Hopefully Tomorrow... Updated: NOPE!!! ARGH!!!

Arg! 2 weeks, 2 days and counting without Internet. Alomost-there. Gonna-make-it.

I've been told by Rogers that my phone should be changed back to analog tomorrow night and that should allow my Internet problems to be fixed too. I'll beleive it when I see it! Cynical? YUP!!! I'm not as think as they dumb I am!

Also, we're still awaiting referrals too. Rumour has it (one of the many) that they may begin to arrive on Thursday. Oh what a happy day that will be! I'll keep you posted so that you can check out the beautiful faces of my friends new little ones!

On a happier note, I'm sporting a cute little ladybug painted on my cheek today. Praying that by this time next year my little ladybug is in my arms as well as filling that wonderful place in my heart that she already has!

Update: It's now almost 5pm Tuesday and after spending almost an hour on the phone with Rogers they're now saying it might be fixed on Friday. Ughhhh!!!!! I'm so frustrated I could SPIT!!!!!! I called them today to confirm tomorrow's promised appt. and they said, 'oh no, your appt. is Friday.' Unless I wanted to delay until possibly next Wednesday, it had to be Friday. THANK YOU mom for giving up your Friday evening to watch TV at my place so that they can hopefully, maybe, possibly be there. Ugh!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the Lack of Posts!

Ugh! Still no Internet at home and I've now been told it won't be repaired until next Wednesday at the earliest. *sigh* I-can-make-it...I-can-last...

I realized that I used the Internet a lot but hadn't realized quite how much until these past 2 weeks when it's been on the fritz. Yesterday I wanted to look up a phone number. Um, nope. Last Saturday I realized I didn't have the address of the church I needed. Had to wing it and did fine but wished I could have looked up the highway exit before leaving. Early this morning I wanted to look for some scrapbooking ideas to 'borrow' this weekend from 2 Peas but once again was stifled by my lack of Internet access.

Now, these are the minor inconveniences next to meeting Rose and Marie! (If you haven't checked out the Salsa blog you really should. Mary-Mia is a hilarious writer and she'll have you in stitches talking about the Twin Wrecking Crew that has moved into their hotel room!)

Lastly, new referrals are due out any day!!! We're excitedly awaiting referral news of Lindsey's baby sister Chloe; Lisa and Eammon's baby girl and praying that my wonderful friend Julie will make this month's cut off and receive her referral for Tess!!! This is an important month because an October referral means baby is home (or at least in their parent's arms in China) at Christmas!!! Fly stork, fly!!!

PS: Thanks Carol for letting your blog/email addicted friend stop by in the evenings lest she have to wait 15+ hours to get her next fix!

Rose and Marie, Safe in Mommy and Daddy's Arms!!!

They're here!! They're here!!! I'm thrilled to share that Rose and Marie met Mommy and Daddy Salsa for the very first time yesterday! Aren't they just too cute?!! (*Picture posted with permission*)

Mary-Mia and Rod have their hands full of twinilicious wonder so have had little time to post many details but I'm sure they will soon...or at least by the time the girls start kindergarten! It's currently 2am in China so hopefully all are fast asleep, dreaming of their wonderful new family. But....just in case Mary-Mia is awake, I refresh their site every 15 mins looking for updates! (Ok, fess up, I know you're doing it too! ;o)

Sweet dreams Salsa family! We wait (im)patiently for more news of your precious family!

Gift Registries Added

As the months have passed I've heard about a number of great children's books. When visiting 'Chapters' online I found out that you can create a Wish List so I went ahead and did that. I love reading and hope to pass that love on to Hannah. If you're interested in seeing the wonderful books that have been recommended, you can
click here and it will take you to my list. Also, if there are others you'd recommend, please leave a comment and I'll take a look at your suggestions.

Last spring when my cousin and I went shopping in Detroit at Babies 'R Us, we created a gift registry there too. Bridget has 5 great kids so I figured if anyone could help me create a Wish List she would be the person to ask! The Babies 'R Us gift registry can be found by clicking here. Again, any suggestions of 'must have's for baby' are greatly appreciated!

P.S. This is my humble attempt to post anything at all while the entire adoption world (and beyond) waits impatiently for Mary-Mia's first post about the twins. Ahhh...the waiting is sooo hard!

