Thank You!!!

I received the AllEars.Net newsletter last night and quickly scrolled to the bottom to see who had won the contest and look what I saw!

 I just showed Hannah and she was pretty excited to see her picture!  Hannah's favourite princess used to change about once a year but Mulan has been her favourite for a couple of years now.  When we were at Disney in September Mulan told her that she was born in Hunan too and Hannah has often shared how much she likes that.

Thank you so much to all of you who voted and shared on Facebook!  I was surprised how far my little post reached and how many took the time to vote.There is no prize, just the fun of seeing my sweet girl when I go to the website. 

Thank you again!! 

Last Day of JK

How could it be that today was already Hannah’s final day of JK??!!

Wasn’t it just yesterday that Mom and I were dropping her off for her very first day of ‘big girl school?’

I hadn’t realized how much my sweetie’s face had changed over the year until I saw these pics side by side.  She lost much of her baby face and it’s really matured.  *sigh!*

Hannah had an amazing teacher this year and I cannot express how thankful I am to her for all she taught Hannah!  I had the awesome privilege of helping in Hannah’s classroom 1 morning every 3 weeks and I cherished those mornings!  I was able to see Hannah learning, growing, interacting with her classmates and teachers.  This is an opportunity few parents get and I was so thankful for it!

Mrs. C. taught Hannah and the others how to problem solve rather than solve the problems for them.  She would ask them leading questions that caused them to think about resolutions to problems.  This is a skill Hannah and her classmates will be able to use for the rest of their lives! 

Being in a classroom with 21 4-6 year olds you know things don’t always run smoothly and yet never once did I hear Mrs. C or Miss H raise their voices.  They got their points across in a calm manner that still conveyed the message required.  What a gift to have teachers who knew how to commandeer a situation in a loving, caring manner and calmly resolve a situation.  Another lesson the children learned without really knowing they were learning it!

The skill I’m most excited about Hannah learning from Mrs. C in JK is the beginnings of reading!  It is so exciting to see Hannah pick up books that I have read to her and she begins to read them to herself and then ask for help as needed!  Last week as we drove across the city she read a long book out loud and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!  I love this new world that is opening up to Hannah and Mrs. C is responsible for starting this in her.  Thank you Sharon!!!  Hannah and I now read on a daily basis and not only has her interest grown in reading herself but she is also enjoying me reading our first chapter book to her.  We are enjoying ‘Little House in the Big Woods’ and she asks me to read it to her almost daily.

Hannah and Mrs. C – an amazing teacher who has given Hannah the foundations of learning that she will use for the rest of her life!!

Sharon, Hannah is taking on your love of books and reading and for this and many, many…many other reasons I want to say Thank You! 

Hannah was also blessed to have a great Early Childhood Educator (ECE) teacher in her class.  Miss H is a sweet teacher who enhances what Sharon teaches and shares a lot of time with the kids too.  I would often see and hear her working with the children in circle time and encouraging them to share of their experiences and also what they were learning.  The other special part of Hannah’s relationship with Miss H was that she was the one who welcomed her to the school each morning as Hannah arrived on the bus and was the one who cared for her after school until the bus arrived and then made sure she boarded it safely.  Toni, thank you for all you’ve taught and meant to Hannah this year!

Mrs. C and Miss H are an amazing team and Hannah was so blessed to have them both this year!

As I dropped Hannah off this morning I fought the tears and then as I arrived to pick her up at the end of the day they were there again.  Even though Hannah doesn’t realize it at this time, I know that today was a huge day in her little life!  A day when my baby girl went from being a JK to being a JK grad and now ready for SK!!!

I am forever thankful that at Hannah’s school they see consistency as important.  We are both super excited that not only will Hannah have Mrs. C and Miss H for her teachers again next year (Woot!  Woot!!!) but, the 10 other JK kiddos she shared the classroom with her will also be together as the SK children who will guide, share and welcome the new group of JK kiddos who will join there classroom in September!

Have a great summer Mrs. C and Miss H!  We’ll see you in September for another amazing year of learning, growing and experiencing new adventures together!!  We love both of you!

God's Answer to Thousands of Prayers!

Check out sweet Ivy Joy!!!

