Stow Away...

I apologize as I have lost my gumption to post anything adoption related. Until we hear about our approval (hopefully late this week, early next), I will just be journaling our summer. ;)

The kids and Dan were treated to a helicopter ride a couple weeks ago. There was only room for three, so I hung out at home and enjoyed some rare alone time. ;)

After they returned, Mister went under the van to retrieve a ball that had rolled under and noticed this...

See the little furry tail hanging down - centre of photo?

So I opened the hood, and saw this...

Pack Rat, Pika? We weren't sure at first... so we left the hood opened and returned 30 minutes later and found this...

About the size of a small cat. A marmot. Poor thing. Apparently, when the babies are weaned in early summer, they go in search of sweet tasting food and many times find it in the brake lines and radiator hoses (antifreeze/coolant)... after chewing them up.

So after prodding him gently with sticks, we decided the only way to get him out was with a water hose...

And it took 40 minutes to convince him to come out! Once out of the engine... he would jump from wheel well to wheel well. Until finally... soaking wet, cold and scared, he scuttled off up our yard and took a rest.

Look right at the center...

He sat there for about an hour, in shock I imagine and then disappeared. Luckily, we live on the edge of the town with forest in our back yard, so he will find natural shelter/food. I daresay that he has learned his lesson and will never hitch a ride in the engine block of a vehicle again!

The gift of giving...

Throughout this journey we have been labelled many things. Outside of the number one label of crazy... we have been called Angels and Saints. I did a blog post awhile back on this called Rich, Crazy or Angelic?

I would like to further elaborate on this.

A month ago, a family friend had ordered one dozen of the bracelets we are selling for our adoption fundraiser and overpaid as a contribution to our expenses. This just stunned me, I cried.... I was amazed, I was thankful and so appreciative in a way that I could hardly express. It just meant so much that she would do this. It was so much more than donation of money - it was an affirmation that she supported us, and was fully behind us. It still makes me emotional that someone would go out of their way like this to help us. We have few people who really support us to this degree... so in more ways than one, this truly was such a huge gift!

Because we will be taking 12 suitcases on our journey, I had posted on Facebook that we were looking for used suitcases. The same family friend contacted me and told me of her plans to buy the kids their very own suitcases... I think I stammered and explained that it really wasn't necessary... I would find some used, free ones in the community. She insisted, and 3 days later these beauties arrived and the kids were so darn excited!

In chatting with her later that night... I struggled to really find the words that possessed the gratitude that I was feeling. A word came to mind... 'Angel', and then I realized how this felt to be on the other side of giving. She said to me... "You know what, this is something I would like to have done. I may not be able to do it now, but at least I can help you do it..." Later on she said that this made her heart glow.... and then I realized that this was doing her just as much good as it was us. Giving is a gift.

"The power of giving comes from a selfless act - where you simply give from your heart. This act of giving is not tied to any special event, holiday or celebration - it is merely a time when you give from the heart because you want to share what you have, show your appreciation and you give because you truly care. There should not be any other motive behind it. You don't give so that you can get something in return. You give because you want to. "

While it may be defined this way, there is also a selfish component. There is no better feeling in the world than giving and helping. It makes us feel good. I think it is God's drug of choice... it is a good 'high'. We aren't on this journey solely to help others, we are on this journey to help others because it nourishes our souls.

This morning I read a blog post about an amazing family who went to a waffle house and had their bill paid for by the sweet waitress that served them. What happened here is this woman took notice of this wonderful family who has done so much good in the world. Check out her blog - and you'll figure it out pretty quickly. This waitress was likely awe inspired. Did she have the means to do what this family did? Perhaps not... but what she could do in that moment, was to give to them, and support them in a small way in their journey. She closed her post with a final sentence saying that she was going to buy one waffle from her for $30 to repay her. I hope she doesn't.

By graciously sucking up our pride, and allowing others the freedom to help and support us... is allowing them to receive the gift of giving... nourishing their souls. To repay her for this meal would essentially be taking that gift away. The only way to 're-pay' this is to pass it on to the next person and allow one of life's most beautiful gifts to ripple across the globe.

