Small things make a big difference

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This year instead of having a gift exchange between myself and the families of my daycare children I suggested a toy drive to benefit the local children in our community. The idea was that for every toy they donated to the drive I would match it with another. Despite being a "little" daycare we have accomplished a donation of 20 new toys to be distributed to the Children's Aid Society. WOW!! It is truly amazing to see what can be accomplished when everyone contributes just a little bit. The kids have been so excited to watch the box "grow" and fill with toys. What a great lesson in the true meaning of the holiday season.

Now, I'm off to finish baking another 5 dozen gingerbread cookies. We distribute them (along with shortbread) to our neighbours and friends. This year I'm also responsible for supplying treats for Claire's class party......so I'm off to bake............

Mickey Mouse, Cinderalla, Baloo.....oh my!

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Hi Everyone!
We had an amazing vacation at Disneyworld last week. In fact it's a bit depressing to return home to the snow and cold temps. Being from a "snowy place" it was very strange to walk around the theme parks and listen to Christmas music playing while the sun shone and the palm trees swayed. The kids did great on the flight which gives me renewed hope that they will be able to handle the 13+ hours required to fly to China. Overall a big success!! Here's a couple of highlights from the trip.

TYPICAL TUESDAYS!

Happy Birthday Claire

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Yesterday was Claire's "official" birthday but today was all about celebrating with our little princess. What an amazing 5 years it's been!! Claire has literally transformed before our eyes into the beautiful, clever, and talented little girl she is today! We love you sweetie.....and can't wait to take you to Disneyworld in just a few days.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Our birthday girl..............

Having a blast at her gymnastics party.....spidergirl!

Our little jumping bean!

The theme?......High School Musical!!

"I can't believe I have to eat cake for dinner!!"

**There was no shortage of Barbie's, High School Musical dolls, craft activities, movies, new clothes and generally amazing toys from the party today. Right now though my two little monkeys are playing house in a cardboard box. Makes we wonder if I should return some of the toys I already bought for Christmas! :)

Where Did Summer Go?

Summer has definately come to an end in this part of the woods! The long summer evenings are being quickly replaced with sweaters, mittens and yummy "comfort" meals like chili and stew. We just passed our 10 month waiting anniversary to bring Lauren home. According to our agency, the wait is likely to increase to between 25 - 30 months for expedited files. I have reason to believe that we may be waiting alot longer than that. My reasoning behind this is pure statistical facts that are hard to ignore. The CCAA matched 3 months of families this year. There is a chance they might match expedited families next month and if that is the case then the count rises to 4 months of files matched over a 12 month period. Our Dossier was logged in Jan'08 so theoretically there are 12 more months of "matches" to accomplish before it is our turn. If the CCAA continues with matching 3 months year then it will take 4 more years before it is our turn. If they match 4 months per year then our wait is closer to 3 more years. Either scenario is mind boggling and depressing to say the least. Especially when we were told 12-14 months until referral by our Agency last year....hmmm....just a bit off.
I spoke with our Homestudy worker who is wonderful, experienced and insightful. I expressed my frustration, anxiety and loss of direction as to what we should do. Theoretically we could do a couple of things. We could withdraw from the program, not willing to accept that there will be almost 10 years between Claire and her sister. We could stay in line and "hope for the best" like so many other families. We could try and change countries but this involves re-doing paperwork, losing the money we had paid and starting over at the end of the line. I even inquired about domestic adoption but the wait for a healthy child is approximately 8 years and the alternative is a child with severe physical,mental and social challenges. Something I don't feel our family is ready to handle.
So now my heart aches. My heart aches for the children sitting in orphanages in China awaiting their forever families. It aches for my children who ask "when" and it aches for myself and my husband who do not have the answers to give them. Our social worker understood our frustration and assured me that we are not alone in our feelings. In fact so many families are "program hopping" at the moment that the government cannot keep up and is presently 4 months behind in approving Homestudies.
So what will we do? My heart remains with China and although I'm deeply disappointed that things are the way they are I also know that we are meant to "wait it out." For if our daughter can sit patiently in a cold orphanage on the other side of the world and wait for me then surely I can sit in my warm house and wait for her.
So yes, summer has come and gone and like the picture of Evan I'm wondering just what next summer may hold.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful Halloween full of tricks and treats!!! Here's a couple of pics of our little gouls from today............

Happy Halloween!

Ready for the big night

Claire at her school parade this morning.........

The royal wave..........

Happy Birthday to my 12 Year Old!!

Wow! Where did the time go? I know everyone says that....but it's really true! Who'd a thought! My little guy, who isn't so little.....he is taller than me and wears a size 11 mens shoe....yikes.....is growing into a wonderful young man. We are so proud of him! Happy Birthday Alec! Enjoy your new desktop computer.....you deserve it!

Wordless Wednesday

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Future Iron Chef!!!

Some days it's difficult to find time to spend individually with each of the three kids over the course of a day or week. It makes it even harder when Monday to Friday are "Daycare Days" and my attentions are being divided 7 different ways. I often feel that "I owe" my attention to the children that pay actual $ to come every day. Often it's my own kids that are asked to wait....to share.....to help...... Since Claire is in school Tuesday and Thursday's, I've been setting aside 2 hours in the afternoon (when the other children are asleep and just Evan is up) to spend some quality time with my little guy. Lately he's been helping me in the kitchen! Baking muffins for snack is a "chore"that has to be accomplished but at the same time I've been trying to make it "fun time" with lots of love, laughter and a fair bit of craziness thrown in. Evan definately has the craziness part down pat!
Enjoy the pics.......

My little mixer!!

The whole time he wanted to know when he could lick the spoon!

Getting a better perspective on the situation ........please ignore the store bought muffin mix

Thankful Thursday

Hmmm....is it o.k. just to be thankful that it is Thursday?

By Thursday:
The house is a mess
The floors need washing
The daycare kids and my own kids are getting tired of each other
I feel like cheating on my diet!....oops....did that one already today
I'm sick of constantly cooking/washing dishes/making snacks/washing more dishes
The laundry has reached epic proportions
The windows are a splattering of little finger prints and some smudges of unidentifiable origins

So, YES I'm totally thankful that it's Thursday and one step closer to the weekend.....when I can get caught up on my laundry, floor washing, window cleaning..............and oh yay..........washing dishes!!!!

Enjoy your day...........may it be "chore free."