It has been a long (almost) 4 weeks for this amazing little girl and her loving family but God has been there every step of the way and she is doing great!!  There have been ups and downs and additional surgeries (expected and not) but Ivy Joy has soldiered on through all of them and her little body is healing and getting used to all the changes to her heart.  She is pink and precious!!  No more purple lips and nail beds for this gift from God!

Thank you to all of you who prayed and are praying for this precious little lamb.  God continues to answer your prayers and I know that Mary and her family are thankful for all who have lifted their sweet Ivy Joy before the Great Physician!

Moments to Remember: Crying Uncle Follow-up

A follow-up to yesterday’s post.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have read each and every response and personal email sent and am so appreciative of all you’ve shared with me.

I also want to thank those of you who shared that I’m not alone in this challenge. I was sure others would struggle with similar situations but in the heat of last evening’s challenge all I could think of was that it shouldn’t be this hard to get my 3yo daughter from place A to place B and that I must be doing something wrong.

I remember Kate Gosselin saying, ‘Three is the new two!’ and oh how right she was!

Was I wrong with my reactions yesterday? In some ways, yes. Losing my cool and yelling did not accomplish anything. And at the same time I’m human and when my buttons are pushed I fail sometimes. And that’s ok. From those times (yes there are multiple times) I need to regroup, apologize and then learn from my mistakes. Constantly learning and hopefully in time Hannah will learn that adults make mistakes too that they need to apologize for and learn from.

Was I wrong to let Hannah know that she’d pushed me too far? No. I think my honest reaction to what had happened was what she needed.

Something that happened last night that I didn’t originally share, happened after supper when we were still sitting at the table together. We’d pulled out her crayons and a piece of paper because she wanted to draw. Hannah was sitting on my lap and said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to draw you driving the car.’ She proceeded to talk out loud as she drew my head, eyes, hair….and a sad face. Ouch!! I asked her when that was and she said it was when we were driving home tonight. Oh yes, she knew I was not happy with her actions and she remembered it. She proceeded to flip the paper over, and draw me again now….with a happy face.

Fast forward to this morning when I was taking her to daycare and I reminded her just once that when I said it was time to go tonight that she’d need to leave without a fuss. There were hugs and kisses at drop off and I went to work – stressing about how to fix this situation for the sake of all 3 of us – Hannah, Ange and myself. She was fine. Mommy? Not so much!

It was then that I began reading the numerous responses to yesterday’s post and you were so helpful, supportive and had wonderful suggestions. Thank you!

Ange was also reading the responses so together we came up with a new plan that many of you recommended. She would have Hannah ready at the door with her shoes and coat on at 5:15 and I’d just walk to the door and pick her up and leave. I’ll miss the daily catch-up and chat that Ange and I had but hopefully with time we’ll be able to re-introduce that.  We’ll just have to plan a coffee evening to catch up with one another.  That works!

So, with the new plan in place and friends praying (Thank you! God cares about all situations, including stressful daycare pick-ups.) I left work with a cautious optimism that this would go well.

As I pulled into the driveway at 5:14 I could see Hannah’s bright pink coat in the window and her sweet little face looking out. Ange opened the door and I excitedly said, ‘Hi everyone! Hannah, let’s go!’ and………..

 

she came happily without question, held my hand and we walked to the car where she excitedly began asking for her snack and chatting away. Yay Hannah!!!!!

I turned back to the door when I heard it unlock and Ange popped her head out to tell me that her oldest son said when she closed the door, ‘Wow, That was easy!’ LOL! Sadly I guess Ange’s kiddos were feeling the stress of pick ups too.

So, we have one awesome daycare pick up under out belt! Woo hoo!! We were home earlier and spent that time cuddled on the couch discussing each of our days and reading a book together.  Hannah asked me what my best part of the day was and I excitedly said it was picking her up because she listened so well and now we had lots of time to spend together!  The extra time was nice too as my plan before I went back to work was always to take time to spend with her after work before starting supper but sadly that plan went by the way-side when my work hours got moved back in favour of spending more time together in the morning. I hadn’t really thought of this lately but now want to do what I can to reinstate that quality time before starting supper.

I feel really good about the changes that we made today and I have you to thank for that! Your comments and support were so helpful and I really appreciate them.

