the latest and some 'after pics'

no, i haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Just about but not quite. Its quite possible that no one is reading this anyway...but here i am back again.

Actually -that was half my problem - the old sciatic reared its ugly head again. ugh. i am feeling much better - but this time its been about 3 weeks of crap and limping along. I am still a bit sore but am feeling so much better.

It's June - well and almost July. We just passed our 20 month mark. 20 months of waiting...what to say???! We have had many family events lately - and i always have lots of questions about when this baby will be showing up. You know, ever since we started my answer has been - 'about another year or so'. This has been my answer and I don't see it changing any time soon.

So, what else have we been up to? Prior to the back going out -there was lots of gardening and some work on our famous 'reno of 2008'. This could have something to do with the back...but you gotta live your life! The long weekend in May we got down to work and FINISHED the baby room and the hall!!!! Can you believe it??! What a relief/accomplishment!!!!! It looks really great. My hubby gets all the props here - i just did a bit of painting and changing my mind -'i want it here - no, over here, no - back to the first place' :)

So, here are some pics to show you the finished project. Now, we still have one bedroom to complete - but we aren't talking about that right now :) I also have MANY ideas for the next 4 or so projects. I would really like to get 3 of these done before baby comes - and the way things are going that probably won't be a problem.

So, here are some "before's" to refresh your memory. We didn't have a digital camera when we moved in, so don't have many shots of these spaces and really, those are memories best forgotten!!

Here is baby's room in its purple glory.

Imagine crusty matching purple carpet, no insulation and questionable wiring.

Same room - striped down to the studs and new drywall going up!

Our hall.
Bigger than my first apartment!

Features 6 doors plus a closet!

Picture ucky, icky painted over panelling and about a

gazillion years of grimy dirt that stuck to the flat paint - ugh.

Tada!!!

The baby's room

Furniture placement still pending. We will decorate once we find out who will be living here. Probably some pink for a girl (surprise) or some denim and blues for a boy.

A brand new room, complete with new windows, wiring, insulation, closets with organizers and new paint on the floor.

"The" Hall!!!

Complete with the first pair of curtains in the whole house, new light fixtures, linen closet and straight walls. Flooring to come...

Wow - what a change! It feels so good to see some progress being made on our house. I will be so happy when each room has a new look! This of coarse will take many more years - but i knew that when we moved in. We have a 30 year plan!!

Fair Trade Day

In all my business I totally missed Fair Trade Day. It was May 8th. Well, better late than never.
I work at Ten Thousand Villages. I have worked there for almost 10 years now. I love the mission of Fair Trade and the relationships we have made with folks all over the world. From the web site: Often referred to as 'Fair Trade,' our philosophy of helping to build a sustainable future is based on the principle that trade should have a conscience. Through Fair Trade artisans receive the respect, dignity and hope that comes from working hard and earning fair value for their work. Check out Villages at - www.tenthousandvillages.ca

Unfortunately we don't sell any crafts from Ethiopia. We do however sell Coffee from Ethiopia. It is produced by a Fair Trade company called Level Ground Trading. Their website is www.levelground.com. You can buy their coffee in our stores or online. Its great stuff.

I have found another Canadian Fair Trade website that does offer products from Ethiopia. They are called Nationwares and have some beautiful silk scarves and some other jewellery. Give them a look at: http://www.nationwares.com/hello.html

All three of these sites give all the info on Fair Trade that you could ever need - much better than I can. The coffee and chocolate we sell is AMAZING. I am so sold on the 'Divine' Chocolate - it has me so addicted :) We also have some pretty great jewellery - take a look. And kids books - "My Granny Went to Market" is highly recommended as well as lots of different Putumayo titles. Next time you are shopping for that perfect little something for your home, or someones birthday, or that gift for a teacher - or some great coffee beans - try Fair Trade.

Busy..

I know i had vowed to blog more often but man has it been busy lately!! I don't like it when we are out every night of the week and then all weekend - and that seemed to be our life for the last 3 weeks. It was all good stuff - but for me (little old home body) it took its toll! I had a beautiful sleep in yesterday and now i am feeling more myself again.


In the mean time, i missed our 1 year and 7th month waiting for our referral. I feel like its getting close. It could actually be this year...you never know. It is starting to feel good again, which is good.


Also, Congrats to cyber friends Alysia and Derrick on the birth of their beautiful son Levi. Their blog is at the right there. What a ride they have been on in the past year. What a great example of relying on God through heartbreak and in utter joy. That baby is the cutest ever!!! So happy for you!!!

So, what has kept you so busy you might ask?

