How About We Become Friends?

My sweet child, Cayden.  The social butterfly of our family. He really comes up with some interesting things.

The other day, Cayden and I  were headed out to visit some friends in our old neighborhood.  This was our first trip past our old home since we said goodbye a few weeks ago. As we were getting near, Cayden made the suggestion that we should stop,say ‘hi’ to the new homeowners, and then become friends.  He finished off be saying, ‘That’s a really good idea that I had, right mom?’

Cayden is such a people magnet.  He draws people to him with his sparkle and zest for life.  I didn’t stop to ‘make friends’ with the new homeowners.  But I did tell him that it was a good idea, but we just didn’t have time at the moment.  We’ll have to see if he has the same ‘good idea’, next time we go past.

Weathering the Drama of ‘Life’

It’s been a crazy long time since I’ve written anything.  It seems like an eternity since those wonderful 2010 Winter Games memories.  But really, it hasn’t beet that long, has it?

The past few months have been rather interesting. Almost never a dull moment, really.  From the first week of March to now, it seems that we’ve been on a wee bit of a roller coaster ride.

First, we finally finished our home study for our adoption.  All the meetings and paperwork were finally completed and approved in the first week of March.  We went ‘live’ for matching with children who were waiting for their ‘forever’ families.  By that point it had been a year and a half since the very beginning of our adoption journey.

Within a few days, we got the call.  The much anticipated call.  The one were were looking forward to for the past year and a half.  We had been matched with a sibling group.  A 31 month old boy and his 16 month old sister.  You can imagine our excitement! We could hardly believe it. 

With this fabulous news, we felt that it would be a good time for us to sell our house.  We put the ‘for sale’ sign up a few weeks later.  It went onto MLS a week later.  Then, 4 days later, it was sold! 

Wow, we felt so blessed by all the direction we were heading. We started sharing pictures and stories with the children’s foster family  in the meantime.  It was getting more real and so exciting.  Because of the speediness of our house sale, and the busyness that comes with moving, we had to wait a little longer for the children’s final placement with us.  So, we continued with the busyness of packing, preparing, and even to add to the list of things to do, selling our tractor and our travel trailer. 

Sccccrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeech! Yes, I mean to a halt.  Not everything.  We still packed all our things and moved into our new home.  The new owners still moved into our lovely home.  Our close friends still moved a long way out of town.  Our tractor still got sold. Our travel trailer still went to its new owners.

But our adoption of these two highly anticipated children did come to a halt.  It was a bitter-sweet situation.  I will not trade anything, but still feel at a loss for it all.  Our adoption story is not complete, just on hold.  We do not write our own stories.  God had other plans for our family. It is for this reason that I say it is all bitter'-sweet.

Michelle

Our Big Day in Vancouver

I don’t know when exactly it hit me that I had better make plans to head into Vancouver to capture some of the Olympic fever. But I’m so glad I did.  I listened to all the stories of how busy it was. How long the line-ups would be.  But, WOW. Tuesday was a perfect day to play sightseer.

Jeremy, Cayden and I headed out to catch the Sky Train in Surrey fairly early in the day.  That was probably my first great decision of the day.  We caught the Rail early enough to all get a seat for the long ride in.

We didn’t really have a lot planned.  This was a very good thing.  That way we wouldn’t go home disappointed by what we  didn’t get to see.  The benefit of my personality type is that we are very good at ‘winging it’.  Something that my husband is not so good at.  But he was a trooper and let me ‘wing it’ all day with not a complaint.

We got off at Science World, and were almost immediately faced with probably the longest line-up I have ever seen in my life.  The Russian Pavilion.  It must have been something to see.  We carried on and followed our nose through the day. Moving from one neat sight to see, to the next. 

I was so impressed by our little boy, Cayden.  He walked right along side us and never complained.  We did of course have to stop from time to time for a ‘special treat’ to keep him moving along.  I loved watching his excitement at all the things we seen.  I was even especially surprised when we were heading down to see the Cauldron.  As soon as it came in sight he shouted, “That’s the thingy they put on fire on TV that I saw!!”