'We want Babies....we want babies!!!' Oh yah, now that's the mature side of me showing!

Celebrating 7 Month LIDiversary!!

Wow! That was a fast month! If they all fly by like this past one did Hannah will be here before I know it! Yeah!!! That's the funny thing about time...it's always the same yet often seems to move slower or faster depending on what's happening in our lives. Weird!

This month I decided to start a new LIDiversary tradition. Each month I'm going to purchase myself flowers on the 23rd to celebrate another month of waiting for Hannah is behind me. They don't have to be fancy or extravegant, just a wonderful, bright reminder of the celebration that occurs the 23rd of each month.

Yesterday I purchased a small bunch of hot pink carnations. I have a picture of them in all their wonderful glory but sadly with my home Internet still on the fritz, I can't post a picture right now. Talked with the phone company today and it seems a solution to my problem is still more than a week away!! Ugh....don't they know it's baby week in the adoption world? Where are their priorities??? (Sorry. Minor rant on a happy occasion.)

So, to all my March 23 LID buddies...Happy LIDiversary! 7 months down! We're getting there one day at a time!

Wahooo!!! It's Salsa Time!!!

The day is finally here! Yeah!!! Today is the day when Mary-Mia and Rod board a plane and wing their way to China! In just 5 short(?) days beautiful Rose and Marie will be in their arms! Just think...a baby for each of them! How wonderful!! Double the baby and double the fun!

Now, if you're concerned that there won't be any arms available for snapping pics and taking hours of video, you can rest peacefully. Both set of grandparents have already flown to China and will be there to catch each and every moment of the fun! Ummm...unless they're off sightseeing or Mary-Mia's dad is playing tennis! :o) (That's what he was doing when the referral call came!)

Congratulations Mary-Mia and Rod!!!

So very, very happy and excited for you! Rose and Marie, you are blessed to have 2 such wonderful (and slightly crazy!) parents. In one word your new lives are going to be FUN!

Ugh! Internet Troubles

Hey friends. It's me writing you from a 'remote location.' Sounds kinda fun and adventurous and even a little inviting, right? Wrong! My sexy 'Remote' location is my friend's dining room!

A couple of weeks ago my telephone company called and offered to put all my phone charges on one bill. Sounded like a good idea. My exact question to them, 'Will it be seamless?' I was assured that yes it would be.

It was at that time that I should have turned around and run as fast as I could in the other direction screaming, 'Don't touch my phone! Back off bucko and nobody will get hurt!' Did I do that? In one word: nope, nada, no. (Guess that was 3 words.) I agreed to the 'seamless switch' in order to ease bill paying.

My first clue about this seamless transaction should have been when she said someone needed to come to my home. Silly me said yes. Thinking it would be a 2 min. ordeal (after all, we're talking 'seamless') I set up an appt. on an evening when I'd be home teaching. Telephone dude #1 shows up, clomps around my entire house for an hour and a half, pulls out half my furniture, does some sort of wiring in every telephone jack, drills a hole into the house and then promptly leaves.

After teaching I begin to investigate the damage and believe you me...it was easy to find. He'd turned on and left on every single light in the house. Furniture was pulled out, stuff nicely hidden behind said furniture was laying around and the hole he'd drilled between the garage and basement was left wide open for hot air to escape and furry things to climb in! No way, that just wouldn't do.

Next I tried to plug my phones back in and 2 new problems arose. 1 jack no longer worked nor did my answering machine. Not being one to sit back and just take stuff I was immediately on the horn to the company and arranged for someone to come back the following evening. Also got myself a $40 credit with which I went out and purchased a new phone with answering machine.

Dude #2 shows up a couple of days later and fixes broken jack and plugs critter hole. Nice, helpful dude. All appeared to be well once again until yesterday when my Internet access was kaput. Making no less than 5 calls in 24 hours (after all a girl needs her Internet access!) I think we may have gotten to the bottom of the problem. What my 'This will be Seamless' phone company 'forgot' to tell me was that they had taken my phone system from analog (whatever that is) to digital. Guess what...my Internet service doesn't work with digital! Ugh!!! BUT, for a mere $10/month they can install a 'dry loop' for me. Ummm...nope! Why would I pay you $120 a year for something you offered to me? Time for you to come back to my abode and take me back to analog. If it's good enough for my Grandma, it's good enough for me!

