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Family Portrait

 
Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

African Geography Game

How well do you know your African geography? Just click on the map above to try your hand at the game.

You should be able to do better than me! – I only got 40%.  Yikes.  Better do some studying!

Hyper hyper

The video says it all.

Generations in Saskatchewan

Great grandfather, grandson and great grandson.

A few weeks ago Jrock flew back to Saskatchewan to visit his family.  He met up with his brother D, his wife R and their new little baby.  What a cute little munchkin.  They drove across the province to go visit their grandfather… now a great-grandfather!

Jrock found it interesting travelling with a little baby.  He was amazed at how much diaper fill a small little guy like that could produce.  He also commented how exhausted his bro and sis-in-law were, since the baby was up breast-feeding every night. Mostly it was just funny what a softie his brother has turned into, obviously totally heads over heels for his son.  J came back looking forward to fatherhood himself – they aren’t that far apart in age, and I think he really felt for the first time that his peers/brother are also in that stage of life.

the proud uncle

We got another call from his Grandad last week – wanting to know how things are coming along with the other grandkids-to-be.  Soon little D will have some cousins – funny, they will most likely be a little older than him, even though he was first to arrive!

Ah, the statue of Porcupine Plain SK

A tired new dad

Travelling with a new baby and managing it well!

Auntie and Rusty II

Little D

Jrock’s parents

Great grandfather, grandson and great grandson.

the proud uncle

What a nice weekend

I work a lot.  Most of my adult life, I’ve had a few jobs, and usually work overtime… It’s not really because I love to work 24/7 – It’s because I like the variety of new challenges and change. And I also have generally a lot of energy.

Over the last year, I’d slowed down quite a bit – two jobs, but really only a full-time job all put together.  I was spending time gardening and cooking and taking pretty good care of myself and my family.  I had found a simpler groove.  But the last month, I’ve been working too much again… not really my choice this time, either.  My garden has been suffering, and it hasn’t been great for training a new puppy!

This past weekend, work finally slowed down and I decided to take two days off.  Friday after work, my husband dumped his exhausted body onto the passenger seat of our truck and we drove off into the dark to Ellison Park, near Vernon.  A quiet supper, 13 hours of sleep and a hike with the dogs later, we felt refreshed and revigorated. 

Roughing it with his copy of Wine Spectator

I love getting away on 15 minutes notice!

It’s a big world for a small dog.

Maggie teachng the trick to the leash.

His first time seeing a big waterbowl!

He was like a little raccoon in the water. SO cute!

It was a grey but beautiful day on Okanagan Lake.

When we got back Saturday afternoon, we went for a coffee, shopped for shoes for J, and spent another quiet evening, this one at home, watching a good movie. Sunday I got to hang around the house, try a new French stew receipe, baked some German Zuckerkuchen, drank loads of herbal tea and a couple glasses of wine, played with the dogs, read a book cover to cover, (Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears… really good,) and saw an evening movie (Religulous – ) at the theatre with Jrock.

I could get used to this….

Maggie Monday

Poll Time!

There has been a lot of speculation on how old our kids will be, and what gender(s)…

People have had dreams about our kids, I’ve seen a (sketchy) psychic – heck, these are extremely reliable sources! Together we should be able to figure it out. So since we are hoping to hear sometime in the near future, why don’t we have a poll?!?

What do you think?  Our request is two kids under 4.

• How old will they be?
• Two boys, two girls, or one of both?
• AND, the most interesting… what leads you to think this? (dreams, premonitions, divine insight, just a guess?!) 

Hopefully we’ll have the real answers soon!

Thirteen Months and Counting

Well, here we are.  Thirteen months and counting… and still no referral.

But there is hope… we are getting little tidbits here and there from our case worker.  She is very careful not to tell us anything we shouldn’t know, but I think she has taken pity on us a bit and is dropping a few broad hints. Mix that with gossip from the on-line groups, well! then you have a veritable truth!

So what do we THINK we know? (aka: Stuff we can tell you on the pubic internet!)

We’re almost positive our kids are alive.  I mean, they have already been born.  Since there was no bottom age limit, any point in the last 13 months, we could have had one or two kids still not in this world.  But we’re pretty sure they exist now. 

We’re pretty sure they are coming from the orphange in Nazareth, Adassa.  This means that English will be their THIRD language, as they will have first learned (of course, depending on how old they are,) their birth language, such as Oro.  Then, they will speak and be spoken to in Amharic at the Transition Home… and then English here.  And we want to put these kids into French Immersion one day!  Whew! Well, they are still young enough to absorb and learn multiple languages at once, thank goodness.

We know that the agency is tracking down paperwork for several children. And the rumour mill says that the director of the agency is or was recently in Ethiopia. (And stuff tends to happen while she’s there.) That’s just rumour though! 

So, the moral of the story is that we expect to hear something this month.  It will be a an amazing day, let me tell you. 

In the meanwhile, we just have questions…

Two girls, two boys, or one of each?

How old are they?

Where exactly are they now?  What are they going through? How are they feeling?  Are they happy?  Sad? Healthy?  Well-fed?  Well-loved?

Guess we’ll just have to wait.  And the one thing I DO know FOR SURE – we are experts at waiting by now!

Baby Tested and Approved

The only concern Jrock had with getting a puppy now is that the pup wouldn’t be ready for kids when they arrived. I am happy to report that there is nothing to worry about – Laughlin is definitely kid-friendly!