*Follow up. I wrote this post prior to the sequel of Waffle house story. The waitress received her gift back in ten-fold - in a completely different way. Head over and read it for a feel good story!!

New Year - New Look

Because... why not?

I guess the pink was getting old on me. Most of those who know me well will agree that this is more my style. Still have a bit of work to do. This template was the most challenging I have used. I had to manually add in most of my links and gadgets, which sucked... but what can you do? (Also took me awhile to find the right font to make the header... who said blogging was easy!?) I like the whimsy nature of it... and you may notice, it too has a little birdy!

Here's to 2012 - Hopefully an amazing year for all of us!!

'May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks your wonderful, and don't forget to make some art (write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can) and somewhere in the next year, I hope you surprise yourself!'  Neil Gaiman

You Americans....

Are so devoted and dedicated to your Thanksgiving celebrations and I find it very admirable! I mean seriously, our Canadian Thanksgiving doesn't begin to hold a candle to yours! What began as a harvest celebration has turned into a very large affair... one dedicated to giving thanks to all the great things in your life! Your Thanksgiving is our Christmas.

In the last 3 weeks, I have probably gotten a thousand hits from Americans googling "Giving Thanks". I did a post a month ago during our Thanksgiving... and now I would like to apologize to all 1000 of you that it wasn't a great, long, in depth post. Nope... it was just a short post to acknowledge some things I am thankful for. See the difference here? Many of you give thanks for every single day in November leading up to Thanksgiving, while I list a few at dinner.

I'm in awe of you all!

Now let's not forget... it appears that Thanksgiving would not be complete without black Friday. It seems that this is just as much as a holiday tradition as the turkey? And now I learn of cyber Monday too! Well... I'm just gonna jump on that commercialization... and join you all for my first black Friday. That's right... the hubby and I, along with a few friends are going to grab our coffee mugs, slide across the border and head out for midnight shopping! I hope it's wild and crazy. I'm not necessarily going to shop... I just want to people watch and take note how this goes down. Of course, I'm hoping for some screaming deals... but better than that would be to watch 8 screaming women fighting over one bra... or something like that... LOL! Seriously... does that happen, or is it just in the movies!?

Here's hoping my BOGS are on sale... ;)

Please share any tips or insider info with me... Where should I go first!?

Fostering...

Why not?

The AFABC 'adoption' magazine (Oct/Nov), reports that there is a chronic shortage of foster parents and respite families in BC.

We have an active homestudy (that we paid a lot of money for!)... we may as well put it to use!

Treading lightly, and keeping our adoption journey as our priority, we are going to look into emergency, short term foster care.

The call has been placed. We are just waiting on receiving the application in the mail and then we will meet with the local SW to get some more info!

If you would like more information on fostering in BC, call 1-800-663-9999 or www.bcfosterparents.ca

Smile...

... this Otter is showing off her baby to you!

Ta-da!!

Introducing the new format!

It only took me all day certainly was a time consuming feat!

I was striving for something clean and bright. No clutter, and I was really wanting a white background for the posts.

I'm happy to channel my inner pinkness and was able to incorporate a little bird!

I believe I lost some of the blog addresses that I kept on my sidebar. Some of which I do not officially 'follow' or some that are wordpress blogs. On the other hand, I think I likely gained some that I had not yet gotten around to posting.

Let me know if there was a specific blog that you would like to see back up, or if any of my links etc. are not working. I realize that some of my previous photos and videos that were posted are now too big for the post area... but so be it - I'm not about to go back and edit them! Ha!

Whad'ya think? ( I hope you all like it!! - Hubby just informed me that he preferred the brown, which is fine. I can't expect him to embrace the pink the way I do! Ha!)

The cost of a virus with my string of luck.

If I didn't have bad luck, I would have no luck at all. It starts like this.

Aug 5th I get a flu that then turns into a cold that then turns into a nasty sinus infection.

Sept 1st we ended up having to leave our summer vacation 12 hours into it because I lose partial sight and speech for a few minutes. We left a suitcase in the hotel and had to forgo a night for the hotel that was prepaid - $116.

