Yesterday was Easter Sunday. Our family is Christian and we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also celebrate the Easter Bunny.
This year we were blessed to have family with us for our dinner. My hubby, who is a wonderful, red seal chef, made a phenomenal meal of roast stuffed turkey, honey, maple and pineapple glazed ham, brussel sprouts, carrots, salad, and buns. Now you're probably thinking, "What? No mashed potatoes?" Yes there were mashed potatoes but those are my specialty. They aren't plain but oh so scrumptious that you can make an entire meal out of my mashed potatoes. But as fantastic as dinner was not a huge amount of it was eaten! I had made a promise to my future stepfather that I would make him homemade cheesecake. And...I did!
Now anyone who knows me knows that baking isn't my thing....at all. Mr. Christie makes good cookies, and I wreck them simply by opening the package. But this cheesecake I do very well. I made a homemade pumpkin cheesecake for the very first time in my life, this past Christmas. It was very good. I lost the recipe. But I found a similar one and under the supervision and guidance of my chef husband, I altered this new recipe to be even more decadent than the last one! It was so totally scrumptious! Everyone told me how good it was, and by the way it was disappearing I knew they weren't just placating my nerves.
So we had a full table. But not everyone I wanted was here. In attendance were, hubby and I and our 2 boys. My Uncle and Aunt from up North, my Mum and her wonderful fiancee, and for dessert my Uncle's twin brother, my other Uncle. My cousin had been invited but wasn't feeling well and couldn't come. I wanted to have my future stepbrother and his beautiful lady, and my future stepsister and her husband, as well as my sister and her husband and two sons, and her boarder, and my brother and his wife and 3 beautiful children. But I just don't have room. I did have enough food, but nowhere to put everyone. My sister and her husband and her boarder are off on a cruise, and my brother and his family don't live in our town. So even with those who couldn't be here I still didn't have enough room for everyone. But I'll get everyone here over the summer when I can put up all the tables outside and have the entire new found family together.
With my Mum's coming wedding/marriage, I'm so looking forward to expanding our family. I'm gaining a stepfather/grandfather(for my kids) who's just so loving and warm, accepting and understanding, I'm gaining two new stepbrothers who are both wonderful and funny. One of whom has a beautiful lady in his life that I have become fast friends with. She's like a sister already. I'm gaining a stepsister who is fun loving, hardworking, and a lady with a huge heart. So I'm adopting all of these people into my family and I can't wait!
This is going to be a wonderful year. If Easter was any indication, we're all in for a heck of a ride. And it's all going to be wonderful!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
And the big news is....
We had a proposal. We were asked to consider to 2 biological sisters.
We considered them. We read all their information and came to a decision.
We said no.
It broke our hearts to say no to such beautiful, sweet little girls, but we were not the right family for them.
Their needs were more than we could supply.
This is the heartbreaking side of adoption. But...it's better to say no in the beginning before bonds are made than to have the adoption disrupt later.
Adoption disruption is a fact of life. It's heartbreaking for everyone involved. But when the decision is made before hand the children don't know about it and don't suffer the rejection.
So while my family is feeling sad that we weren't able to say yes to these children we believe that God will bring their forever family to them soon, and that He will bring our next children to us soon, too.
Onward and upward for everyone involved. Stay tuned....
We considered them. We read all their information and came to a decision.
We said no.
It broke our hearts to say no to such beautiful, sweet little girls, but we were not the right family for them.
Their needs were more than we could supply.
This is the heartbreaking side of adoption. But...it's better to say no in the beginning before bonds are made than to have the adoption disrupt later.
Adoption disruption is a fact of life. It's heartbreaking for everyone involved. But when the decision is made before hand the children don't know about it and don't suffer the rejection.
So while my family is feeling sad that we weren't able to say yes to these children we believe that God will bring their forever family to them soon, and that He will bring our next children to us soon, too.
Onward and upward for everyone involved. Stay tuned....
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What a Week....
It's been a week. A week of good news and potential great news.
The good news is that I saw my transplant specialist and was given a clean bill of health. My kidney transplant is functionally well (praise the Lord!) and the breathing issue and facial tick that goes with it are due to a magnesium deficiency. I can deal with that! Magnesium supplements added to my list and things will be back to normal in no time. Yay for the good news!
The potential great news is...well I'll tell you next week when we know for sure!