I was wondering how the heck he even new about the Lighting of the Cauldron.  He told me all about how he watched on TV as his friend Josh’s house.  His eyes were filled with joy as he got to see it ‘for real.’ 

When people as what we did when we went to see the Olympic celebrations in Vancouver, I could only say that we really didn’t do anything specific, but we did see allot.  And it was really, really, really worth the trip. 

One thing  I did learn is that Canadians Rock! At least most of us. We are so polite. We know how to have a good time.  We love our Country.  I AM CANADIAN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Suprise Email

I had just sat down with a nice hot cup of Tim Horton's coffee, when I received notification of receiving a new email on my iphone.  I opened up the email and what did I see…? 

Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin like a fool with your pants on the ground...

I thought to myself… is that American Idol song “Pants On The Ground” making the news again? It was a tough tune to get out of many peoples head after the first time it was sung.

I opened up the attached picture and nearly sent my coffee flying in my surprise.

There on the ground was a picture of ‘my pants on the ground’ at the office.  Apparently in my hurry to make a quick wardrobe change between installing sawdust and then sitting back in the dispatch seat, I forgot to collect all my clothing from the bathroom floor.

I quickly became the office joke of the day.  It sounds like all my co-workers got a field trip to the bathroom to see my ‘pants on the ground.’

If you have no idea what song I’m talking about you will have to take a quick look at the video on you tube.  My only warning is, beware. It is a very catchy tune.

 

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Countdown

As I stood outside today, taking in the amazing sun and warm temperatures, I wondered what the athletes and visitors were thinking.  It almost seemed surreal to think we could possibly be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics with the weather we are enjoying.  Skiing?  Snowboarding? Bobsledding?  Where’s the snow?

As I watch truckload after truckload of snow being hauled through the Fraser Valley up to Cypress Mountain for the Games, I can’t help to think about the amazing costs we are accruing to host this years Winter Olympics. One fellow I was talking to said  to me, “I would be happy for it to rain up there at Cypress. That’s what my opinion is of having the Olympics here.”

What?? My quick response to him was that the games are here.  Do we really want to go down in history as being the worst place to every host the Winter Olympics?  Of course not.  So instead we should be hoping for cooler weather, and a huge dump of snow!

But I am a ‘glass 1/2 full’ kind of person, so I focus on the excitement of the upcoming games. As well, I think of the positive benefits that the Fraser Valley has received.  I mean, seriously, would we have gotten all these fabulous road improvements?  How about all the other infrastructure that we so desperately needed the past few years?  All this did come with a price tag of course. But the games are here. So my thinking is that  we may as well look on the bright side of things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Technorati Tags: Winter Olympics,Cayden

Wordless Wednesday

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darth Vader slash Handyman Superstar in the making.

I’m thinking that he was given the ear muffs to wear on his ears?

Technorati Tags: Cayden,costume

Lego Hockey Night

Cayden introduced a new form of hockey to our family last night.  Lego hockey.  He made 4 Lego hockey sticks, one for each of us. (Of course he requested me to be on his team) He also made 2 Lego hockey nets and a Lego man’s head  was the puck. 

It was actually quite fun.  Although we need to work out how to strengthen our sticks.  It seems that they are a little need a little engineering. When we wind up for and take a slap shot, the blade flies off on impact with the ‘puck’ just like in the NHL.  Cayden has made a few attempts at re-engineering, but hasn’t yet perfected it.

With great exuberance, he flung my door open this morning and shouted, “Come on mommy.  It’s time to play hockey!”  I looked at my clock,  and mumbled, “It’s not wake-up time yet.  We’ll play later. Go back to bed for awhile.” I rolled over, and quietly hoped that  he’d crawl back into bed for a little longer.

Nope. Didn’t happen.  It was only a few minutes later that he came to inform me that he had woken Ivan up so that he could play hockey with us.  Uh, oh.  I’m thinking that Ivan wasn’t quite ready for the early morning wake-up call either.

I finally had no choice but to drag myself out of bed and play a short round of Lego hockey with him.  It was tough to do, but so worth it.  I continue to have to remind myself that times like this will end, and that I need to put aside my preferences and take hold of every one of these precious moments.