Mom is on pick up duty tomorrow as it’s the night I teach piano but she will follow the same plan that we have put in place. I found out today that Hannah has also been challenging Grandma a bit at pick up time the past few weeks so hopefully all will go well for her tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone. I’ll update in a few weeks and let you know how it’s going. This is the first option we’re trying and hopefully it works but if the challenges creep/leap back in then we’ll go the sticker and reward route.

I wasn’t a fan of bribery…until I became a parent!

I hope some of you found help, support and understanding in the wonderful responses that were posted today. I have great family, friends and those I don’t even know who read this blog and it’s times like these that makes me extra thankful for this avenue of help that is available!

Merry Christmas Hannah!!!

I shared this beautiful video last Christmas while Hannah was still growing in my heart. Now my love is home and I praise God for this and thank Him for my precious Hannah XiaoFen!!!

This year I can share with you the words from the second verse and oh how sweet it is!!!

It's Christmas time again and now you're home!
Your family is here and now you will never be alone!
So tonight before you go to sleep I'll hold you in my arms,
I'll tell you from my heart,
And I'll tell you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas!

This year I woke to this most precious little girl and was able to wish her Merry Christmas!!!




I cannot begin to express to you the overwhelming joy that filled my heart as I gazed at the beautiful face of my sleeping angel and whispered 'Merry Christmas XiaoFen. Mommy loves you!' into her ear!

'Thank you Lord for entrusting your precious child into my care. My heart cannot contain the love I have for her! Thank you seems so insufficient for a gift so great! So today, as we celebrate the birth of Your Son, I also thank you for the gift of my daughter!'

Thank you! and....NEXT Month!!

Thank you so much for all your Birthday wishes yesterday!! I had a wonderful day celebrating it with family at lunch and then later with friends! More celebrations to come tonight with my friend Deb then in a couple of weeks with a precious friend whom I'll be visiting with. Birthdays are fun!!

Can I tell you how excited I was to wake up this morning and realize that next month...NEXT MONTH I should be gazing at a picture of my sweet daughter's face for the very first time?!!! Believing that I'm 2 referral batches away from receiving Hannah's referral gives me great hope that July will be our month!! Ooooo...goosebump moment for sure!!

This morning's devotion in 'Our Journey' by James MacDonald was a wonderful reminder of God's faithfulness and truths. They are:

God always has a plan for you

God' timing is always perfect in your life

You have nothing to fear

You've got a lot to learn - not handling situations on my own but humbling myself and realizing the God uses everything to accomplish His good in my life. Amen!!

The really neat thing is that these truths are applicable to both the exciting and challenging times in my life right now. We are still spending time daily at Grandpa's bedside, caring for him, loving him and still with so many more questions than answers and yet still trusting God each and every step of the way.

The above truths are useful in our love and care for Grandpa which is a challenging time and yet they are also just as true in the excitement and anticipation of waiting for Hannah!! I love how God is with us always. Through the good times and the rough ones and that through it all He loves us, cares for us and never leaves us!!

Trusting You today Lord for both Grandpa's situation and my sweet Hannah too. Thank you that You have a plan for me and that Your timing is always perfect. Thank You for the faith and courage to believe that You are working out all things for good in my life. Amen.

Nothing Yet.

More than anything I want to say a huge THANK YOU for all your amazing words of love, encouragement, excitement and so much more!! I was overwhelmed more than once with the kindness that was shared when I posted last week's post about Hannah's referral possibly arriving much sooner than anticipated.

As it stands now it appears that it won't happen quite that quickly and really I'm ok with that. We should know within the next week or so exactly how many days CCAA matches with this month's referrals and that will help me rejig my guesstimation.

Here's how the numbers play out in my little corner of the world, according to my thoughts. Yup, nothing scientific here.

January's Referrals:
1. If CCAA includes up to and including March 5/6 that's the norm and I would continue to anticipate a May/June referral.
2. If CCAA includes up to and including March 7 that's a bigger than normal batch and I would anticipate an April/May referral.
3. If CCAA includes any days past March 7th I'd consider that a HUGE batch and think that my referral could arrive in March/April.
4. If CCAA includes March 23rd in this referral batch you'll hear me screaming/sobbing regardless of where you live!

