Back in the country and back online

The first blog since we've arrived home has been a while in coming. But I'm glad to say that we are finally back online with our new high speed internet provider (and this one actually works- what a concept!). K is settling in very well, is over her terror of the dog and is comfortable enough to fight with her brothers.

The grandparents are visiting right now and are quite taken with her. I believe the feeling is mutual.

Nothing else to blog about today. Just thought I'd let everyone know that we are all still alive and well. Just too busy to type much.

Coming home!

Well, it's offical- well, 95% official. We should be able to leave to come home tomorrow night. Woohoo! I am not going to totally get my hopes up until I have a printed itinerary in my hands, but our travel agent says we should be able to leave tomorrow night. I just hope that the seats are still available by the time she goes to book it today! We won't know anything for a few hours because of the time difference, for all I know she's still asleep back home. But it is LOOKING GOOD! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Never thought I'd be so glad to finish a vacation. Just to get home, hopefully before strawberry season is over ( I will be a BITTER WOMAN if I miss out on ALL the strawberries)- I didn't get to make jam last year because we lived in the trailer, and I was really looking forward to many batches this year. To work in my yard, swim in my pool, and play with my dog (who in all likelihood, will terrify K for the first few days- should be interesting) But it will be home sweet home, and before long, she'll feel like it's home too.

I can hardly wait for you all to meet her- she's a great kid- the perfect daughter for us.

Back in action

Haven't blogged all week, but there's been nothing really noteworthy to blog about. The morning after the safari (Thursday), E woke up with a stomach flu and was in bed all day. I refuse to drive on the wrong side of the road, so didn't get put on the rental insurance, so the kids and I were stuck at the inn all day. That afternoon, the flu hit me, and it hit W in the evening. Sleepless night number one. Next day was my turn in bed all day. That night K got it (very mildly, thank goodness) followed by J for sleepless night number two. Everyone except J was back to normal yesterday, but when that boy gets sick, he does it in style. So he made for sleepless night number 3 last night, and I am a TIRED puppy today. Fortunately he is feeling better today and I had a 2 hour nap. So tomorrow we get to go back to enjoying life a little.

We are free to go home any time- we have all the paperwork we need, so now we are just trying to change our plane tickets. I sure hope we can- not that I am not enjoying my time here, but I miss home. Being sick is bad enough, but when you're sick, you want to be home.

K continues to settle in well- it's all been very natural. I shouldn't be surprised, considering how many people are praying - on both sides of the world. Hopefully she'll be as laid back with the airplane as she has been with everything else (we have lots of gravol in case that isn't true).

Hluhluwe. And I even know how to pronounce it.

Africa- I finally saw it today. I hadn't felt like I was here until I saw the Africa I've always seen in books. Hluhluwe (pronounced shlushlooie) is a huge game reserve- the second oldest one in Africa and the one that saved the white rhino from extinction. At one time there were 7 left in the world- today there are a few thousand in Hluhluwe alone. We saw zebras, rhinos, impala, nyala, waterbucks, buffalo, vultures, baboons, and kudu. I think that's all. We saw evidence of lions (fresh tracks) and elephants (tracks, and... other evidence....) but didn't have any luck with sightings. But the trip was worth it for the scenery alone. I think I could fall in love with this place if it weren't for the giant bugs. I've only seen a few examples ( a cockroach 1 1/2 inches long that my new friend said was teeny) and a grasshopper that hitched a ride on our safari truck today that was three inches long, easily. The bugs make me long for home.

But the rest of the safari was amazing. I've seen all of these animals before, but there's somthing different when they're not in captivity. I never realized how sullen they look in places like Busch Gardens or the Animal Kingdom. It's great to see them up close there, but seeing them up close in the wild is so much better. There's a certain energy about it that I can't describe. We had white rhinos 5 feet from our vehicle today. The guide said no one ever sees a wild white rhino closer than that. Actually, most of the animals we saw, besides the buffalo came up nearly that close. And from a distance, we saw wilderness that has never been touched by humans. Planes aren't even allowed to fly over it- it's the private hunting ground of the zulu king.

