Olympics

I called FOI to get clarification on the olympics and what delays it could cause, it was a good news/bad news kinda thing.The good news is for Canadian adoptions matching will not stop over that time, the bad news, Travel Approvals could be delayed up to 3 months at that time. What that means is that normally when you are matched you then have a 6-8 week wait to get TA to go over, if your match happens around the time of the olympics you could tack on another month and a half or so before you get approval to actually go to China and get your child. China has travel restrictions in Bejing due to pollution issues etc and the Canadian consulate is in Bejong, so adoptions can't be finalized without a trip there. US adoptions don't have that issue, they will just steer clear of Bejing...

August out of review room

This doesn't effect us at all, but now all of August is out of room 2 and into the final room, man that must be record time...congrats to all august LIDDERS...they are still on Nov 25 2005 matching and no new news there...

Office Fan

I am hooked. Now this show isn't for the kids, but other than a few episodes crossing the line to a degree, the rest are hilarious and have brought many smiles to my face.

My favorite character is Jim, he is the one without glasses, and Dwight is supernerd/geek and these 2 are constantly going at it, Jim pranks, annoys and mocks Dwight like no other, it is VERY fun to watch. the clip is one of their classic moments...just had to share it :)

Fly trap!

Got a new baby... plant that is, my green thumb (and rest of me that is attached) went to the greenhouse for my usual green tour and on the way out I found a Venus Flytrap, so $7 later it was mine!!!!

A Venus Flytrap is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey (mostly insects and arachnids). The trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves.

I have yet to get it to eat a bug, but when time allows...

A couple of my smaller bonsai's looked at it a little nervously when I brought it home... :)

Blessings

Wow, have we been blessed. We have been given a wonderful gift from my mom and dad. My Father-in-law helped us out last time to get a car when we were in a pinch and that car has served us well, but has started to give us some stress recently, prompting us to try to be proactive in finding a car while this one still continued to work. So we asked my side, particularly my dad, to look for something with the money we were able to give to it. My dad is great at finding deals and knows cars, neither skills I possess.

My parents then decided to bless us by contributing more $$ to ours, much more, and the car we now possess(isn't the one featured above :) ) is a 2007 Malibu LT. What a gift. Warranty on it, only 16,000 kms on it... reliable transportation worries are gone!!!

It relieves so much pressure, to know that when we get Julia, we have a safe car for her to be in, and one that will allow us to transport the stuff that comes with baby, and we won't be sinking money into repairs, which will be awesome as we need to keep saving for this adoption and beyond.

We are so blessed, and thankful, a wonderful gift as we wait for our most precious gift!

16th month LID

We are at ?sweet? sixteen for being logged into China, we should be able to say we are past the half way mark.

Our LID celebration will be tomorrow as we watch Survivor China on TV.



The other exciting adventure is the pursuit of a newer vehicle, I am blessed that my Dad is helping out with this as well as my mum. I am not mechanically inclined...I simply can't tell if a car is a lemon or not(the only lemon I am good with is using it in stirfry cooking... I cooked some stirfry chicken with some sliced lemon in it, and then removed the lemon before serving and it was awesome, that and some ginger and a bit of teriaki sauce...very nice!!). My dad is hunting to find us something reliable and my folks are sooo blessing us by also helping financially...we are chipping in a good portion by they are also...what an overwhelming blessing!

Fall has come and seems like it may be leaving quickly, it is getting chilly out, BAH! We will have to do our annual fall picture taking ritual soon methinks... pics to come :)

Paul Brandt album review

Awesome.


nuff said.....







okay, maybe a few more words...





Great!

Solid Christian focus....


I have had the album Risk on loop since picking it up on Tuesday morning the moment the store opened!

I love the song Dust, the second favorite is Risk-

"I’d rather stand on the edge of a cliff
Hang my toes over a bit
And then jump in thin air
Even if it scares I and get hurt

Chorus:
I’d rather burn with desire
Deep in my soul
And love like a fire
That’s out of control
And laugh and dance and fall and chance and kiss

I’d rather live my whole life with a sense of abandon
Squeeze every drop out
No matter what happens
And not wonder what I’ve missed
I’d rather risk

Well I guess i could just play it safe
And forget about love, hope, and faith,
With my eye on the shoreline
Keeping my boat tied
And staying home

Oh but I’d never discover new land
By keeping my feet on the sand
No, I’d rather set sail
And get carried away by the storm"

I love the truth in it and the challenge to me to take healthy risks. I am a pretty easy going, low key, get the ship moving and just keep it going in the right direction person. Jumping without a plan isn't high on my list. But the chorus

I’d rather burn with desire deep in my soul
And love like a fire that’s out of control
And laugh and dance and fall and chance and kiss

That is what is in my heart, or has been, so it has been a good reminder in light of recent past experiences that try to knock that desire to "love out of control" out to Spit in the face of that fear and take the risk.

Taking this adoption journey has elements of risk, hurts, worries, frustrations, but even this far along and with a long leg still to go I certainly have felt it worth the risk from the start right through!

July is out of review room

Congrats to those with July LIDS, man the review room is cooking, let's send some of those folks over to the MATCHING room please and get that happening, they are only on Nov 25 2005 over there, we need a speed up!!!!!

We went to a picnic yesterday put on by Christian Adoption Services, it was awesome to see how many families in our area have adopted. We met a few families in the process as well. There were no Asian babies at the picnic, and just one couple, which we had met earlier in the process who are adopting from China.We know there are a few more adopting from China, but they weren't there.

We had our Sunday School kick off and overall that went fantastic. We have doubled our program, which was daunting, less than 2 years ago they were going to cancel Sunday School, Then I came on staff and we got life back in it and in less than 2 years we have doubled it...God most certainly blessed us. We still have a few gaps to fill, but I am jazzed over a really good start.Well, must get week two ready to go!

Birthday Bash

Well, September 2 was the milestone 38th birthday for me. My actual day was spent at church preaching in the morning then going to a get together to welcome our new interim pastor to our church(which ended up being rained out). On the Monday I conceded and let Cara invite some friends to come to a party.

I am not a big birthday person, it isn't that I care about aging, in fact, I don't see myself as an age, I never remember how old I am, anything someone asks me I have to sit down and do the math, and these days I don't have enough fingers and toes, so it is a challenge!

I enjoyed the day a lot. It was nice to just hang out with friends and be normal. It was especially nice that my mom got to meet Cara and my close friends.




A real good friend, and fellow comic book collector, blessed my socks off by giving to me Amazing Spiderman #5. The comic was published in 1963! What a rush to hold something that has so much history to it...a real treasure!

At my age and with my eclectic interests people know it is best to just give gift certificates or cash. I will be getting some magic tricks with it, Paul Brandt's album, more comics, maybe some bonsai supplies, and some tv series on dvd(Heroes maybe?), just not sure what yet.

I did pick up Teen titans video game for PS2. I am a kid at heart. I am currently playing Neopets Darkest Faerie PS2 game. I am not into the blood and gore games. This way I also have games kids can play at my place when they come over, so it serves both purposes.

I can also with almost complete confidence say that before I am 40 I will have Julia in my arms... I just have to be able to say SOMEthing concrete, I truly hope it will be before I am 39,but today I can at least say 40 with confidence...truly this adoption journey is a wacky one...

Bah still in November

4 days of matches done(up to Nov. 25 2005), so much for the rumor they were dipping into December... BAH I say!