Saturday Night Life

I'm not sure if it's because it's "my time" or because I'm getting a cold, or because it's miserable and rainy outside. All I could think of today was hibernating. Seriously, it was 6pm and all I wanted to do was take a book and crawl into bed. Grant already has the cold that I am getting and so he was in for relax night too!

I made a super yummy comfort dinner of pasta with alfredo sauce & veggies while Grant collected firewood and built a fire.

I like to drink tea. I have a collection of about 15 different kinds (think I'm exaggerating come on over for tea!) Anyway to me it felt like a 'big pot of tea night'. As usual I asked Grant if he wanted any, just to be polite. I think in 7 1/2 years he's said yes 4 times. Last night was the 5th! That's how crummy he must have felt.

So we sat on the floor in front of the fire, drank our tea, and played cards... Grant won. Grant always wins. It doesn't matter what the game is, he'll beat me. Even games he doesn't like to play like Scrabble he still beats me at. I bet that I could invent a game, make all the rules in my favour and he would still win! Even if I do manage to eke out a win over him I think that he has 'let' me win. I'm not sure I have ever beat him fair and square. I always go back for more though.

I love autumn. I love cozy times by the fire. I love tea. I love playing cards.

I love my husband!

Serenity

I am not a patient person by nature. In high school I was the kid that would hang around after a test waiting for the teacher to mark it. Waiting till the next day to find out how well I did was unbearable for me. Not much has changed. Yet at this particular stage of the adoption, when everything is out of my control, I feel calm. I don't understand it, I can't explain it, I don't expect it to last. But right now, in the moment I am at peace.

My mind knows that in time everything will come together and we will at last have a child in our home. My body feels impatient, when I check my email for updates my heart races with anticipation. When I find no new news then I feel sad. But I have yet to be upset or frustrated. I'm sure in time I will be.

A few weeks ago, when our dossier was taking longer to put together than I wanted I was getting very agitated. I mentally put myself in a time out. I told myself that I needed to calm down, we have a long road in front of us and being agitated is not going to make the end any nearer.

For now I am trying to focus on one task at a time. Currently our file is in Ottawa awaiting approval. That's my step for now. Please don't get me wrong, as I metioned I am not a patient person. I have the next 5 steps aready planned (Who am I kidding, I'm already crying over our child leaving home to go to university!) But for now my job is to focus on the step that we're on.

I was reading someone elses blog today and it made me think of this prayer. I have seen it reworded and used for many things over the years. It has been used in numerous songs, movies, and books. I often think of it when I'm stressed out or at the end of my rope. I decided to try to find the original prayer and it's origin.

Take a breath. I hope that you are able to read it and find some peace it the words.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Ahhh, feel better? I do. Wikipedia tells me that this prayer was originally written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr for use in a sermon in the 1930s or early 1940s.

Heart Smiles

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their colour. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their colour is unthinkable. anon

Good advice.

Have You Ever Seen Rocks Pray?
Tilt your head to the left to see the picture. Look at the entire length of the picture......

Happy Friday everyone.

The first step (on a new staircase)

So our first stage is complete. Our home study is done, our dossier is compiled. We've been fingerprinted, poked with needles, peed in cups, analyzed, checked over, and checked out. So far everything is good. We've been cleared by our social worker, our doctor, the RCMP, and Interpol. It seems like we are well on the road to being parents.

Today our dossier is leaving the Victoria agency and heading for Cambridge (Ontario) to next agency. I think they read through it and then send it to Ottawa for approval. Once we have received the Ottawaian stamp of approval, it's headed over seas! and that's when this journey gets good! ;)

Please say a little prayer for us, that our family may be brought together soon.

Fall's here

Even though we had horrible weather this summer, fall is here. I think that we had more days of rain and gloom in August than sun and heat. I'm predicting an indian summer with warm weather all the way through October but that's yet to be seen. So far September has been proving me right though!

Today was Grant's first soccer game. His team won 3-1. It was the perfect fall day. In the morning we went for brunch at our friends house to celebrate their twins first birthday! (Happy Birthday Isobel and Elena!) It was great to see the grammas and other friends. We had to leave early so that Grant could get down to the soccer field. I stayed at the house for a bit and then Qimik and I walked down to watch. It was a great fall day! Warm and sunny with the leaves starting to turn. Grant even ended up with a bit of a sunburned face!

I look forward to many more Sundays watching soccer matches with my dog. I love fall!

Happy Birthday Beckett

Welcome Beckett Carter Robinson! Born at 0230 Sept. 4 and home by 1645.

Beckett checking out Auntie Alicia. His eyes were open the whole time I held him but he sure was yawning tons!

Sleeping on Uncle Grant. Regina says he's been sleeping pretty much all the time. It must be hard work being born.

Big brother Ethan being a goof! He was saying "Becketts seat" which sounded more like "Beh-het sit" He fell into it and realized that it rocked so that made for a pretty fun game. He kept sitting in it and asking me to rock him, or rather "rot" him. Man, two year-old-speak is so cute!

Ethan saying "Cheeeeeeese" with a mouth full of carrot.

Cute kid, gummy smiling auntie. Grant says he likes this picture because you can tell that we are both really happy!

Today is a big day!

WOW! My head is spinning today. The last 24 hours has been crazy. I'm not sure where to start so I'll go back to the first good news...

Congrats to our friends Robin and Jason who told us yesterday that Robin is 8 weeks pregnant. Robin and I are already planning the mischief that we will get into being on mat. leave together. She is due April 12 and that's about when I expect we will be traveling. ( I think her due date is more exact than mine!)

Congrats to Grant's sister, Regina and her husband, Troy who had their second baby last night at 0200. Our new nephew is Beckett Carter weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 3 oz. (A whole pound smaller than his big brother was) I can't wait for Grant to get home from work so that we can go up to meet him. Their first son, Ethan, was born on their wedding anniversary and the day before our wedding. Beckett picked a special day too, but I'll tell you about that in a minute.

Congrats to our friend Aiden who started grade one french immersion today. Qimik and I got the privilege of going with her Mom & sisters to pick her up. Maritza said there were lots of tears when she was dropped off but when we picked her up, she was her usually smiley self. She talked a mile a minute and told us all about her new school, new teacher, new class.

Lastly, Congrats to us. We handed in our dossier to CHOICES this morning!!! I was able to go over it with Rachel, which was nice. Our application & retainer agreement are being couriered to KidsLink as I type. There are a couple of more things we need to do but KL needs the retainer before they can send them to us. I plan a quick turnaround time because I think they mostly just require our signatures.

We still haven't applied to Canada immigration. I hope that doesn't end up being a big problem. I have heard that we have to apply ourselves but I have also heard that KL fills out the paperwork for you and then you just have to sign it. Since it involves so many forms all in government-speak I am not looking forward to filling it out. I am really hoping that the rumour I heard about KL doing the hard part for you is true. I will ask them about it later this week.

So today, September 4th 2007, is a pretty big day. New pregnancy, new baby, new school and one step closer to being parents!