And the kids were great- they had fun spotting the wildlife and thought it very cool that we ate a picnic lunch with zebras and warthogs nearby with a herd of buffalo off in the distance. And no fences in between.

K is really coming along. E is tucking her in bed, and she's saying prayers with him. No crying- this is the first night for that. The boys both get along really well with her- she's very laid back, and a real character. I think she will be the only one of my children who doesn't mind getting up on stage and performing. She's really very funny when she gets going. She had W in stitches in the car on the way home from the park, and was singing songs for everyone on request. Hard to tell what they are in Xhosa other than some melodies we recognized, but it was fun.

Not sure what tomorrow will hold. We may go to the beach in the morning, but it will be a low-key day after our long day today.

The first night

Last night was our first night with K. It was... interesting. Actually, the night was fine, but it was bedtime that was interesting. She was fine up until she knew she had to go to bed. Then the tears started. Strange for her, she rarely cries, as I suppose in the home she has learned that there's really no point. But last night I know she was confused and scared. She cried in the bed for 45 minutes. She seemed to want me there so I just sat with her. Sometimes I sang to her, sometimes I just sat with her, and the whole time she sobbed. She never would look at me, except for the occasional glance, but she just held my hand. After that, she sat up and held her hands out to me. I picked her up and rocked her, and she stopped crying. After about 10 minutes of that, she got down, climbed up in the bed and laid down again. I asked if she wanted me to go and she said yes, and then for the next 1/2 hour she sang and talked happily to herself, and then she went to sleep. It was almost as if she realized that it wasn't going to change, so she was OK with it. Or maybe she was seeing how long I'd stay with her. I don't know. I do know she must have been terrified- not understanding what's happening, and wondering where her other mom is.

But then she slept all night. Wish I had. I think every time she stirred, I woke up. But I didn't have to worry, she slept very well, and this morning woke up in a very cheerful mood. It's been a great day so far. We're just hanging around the B&B today. E is going to take the boys out for a bit when she is having her nap this afternoon.

Tomorrow is her birthday party, which will be fun. We picked her up some presents yesterday.

The best news I've heard is that we may indeed get to go home early. Our social worker says that our papers may be in order as early as next Friday. I would love to be able to do that. Now that she is ours, I just want to get home and back into our routine. Not that I'm not having a good time, but there's no place like home. Plus I may be just a bit anxious to start showing her off :)

Mom of three

I'm a day behind on my blogging. Not too much of interest happened yesterday- not even court was that exciting. I was nervous beforehand as I didn't know what to expect, but all that happened was that we signed some papers to make it finally final, and the magistrate met with us and told us everything looked good, and best of luck with our new little girl. Didn't even have to into the courtroom. A little anticlimactic, if you ask me! But she is now legally ours, once everything is couriered up to Pretoria where it's officially put on record that we have adopted K.

Now we wait around for her to get a visa, and then we can take her back home. I would actually love it if it came through quickly and we could go home early. Now that court's over I feel like we're just killing time- three weeks is a long time to be away from home. (And a long time to eat out). But we are making the most of it- spending lots of time with K's host family. Yesterday it was a quick visit there in the morning, and today we picked K up before lunch, took her for the afternoon and then went back and had supper with the family. They are such a great bunch, and we are getting to be good friends. The dad already has W playing on his drum set (he's in their church's band) and is impressed with how quickly W is picking it up. Maybe soundproofing the garage is in the future so W can get himself some drums. Unfortunately SA is a bit far to go every week for drum lessons.

Our day with K was spent having lunch at the mall, buying her a few more things- her own backpack for the plane, etc. It was comical- she gravitated to everything pink. Then we came back to the B&B for a nap (just K, not us). When she woke up, you could tell she wasn't sure where she was, but she warmed up after a while and was her old self. She brightened right up when we got to the host family's home for supper- on familiar turf again and was the evening's entertainment dancing to Phil Collins videos.

