holidays

Well, next week we have our last week of holidays for the summer. The electricians have been here and are done with their part. Next week will be begin the re-construction. Not exactly sure what my job will be - but looks like I will be learning how to hang dry wall and be the #1 go to guy. We also have an appointment with the lawyer to get a few things notarized and get our wills set up. We are very bad - have not yet had wills done so its about time. We also have an appointment with the beach :) I have talked (i think, i hope, pretty please?!!!) Mike into a one last day at the beach day. I can't wait.
Our file is still at the ministry getting approval. Its been there 3 weeks out of 8-10, although my cousin Janice told me it only took them 4 weeks last year - who knows. More than ever i am feeling totally confidant about this adoption. There have been a number of circumstances in the last little while (if i told you all the nutty details you would just shake your head) that have just made me realize more than ever that God has a beautiful little African jewel planned for our family. I haven't always been so sure - and i still wonder how we will deal with raising a black child in a white world. But after all the crazy bits, I know He has a plan and will guide us through the rest too. My good friend Duane (who I haven't seen in ages except through the miracle of technology) helped me to put things into perspective the other day when I thought i was really loosing it. He told me to read Psalm 33 and it talks about God looking down on us - i wont quote the whole thing but it talks about Him having a plan for each one of us - and that he is in control. And its a good thing too - what a mess things would be if I were in control!!

Good bye old friend

This week we said a sad good bye to Mike's truck. 12 years ago he bought it as a run down old farm truck and lovingly restored it back to its original glory. He then enjoyed many years of taking it to car shows and probably being one of the youngest owners of a 'antique'. He has lots of good memories of travelling all around the province with his mom and dad and showing his 'baby' off at different car shows.

Now you might be wondering why on earth he would sell such a treasure (especially if you are male). Well - around the time we got married he thought it would be a good idea to sell- extra $ for the wedding. Then he thought when we bought our house it would be a good time - extra $ for a down payment. But the timing was all wrong. It surprisingly sold this past weekend to a Dodge nut (its a 1972 GMC) but we didn't argue. God's timing is perfect and our truck sold when we needed the $ for a more family friendly vehicle. So now we go from hot rod to mini van...just kidding we have our eye on a 4 door SUV that we think will do the job just fine.

I should also add a disclaimer that I am not the wife who made her husband get rid of all his 'toys' when we got married. He still has his bike, the jeep and his drums :) The truth is we didn't drive it much any more and didn't have a garage for it to sit in. It was rusting in our driveway. We do have good memories and of coarse our wedding (especially when friends decided the church had too much extra toilet paper sitting around :)

updates...

Well - there really hasn't been much going on to blog about. Our file is in TO being approved provincially. We should be working on more paper work that Ethiopia requires but haven't quite got that done yet :)

The reno's are moving along. The electricians were here today to take out some old 'knob and tube' wiring. Once this job is done 'we' (and when i say we I mostly mean Mike - although i have been told i will soon be learning how to dry wall and i have actually always wanted to try mudding - i know crazy talk) can start framing in new closets and straightening out some of the walls. i tend to think my job is the painting and decorating end of things :) I will also be sanding down and prepping all the door and window trim. Lots of fun.

The other thing i learned today is that there seems to be lots of babies in Ethiopia!!! I belong to a Yahoo group for Ethiopian adoptive parents. One person just returned home from picking up their new baby!! She said that she toured the new baby house and there were 30 un-referred babies. By a guess i would say there must be a minimum of 75 people in line ahead of us for referrals - so there will be about 30 lucky family's getting their referrals in the next while. How exciting. What does this mean for us? Well technically we aren't officially waiting for a referral yet - our file needs to be approved and sent to Ethiopia first. This MIGHT mean that we will get a referral sooner than we anticipated. Crossing my fingers that this will be the case - but also guarding my heart and trying not to get hopes up at the same time.

It is sad to think that so many precious babies are out there needing a good home - but also very cool to know that they will be coming to Canada and could possibly be friends with little Manning Jr. My sisters kids have given our baby a name - they decided he (its going to be a boy dont you know) should be called Moses - Mosey for short. Maybe Aaron just needs to have his own baby brother...

Renovations!!!

So - now that we are 'expecting' there were a few things around the house that needed to be done. If you have been here - you will know what i am talking about. I had decided i would like to paint our upstairs hall before the AP came to spruce it up a bit and this led to a bit of a job.

The famous 'purple room' has been gutted and is getting a face lift. It will be the nursery. The hall and ceiling also has been gutted and we look forward to adding a new closet. So - we went from painting to this...

Gotta love a long weekend and a handy husband!!! Its a bit of a mess - but I can't wait to post the 'finished' pictures!!!

We're back!!

Mike and I just got back from a GREAT week away. I was worried that 7 days of camping might be a bit to much time in a tent - but it was wonderful. Of coarse I didn't want to come home - but am happy to not be sporting my 'camping hair' any longer - ughh - i live for my hair dryer!! Anyway - it was a totally great time and i am so glad we could get away.

We went to a provincal park about 2 hours from here - and it seemed like we were 'surrounded' by bi-racial families. Maybe we didn't notice them before and this adoption has opened our eyes abit - but on one little (and i do mean little) beach we counted 3 families with asian kids and 2 sites down from ours was a family with an african daughter. I didn't get the nerve up to talk to any of them but i did enjoy watching them play on the beach - interacting with their 'white' parents and grandparents and it made my heart happy to see these very well adjusted, well loved kids. I can not wait till we are taking our little 'bundle of joy' camping with us. Am already making plans for a bigger tent :)