I am totally ok with any of these scenarios or, any other that God chooses. Still trusting Him and His perfect timing. That being said, let's just say last weeks rumour was great for encouraging me to get things started around the house. Thanks for you help Saturday morning Deb! We went through many of Hannah's clothese and organized them by size. Soon M and M will make their way to my place and Mr. M's going to help me attack my basement and put together some shelves that are long overdue as well as do some organizing. Thanks friends! So many people have offered to help me get ready and I am so appreciative! You'd think with 4 years to prepare I'd be ready. Ummm, nope. I just have 4 years worth of wonderful baby stuff stored around my home and it desperately needs organizing! It's overwhelming to 1 but a team of family and friends are surrounding me and helping out and I am oh so thankful!!

Thank you, Thank you!!!

Those words seem so small when it comes to the amazing outpouring of love you sent to me yesterday and today!!! It was a rough couple of days for sure but by the time I layed my head on the pillow last night the tears were gone and a smile was once again in place. You are the best and I am so thankful for each and every one of you who left a note of encouragement, sent an email or called. Your kindness was amazing and I'm so thankful to God for each of you! Many of us have never met in person or spoken on the phone yet the friendship we share is real and true. I love this bloggy world and the hundreds of great new people I have been priviledged to meet because of it!

Today is a much better day and once again I have my 'game face' on and am ready to wait as long as it takes for God to bring sweet Hannah home! His timing is perfect and even on the tough days when the tears are many, I never, ever doubt that God is in control and will bring all things about in His time.

Love you friends and....THANK YOU!!!!!

Thanks Everyone!!

Thanks everyone for your congrats on reaching the 15 month milestone! Saturday night was filled with an adorable 3yo full of hugs and lovins’ as well as some baby holding, feeding, diapering and quick snuggles from her baby sister. Yup…just what the doctor ordered!

As I’ve sat back and thought about why this LIDiversary was a little tougher I realized that June is often an adjustment month for me and I’m doing just that…adjusting. As you know, the grass does not grow below these toes. I’m a go, go kinda gal and love it! June represents things winding down a bit and suddenly I have extra time on my hands. Not a bad thing…just an adjustment. The piano kiddies are gone until September which leaves my evenings free to fill with new activities and overdue projects. Many of my friends have cottages and trailers in the ‘north country’ so they head that direction most weekends. Thankfully Mom and Dad rent a cottage for a few weeks in July so I have a destination to head to too.

So what to do? LOTS!!! The room that will become Hannah’s nursery has quickly been overrun with stuff! You know…scrapbooking stuff, baby stuff, gifts and more. Lots and lots of…stuff! Someday when I’m brave (read: crazy!) I’ll take a picture of the room. You’ll quickly be able to see why I’m a little overwhelmed by the size of the project in front of me. My goal over the summer is to reorganize her room, store what isn’t needed right away and begin to prepare for Hannah’s eventual homecoming. The crib will stay stored away for some time yet as I would just fill it with more ‘stuff’ as I have lots of time to do that later. But, I think I will put her dresser together so that I can begin to organize some of her adorable little clothes. Feeling better already! We have a plan.

Oh yah, also need to finish painting the kitchen and eating area.

What am I complaining about? There’s lots to do! Now…just gotta get my butt in gear! :o)

New Beginnings

After much prayer, crying out to God seeking His Will, I can now share with you that I am moving ahead with the adoption of a precious baby girl from China! I am totally at peace with this decision and believe that to do anything but move forward would not be what God's plan is for my life right now. It feels so good to know that this decision has been bathed in prayer both by myself, my precious parents, my family and many, many friends! Thank you for praying and laying this before the feet of Jesus.

'In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you

and wait in expectation.' Psalm 5:3

It is wonderful to know that I have prayer warriors along this journey; uplifting and supporting me along the way. The fact that people take time out of their busy lives to pray for me and the adoption is both ans awesome and humbling experience. Please know that you are appreciated more than you know and that I covet your prayers. This precious baby girl who is probably not even born yet, will wonderfully change my life forever and she will also be a part of your lives too! How precious it will be to share with her someday about the many, many people who prayed for her before she was ever born and before we became a forever family!

Thank you for praying.