Tomorrow we take her for good. She'll be sleeping here on the pull out couch, and I think it will go fine. She has grown up very independent because of the schedule at the home. I'm told if you don't send her to go brush her teeth at bedtime early enough, she'll do it herself. When I put her down for her nap, there was no fussing at all even in the strange place. At the home there was no point in crying if you didn't want to go to bed, and no one was going to have time to cuddle with you. Hopefully she'll learn to enjoy a bit of a cuddle, for my sake if not hers.

This weekend is K's birthday party- a bit late, but this way we were able to participate. We're going to pick her up a present tomorrow morning before we get her. Next week we plan to go on a safari- there is one nearby where we can stay overnight and visit a zulu village, which would be very cool. And then there's the marine park- supposed to be fabulous, and it's half price on weekends, so we'll probably go the next weekend. A day at gateway, the largest mall in the southern hemisphere is in the mix- we'll have to see how it compares to the mall of America- I know it's got a water park, so there's one point for it already.

Time for bed- I'd forgotten how busy life with a three year old is.

A Day at the Braai

Well, we are enjoying a quiet evening at the B&B after our Braai (BBQ) with the Devine’s, K’s host family. They had some friends over, so the boys had lots of other boys to play with, and we all had a wonderful time. K has gotten very familiar with us already- more than I could have hoped for. She calls me Mama and E Dada, and can say both of the boys’ names. I couldn’t be happier with the way things went. Within minutes of arriving, E was sitting at the picnic table with her having “tea”, and she was playing and laughing with him for quite a while. They coloured, played on the trampoline and just had a lot of fun bonding. Later, all the boys went to the soccer field with E and Mr. Devine, and the moms and K stayed at the house.
This was my time with K- I took pictures of her bouncing on the trampoline, and then she let me jump with her. Then she sat on the trampoline while I jumped and bounced her, and then I sat while she jumped and bounced me. After that, she sat on my lap on the trampoline and we had a great time. She knows more English than I thought and we were able to communicate beautifully. I started singing “Jesus Loves Me” to her, and she joined in. Very shortly after that, she put her hands on my lips and told me “too loud” (ie be quiet) and sang it to me in Xhosa (her native language) several times. It brought tears to my eyes!
So needless to say, she is very comfortable with us now, and we are already in love with her! We are going to pay another visit tomorrow morning, and then in the afternoon we go to court to make her legally ours. Our social worker here feels that we will be able to have her with us all the time as soon as Thursday. She is a busy little girl, full of mischief as any good three year old is, but she is good and from what I’ve seen so far, quite obedient.
It’s still hard to believe she will be ours. I’m sure it will sink eventually, but for now I’ll just keep enjoying the ride- it’s been a wild one so far!

Our daughter

Well, we've seen her. And she's more beautiful than her pictures! I was not sure how she'd react to us, but we got lots of smles out of her, and E even made her giggle. We had a stuffed dog for her, which she loved immediately- drove it around on her bike for the whole time we were visiting. I almost cried when I saw our daughter. Today we have been invited to a BBQ at their house with lots of their friends- they call it a Briaa (or something like that) here. I am overwhelmed- in a very good way. I cannot believe the blessings that God has given us. South Africa is beautiful. We have seen a different side of his creation here, and I can hardly wait to spend the next three weeks exploring it!

The boys are having a great time too. W is so excited that he is actually not letting J get a word in edgewise- the opposite of usual!

Our B&B is beautiful too. We have a great suite, and the owner is an excellent cook. We had a full English Breakfast too, complete with cereal, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fresh fruit (a lot of which I couldn't identify) and ...mmmmmm....guava juice. It's like grapefruit juice, only it's not sour. It's incredible. I've never seen it at home, but I'm going to look for it when I'm there.

Later this week we will have S's birthday party- probably on Saturday when the lady who runs the orphanage is in town. We'll have to pick her up a present before then. I am going to have so much fun shopping for this little girl.

She is just so precious! Her big brown eyes already have E as putty in her hands. She is a tiny little thing- wears a size 2-3, and will have a few clothes of her own (we're actually going to get some handmedowns from the host family), but BOY am I going to have fun shopping for her!