The boys and I attended my great nephew's 8th birthday party yesterday. What a great time we had. My sister helped me with the little one and we got to stay for the whole party except for 20 minutes, when the little one was cooked. He needed to go have his nap. But there were about 20 boys and girls in the local rec centre and a great time was had by all.
Leaving the party I had a bit of a rough moment when my oldest didn't see my hand in the car door and closed it on my fingers. I screamed for someone to open the door and when the panic died down, my fingers were freed and nothing was broken! My poor little man felt so bad. But I assured him I wasn't upset with him in anyway and I have to learn not to put my fingers in the door! He's agreed to look before he closes the door now, too. Unfortunately, my little one got very scared with Mama screaming the way I was and I had to reassure him that I was OK. My sister inspected my hand and I assured her that I was fine too. So except for that, it was a wonderful Saturday.
Well this is a short entry but I'm tired (magnesium, sodium, and iron deficiencies) will do that to a person, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed early and await the arrival of my favorite day of the week. MONDAY!
The good news is that I saw my transplant specialist and was given a clean bill of health. My kidney transplant is functionally well (praise the Lord!) and the breathing issue and facial tick that goes with it are due to a magnesium deficiency. I can deal with that! Magnesium supplements added to my list and things will be back to normal in no time. Yay for the good news!
The potential great news is...well I'll tell you next week when we know for sure!
The boys and I attended my great nephew's 8th birthday party yesterday. What a great time we had. My sister helped me with the little one and we got to stay for the whole party except for 20 minutes, when the little one was cooked. He needed to go have his nap. But there were about 20 boys and girls in the local rec centre and a great time was had by all.
Leaving the party I had a bit of a rough moment when my oldest didn't see my hand in the car door and closed it on my fingers. I screamed for someone to open the door and when the panic died down, my fingers were freed and nothing was broken! My poor little man felt so bad. But I assured him I wasn't upset with him in anyway and I have to learn not to put my fingers in the door! He's agreed to look before he closes the door now, too. Unfortunately, my little one got very scared with Mama screaming the way I was and I had to reassure him that I was OK. My sister inspected my hand and I assured her that I was fine too. So except for that, it was a wonderful Saturday.
Well this is a short entry but I'm tired (magnesium, sodium, and iron deficiencies) will do that to a person, so I'm going to sign off and go to bed early and await the arrival of my favorite day of the week. MONDAY!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sorrowful Sunday...
Today is a day that I can't wait to end. Sounds bad right? It wasn't bad, but hard. Let me tell you a bit about it.
Today started out like any other Sunday in our home. Hubby and I got up and had our time together. Then we got the oldest up to get showered, dressed and have breakfast. After breakfast he has to sit nicely and stay clean until his Nana picks him up for church. The little one gets up and has his breaky and gets to spend the day playing with Mama and Daddy. So nothing wrong and nothing out of whack.
Around 12:30pm today an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over me. I don't know if I told you but a friend of mine passed away a week ago. He and I hadn't been in touch in many, many years but I had kept track of him and knew where he was and how he was, mostly. I was really looking forward to seeing him this July at our 25th Grad reunion. I won't get to now and neither will all his classmates. By the way, this man was the guy in school that everybody loved and he loved everybody. He was everybody's friend. He was wonderful. His celebration of life took place at 1:00pm today. So it was about 12:30 when the feeling hit me. Like a blow to the stomach, and I just couldn't shake it. I knew what it was and I just started praying. Praying for everyone who knew and loved this man. I can't imagine how his Mum and Dad must be suffering. His passing was unexpected and oh so sudden. He has two sisters as well. They have families too. Apparently his 10 year old niece stood up and spoke from her heart. I couldn't have done something like that. I couldn't do it at my Dad's service and I was in my 30's.
I didn't make it to the service. I tried. No one to watch my kids. But I'm OK with that, because I believe that we're all where we're meant to be when God wants us to be there. So for some reason I wasn't supposed to be at that celebration of life. I accept it, but I don't necessarily like it.
So today's post has nothing to do with adoption, only that once again I'm very much looking forward to Monday as my favorite day of the week. I'm going to put this day to bed and say a final prayer for my friend who passed and his family and friends, and say good night to Sunday.
Maybe tomorrow will bring news of a match. I can pray for that too.