  

After a great day together, it was time to say goodnight.  Cayden tucked his little animals into the cat bed under a blanket.  Spots got his own bed on top of the stool, with his blanket.  And Cayden fell fast asleep with a sweet little innocent look of contentment on his face.

  

I’m A Cool Dude!

It was rather enlightening when Cayden came to me with a baseball-cap on backwards and informed me that he was a ‘Cool Dude’ and was in search of a pair of sunglasses to add to his ‘look’.

I’m not really sure where Cayden got the idea of what a ‘Cool Dude’ looks like.  It’s certainly not from me. The primary purpose of my clothing attire is ‘super comfortable’ and definitely  not ‘cool’ or ‘in-style.’

I could only laugh, run for my camera and ask him to stop moving long enough for me to take a picture.  I couldn't resist the cute look he had going on.   The pose he gave me really has me wondering.  Who has become his role model?  It’s certainly not Franklin, or even Toopy and Binoo.  It does make me aware that he is watching and he is learning.  Here’s to hoping he is only watching and learning from us when we are at our best.

  

Good Intentions

Christmas is usually the time to show appreciation to friends, teachers and family by purchasing or making a gift. Usually I like to gift people with my delicious Chocolate Chip Truffles. This past Christmas I had very good intentions to continue with my Christmas ritual. But after putting an effort into a bake exchange for 12 people, my ambitions sizzled.

I spent as much time on the presentation of these treats as I did on actually make them. I did enjoy being creative and putting such a great effort into it all, but I do think that maybe next time around I won’t go so crazy. The effort was certainly appreciated by those who did receive them.

Melt-in-your-mouth Chocolate Chip Truffles.

Some cute paint buckets in Christmas colors.

Some ribbons and tags.

And, voila.

A variety of tags make it even more fun.

I am embarrassed to say that many people on my list did not get checked off. There is always next year. Or maybe even Valentines Day? The ingredients for these decadent treats have been patiently waiting in my pantry. And today seemed like an ideal day to spend some time making use of these ingredients. I definitely did not go crazy and make 13 plus dozen. Just enough to treat my family, considering I was slapping away reaching hands last time I made them and got accused of not sharing!

I

Just Like Tigger

I could not imagine what life would be like if I needed to bounce all day.  I mean, we all know that Tigger was born to bounce. Remember the story where all his forest friends got mad at him and he wasn’t allowed to bounce?  It was hard on poor Tigger. He wasn’t his happy self. A piece of his personality was taken away.  But was my dear son Cayden also born to bounce?   

We sit down to a nice dinner, lovingly cooked by yours truly.  We anticipate quiet chatter about the day.  Instead, we have Cayden, standing beside his chair, bouncing between chews.  Were trying to work on his school memory verses.  After each word he repeats, he bounces.  We sit at the table to play a nice board game.  Every time he’s not making a move, he stands beside his chair and bounces.

Maybe this is a sign that he’s going to be a great basketball player. Or maybe a track and field high jump super-star.  I’m not really sure.  At times it is incredibly annoying. At times is just plain funny.  And at other times it takes me back down memory lane. When life was only fun and there was nothing to worry about. I could only show excitement at everything just like him.  Everything in life was just so wonderful. So why not show enthusiasm and just bounce?

Most times I’m OK with all the bouncing. But sometimes, I just want peace.  I try not to complain to much because I know that as each day passes, the bouncing is likely to subside.  It will one day only be a memory.  A memory of a very happy little boy who really shows his excitement by bouncing it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Children

It has been a little over one year since our family started the process of adoption.  When we first considered adoption, we had 3 different avenues we could follow. 1) Private adoption 2) International adoption 3) Children in Government care.  It was not a super easy decision  which route we should follow, but Jeremy and I did make a final decision based on what would be best for our family.

We decided that we would follow the avenue of the adoption of a local child (or children) in government care.  We learned that there are many children waiting for loving families and that although the process could take a long some time,  it could still be more speedy of a process than International adoption. 