Now, I wait....and wait. The line they gave me was that it would probably take 8-10 days to get my phone line back to analog. Ummm...nope again! Let me speak to your supervisor! So, I wait. Hoping to hear tomorrow about what they're going to do to get me up and running again. Then, need to push to get time added to my Internet that I can't use.

'Seamless' my foot!!!

A Travel Group in the Making

We're almost 7 months into our wait and I'd say it's prime time this group of waiting mommies and daddies finally met one another! When our dossier's went to China in March of this year, each family in our group was sent a list of names and phone numbers of the others in the group. For myself, I read the list over in anticipation, put it in a safe place, would occasionally pick it up and read it but never really took it any further. I think with all the delays it feels like I'm living in a time warp and somebody is pushing with all their might against the clock. I'm confident that I'm not the only one that feels that way!

Today my thoughts changed. I want to get to know these people and I hoped they felt the same.

Guess what...they did! I booked a reservation at the Mandarin Restaurant (where else?) and armed with my telephone in one hand and list of travel mates in the other, set the wheels in motion. I must admit to feeling a little apprehensive as I dialed the first number but within seconds of speaking with Anna all that was gone! She was excited that someone from the group had set something up and they're hoping to attend the dinner.

As I made my way through the list of 9 families (will be 10 including myself) I was able to contact 6 of them. Guess what...every single family had the evening of November 18th free! They still need to double check with their spouse but it looks like we'll have a great turnout for our very first meeting! I'm really quite excited about meeting the other families as we will share such a monumental time in our lives together. We don't know when our children will enter our lives but we know they will and we'll all be in a room together when they do! Can you imagine???

Everyone I spoke with was excited that we are going to have an opportunity to get to know one another and people were so thankful that something had been organized. Sounds like we have an awesome travel group!

One of the reasons I'm so thankful for the agency that God placed me with is that it is small. If I'd been in charge I'm sure I would have chosen a large agency but God knew what was best so He opened the singles slot in a smaller agency close to home. What a blessing it is and will continue to be to have all of our 10 families living within 100km of one another! It makes getting to know one another prior to travel easier and the added bonus of us keeping in touch through the years as our little girls grow.

What fun it will be when this group of people who are living their lives in slow motion during the wait enter the fast lane of parenthood together!

Victoria's Blessings for Hannah's Book

Rebecca's Blessings for Hannah's Book

This Made My Heart Melt!!!

One of the little projects I had planned for our fun weekend together was to have the girls create a page for Hannah's Blessings book. Well for these 2 cuties doing only one page would never do!

We hit the dollar store before apple picking in the afternoon so that they could choose stickers for their projects. After much deliberation they each found ones that would be perfect for their pages for Baby Hannah.

After raiding Auntie Cathy's paper and ribbon stash early that evening they set to work. I was totally amazed at how creative they were! I didn't help either of them a single bit. It's all them!

Victoria's creative juices were still flowing after 2 pages so asked if she could do a 3rd. Sure!

Rebecca had chosen Disney stickers as one her sets of stickers so I found a great picture of she and Mickey taken together last year. She was excited to tell Baby Hannah all about the Disney trips that we will take together in the future!

And, to make an already perfect time even more wonderful, the girls recorded the message below for Baby Hannah. The love that they already have for her is wonderful and they talk about her all the time. Dreaming of what we'll do together when she gets home. And yes, they've made me promise that she can sleep (? - they don't) with them when she gets bigger. It will make for a crowded little bed of giggles but I can't wait!!!

Here is the thoughtful message to Hannah that made me cry and still does when I listen to it!



Thanks Rebecca and Victoria! Have I told you today how much I love each of you?

Ribbon Fun

I found these fun ribbon toys for the girls at the dollar store in the spring and had completely forgotten about them. When the girls were looking through the toy area they found them. What fun they had! We played with them outside until it was almost too dark to see and then moved the fun indoors to the basement. Sunday morning, once they were ready for church, they went back to their ribbon routines 'practicing for the Olympics!'

