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. :)