Well it’s not quite February on my calendar, but I’m only three hours away! So I picked up fabric to make four more blankets tonight. I can’t sew them until tomorrow though… that’s only fair. 
I’m going to have to give in and learn how to take pictures for my blog so you can see the stack of blankets that are growing here!
more blankets! January 31, 2008
No fun…:) January 29, 2008
We did get our travel package sent to us today! I had been anxious to get it because our agency e-mailed us saying it would contain our tracking numbers so we could follow our dossier to Ethiopia! Tracking this package was going to be my last little bit of fun and “control” (no, not really, but you do feel somewhat in the loop). So you can imagine my frustration (yet elation) when I typed in the tracking number only to find out in two seconds that my dossier is already in Ethiopia! There goes the fun. Oh well, the long wait has started. By my calculations we won’t hear anything at all until August. It could be months after that, but nothing for sure until then. Lucky for me, I’m working and have a lot of stuff to do between now and June. Exams are now being rescheduled due to our winter storm and I’ll be in a rush to get all the marking done and entered into the computer for reports. After that I start teaching two new courses that I need to prepare for. This weekend will be very busy!
Storm Day January 29, 2008
Today is a storm day in our area! This means that I don’t have to go to school today and the kids are home as well! Fun! We cleaned out the bedrooms and are working on finishing some little jobs for the basement bedroom, but now we’re done working and it’s time to play. The kids just discovered a channel on T.V. that is “retro”. Scooby Doo was just on and now we have the road runner show followed by Flintstones. The kids are in awe of these amazing shows! I’m having a great time re-living my childhood with them! To make the day even better, Dave has decided to come home for lunch! That never happens! We have a package waiting at the post office and I’m hoping it’s our travel package from CAFAC, so he’ll check on the way over. That would just top off this great gift of a day!
Dossier has left Canada! January 23, 2008
We just received official notice that our dossier left for Ethiopia this week! It’s funny – it should be a huge celebration to be done the Canadian side of things… but it’s a bit of a let down. Now there aren’t any milestones to look forward to – just months and months of waiting. In recent weeks we have learned of two families that recently got referrals for two children under three in only seven months. Of course we hope and pray that it can stay that way until we get ours, but others have waited eleven months. Four months might not seem so long to some, but we still have to wait another four to six months after that to pick them up, so every month counts. Ten years from now we know it won’t matter… how to convince the brain of that fact right now though?
To pass the time our family is sewing more receiving blankets for the orphanages. We have sent four of them with Bill and Lisa who are leaving this weekend! (very strange to think that our own kids might use those blankets!) We have fabric for another four here at home. I broke the needle on my machine or I would be done those as well. Luckily my mom had extra needles to share and I should be back at it tomorrow night. We’ve decided that we will try to sew four blankets a month to give us something to pass the time with and to help us feel like we are doing something productive while we wait. Each of my kids has joined in the fun and are learning to sew with me. It’s been great.
Our oldest has moved to her basement suite as of tonight. New carpet sure made a huge improvement. Her brother has decided she needs his protection – in case she is a bit scared – and has joined her for her first night. We still have odds and ends to do and her room upstairs now needs a good shoveling, but all in all it has been a great transition. If all goes well we should have everything under control and finished by the end of the weekend. (if daddy finds his socket wrench set to move the bed that is….)
Our next project is the dreaded rec. room and bathroom. I think I’ll push for the bathroom first so that it can be used by the kids. One bathroom upstairs is getting pretty tight some mornings! Now that I think of it, a new shower will only require a second hot water tank to keep up with all the long showers around here!
Yippee! January 17, 2008
I just tracked our dossier back to Medicine Hat!!! That is wonderful news for us. Hopefully we hear from our agency this week yet, or early next week. Then they will tell us “your file is on it’s way to Ethiopia!” It’s one more huge step in the process. It will feel wonderful to track the dossier to the foster home in Ethiopia.
As our paperwork travels we keep working on our house to get ready for the kids to come home. Tonight I am painting the last coat on one countertop in Chelsey’s room and then the painting is done! We hope to have her moved in the next few weeks. We only wait for the carpet to be installed. Things seem on schedule! Next is a bit of rest and then we’ll begin the biggy – the rec. room! I can wait. I’m exhausted. I keep wondering why I am so tired, but I have to remind myself how sick I was before Christmas and how much I’ve done since then!
School for me is still a rapid race until exams. I managed to write a math exam and review tonight during part of our parent teacher interview time at school. Only one test and two exams left to go!
Tomorrow is Ethiopia night! Can’t wait to connect with all our friends. Hopefully we all have some good news to share with each other!
O.K. the news was not as good as I thought… January 8, 2008
I found out today that our dossier was back from the foreign embassy, but it still has to be sent to the Ethiopian embassy. Apparently it has to come back to Medicine Hat first and then go all the way back to Ottawa again. Another two weeks of waiting… (unless it takes four again) and then hopefully it will leave this cold country and make its way to Ethiopia. Shoot. Here I thought we were back on track as far as timelines went. Oh well.
Nothing too much to add. Except that I have to go to a school board meeting tonight… I’d like to say I’ve been waiting all day for this meeting, but I don’t like meetings and I already had a staff meeting after school. I’m meetinged out.
Yeah! Finally some news! January 8, 2008
We tracked our dossier back from Ottawa to the Medicine Hat office! It arrived early yesterday morning. This is another huge step and the last one on the Canadian side of things! We’re assuming this means we have approval from both Ottawa and the Ethiopian Embassy to proceed! We’re not sure how long our file will stay in Medicine Hat, but we expect that it will be sent to Ethiopia this week yet!
For those who aren’t procedure savvy, once it gets to Ethiopia it will need to be translated into Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Then it will be approved by the Ethiopian government and finally sent off to our foster home where they can put us in the long line for matching us with children. This whole process takes about six weeks, but I have heard of couples who had it done much faster. We should receive a tracking number for that process as well I think.
School has started again and we are all in the swing of things. I was up late last night typing sociology notes for my next chapter. The kids are back at the gym having a blast working to get ready for competitions that begin in three weeks. Then our life is officially super busy until spring! I keep thinking that our renovation is just a pipe dream when I realize how little time we have… I haven’t had a moment to get back to painting Chelsey’s room for a week now. Perhaps tonight…
Nothing yet January 2, 2008
Well I’ve been tracking this poor package to death and apparently it’s still in Ottawa somewhere. O.k.
In the mean time, we woke up this morning and the kids and I really made a dent in the new room for Chelsey in our basement. The whole room is primed except the wall of cabinets. (which totally scare me to be honest!) Tomorrow I hope to start painting walls! She’s one lucky girl – I think her new room is way bigger than ours! And she has cabinets for all her cardmaking and scrapbooking stuff which she enjoys so much. Now we just need to find her a regular bed. Her bunk bed in her current room is so high it won’t fit, and she’d rather be lower than have it cut down.
Our renovations on the rec. room haven’t started yet. Chelsey’s room first and then we’ll start on the biggy. I’m actually most scared of that project. It’s a lot of mess again (we just did our whole main floor last year) and a lot of work. BUT I can see it in my mind totally done, and that will keep us going. Right now the room isn’t used at all and that’s a total waste! Here we buy this larger house and don’t use half of it!
I’m off to finally relax while the paint dries! Dave came home and made lunch while I finished priming and the kids cleaned everything up! Now we have an afternoon to enjoy!