Love the music they added! I love to watch kids play and be so creative!

A Perfect Day for Apple Picking!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny which was wonderful as it was the day of our 7th Annual Apple Picking Sleepover Party!

Rebecca and Victoria were only 1 and 2 respectively when we started this annual tradition of going apple picking together and then having a sleepover at Auntie Cathy's place. This is a fun day and the girls often begin asking about when the next one will arrive as early as January! Being that apples are in season September and October it can be a long time waiting for this party to arrive!

We started our afternoon with lunch at McDonald's and then headed to a farm just outside of town. We've picked apples and strawberries at this farm for as long as I can remember. We met my brother Dave and his son Noah there and they joined us for the festivities for the 2nd year in a row.

After jumping and leaping all the way from the car it was time to board the wagon for the short drive back to the orchard. There was lots of laughter and excitement as we were jostled about on the wagon through the fields.

We started our journey in the Empire section of the orchard. Mmmm..mmm! As we were a little later this year we had to walk further up the rows of trees to find some with apples but soon enough we found them. This picture on the right is an annual picture of the girls walking through the orchard together. Each year it's fun to compare it to the last to see how they've grown and once again they grew taller this year. How did that happen?

The girls did really well picking apples this year! Normally they grow tired of picking after 2 or 3 apples but this year I had to stop them when our bags were getting full. Now, full to us means only about 20 apples in each bag but that's ok. No sense having more than we can eat.

After a successful trip to the orchard we took the tractor back to the entrance where the kids enjoyed jumping in a hay pile, playing in the playground and petting the animals in the petting zoo.

Once again it was a successful visit to the orchards and the beginning of a great party. More about that in another post. After all, the night was young and the party had just begun!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving

to all my Canadian family and friends! Today may we be thankful for all that we have.

God is so good!

Beautiful Ballerina and Waiting for Baby

Last night I spent the evening with some wonderful friends! It was a nice treat to be invited to hang out with their family. Each Friday night is family night at Norma and John's place and last night was no exception and I was so happy to be included! Norma and I have been friends since the girls were young so I've watched them grow up and now they're becoming parents themselves. My how time flies!

'A' (Norma and John's first grandchild) was excited to try out her new ballerina outfit and entertained us by dancing around the room. Too cute! She's starting dance class next week which will be such fun to watch. I remember Rebecca taking ballet classes when she was about 3 and it was adorable! Still remember the day when 6 of us paid $10 each to go to her recital only to find out she was too shy to go on stage.

As you can see, Norma's next grandchild is due to arrive any day now! We thought it might even happen last night so plans were made, the phone list was prepared and we all headed home and to bed early. When I woke up at 7 this morning I figured that things must have settled down for Bonnie that and the baby musn't be ready yet. Norma and Kristy both called this morning to says that her labour had sped up then slowed down again so today Bonnie and Paul were going about their normal routine today and heading out to his parents farm to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

I Love a Man in a Uniform!

Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny, the perfect day for going to the office hanging out at the local fire hall! Oh yah!

I'm one of many fire wardens in my office building. We wear less than fashionable orange hats and vests during a fire/drill but in reality have an important role to play. I work in an 8 storey building of over 2000 people and it would be virtually impossible for the fire dept to check each and every workstation to ensure everyone is out. That's where myself and about 60 other fire wardens come in to play. In the case of a fire we don our fire warden gear and begin a sweep of the offices, washrooms, boardrooms, etc. in our area. Once clear, we exit the building and check in with the floor captain notifying them that our area is clear. It's a responsibility I volunteered for and really enjoy. It's just one more form of helping people that makes up the person that is me. Most times people are very cooperative but occasionally you just give your head a shake as people walk UP the stairs to retrieve stuff from their work stations. It's a fire folks....get you butt out of the building!!

So, back to the original reason for my post. Each year the fire wardens go through some training. Some of it is in our building and updates us on the procedures we're to follow and also what to do with co-workers with mobility challenges, etc. After each fire drill/fire (and there have been a couple of small ones) we have a debriefing in the lunch room with the fire personnel. How long did it take us to get out? What went well? What needs to be improved? That kind of stuff.