I will post again tomorrow- I am SO looking forward to spending some more time with her. Our social worker told us she thinks that we will be able to take her on Thursday- until then, there will be lots of visits and playtime. Our court date is tomorrow, and it should just be formalities and paperwork- nothing to worry about, she tells me.

Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?

Yes, I have been to London, and I have seen the queen. We flew out of Ottawa on Friday night and all got an hour or two of sleep on the plane overnight. When we arrived at Heathrow in the morning, it was an express train to Paddington Station (no bear sightings) and then the "tube" to Picadilly Circus. J was quite disappointed that it wasn't actually a circus. We took a bus tour that was great- they had about 5 or 6 different routes, and you could ride it all day, hop on and off wherever you wanted, and see things along the way. This took up our entire day, as we added a stop at Buckingham Palace (I was very surprised at how unimpressive it was from the road!) and a tour of the Tower of London. There was a Thames River Cruise thrown in there for good measure, and a good time was had by all. The boys were great and found everything very fun and interesting. We had lunch at the Sherlock Holmes pub (those English really know how to do fish and chips!), and we were in luck, because the day we were there was the Queen's Official Birthday. Apparently her birthday is April 21, but she celebrates it the second Saturday in June. Don't ask me why. So instead of the changing of the guard, we got to see the trouping of the colours and saw the queen herself driving down the road. With Phil, of course, and Camilla was there too. Didn't see Chuck though.

We went from there back to the Airport, only to find out our plane left an hour and a half before we thought it did. Not sure how I got that confused, but we had to run (and as always when you're late, it was the last gate down the last hall) and got on while they held the plane for us. Thus began the 10 1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg, where we all tried to sleep for many hours and some of us succeeded better than others. The smaller ones found it much easier to get comfy in those plane chairs than us adults. Then it was to a tight connection to Durban for a short one hour flight, and when we got there, three of our four bags had arrived safely. The one that didn't arrive, however, had all of mine and E's clothing in it, of course. But it has now arrived safely, so I don't have to go out and buy all sorts of new clothes. Oh well.

We are hoping to go and see K this afternoon, but we can't get a rental car until tomorrow. Maybe our social worker will have room in her car for all of us. We'll see. First priority is to get some lunch. I'm starving. More updates to follow.

A weekend of extremes

As I type this, I am sitting in the Montreal airport, heading home after an overnight trip to PEI. E's sister's mother-in-law passed away, and since E couldn't get off work so quickly I went in his stead. It was a lovely funeral service- one of the kinds where if you had never heard the salvation message before, you sure heard it there. But still funerals are always hard, no matter the circumstances. I had only met this woman once, but I liked her instantly, and although I do not personally grieve her passing very much, I grieve for my family. It is so hard to watch ones you love in pain and know there is nothing much you can do except be there. This lady had been married to her husband for 51 years- they were best friends, and although he knew their parting is only temporary, he misses her terribly. And their one son was so very close to her. Hard.

And through it all, I am supressing tremendous joy. The last time I sat in the Montreal airport- yesterday- I checked my e-mail to find pictures of our new daughter from South Africa! The referral came through in record time- three days after ministry approval. We travel in June! I am already in love with her - her pictures show a happy little girl with a glint of mischief in her eyes- something I am very familiar with in the boys. I think she'll make out very fine with two older brothers. She will be 3 on June 12, so we may be able to celebrate her birthday with her- what a way to start our life together!

Now that the funeral is over, I feel free to revel in the happiness that the Lord has led us to- and in a shorter time period than we ever could have imagined. Glad he didn't decide to test my patience here! There is SO much to do before June- paint and furnish a bedroom, get everything we need for a new child, finish school, figure out what to do with the pets while we're gone, the list goes on. But how can I worry? God has worked everything out so far, I think he'll look after these last minute details.

