decided to add baking to the list...there is a mosaic potluck at work tomorrow and I decided to represent Ethiopia...With the help of Lisa, last night we managed to make enough Sambusas to feed a small army (well my co-workers and the other people that will be at the Ethiopian potluck Saturday night!).
So for those of you who may have been worried or thought I might have crawled into bed never to emerge....I am ok.

Thanks for everyones thoughts and kind words....they really do help!

It's been confirmed.....

we are still waiting!

I don't think today will be the day.

Looks like we will still be waiting..........

18 months........

1 year 6 months.............

18 months................

548 days.......................

13,152 hours...............

789,120 minutes............

47,347,200 seconds............

No matter how you put it it is too darn long!

Wacky hair day!

We held off on Cohen's new springtime hairdo so that we could give him a real fun hairdo for wacky hair day at pre-school. So, in honor of wacky hair day we gave him a blue mohawk!

I hope one day this does not come back to haunt us in a teenage rebelious stage.

Oh well, thier are definetley worse things he could do!

Oh to be so young and full of energy!

May 7th - World Aids Orphans Day

Over 15 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS – equivalent to the number of people living in New York, Paris, and Bangkok combined. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, over 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic.
Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia.
By 2010, the number of AIDS orphans worldwide is expected to reach at least 20 million.

The Impact:
In addition to the trauma of losing a parent, orphans are often subject to discrimination and are less likely to receive healthcare, education and other needed services.
In HIV affected households lacking community support, food consumption can drop by 40% putting children at risk to hunger, malnutrition and stunting.
Impoverished and often without support to educate and protect them, orphans and vulnerable children face increased risk of HIV infection.
Orphans are often easy prey to many forms of exploitation: forced labor, prostitution and child soldiering.
Support for AIDS Orphans
Fewer than 1 in 10 AIDS orphans receives any external support.
US $4.6 billion is needed to implement a comprehensive response to AIDS orphans and vulnerable children. Estimates suggest that less than US $0.5 billion is currently being invested.
Only three countries – the US, UK and Ireland have earmarks providing at least 10% of HIV/AIDS funding to orphans and vulnerable children. Yet experts believe that these promises and legislation are unfulfilled as they meander through government bureaucracy

For more information go to http://www.worldaidsorphans.org/section/the_orphans_crisis/the_facts

You can make a difference. One way is by sponsoring a child affected by AIDS. There are many good agencies that will match you with a child. http://fayaorphanage.blogspot.com/
Education is also another important step to ending the suffering and the silence surrounding this disease. This is everyones problem and we must not look away.

Home sick

Well I am home sick again today (second day now) with a chest cold that they think is Pneumonia. Not quite sure how that happened! I can honestly say that I have not slept as much as I have in the past 4 days. It is too bad, as Dale and I had a date night planned for tomorrow night. We had tickets to Globe and we where planning on going out for a nice dinner before hand. We even had little C spending the night at grandma and grandpas. So instead I will be spending the evening curled up on the couch (or sleeping)!

All I know is I hope I am feeling good enough next week to do some much needed cellebrating!

Busy weekend full of spring cleaning

Well, this weekend we managed to get a majority of the spring yard work done, bathed the dog, washed all the bedding and clean out all the cupboards and pantry in the kitchen as well as the garage. Since I decided this week that we would again hold another fundraising garage sale at the end of the month it gave me a goal to work towards. I haven't wanted to work on the bedrooms or playroom until we have an actual referral so I have not had a lot of direction or motivation. I am glad to say that this was an extremely tiring yet productive weekend. And it is soooo much easier to do things with a 3.5 yr old helping out than it was last year. He even joined in and help clean the garage and dig in the flower beds. With the promise of a ice cream as a reward. He definitely deserved it as he was going from 7am till 7:30pm without stopping..........No, not working, but playing! How do they do it?

I really wish I would have taken pictures of us bathing the dog as we had water EVERYWHERE! But Winston sure looks handsome and proud now.

Rumor has it....

That there are several referrals on there way either this week or next week! 10 to be exact! And apparently there are 3 already in Canada right now.....there will be some very happy people soon. Hopefully we can be one of those lucky families.

Keep checking and I will try to do better at updating.

I'm still here.......