There are 2 other training events each year that we also attend. We are certified for First Aid and CPR. Again this training is done in our office.

But, once a year we spend the morning at the fire hall learning about office fire safety and practice using fire extinguishers. (Here is Jan practicing her extinguisher skills: PASS - Pin Aim Squeeze and Sweep) Before leaving Thursday I was emailing a friend and mentioning how nice it would be to spend the morning with 'da men!' Ummm...yup! Then in walked our trainer. And her name was Nancy! Too funny! So much for my big plans of spending the morning with a man in a uniform. There was 1 guy that joined us for the extinguisher portion as you can see from the pic above.

Nancy was a great teacher and very knowledgeable too. Learned lots! Here are a things you might want to consider:
- smoke alarms (one on every floor of the house) need to be changed every 10 years. Note to self: change mine soon!
- a CO2 detector should be placed in the hallway outside the sleeping area - check!
- the majority of fires start in the kitchen. (This one is all too familiar to our family as just this week we lost my Grandma's house to a fire that started in the kitchen. Grandma is fine (Praise God!!!) but the house will not be inhabitable any longer. She did something I know I've done and I'm guessing many of you may have too. She put something on the stove and left the room. That was all it took. PLEASE be careful!!!)
- keep a fire extinguisher in your home and check it's pressure regularly. The thought is normally to have is under the kitchen sink but normally the front hall is a better location as in the case of a fire you may not be able to get under the sink.
- have escape plans from your house and a meeting place.

So much good information and it's becoming all that more important as I await Hannah's arrival.

This week is Fire Prevention week. Why not check your smoke alarms, purchase a CO2 detector if you don't have one and pick up a fire extinguisher. Many stores have these items on sale this week. Steps in preparing for baby that we may not normally consider.

Toto, We're Not at Motel 6 Anymore

Part of the fun of last weekend was staying in a hotel in Toronto. We wanted to be close to the Air Canada Centre so Heather Lynn set forth to find us a place to stay and man did she do a great job! I'm normally a Quality Inn, Best Western kinda gal when I'm booking but there just weren't any such places close to where we wanted to be.

Heather Lynn booked us in at the Grand Hotel and Suites just a few kilometers from the ACC. Just walking into the reception area was a treat! You could quickly tell there was a women's conference in town as the foyer was full of women. When we checked in the girl noted that there were 4 of us in our room and decided on the spot to upgrade us free of charge to a suite! Oh yah! The picture to the right was what we saw looking down the hallway towards our room when we exited the elevator. Oh ya, we weren't at Motel 6 this time!

This is Gwen in our little kitchen and my boudoir is in the background. Lisa and I were happy to each have our own little rooms with pullout couches but man did we laugh when we pulled out our beds! You know what a bad sofa bed mattress looks like right? Well, we had two that could have done advertisements for, 'Saggy Beds 'R Us.' Before we even got into them they were already doing the major sag thing! I got in and was quickly rolled to the middle with a large bar strategically placed under my back. But do you know what? We both slept great which was a surprise to all of us! Oh yes...Would you like to see where Gwen and Heather Lynn were 'roughing it?'

They humbly 'took one for the team' and suffered through the night sleeping in this beautiful queen sized bed with a down filled duvet! Ya gotta know next time Lisey and I are running into the room right quick and setting out sights on the good bed. The 'old gals' (Heather Lynn is all of 6 months older than me!) can have their turn on the sofa bed next time! :o)

Before calling it a night the group of us ventured to the rooftop to see the hot tubs and check out the city lights. Sadly we'd forgotten our bathing suits but the view from the rooftop was well worth the visit! There were 2 large hot tubs up there, a gazebo and they were even showing a movie on a large screen! What fun! Next time we go someplace we'll be taking our suits for sure!

Note to self and Motor City Mama's: Take bathing suits to Detroit next month. Maybe there will be a hot tub on the roof of our Motel 6! ;o)

'Just Give Me Jesus' Conference

Last weekend I had the priviledge of attending the Just Give Me Jesus conference in Toronto. It was a wonderful weekend! I went with 3 friends: Lisa, Heather Lynn and Gwen. We had a great time and decided with the conference ending late Friday night and starting early Saturday morning that we'd stay in the city overnight. Oh yah, that was a good choice, but that's for another post.

