Christmastime is here...

Back to the song titles. :) Well, hubby is officially on Christmas vacation, and as I type this he is off shopping with his homey to buy Christmas presents for the wives (ie me and B2). We spent the morning as a family stacking wood out on the front deck. The boys helped- loading logs on the sled and pulling it up to the deck, unloading it, and then tobogganing back to the wood shed. We got a large chunk of it moved, but there's still lots more to do.

Christmas will be a fun one this year. I've had to start putting presents under and around the furniture as we have already run out of room under the tree. I think it's a combination of a low tree with not much present-room, some bigger than usual boxes this year, and the fact that I'm using insurance money to replace things under the guise of gifts. Mom and Dad are due to arrive in a couple of days, and then our company will be complete for this Christmas. I am already looking forward to '09 though, when we plan to use the lodge in Alabama for all of us to be together; with a few new additions being J and our new little one.

And I'm very glad for facebook- got in touch with an old friend the other day. I haven't seen her since we moved up here, and we've only talked I think three times on the phone since then, but I've discovered that about some of my friends. There are a few who I can talk to only once or twice a year and see even less than that. Of course there are e-mails and facebook to help keep in touch, but when we do talk it's like we do it ever day. We spent a couple of hours catching up and having some great laughs. They have a VERY cute little 3 year old whom I have yet to meet, and her hubby has made a career move to the RCMP. He's like the ultimate mountie- think of Paul Gross in Due South, and that's what he looks like.

Well, my boys are sitting at the school desk anxiously awaiting my company to draw Christmas trees. I guess the rest of the housework can wait. And doing the church service for tomorrow. And my reading up on adoption. And... oh, nevermind.

So many countries....

So little time. We have it narrowed down to two. After making up our mind for certain for about the third time, settling on Thailand, we found out we qualify to adopt from India as well thanks to the lifting of a restriction that said one of us had to be of Indian decent. India has mostly girls and they are usually less than 1 year old at the time of referral, so we think this is it. We think. So hard to decide! But the wheels are rolling anyway.

Yesterday we had our first meeting with a social worker, and we really like her. Turns out she is a fellow maritimer, and even though she went to the rival high school, I think we'll get along just fine. (Her first apartment was on Primrose St!)

So now we have homework before we get together again- I have been at it all day, filling in all the details of my life, booking appointments for physicals and fingerprinting, and looking up financial details about myself that even I don`t know. There is SO much paperwork. But it will be worth it- we are getting really excited.

The homestudy usually takes 3-4 months, but apparently people have done it in as little as one month. This, of course, I took as something of a challenge. The time it takes depends on how fast we can fill out paperwork and complete the other homework, so I figure since there`s so much of this process that we can`t control, I want to make the parts that I can control go as quickly as possible. The boys don`t like the thought of having to wait so long for a little sister either, so speeding it up is what everyone wants!

And, joy of joys, we are now on highspeed. It comes in and out, but someone is coming to remedy that tomorrow, and then I just have to get the new e-mail working, and we`ll off into cyberspace and able to talk on the phone at the same time- what a concept.

So that`s the latest in my life. Oh, and Christmas baking and Christmas wrapping and Christmas shopping and trying to fit some school in this week. (Not being entirely successful there...) Ah well, `tis the season.

Haven't blogged in a while. Not that things haven't been happening. But my time on the net has been spent elsewhere- researching, mostly. Most of the folks who read this blog already know what I've been looking up- international adoption. E and I have decided to pursue it. We're thinking a little girl from China, but we may look at other countries as well. Some leads we have gotten tell us that the wait for China can be up to 5 years, and other countries are much shorter waits. But we have a meeting with an agency that deals with China this weekend, and next week we are attending an information session with another agency that deals with about 6 countries. We'll see what happens. We're quite sure we're supposed to do this, though, and the boys are ecstatic about the thought of having a little sister. They are all ready to share a room again so she can have J's room, and were quite put out when I said it would probably be at least a year before we'd have her (didn't have the heart to tell them it would be probably be more like 2 or 3!).

Other than that, life progresses as normal. School, housework, blah blah, blah. The Christmas parties have started, with one for church last week, and two of E's work parties next week, both of which include the kids, which will be fun. J's birthday party (Bowling with a few friends) is on Sunday, and the following Sunday will be when we put up the tree. Should be interesting between the puppy and the cat. I wonder if it will even survive. Ah well, it's not like we have any old heirloom decorations we don't want to get broken this year.

This weekend I'm off to a retreat with church stuff. Not because I'm involved in the ministries, but because I'm our associate pastor's assistant extrordinaire. In other words, it's a working weekend for me. Computer stuff, organizing the snacks, and leading in some singing time. A little bit of everything. It will be fun, but I won't be here on the day of J's b-day (Saturday). I will be calling him, and E has lots of fun stuff planned to do- just the guys. But I'm back first thing Sunday morning and will be here for the party. J is fine with it, and was glad to be assured that he could still open his present on Saturday. :)

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is when I'm going Christmas shopping. I have the PEI gifts to mail away, but as for the boys, I have no idea. I'm thinking of calling J and farming the kids out for a day- Saturdays are not an option between now and Christmas. Then I can take her kids for a day in exchange. Time to send an e-mail...