I know that I have not been posting lately. I just have not been able to bring myself to think about adoption. I needed to get away from it and clear my head. What I really need is good ol' holiday, but unfortunately that one is not going to happen right now. I really do hope to hear something soon, but at this point I don't think it will be till mid May. It is hard to believe that at this point it looks like we will be hitting the 18 month mark. I would never had thought that we would still be waiting. I know we are close. We have been CLOSE for along time now. But things take time and things happen for a reason. Maybe we just needed to deal with Dale's dad being sick and focus solely on getting him better. It is hard to believe that he has been in the hospital for 3 weeks now. We are hoping he will be able to come home soon! Maybe we just had to wait for him to be home and healthy so we can all celebrate together.

So, hopefully when R (our CAFAC rep) gets back from Ethiopia in 2 week she will bring with her LOTS of good news as there are some many families waiting!

Here's to hoping and praying!

Ethiopia Humanitarian Haregewoin Teferra died yesterday of natural causes at her home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/2009/03/ethiopian-humanitarian-haregewoin-teferra-dies/

She was such an amazing woman.....noone will ever be able to fill her shoes. I dreamt of going and visiting her while in Ethiopia. Now we will only be able to visit her in spirit.

Please pray that her good work will continue!

Realy, do I need to say anymore?!?!?!

Good article on older child adoption and attachment

Worth the read.

http://www.rainbowkids.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=621

Faya Orphanage

It is so exciting that our adoption agency has teamed up with FAYA orphanage.
For those who don't remember, Faya was started by a wonderful young girl from Saskatchewan who has a passion for the children of Ethiopia. The things she is doing are amazing. I have been following her since her sister (fellow adoptive mom) announced her plans in the summer. We have been raising funds and collecting donations to take there when we travel. I feel so fortunate to be able to follow her journey and look forward to visiting Faya orphanage in person!
Please check out the website to the right and consider supporting her cause! You won't regret it!

Good explanation

I read this a while back on a fellow bloggers site and just had to post it. Her description is sooooo acurate, especially of the last month.

This is compliments of Rana's blog

The Roller Coaster Ride
You prepare yourself for the ride - you do lots of research finding the right one - you save your money, you stand in line and when you get to the front you are relieved to find you meet the height requirement.You know this is going to be a crazy ride but you have pumped yourself up for it. How bad could it be really? Everyone else getting off the ride as you get on is smiling and looks happy. Oh sure there are a few people who look a little green in the face but you are strong, you can make it thru with grace and style.As you get on the ride you are giddy with anticipation. Your palms are sweaty, and your stomach turns nervously! You belt yourself in tightly - you don't want to fall off - no, that wouldn't be cool.You say a little prayer that the tracks won't fall off or the ride attendant won't fall asleep. You lean back and tell yourself "enjoy the ride".As you go up the first incline - you are happy, happy you were brave enough to get on the ride. You look at the people who are standing watching the ride - they are too scared to even think about it - they admire you for your bravery...or your lunacy - whatever!You are seated somewhere in the middle of the ride - you see there a quite a few people ahead of you at the front of the ride - oh how you wish you were there. You turn and look behind you and see the people behind you, their grins telling you it will be o.k - we are in this together!As you nose dive down the first hill, you think, "heck, ya! I can do this!"Then the twists and turns start to come - you brace yourself for the next turn, your hair whips around your face and you hold on as tight as you can making your knuckles go white.You can't believe how long the ride is - when you were in line no one told you it would be so long. You start to panic and wonder if the ride attendant did, indeed, fall asleep - did he forget he had passengers? - will he wake up and bring us home?As you hurtle thru the ups and downs and twists and turns, you hear others yelling too, you know you are not alone - you take comfort that you are not the only one yelling at the top of their lungs.You start to feel nauseous - you might not be able to hold on very much longer - you grasp on to your husband because he is stronger and won't let you fly off the ride!!You scream out "WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO?" and "I WOULD LIKE OFF NOW!". The attendant just smiles and says "Soon, you will be able to get off soon. You are almost to the end, but you need to hold on just a little longer."

I'm so glad February is over!

I have to admit, I have never been a huge fan of February. It seems like winter is never going to end and the winter blahs are starting to set in. This past month has been a very long month. I am so thankful that is was packed full of activities and get-to-gethers as I don't know how else I would have pulled through. When we first started this journey we actually thought we had a fair and reasonable expectation of travelling early 2009. I have been told many times how I am not the most patient person and how I tend to usually like to control things. If nothing else this wait has taught me a lesson or two in waiting and how to let go and trust others as we have NO control what-so-ever in this process.