The story: My poor friend L called me Sunday saying “where are you?  Where is the Picnic?” – she had showed up at our OKFCA event a day late. Ooops!  So I suggested she stop by our house with her two little ones on her way home.  We had a prolonged lunch together (fresh homemade bread – yum!) and the kids ran around on the deck.  I am sure glad I built those gates for my godson’s visit, I tell you.  The whole deck is like a big outdoor playpen

As I said, it turns out we needn’t have worried about Laughlin behaving himself.  The two kids – D is almost 2 and her little bro J is 9 months (I think) – well, they are pretty used to dogs.  Maggie and Laughlin had a great time licking and playing with them.

Laughlin is teething really badly – he’s almost lost a tooth a day for the last week! – but he didn’t gnaw on them once.  Good puppy.  Here are some pics below, but the real gem is the video. Be prepared for SUPER cuteness, times two.

Thanks for stopping by, L, and giving my puppy a workout!

OK FCA Picnic

Me and two friends' daughters - it's nice to borrow kids until I have my own!

Our group, Okanagan Families With Children From Africa, met this past Saturday for a family picnic in Lake Country.  It was really nice to see one of our original members with her daughter home (only 10 days after arriving in Canada!) We also had some new members join us: a couple who are just starting the process to adopt from Ethiopia, and a lady with her young daughter from Swaziland. Very cool to see our group grow and flourish! 

Thanks to my friend N who organized the event – and is off in 2 days to pick up her little girl in Ethiopia!

MORE PICTURES of the event.

Have a good weekend!

Rough week?

 

Smile!  It’s the weekend!

Vote Your Values

There are elections looming in Canada, down south in the US, in our province of BC … and even municipal elections in Kelowna! in the next couple of months.

I would never dream of telling people how to vote – the power of democracy is choice! But I do encourage everyone to gt informed about the issues and vote with your values in mind.

If the environment is a topic of particular interest to you, you might want to check out http://www.voteenvironment2008.ca . The website, sponsored by the David Suzuki Foundation, articulates any different environmental issues and questions you should consider asking your candiadtes, and then points to you the various party websites to do your research and contact your loca candidates. 

Get informed, get active, and don’t forget to vote!

Communication Tools for Older Kids

Most of you know that Jrock and I have requested two kids under 4 years old.  SO, while it’s entirely possible we will be referred twin babes, more likely, we will be jumping into parenting a couple babe/toddler/preschoolers!

Something that you may or may not know about us is that we have hosted many many exchange students from all over the world, and I was an exchange student in a different country three times myself.  So we have a pretty darn good understanding of culture shock at the teen age.  To try to understand how our kids will feel, we take the overwhelming new sites, smells, food, people, etc, (that we know so well), mix it with the fear of leaving your homeland, and add in a lack of ability to communicate and a toddler’s understanding of “who the heck ARE these people?”…. we’d better be as prepared as we can be to support the kids through a possible really rough time.

One of the things we’ve done to prepare is compile communication tools that are toddler / preschooler appropriate.  I’ll share a couple of the with you here:

Click on Picture to buy at Chapters

#1 – A picture book that shows everyday word and situations.

These are so that we can show pictures of what is happening, even is we can’t explain it.  My favorites so far (that are totally making the trip over to ET!) are:

<- The Usborne Book of Everyday Words

This is an awesome little book – all the pictures are so very rich with details and claymations… the people are of all different ethnic backgrounds and the pages show amazingly beautiful detailed pictures of family structure, the house, the playground, shopping, etc.  Just wonderful.  (Thanks to my mom-in-law! We saw it at a Cherry Festival and she bought it for the kids-to-be.)

Although not quite as beautiful, it walks kids through situations like going to the doctor, dentist – a even travelling by plane.  Very useful! A great gift from my friend L, who sells Usborne books in Calgary (if any of you Calgarians want to host a kids book party, leave a comment to that effect and I’ll email you!)

#2 – Amharic Language Training for Adoptive Families

Click to buy from the Author

Also totally essential – a language CD so you can talk to your kids in their own language (- or at least the language they have been conversing with caregivers in for the past few months.)

Total props to Amy Kendall who had the vision to create this wonderful language CD.  The sentences are read by an Ethiopian man – slowly so you can follow.  The little book is coil bound and purse ready, and all the words and phrases are written with the English pronunciation (NOT the phonetic alphabet – which is like learning another language altogether in addition!)

But the best part of this little book/CD package – the content!  Amy is an adoptive mom herself, and she totally understands what we need to be able to ask and say:

“I am your Mommy“
“I will take good care of you“
“Are you hungry?”
“Do you want to go potty?”
“Please clean up“
“It’s naptime!”
“Don’t hit“… “
and my favorite – “This is our dog.  He won’t hurt you.” 

 

I love Lonely Planet Phrasebooks for visiting a country, but for communicating with your kids – this is definitely the best choice.

Interested in ordering your own copy?  Click here. If your kids are over 10 months old when you pick them up, you probably should.  (Or get tutored by an Ethiopian, but, that’s not really an option in Kelowna!) Anyway, way to go Amy – thanks for a great resource!

Click to buy at Chapters

<- The Usborne Little Book of First Experiences

More puppy love…

Heck, they are only small, cute and cuddly once!  So here is some more gratuitous puppy footage – photos and vid.  Warning: the video is uncut and only for dog-lovers

Two two amigos chewing bones.

It can be hard to get a picture of him when he's moving - see the video! But when he's sleeping... LOTS of pictures.

Seriously - how cute is this?

Daddy is coming into the yard... lemme out!

Watching Daddy... these are high-alert watch dogs.

Still wet after his bath – but no dampened spirits, I can assure you.

Happy face!

EXTRA Happy face!