The emotions that led up to our final decision to adopt were rather interesting.  I think that I had first brought up the option of adopting approximately a year before we made a final decision.  Jeremy, at the time, was not quite sure. So, we let the subject drop awhile longer.  Then Jeremy brought the subject up.  At this time I was not quite sure.  We flip-flopped for awhile, never with both of us feeling ready to adopt at the same time.  Finally, a year ago we were both confident that it was time. We were ready to move down the path of adoption together, hand in hand.  Since we made this decision, we have never doubted ourselves.

In the trail of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti comes a whole new wave of emotions regarding adoption.  Many families are in agony as the children that they have been in the process of adopting for up to two years are stuck in the chaos.  The Haitian government is in ruins.  What is left of all the adoption paperwork is uncertain.  The Haitian Judge in charge of the adoptions is dead. Some families were only waiting on their own governments travel visas in order to bring their child home. Many do not even know if their waiting child is alive.  It is a heart-wrenching time for many adoptive families.

Many people around the world are now considering adopting a child from Haiti.  It is how many feel they can reach out and help. The message being sent to all who feel a calling to adopt from Haiti is: “Wait and Pray.”  Wait until some of the chaos is gone. Pray for the safety of the children.  Pray that they are united with family.  Pray that when the time is right, the path to adopt will be open. 

The journey of adoption is wonderful.  But I must say, it does require a bit of patience.  I am so happy for the very recent adoption of a 10 month old baby boy into the loving home of my cousins, Martin and Wieska.  They have been truly blessed. 

Technorati Tags: Adoption,Haiti

It’s Planner Time!

You know it’s time to start using a planner when you triple book yourself one night, double book the next day, and then again double book the day after that.  Yes, I know, not very good organization and maybe a few too many activities.

I received two messages when I got home yesterday. One was a reminder call of a Family Connections meeting for tonight that had been scheduled for the past month. The second message was a reminder call for some post-moving house cleaning for a single mother of 4. Which I volunteered myself for a few weeks ago. The third is  an ongoing Thursday evening Bible study group that Jeremy are part of. Yikes! What to do! 

I thought through it all carefully.  I had to take into consideration what was most important.  Maybe… disregard house cleaning.  Go to Bible study for one hour, then fly out to the Family Connections  meeting to catch the tail end of it.  Then I started feeling a bit guilty about not following through on my commitment to help my friend house-clean for a mom-of-four who lost her husband just a year ago.  So…maybe disregard Bible study.  House clean for a few hours, then fly out to the Family Connections meeting.  This sounded like a bit better of a choice.  A quick call to cancel Bible Study and plans were set.

I love to be busy. I also like to relax.  So today ended up being a bit of both.  It started with the usual workday. Followed by kid pick-ups.  Then one hour of helping Ivan with homework. Then fire some cleaning supplies and a salad into the trunk of my car.  Meet up with Jeremy at friends for a very last minute dinner invite. Tag team Cayden, leaving him with Jeremy to take him home to put to bed, while I continued on to a whirlwind of house-cleaning.  Last stop was a drive way up the mountain for the last outing of the night.  Then home to relax and catch up on some favorite shows on my PVR waiting to be watched.

Yes, life is busy sometimes.  But I love my life.  I am intent of filling my planner with all upcoming events…tomorrow.  We’ll see how the scheduling is going … next week.

Hockey Night in Chilliwack

 

We were up by 1.The score was 3-2. It was the final minutes of a very tight game.  The opposing team had position of the puck. Skated with it through the neutral zone.  The  puck was passed across the ice to the player skating in on me.  She received the pass and skated across the blue line, into our territory. 

She wound up to take a slap-shot.  I positioned myself between herself and my goalie. (Girls can’t really shoot, right?) She shot. I blocked it. Then… I went down in a heap.

Yes, some girls can really shoot. I am a living testimony of this.  I hobbled off the ice.  My ankle swelled to twice the normal size following this play. I iced it.  Wore slippers to work  the next day just so I could somewhat comfortably move around.  Got called “hoppity” by my husband. But it was all  worth it. 

I re-think the play.  Yes, the puck bounced off my ankle, back into neutral territory. It was a good play. We won the game.  But, I did pay.  If there ever was a way to slow me down, this was it.  Would I sacrifice my body for a play like this in the future? You bet.  That is what competition is all about.