The JGMJ conference is hosted by Anne Graham Lotz who is the daugher of Billy Graham. Friday night she spoke about Jesus and his sacrifice for us. Many, many ladies came forward for either salvation or rededication. What an amazing experience! Heather Lynn and Gwen were counsellors that evening so we were in the floor seats. The ladies filled every available space on the floor and spilled up into the stairways of the arena too. Wow! God was moving and people were being changed! Praise God!

Saturday was a day spent learning much! We learned more about meeting Jesus through worship; through spending time in His Word and through prayer. What a blessed weekend! Standing amongst 15,000 women all singing praises to God together was phenomenal! A little touch of heaven here on earth.

The next Just Give Me Jesus conference is planned is for Oslo, Norway in May of this year so if you happen to live in Norway (as some of my readers may) I'd highly recommend finding a girlfriend or two and attending. You'll leave a changed person. A better person than the one who walked in!

September's Secret Pal Gift

I'm a little late in posting this as it's October already. (How did that happen?)

September's theme was Reading Fun and once again my Secret Pal went out of her way to find creative, thoughtful gifts for Hannah.

When I opened the envelope out poured 5 beautifully wrapped packages in adorable pink paper with pandas on it and wrapped with red ribbons. Too cool! After reading her beautiful handmade card I set to work on the packages. It was just like Christmas morning! I'd opened the mail when I arrived home from work but waited until I finished teaching piano to open each gift so that I could take the time to sit and read each and every story before opening the next one.

Each month my SP takes special care to create something using our March DTC logo and this month was no exception. She made a beautiful bookmark with a red ribbon that read, 'From your parent you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.' Helen Hayes. What a beautiful thought. There was also a cute ladybug paperclip bookmark that Mommy is going to use in her books!

The first book is called 'Hannah and the Dusty Stars.' I couldn't believe that my SP had taken the time to find a book with Hannah's name in the title! Too cool!!! This adorable little book talks of Hannah and her friends gently dusting all the stars in the sky. Hey, maybe someday mommy will be able to convince her that dusting furniture is just as much fun as dusting stars! ;o)

The second book is one I have loved from the very beginning of this adoption. It's called, 'I Love You Like Crazy Cakes' and is about a single mom flying to China to adopt her daughter. Ya gotta know this was a 3 tissue book for me!

Book number 3 was Hannah's first Baby Einstein book called, 'Mama and Me.' It's a beautiful board book of mommies and babies. Too cute!

Book number 4 is a beautiful touch and feel book called, 'All God's Creatures.' It has bright pictures with places on each picture for Hannah to touch. I'm such a touchy person so love this book!

The last book is called, 'I Love You, Mommy' by Jillian Harker and Kristina Stephenson. It's a fun book about a mommy bear and her adventurous little cub. He likes to try everything on his own first then decides maybe Mommy's are good for help. I teared up when I opened it to the first page and saw that my SP had personalized the front cover and written, 'This book belongs to Hannah.'

THANK YOU again secret pal for your wonderful, thoughtful gifts!

Focus on China: Daily Planet

The TV show, Daily Planet is doing a week long special on China this week! I watched last night and it was fabulous! Last evening they focused on: Pandas, the Terracotta Warriors and ping pong. What a fun combination.

Tonight will feature the city of Shanghai.

These great shows can be found on the Discovery Channel (locally 7pm each night, channel 42) on the show Daily Planet.

Praising God for HIS Protection!

This past August my Pastor's son Graydon, headed off to Africa to minister on the university campus of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Last week he and a friend from his team went on a guided safari. When they returned to the village they started from they looked into the distance and saw a beautiful mountain. Being the adventurers they were, they asked the locals about hiking to the mountain and what it might entail. Gathering some meager rations of water, cookies and oranges they set forth on what would be a adventure beyond anything they could ever imagine. The fact that they returned is only due to God's grace, provision and leading. Lost in the jungle for more than 40 hours, God provided, protected and led these boys safely home. If you would like to read more, please go to Graydon's African Adventure. (To start at the beginning of their story, please scroll down until you see, September 27, 2006)

"Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 91b

PRAISING GOD for safely guiding Graydon and Byron home!!!