Show and Tell

We took time to go on a hike through the Gatineau Park with some family and friends. It was just beautiful and always takes my breath away. Fall is definitely my favorite season hands down. It's not too hot, not too cold and with all the different color of leaves around you, it's just so upbuilding and makes you feel so alive. I know I'm obsessed but I could live in this season 365 days a year.

Last night Portia mentioned that some children were bringing things to school and showing the class, then she proceeded to ask me if she could bring her snot sucker (you know that little gadget that looks like a teeny weeny turkey baster that you gently put into a child's nostril and suck out and clean their nose.) Yes, that would have been an interesting show and tell. Likely it would have come with a demonstration of how it works. Portia is such an interesting child and she never seizes to amaze me.

New York

We had a great time in New York Long Island with our friends. We attended a wedding where the food was out of this world! And did I mention the shopping? It was unbelievable. I came back with eight pairs of shoes! Eight!! We extended our holiday by one day just to go tubing at the beach. It was a true blast! Can't wait to go back. They are all hoping to come and visit us in February so we are excited and looking forward to that visit.

Adoption Update...Nothing new however we are now 5 months DTV, so that brings us one month closer to the estimated proposal date, therefore 7 months to go. Lately I'm having many moments where I feel that this adoption will never happen, that something will go wrong, or more than likely, we will just flat out not be accepted by Vietnam. As I've said before, only time will tell.

In the meantime, we are keeping busy. We are still trying to sell our home. It's been on the market for about 3 weeks and we haven't received one offer. It's a buyer's market, which doesn't help. We have one family that is really interested but they would have to sell their home first. If we don't hear anything by the end of this week, we are going to drop our price to the price that was suggested to us by a real estate agent.

Portia has started french immersion Senior Kindergarten. She's starting to pick up some basic french words. It's so cute how she says it with a french accent. I can't get over how time flies. She'll be 5 years old next month and has grown a whole inch over the summer, yet I still see her as my baby. She's really starting to venture out. She's riding her bike with training wheels, but I don't think that will be for long. She's starting to catch her balance. She's also getting the hang of a scooter. The way her leg kicks out is so adorable. What else? She started Preschool C swimming lessons on Monday. Portia seems to have lost some of her confidence in the water. I'm hoping the regular classes will help. Aside from that she's doing great. Of course, she's picked up a cough at school, so we had to pull out all the tricks of the trade (Vaporizer, puffers, Vicks Vaporub....). Oddly enough, she seems to really enjoy the "snot sucker." I must say, if it was an Olympic sport, she would probably win the gold medal!

Adoption Update # 6

We've had our dossier in Vietnam now for over 4 months. As of today, the agency tells me that it will be another 8 months before we will see a proposal for a baby boy. That brings us to approximately the April 2009 timeframe. We also have requested on our file that we would be open to an an older child, not only in hopes of speeding up the process, but also to not have such a big age gap between Portia and her sibling. Aside from this, it appears that the waiting time has lengthened once again so only time will tell.

Saint Sauveur

We had an awesome time in Saint Sauveur. We went up with some of our couple friends and stayed at the Manoir Saint Sauveur. We literally laughed the whole weekend. The guys did the golfing thing and us girls did the Spa thing. I am hooked. The package I got included a bath, which was quite nice. It helped to set the pace and relax my body. The massage was incredible. The masseuse was very gentle, just the way I like it. But the facial, was my favorite. She even went and did my hands and complete arms, shoulders. I fell asleep and woke up from the sound of my snoring. Thank goodness the esthetician had stepped out of the room at that time or I would have died from embarrassment. That night we went to a restaurant called Papa Luigi's and the food was incredible. True Italian food. None of this Chef Boyardee fare. We also went to The Brulerie and had a fresh cappucino. On Sunday the girls went shopping for a bit but in the end we all ended up around the pool to relax. The weather couldn't have been better. Already looking forward to doing the same thing next year.

House for Sale and Garage Sale

We made a HUGE decision to sell our home. We've had some good times (and some hard times) while we lived here for the last 8 years however the most important things are coming with us....Alex, Portia, myself and memories. We will be moving into Alex's parents duplex and renovating and adding an addition. There are so many positives:
1. Smaller Home ... Less Housework
2. Less Outdoor Maintenance
3. Portia will be living next door to her friends Logan and Isabella
4. Family and Friends all around us
and the list goes on. I think we are ready for this change. We are just collecting the rest of the requirements for the city permit and then we must wait for approval to start construction.

We had a HUGE garage sale this past Saturday and we all did very well. We sold cheap and got rid of a lot of junk. The lawn was full when we started and in the end, we had a half van full of stuff left over that was donated to Value Village. I think we are going to make this a yearly event, right after a good spring cleanup.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I sold my wedding dress to a man. We asked if he bought it for his fiancee, but he said he doesn't even have a girlfriend. At that point, I just thought I don't even want to know. Of course, I had images of him prancing in front of a mirror with my dress on. On a cold, boring winter day, I allowed Portia to try on my dress and play with it for a while. She looked so cute.

A Lifetime in Three Months

So much has happened...where do I start? I think there is just too much to say. To keep it simple, we decided to stop the vietnam adoption process for personal reasons and then after a month passed and a full week of no sleeping, we realized it was the wrong decision for our family. We contacted the agency and re-opened the file. Coincidentally our file hadn't been completely closed and so here we are...still waiting, but this time, taking time to stop and smell the flowers since life is just too unpredictable, not to mention to count the great blessings that we already have...our little family...Alex, Portia and I. In the meantime, we will leave everything in God's hands and take each day as it comes.

Ministry Approval

We received an e-mail on Wednesday, April 9th that we have been approved by the Ministry and that our approval would be sent to Vietnam to complete our dossier. Our agency has told us that should we get approved, we should expect to travel next summer, so we have approximately 15 months ahead of us.

On another note, I still keep track of where we would have been in the wait, if China had approved us. According to a special forecast website, it looks the best estimated time for us would have been 2009-03-18 to receive a referral. It appears that the time has increased from the last time I checked.