It seems that April and May were 'babysitting weekends' for Uncle Mike and Auntie Brenda. The first weekend saw an overnight visit from Kyle and AJ. Kyle and Uncle Mike had the pleasure of attending Canada's Wonderland with the youth group for the day on the Saturday. I think Mike is learning his limits when it comes to roller coasters. As for AJ and I - well we spent a great day together. AJ is going to be 2 in August - but he still likes to be rocked to sleep and takes a few bottles, so we had some significant snuggle time. However, except for those special times the boy does not stop. Seriously, he is BUSY. Man, i knew we would have fun - but can you just slow down? I did baby proof our house - but we have 2 staircases going up and not enough baby gates could keep this one down. By 8:30 in the morning i knew we would have a long day :) I had actually planned to do a little photo diary of our day together and post it - but for one, who had time to find the camera and 2 all you would get is a blur of AJ as he runs past :) So, we went for a long walk, followed by a long nap (he plays hard but sleeps hard and long too), then went to my brother's farm to see the cows, visited my mom's and eventually i wore him down.

AJ is super good. I may have dragged him away from the stairs about a million times and told him not to touch Auntie Brenda's pretty star a few thousand times - but he just would turn and find some other mischief to get into. No tantrums, no hissy fits - just good natured trouble on 2 wheels :)

Our next two weekends we 'babysat' my niece and nephew. They are 15 and 17 and so supervision would be more appropriate. My sister and hubby went off to celebrate their 20th anniversary on a sweet cruise. The first weekend we went to their house (hour and a half away). They have a life you know...So Mike and i hung out at their place - played wii and watched some movies. During the week they were on their own and then the second weekend they came to our house - once again, more fun shopping, watching movies and the like. Dayna even helped me clean out my closet. If you have trouble getting rid of stuff just get a 15 year old fashionista to help. I got rid of 5 garbage bags of clothes. The first rule was, anything older than Dayna was gone without question - and there were a few things!! :) Don't know why i hold on to that old stuff - i was told that even if i could wear it - i shouldn't so, bye bye!!!! Feels good to be rid of that 'baggage' and now there is room to do some more shopping :)

This weekend we have had a child free home. Its been quite and a bit more tidy. A nice break but we miss them too. Friday night I went out with some girlfriends to celebrate a friend's birthday. I haven't laughed so much in such a long time!!! We also celebrated the engagement of my best friend. I have not smiled so big as when i saw that beautiful ring and heard the story of their engagement. Oh so happy for them!!!! Gonna be a bridesmaid for the 7th time and can't wait. Its a beautiful love story, let me tell you. My girlfriend is a blessed woman to have been wooed by such a man. And he is blessed to be in love with such a wonderful person who will be a wonderful mother to his 4 girls. It really is story-book kind of stuff and does my heart good to see such a happy time for all. By the way, I have decided to give you all a fashion show of my wardrobe of bridesmaid dresses. It sure is something - we've got floral, we've got pink satin, we've got satin died shoes, I think we've got it all!!! I am so happy for these 2 that i would wear a paper bag if that is what she wanted.

And to top off a great weekend, my wonderful hubby gave me a nice surprise. He let me sleep in on Saturday = beautiful bliss!!! Then when i got up i couldn't find him. We live in an old house and so its not unusual that we can't find each other and so i sat around, waking up and waited for him to find me. But an hour passed and still no Mike. Here, he was outside digging up my flower beds for me. What a guy!!!! Now, all i need to do is the shopping :) and planting. What a great surprise for me!

So, its been a bit busy! Things are starting to slow down on our calender - even have a few extra days off coming up. The plan is to get working on that reno we started in 2008 - remember that one?! The one where we were getting a room ready for the baby?! Hopefully i will have some 'finished' photos next week at this time!!!

Of coarse never far from my thoughts is our sweet baby to be. Looking after AJ was a bit like playing house. It was nice to know that at the end of the day i did just fine and managed on my own with him with no issues :) Rocking him in the baby's room brought me lots of pondering of times to come. Even though we don't know our baby, he is never far from my thoughts. I imagine what it would be like in each circumstance to be bringing our baby here or there or how they would like this experience or that thing we are doing. Or how we will be doing things much differently when we have baby home. One year and 7 months is a long time to wait for our baby - but we can't wait to see your face little one, and so we wait with anticipation!!

