Family Time

Hello again. I'm still writing in place of Brenda, she's better, but not well enough to sit at the computer yet. Last night my in-laws brought supper over and sat with Brenda as I had band practice at the church. It was nice to see them, and the meal was great! (Oh yeah, I didn't have to cook!) The house needed a quick clean and tidy before their arrival, so I got up around noon (I know what you're thinking, but I work nights, so noon is early!) and got some laundry done and the floors vacuumed. I was thinking this week of single parent families, and how much work is required to keep things running on your own. I miss Brenda's help, and she's getting cabin fever being stuck on the couch! Wednesday she had a physio session, and it helped short term. This week physio comes here, and hopefully she'll be up and around soon. I'll try to keep you updated when I can!

Rough Week

This is my (Mike) first blog post, so please bear with me! Brenda's back is acting up, so she's unable to get to the computer to post anything. Not much has happened latley, but I did get the chance to attend a skin and hair care class on Saturday. I found it kind of odd, being that I'm a bald guy learning about hair care! I was surprised to see a few other bald heads in the crowd too! It was great to learn about the differences in caring for dark skin, there are things that had never occured to me. I didn't realize that redness from infection is almost impossible to see, but now i know what to look for. They also supplied us with yet another useful handbook on all of the topics covered in the class. We are slowly collecting all of this information, and I'm finding it to be like an "owner's manual" for our child!! How cool is that!! I must get back to caring for my wife, hopefully she will be posting again very soon!

remembrance day

Today is a day many adoptive families will always remember. I think i counted at least 6 families that had successful court days!!! this means that they are legally parents of the children that they were referred!!! Wow! Unfortunately these families have been waiting a long time for court. they mostly all got their referrals in the summer. Court closes for 2 months and so they had an extra long wait. A successful court date now leads to passports and visas being issued - and then travel!! The way the wait times are going, we might get caught up in court closures too.
Now that they babies are legally adopted, parents can post photos on their blogs and let me tell you - they are some of the cutest babies i have ever seen!!!!
Its pretty exciting to see things moving. Congrats to all the families who are one huge step closer to realizing their dreams!!
Also unfortunate were 2 families who did not have successful court dates - per usual paperwork is holding them up. Must be rough for them to come so close and have a set back.
In a very selfish way i love to hear good news. It is so great to live vicariously through others!! Good news means that these babies will be coming home to Canada soon - making room for more babies to come into the system, causing more referrals and causing our file to inch its way closer to the top.
So congrats to all with good news today. For those who got disappointing news - i am so sorry - keep holding on. For those of us just starting out - live the joy of others and hold on to your dreams!!!

big picture

ok -so if you are wondering - i am feeling a bit better these past few days. Partly because of the support of all of you. i also had to listen to some of my own advice - and take a step back and look at the BIG picture. Dissecting this wait down into days is just too much for me. Need to step back a bit.
It also helps to live vicariously through others - a referral was announced today - and a ministry approval and files landing in Ethiopia!! Good news all around! Congrats everyone!!

thanks guys

I am not exactly up on blog management -but i did post the following in the comments from yesterday's blog:

thanks everyone!! i had lots of expectations when we started this adoption - but i did not expect to have the support of other people in our same situation. It sure helps. I still feel crappy but its great to know we are not in it alone. I also feel so glad to have a place to 'vent' where people understand. I felt guilty writing that post - cause we have only been waiting for a few weeks and others have been waiting for months - but i think it doesn't matter how long you have been waiting - its still the hardest thing to do. thanks again

Its true - i really had no idea that we would become involved in such a cool support network. I am so grateful.
For those of you out there just starting - this is a process that will probably put you through the wringer. They told us that when we started and i figured we could handle it - and we will but there are times...
For those of you out there who have been waiting... and i don't mean just waiting for referrals - (our waiting started almost 3 years ago), there is waiting for homestudies, waiting for reports to be written, waiting for approval and the list goes on. My heart goes out to you. Some of you have been waiting for a year or more. Wow - all i can say is - i know on the other end of this wait there is something beautiful and i am glad to be part of your wait and I am glad you are part of ours.

grumble grumble

Can I just say - waiting sucks.
If you see me on the street and ask me how things are - and where we are in this crazy process - i will give a nice pat answer that i have been practicing. "things are good - our file is Ethiopia now - we are keeping busy" etc etc.
But the very truth is that waiting sucks. I have these tickers on the blog - they move so slow(are they going backwards when I am not looking??!) "2 weeks, 6 days waiting for baby", i have a spreadsheet where i keep track of people i know from blogs and the yahoo group. We are all waiting - but it seems like the list doesn't move -and if it does - someone is coming out of the woodwork and is ahead of us - bumping us to the bottom - again.
In my head i know that i need to suck it up - we have a LONG way to go and no one likes a whiner. But it just seems like its never going to happen.
Most of the time i can find something to be excited about - something to be optimistic about but I don't feel like it tonight. When are you coming baby????
So, let me complain a bit, grumble a bit and be mad for a while. I feel like a bit of a funk right now. Next week I will be excited again about the nursery, crib shopping and all the fun stuff. But for right now this all just stinks.

the best

Well - i think we had the best Halloween last night!!
The pumpkins were carved with loving care, the treats were ready to go and this year we had some help handing out the treats. My cousin Lorie, hubby Chris and Winnie the Pooh aka Luke came over. Luke is about 2 1/2 and got a real kick out of waiting for kids to come and checking out their costumes. He eventually got the hang of giving the kids candy and not trying to take what they already had. Life is so much more exciting with a 2 year old around- and when that 2 year old is on a sugar high - lots of fun for all. Can't wait till next year when we have our own kidlet to go trick or treating with!!
The reno's continue - the hall and baby's room are now painted. If i ever tell that i like to paint you can call me a fibber!! Ugh - i will be happy to not have to paint for a while. i really don't mind it - but it has been a big job!! I am reminding myself that we still have 2 bedrooms to go and miles of trim but we'll think about that another day. For now the dingy white hall is gone and the barney purple is no more. It is a huge change. Now i can dream of cribs and rocking chairs and babies who will fill these rooms and our home with so much love!!!