Friends are Friends Forever and other tacky songs

I am so blessed. Found out last night that a friend of mine is going to have a shower for me when we know the age of our little girl and any other details so that people can help me get what we need for this little one (which is pretty much everything...) It never occurred to me that I would ever have another shower (aside from the kind I have in the morning while I hope the boys aren't destoying the house...) I was kind of blown away, that someone would think of that.

I am also wondering at this moment what goes through a cat's mind. As I type this, Max is sitting on my lap with his two front paws up on the computer desk looking intently at the screen. I wonder if he thinks the cursor is a bug that he needs to hunt. Hopefully he won't pounce any time soon. He has taken to sitting on my lap whenever it interferes with something I'm doing- writing in my journal, doing crossed-stitch or knitting (and if he's not sitting on my work, he's sitting on the pattern). Oh, and then there's the moths on the outside of the window at night. Hear that Max? They're on the OUTSIDE. It doesn't matter how many times you jump at the window to try to get them, they WILL thwart you every time. Besides, I don't know how many more times my table lamp can get knocked over and survive.

The latest adoption news is that we will probably be travelling in July. Our agent is expecting ministry approval within 1 1/2 weeks or so, and very shortly after that we should get our referral. The orphange from which we will be adopting is a Christian orphanage who only places children with Christian families. How nice is that? And because these kids are just waiting there, the mission has asked the ministry to put a rush on our home study. A process that we thought would take 2 + years has taken only 6-7 months. Gotta be a God thing. I have started to get Kaylah's (Kayla's, Keilah's, Keila's- any other suggestions, anyone?) room ready. The boys are moved into one room and today I started taping the lines to paint pink stripes on top of the red paint. Man, I hope this doesn't look horrible. I probably won't have time to paint it twice. I'm not touching paint to walls until I know without a doubt that it's a girl, so it will be a quick job when the time comes. So much for my relaxing summer before the trip in the fall. I've even had to find adoptive parents for my veggie seedlings I started. No sense planting them only to be gone for 3 weeks of the growing season and coming back to find them all dead. So I have found a good home for them, and I have been promised that I can share in the harvest when the fall. Hopefully my friend has a greener thumb than I do.

Silver linings

So I look out my bathroom window Saturday morning and I see a clump of yellow things in my woods. I think to myself "those look like daffodils". I sent W out to check on them and they were, indeed about 15-20 daffodils growing in the middle of my woods. No idea how they got there. I figured I never noticed them last year as they were behind what was still burnt rubble. So I head out with my wheelbarrow and shovel, all ready to re-locate the lovely flowers to my front garden where they can be enjoyed. As I started to dig, loving the rich earth in my forest, I realized, it was VERY rich- literally black. Then I noticed it wasn't earth. It was burnt ash. These daffodils had been by the old house. I have no idea how they came to be moved into the woods. No burnt rubble had been put that far back. No plants that had been resuced had been moved into that area. Simply put, God even saw fit to save my daffodils.

Now I know that may sound silly, but I like to think that He knew how much that would make me smile. It's another one of the little blessings that have come out of this.

And I am completely in love with this time of year on our property. I think I missed it last year. We were still settling in to the trailer, and I really didn't appreciate the beauty of the forest while our previous home was in shambles and blocking the view of the woods. I really didn't go in there much last year. Already we're living outdoors every chance we get.

Lots of people have been asking me about the adoption. Things are moving right along. I actually got a call from our agent today, and she said that we need to send in our next chunk of money earlier than she realized. Our file hasn't been approved by the ministy (government) yet, but the head of the mission that we're working with is going away for May and wants to get our file sent off to South Africa before we go. Apparently this is VERY unusal, as it's never sent until after ministry approval is received, but she didn't want any delays while she was gone. Now here's the weird part. My understanding is that as soon as it's approved and sent to South Africa, we can get matched with a child. So if the person at the mission is anticipating that we will receive approval during May, and then all that is lacking is for us to be matched and travel a few weeks later, this may happen even earlier than we had thought- which was already earlier than we had thought at first! So now I wonder if we'll get through the summer before we go to SA. There is a trip out east planned that may be jeopardized... getting ahead of myself again. At least I know we'll be able to go to the wedding- that is not to be comprimised- but here I go again, ruining the family picture that we get done there(every one we have had done has been made out-of-date shortly thereafter by the birth, and now adoption of a child).

