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.