Tugging at a Dad's heart (or dad to be)

Brenda and I listen to country music. (You'll guess by now that it's Mike's turn to blog again). There are very few times that I get... um... well... emotional, so it took me by surprise when I heard a song on the radio the other day. If you listen to any Canadian country station, you'e probably heard a song called I've haven't even heard you cry by Aaron Lines. Here are the lyrics from the chorus:

And I haven't even heard you cry

I haven't even looked into your eyes

I haven't held you one time but you've changed my life

And I don't even know your name

But I know I'll never be the same

Oh I can't wait to show you you can fly

And I haven't even heard you cry

So, as you can see, these lines really got me thinking about our precious baby somewhere in Ethiopia. I still get choked up when I hear this song on the radio, and I do my best to keep it together (no one wants to see a mechanic crying when he's trying to fix a piece of farm machinery!). Someday I'll be able to tell our son or daughter this story, and laugh about how many times I thought of them even before I knew thier name.

missed one

This week i missed our 1 year and 6 months - waiting for our referral. Well - i actually didn't miss it - just didn't feel like it was worth celebrating - but it really is. 18 months is pretty big. Actually, this week for the first time in a long time (with the announcement of 2 referrals) it feels like I can get excited about the adoption actually happening. It even feels like it could be possible that we might get our referral this year - and hope of all hopes that we just might (??) travel on the first trip this year?? I know its an ambitious goal but it could really happen. A little hope is a dangerous thing - but hope can also be good. Even started thinking about what kind of travelling we might do on our first trip. Its kind of exciting to feel hopeful again.

learning

Some times it would be nice to not have to learn new things. As a kid i looked at the adults around me and figured once you got to a certain age you just knew everything. Hmmm. Learning i suppose is good. Its good to keep growing and stretching and learning.

This week i really felt so overwhelmed by situations. Situations that involve people i love. And these are things i have no control over, things I can't fix or even help with. It hurts. It hurts to know there is nothing i can do to help and it hurts to know that these people i love hurt. I just felt so helpless. I am a helper - I want to be the one to help but at this point that is not my job. I know my job is to pray. My faith felt so small and i wondered if this would be enough - it would be easier to be doing something - anything. I know this is part of my learning and stretching and growing.

Then we got this email from our Pastor Tom :

I want to share another verse with you that has so personally edified me this past year.

Psalm 56:8 - "Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record?" (NIV)

I also like the ESV - "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"

I have cried more in the past year than at any other period in my life, and with good reason. But what strikes me about this verse is that every single tear drop has not escaped the ever watchful and compassionate eye of my Father. My tears are precious to Him; He collects them and records them.

Maybe you've been crying lately, as the struggles of life have squeezed you. If not, at some point you will cry, as life will inescapably squeeze you. Remember, dear one, how valuable you are to your Heavenly Father. Every tear drop your eyes would release is treated as a rare find by the God of the universe. That is comfort. That is hope. That is the nearness of God.

God not only hears my prayers but he is collecting my tears - and there have been many tears. I felt like God was so far away when in reality He was close enough to collect my tears. How much closer is he to my loved ones in their times of struggle. It is not always my job to fix things - what a lesson that is - its a hard one for me. But i do take comfort and find hope and rest in this promise - our tears are a treasure.

what to say

I said i would start posting more - but seriously - we are boring people. There is not alot going on in our lives right now - besides the get up, go to work, come home, go to bed kind of stuff. Folks with writing skills make taking a trip to the dentist sound exciting and blog worthy - and i do get a chuckle out of their stories - but you really don't come to this here blog looking for fun like that. You could give me suggested topics and I could try to come up with something...

We did have a good Easter. I was wonderfully sunny and warm. We did family stuff which is good and can also lead to stress and so i am sure you don't want to hear about it. I did colour some Easter eggs and helped my niece decorate cupcakes -that was fun!! I also got a great pedicure and have now deemed it summer and refuse to wear sock until October.

We did watch The Blind Side. Should have seen it before all the hype. It was a good story but i really didn't think the movie was all that I heard it was.

We did play Rock Band Country - which was pretty hilarious. I rocked out a few songs and also learned that i do not have one ounce of rhythm - we will leave the drum solo's to Mike for sure.

I do wanna send a shout out to a few blogging friends. Friends who are on the cusp of giddy excitement. One friend and hubby are waiting patiently to hear of the birth of their soon to be baby boy in Florida. I check their blog only about a gazillion times a day to see what the latest is. Congrats you guys - you will be on a plane before you know it. Then there are 2 other families that are just on the verge of a referral. I can just feel it. Looking forward to hearing about your big news any day now. I actually fear how i will handle things when we are that close to our referral - i will be a basket case no doubt and a wreck. Poor Mike. Anyhoo - since we have no news - its great to walk with you and your good news.