While in Vancouver, we (aka. the hubby) lost a large bag of back to school clothes for the kids at the mall. - $138

Sept 6th I landed back in emerg with this nasty sinus infection. 11 days of antibiotics.

The following week I contract a virus (on my work computer) by innocently lurking on blogs. My 2 yr prepaid prescription to Norton Antivirus didn't do much to help me out here!

Sept 15th after spending 3 days of unsuccessfully trying to eridicate the virus, I had to take it in. I was quote $45 and in one day.

Sept 19th - my sinus infection comes back with a vengance within hours of taking the last antibiotic. Dr. prescribes me another 10 days of antibiotics. Get to the pharmacy to see that she accidentally prescribed me a different antibiotic and she is gone for the day... so another goes by with no meds. My computer also comes back - 4 days late and with a $100 bill. The virus was so bad they had to wipe the entire computer. I have to start from scratch.

Sept 20th - Spend the entire day reloading software. Fun. Payroll due  - cannot provide.

Sept 21st - Have to spend $655.20 to get the software code so I can activate the payroll feature on my software. Now in tears... at this price, I think I would stuck with the damn virus! My software was working just fine before!!

-NOT to mention that Dan's biometric fingerprinting (which was done on July 5th) is missing in action and is now holding up our Dossier.

When your luck costs you over $1000 in one month... you know it's bad!

... and I have a feeling this isn't the end of my string of luck! I am looking forward to September being over and a fresh start with October!

Hibernation is setting in...

I can feel it in my bones... fall is upon us. If I were to be an animal, I most certainly would be a bear. It's an innate feeling... instinct if you will, that I have to curl up somewhere warm and not return until spring. Seriously. I did not go outside Sunday once. Nope, not even for a second. Want to know what I did? I complained feverishly about the freezing temp. "Can we please start a fire, or turn on the furnace?" ... oh about 5 times. Yes, I could have have gotten up the couch and flicked the heat button on our thermostat... but I was shivering under blankets! Once I felt I had enough heat to move a little... I quickly tried to locate my stash of socks that have been hiding all summer. (Flip flops... your dead to me now.) Then my pants, then a long sleeve shirt... and then another a few moments after that. Dan was running around half naked and looked at me like I was growing a third eyeball. Then, I spent the rest of the day trying to harness and capture the heat in any way I could. Numerous times (and I mean at least 10!)... I had to remind my husband and children that they were not born in a barn and the door needs to be closed. Seriously - I think every time one of them went in or out, they left the door wide open! What a terrible summer habit - but hello people, it is freezing! (12 degrees Celsius - what I wuss, I know!)  I drank coffee, lots of it. Then I drank tea, lots of it. After I felt comfortably warm I started to clean house. After all, this is where I am going to be spending a great deal of time over the next 6 months! I spent all summer avoiding my house and trying to be outside every chance I got... and now I have a whole lot of housecleaning to attend to. There is no spring cleaning in my house - by the time spring sets in, I'm ready to get the heck outside and into the garden. The cleaning starts in fall in my house. So I started to clean cupboards yesterday and will slowly work my way around the house until all is organized and cleaned. Summer clothes need to disappear and the winter sweaters reappear. Time to go through all the kids' clothes and put away all the ones that don't fit anymore. Cull the toys and everything else... before we settle in to a long winter. Hello socks, slippers, pajar boots, fleece pjs, hot baths, warm tea, desk heater and my automatic car starter.... we meet again.

Where are you!?

Where did you go? Your E.T.A. was March 20th, yet we have not seen hide nor hair of you!

Are you on Maternity leave, sick leave,... was there a death in the family?

No phone calls, no emails, no post cards. No show!

We thought we caught a glimpse of you last week, but alas, we were mistaken!

Unfortunately, you chose Winter to fill in for you instead of Summer... and because of this, my gardens have failed miserably, and the damn chickens are stinking up my house!! 

I hope Summer is not offended by your actions and decides not to make an appearance also! Can you please send her a memo and let her know she is expected to arrive promptly on the 21st? Tardiness will not be accepted and under no circumstances is Winter to stick around! He is tired, weary... and certainly has put in enough hours this year. Let him rest.

Signed, 

Soakin Wet n' Cold