Today started out like any other Sunday in our home. Hubby and I got up and had our time together. Then we got the oldest up to get showered, dressed and have breakfast. After breakfast he has to sit nicely and stay clean until his Nana picks him up for church. The little one gets up and has his breaky and gets to spend the day playing with Mama and Daddy. So nothing wrong and nothing out of whack.
Around 12:30pm today an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over me. I don't know if I told you but a friend of mine passed away a week ago. He and I hadn't been in touch in many, many years but I had kept track of him and knew where he was and how he was, mostly. I was really looking forward to seeing him this July at our 25th Grad reunion. I won't get to now and neither will all his classmates. By the way, this man was the guy in school that everybody loved and he loved everybody. He was everybody's friend. He was wonderful. His celebration of life took place at 1:00pm today. So it was about 12:30 when the feeling hit me. Like a blow to the stomach, and I just couldn't shake it. I knew what it was and I just started praying. Praying for everyone who knew and loved this man. I can't imagine how his Mum and Dad must be suffering. His passing was unexpected and oh so sudden. He has two sisters as well. They have families too. Apparently his 10 year old niece stood up and spoke from her heart. I couldn't have done something like that. I couldn't do it at my Dad's service and I was in my 30's.
I didn't make it to the service. I tried. No one to watch my kids. But I'm OK with that, because I believe that we're all where we're meant to be when God wants us to be there. So for some reason I wasn't supposed to be at that celebration of life. I accept it, but I don't necessarily like it.
So today's post has nothing to do with adoption, only that once again I'm very much looking forward to Monday as my favorite day of the week. I'm going to put this day to bed and say a final prayer for my friend who passed and his family and friends, and say good night to Sunday.
Maybe tomorrow will bring news of a match. I can pray for that too.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Matching Event...
Yesterday the hubby and I attended an adoption matching event. The matching event is a day of approved prospective adoptive parents and adoption/guardianship workers coming together to find families for children ready for adoption.
Yesterday's event was awesome! The energy in the room was high and positive. The children presented by their workers were all adorable and ready to go to their forever homes. The children presented at these events are typically older, higher special needs, harder to place children. The parents present are generally ready to accept these children.
My hubby and I were feeling a little discourage by the time we had our lunch break and then we did our introduction. The parents are all asked (it's not mandatory) to stand up and say a bit about themselves, to the give the workers an idea of who they are and who they might be looking to add to their families. Hubby and I seemed to do alright with our introduction. We had the room laughing, while (hopefully) imparting enough information about ourselves to make the workers want to get to know us better and place children with us.
There were a couple of sibling groups that caught our eye and our hearts and we've narrowed it down to one possibility now we wait and see. The worker of the children we've decided we're interested in learning more about was very excited about us too. The only thing we don't know at this point is if she was excited about us for this particular sibling group or about other children she has in her care. We'll see I guess.
So after lunch my spirits lifted and it was due greatly in part to my friend C. She's also my supervisor and she was so helpful with her comments and encouragement in helping us speak to workers that I don't think I've ever felt quite so positive coming through one of these events. Thank you C!
I can't wait to hear from our worker today to see if anyone has made inquiries about us.
Keeping our fingers crossed that this is our time.
Yesterday's event was awesome! The energy in the room was high and positive. The children presented by their workers were all adorable and ready to go to their forever homes. The children presented at these events are typically older, higher special needs, harder to place children. The parents present are generally ready to accept these children.
My hubby and I were feeling a little discourage by the time we had our lunch break and then we did our introduction. The parents are all asked (it's not mandatory) to stand up and say a bit about themselves, to the give the workers an idea of who they are and who they might be looking to add to their families. Hubby and I seemed to do alright with our introduction. We had the room laughing, while (hopefully) imparting enough information about ourselves to make the workers want to get to know us better and place children with us.
There were a couple of sibling groups that caught our eye and our hearts and we've narrowed it down to one possibility now we wait and see. The worker of the children we've decided we're interested in learning more about was very excited about us too. The only thing we don't know at this point is if she was excited about us for this particular sibling group or about other children she has in her care. We'll see I guess.
So after lunch my spirits lifted and it was due greatly in part to my friend C. She's also my supervisor and she was so helpful with her comments and encouragement in helping us speak to workers that I don't think I've ever felt quite so positive coming through one of these events. Thank you C!
I can't wait to hear from our worker today to see if anyone has made inquiries about us.
Keeping our fingers crossed that this is our time.
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