This past week was the worst. I kept expecting the call each time the phone rang and at times I thought I was literally gonna be sick. We are so close, I know that! But so close is not close enough. Two other wonderful families who have also been waiting for a referral of siblings got their calls last week. It is so good to see referrals in. Especially of older siblings. We all have very similar requests 2 under5. I am so happy for them! Conratulations guys!

So I will sitback his week and hopfully not stop breathing everytime the phone rings! Here's hoping!

The beginning of another week.....

This waiting is killing me........... I pray for the weekends just so I can stop thinking 'is this gonna be the day we get the call?'! It doesn't help that the weather has been so cold. It honestly feels like this winter has been so long and unbearable. Usually we try to spend quite alot of time outside, but this year it has either been too cold or too windy. Even Dale who LOVES winter (crazy if you ask me) has had enough. Somethings gotta give!

Well that's enough of a pity parade for now.

............while a can't always control the circumstances, I can control how I respond. Some days this is easier said than done!

Weekend full of fun

What a busy weekend! We headed to s'toon for the boys to take in some extreme motor sports and I met up with some local parents in waiting. We had some wonderful Ethiopian food and great company. It was so nice to meet some of the people who share the ins and outs of this long wait. After doing some watersliding we headed home for a wedding Saturday night. The boys went skating on Sunday and Monday C'man and I went to the science centre to explore. All in all it was a good weekend and great to spend so much time together.

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend as well.

last post....

I know the last post was a little vague, but unfortunately that is all I can say at this point. I have a very strong feeling something good is going to happen soon!

I had a dream.......

.............and that dream just may be coming true!!!!

Update on Cohen

Well I am glad to say we are finally home. Cohen's surgery went well, but he had some reactions to the anesthetic or pain meds and got quite sick. We are in the process of trying to get him to keep taking liquids so that we do not end up back in the hospital. Thanks for everyones well wishes. They where very much appreciated.

I will try to get around to posting more later.

Surgery date for Cohen

Well, I am happy to say we got a surgery date for Cohen (Jan 19th). They got enough information from his sleep study last month that they are doing his surgery as emergency (not having to wait 7-10 months for Urgent). I know it will not be fun for anyone, but I am so relieved to know that he will be feeling better soon and he will finally be able to get a good nights sleep and I won't lay awake at night listening to make sure he is breathing ok. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for the 19th!

mälkam gäna

Christmas/Genna
The Ethiopian Christmas, known locally as Ganna after a hockey-like game the shepherds played when Jesus was born, usually falls on the old Julian calendar date of January 7. On Christmas Eve, a religious ceremony takes place in all Orthodox Christian churches throughout the Ethiopian highlands. The ceremonies are long and involve the whole congregation. Priests dance sedately, swaying side to side in time with their sistrums (silver percussion instruments), while the younger, more athletic men gather around a drummer dancing, leaping and jumping, achieving an almost trance-like state. Ganna is really enjoyable. There is a gently festive air, especially on Christmas Eve in Addis where lots of urban types go out eating, drinking and dancing.

2009

Well, Christmas has come and gone and we had some wonderful times spent with family and friends. The tie sure passes by quickly. Santa is a hit in our sons eyes as he brought him exactly what he asked for (excluding a brother and sister). He got a big goalie stick and Brady, Brady hockey books. The poor guy has been dying to go out and use his stick as it is to big for mom to let him use in the house and it has been sooooo cold outside. He absolutely loves the outdoors and I think he would stay out there as long as we would let him. We tried to go for a walk to the toboggan hill the other night but mom made everyone turn around and come back because of the cold. They both thought I was being a suck until I pointed out that the poor dog was doing the 3 legged walk. I don't think they make booties for Rotties, but I may have to look into them if this cold continues!
It is hard to believe we are already in 2009. I never would have thought we would make it to 2009 without a referral yet here we are. Well all I can say is I sure hope it comes in 2009. I think our son has become the most upset over the waiting. To a 3 yr old it must feel like he has been waiting for as long as he can remember........and really he has!

I hope 2009 holds many happy moments for everyone!