For now I'll wait for the phone call, spend time in my garden with my rescued flowers, and dream of life with a little girl.

Remembering

Today is weird. It was a year ago that our world turned upside down. Yesterday was acutally harder for me, as it was a Thursday last year. Today is just weird. I'm remembering what I was doing last year this time- in my housecoat still in bed at B2's, listing of everything we owned and going through the bags and bags of clothes that people kindly gave us. I still think of their generosity every time I wear one of my hand-me-downs, although I don't know who most of it came from. The last year has been awesome, and I wouldn't trade it (except maybe for some days in the trailer- hee hee). But it was a hard time. It will always be there, I suspect. Some people just get it. A good friends told me yesterday she'd been thinking of me all day. Others don't even remember that it's been a year. Which doesn't bother me- it's not their life, so I realize it doesn't affect them nearly so much. But those who remember without me saying anything. Who know that in some ways I still miss the way things were. Not that I'm ungrateful. We are so blessed, and without the fire, I don't know that we'd be adopting.

The worst of it is the irrational fear lurking that it will happen again. Today. It's not consuming me, but it's there. We have to go out later today, and just as when we went out yesterday, I am quietly wondering if the house will still be here when we get back. Silly, I realize. But it's just knowing that stuff like this can happen when you least expect it. Not that I am not trusting- I know that if anything like that were to happen again, God would provide, but I don't really want to go there again.

I will be glad when today is over. Vacaion comes next week, and we are all looking forward to a break. The last time we went away, we were in our old house, oblivious to what the year would bring. I don't even want to guess at what this year will bring- it'll be great, but I know that my speculation wouldn't even come close to the mark. I'll just hang on and enjoy the ride.

technologically challenged

So I've posted a new blog- but I inadvertantly did it on E's blogsite. Oopsie. So click the link for "Unfinished" to read my blog. :)

Killing Time

So I'm at "work" with nothing to do. I guess I just type too fast. My "boss" is in a meeeting and I don't want to disturb her, but I have completed the list I was given this morning. (Acutally I completed it an hour ago and have been poking around ever since.) I'm not going to bother leaving early as I have to pick hubby up after work and then go to the garage to pick up our car. Why is noone on msn when I'm bored at work?

All this time leaves me pondering the big questions of life. What does one renovate when one lives in a brand new house? I am contemplating a tile backsplash in the kitchen. Then there's the basement- what was an easy decision has been complicated by the future plans for a fourth bedroom down there. W is very excited that he'll get to sleep in the basement in a couple of years. We have a makeshift den set up there now with an old couch and a new TV (oh by the way, goaliemom, we got a good deal on a TV!) and a soon to arrive eliptical. The next step is actual walls and a floor. I just don't know where the walls are going any more. And now that we're adopting, we don't have the money to do the whole thing anymore- ah yes, back to life on a budget.

We think- for the twentieth time- that we have made up our minds about which country we're going to pick- we're back to Thailand, and pretty soon it'll be too late to change our minds.

Meeting is done- gotta go

Once again my hubby has brought his work home with him. It's kind of a joke around here, our way of saying that we're getting sick. I guess it's an occupational hazard when you're a pharmacist and come into contact with every bug out there. I'm just thanking my lucky stars it's not the barfing flu. It all started Thursday afternoon when W said he had a headache- he NEVER gets headaches. By that evening he was running a nice little fever and has lost his appetite. Yesterday he was rosy cheeked and hot upon waking and had very little energy all day. It calmed down in the afternoon and then did the usual suppertime spike. Thankfully, he slept all night, but this morning has a fever and headache again.

This morning, hubby woke up and his first words were, "where's the Advil?". So he remains in bed as well with a drink by his side feeling pretty yucky. It's just me and J, and I'm so thankful. If there's anyone in this house that I don't want getting sick, it's J. Not that he's high risk for anything- except drama. When W is sick, he's such a trooper. He just kind of lays around, has lots of naps, and likes to watch TV and play computer. When E is sick he's your typical sick grown man- needs lots of TLC, but as long as I keep him comfy enough up in bed and keep him medicated, he's pretty low maintenance (although I have always wondered why guys get to go to bed when they're sick and moms still do mom stuff). J is a different story- the drama goes to a whole new level when he's sick. It would really be quite funny if it wasn't so annoying. His whole world is ending. He walks around looking as pathetic as he can, just moaning about nothing in particular. I SO hope he doesn't get this flu.

Off to check on the sickies- so much for the family trip to Wal-Mart today.

Movies to never watch.

Disclaimer- do not read this blog if you don't like to know how movies end.

Perfect storm.

White Squall.

Pay it Forward.

Why, you may be asking, would one want never to watch these critically acclaimed movies? Well, let me tell you- in each of these movies, one or several of the favorite characters DIE.

Perfect storm- based on a true story, so they coudln't really change the ending. Watched it several years ago with hubby, and he thought I knew how the story went. But NOOOO- noone ever told me that NONE of the fishermen returned. I thought at least ONE of them would have lived to tell the tale that became a movie. Nope. They just speculated the entire sequence of events because there was NOONE left to tell them. This ruined the entire movie for me.

White Squall- another seafaring movie. I have learned to avoid them. (Although Master and Commander has restored my faith them in them somewhat). Big storm at sea- not EVERYONE dies this time, but the wife does. This ruined the entire movie for me.

Pay it Forwards- now this was a movie that got a lot of attention. It's been on my list of "Must-see" movies for quite some time now. A friend of mine (with whom I shall have to have a little chat) loaned it to me and didn't feel the need to warn me about the ending. The first hour and 40 minutes were FANTASTIC. LOVED IT. And then, just after I told hubby what a great movie it was and that he must see it, the little boy who started all the good stuff got stabbed! I was SO mad- I now hate the entire movie.

SO if any of you ever want to loan me a movie and it has a sad ending- DON'T. No ifs, ands or buts- just DON'T. Movies are for entertainment. It's OK if they make me cry, but by the end of the movie, they must be happy tears. Don't even get me started on the Shadowlands. If a true story doesn't end happily and with inspiration, they shouldn't make a movie of it. Either that, or on the back of the case where they explain the rating (ie violence, coarse language, etc) they should be required to tell you that people you like won't be there by the end of the movie and that if you hate sad endings you should not watch this movie. There's enough of that crap in life. I don't need to watch it on the screen.

Snow covers a multitude of dirt.

I love Christmas. But I also love after Christmas. By the time New Year's comes, I want my neat tidy house back, the decorations look more like clutter and I'm always ready to take them down. We are fully back into our routine now, and I love it. I feel so productive and the kids have lots to occupy them with school and all the new toys.

The holidays were great though. Lovely visit with the folks, and lots of new fun things to do. W kicked off the new year with a hockey tournament. His team didn't win any games, but in their first one he scored his team's only goal and got named by the other team as the MVP. He was a pretty proud little guy (and so was I!).

On the adoption front- not too much new. We have decided on India- seems to fit our needs the best. We are just finishing up our homestudy. Just have to get the last few references in from family and friends, and then we can put all the paperwork together and send it off to the government. Then it's hurry up and wait. If things happen quickly we could have our new little girl by next Christmas (what a present!), but more likely it will be well into '09 before we head off to India.

The weather has been so weird the last few days- 9 and 10 degrees in the middle of January. It's been good, as we've lost almost 2 feet of snow around here and you can actually see our driveway again (and drive down it without risking life and limb). But I find myself wanting just a little more snow again. The dog is coming in with muddy feet all the time. Her poop is surfacing everywhere in the back yard- thought I wouldn't have to play "Find the poop" with the kids until spring. And it's just messy and dirty looking out there. As tired as I am of the snow, it is pretty and hides a lot of mud.

Nothin else to say today. Tired and fighting a cold- I'm off to make some chai. MMMMM.....