I truly feel a part of the on-line community of adoptive parents!

Recently I was invited to add my post on Well-intentioned but Misinformed Adoption Disorder on the Adoption Round-up.  Once you start to explore other blogs and read comments, it’s amazing how so many people in far flung places are so connected by their interests…

So we’re off on Saturday, and today the computer gets packed.  So you won’t hear from us in probably a week…

There are lots of things we will miss about our home in this little town in Alberta. 

First, we’ll miss our friends… my dear friend SH who has been my colleague and confidant.  Our best neighbors ever! S & R.  We’ve been so lucky to have such great friends just over the fence.  And all our other friends who have made this town a great place to live…

We’ll miss being close to J’s family.  Now we take it for granted, especially because Jrock stays at his mom’s house to frequently.  But we will definitely miss have such easy, every day contact with them.

We’ll miss our house.  We’ll miss the pond in the backyard, the frogs, the birds, and the rivervalley just blocks from our front door.  I guess we’ll miss the life we have built here.

But as I said to J the other night, I guess our home is where we are, and the dogs and cats are.  “And where our kids are,” he added.  Very true.

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance you must keep moving.  ~Albert Einstein

Spread the word!  The Stephen Lewis Foundation has produced a new documentary.  Click on the picture above to see a preview, and order your own copy for only $20.

A Generation of Orphans is a half-hour documentary that gives voice to six orphans in Africa and the grassroots organizations working valiantly on their behalf — highlighting their hardship, hope and courage as they struggle with the loss of their parents to AIDS. This is the second film in a trilogy about the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s work to support grandmothers, orphans and women in sub-Saharan Africa.

DVD copies are available for $20 Canadian. Cheques or money orders payable to the Stephen Lewis Foundation (mark “Orphans Film” in subject line) can be sent to:

Stephen Lewis Foundation
260 Spadina Ave, Suite 501
Toronto, ON M5T 2E4

For more information on the documentary, call (416) 533-9292, ext 0.

Thanks to Debbie and Rod for bringing this to our attention.

We asked a few friends to write us letters of reference for the adoption, and the first letter arrived from my best friend S and her husband T at the end of last week.  It was so nice to hear all the warm things she had to say about us – it made both of us feel so good and even maybe a little more confident about becoming parents.

I have to tell you one cool thing about my best friend, though… because I’m so proud of her.  Not only is she thoughtful, warm, witty, hardworking, fun-loving and has a delightfully wicked sense of humour, she is also very smart! 

Dr. S just got the top mark in her entire province on her physician licencing exam.  That is no mean feat – what a woman!  I’m so proud to have her as my best friend since grade 4… she’s part of her family, and it won’t surprise you that one of our kids will be named after her. Love you S!  Congratulations!

So I feel like a real knob, but I can’t come to the luncheon I organized for Ethiopian parents and parents-to-be I organized for this Saturday. 

To the families: the lunch is still on.. just for 12 not 18.  I hope you all go and have a great time; maybe someone will fill me in after to tell me how it went?

My sob storey: I came with a cold SO bad this morning that I’ve completely lost me voice, and J has told me I’d be an idiot to travel anywhere, and get worse, much less visiting my elderly grandparents.  (He’s right, of course, I can’t risk getting them sick; I just feel better blaming him.)

I’m so miserable. I’m sad I can’t go to the luncheon but I REALLY wanted to see my mom who is Calgary this weekend… I live so far away from my parents, and last time she was in Calgary, I couldn’t go see her because my grandpa was really sick.  So I haven’t seen my parents, sister, brother or best friend since at least Christmas and I’m getting VERY lonely.  I will get to see the rest of my extended family near the end of the month – I have to fly to Calgary to speak at a conference and receive an award, but I won’t get to see my mom until?…

So sorry I can’t make it;
Nicky

Yahoo!  Yesterday was my last day of work.

So I thought I would give a little update on the work/moving situation, since it intertwines with adoption, AND because I whined about it in an earlier post.

 I haven’t found a job yet – although I havn’t been looking very hard.  I suppose I’m looking for something that will either have good mat leave or transfer well to p/t, which is what Jrock and I decided I should do for a year or so after the kids arrive.  I also am at a point in my career where I want challenge and something fulfilling.  So I’m seriously considering moving back to consulting again – (Dad, I know you are shaking your head, but like father, like daughter!)  I am talking with an upstart entrepreneurial magazine for 20-35 year olds about writing a column for them, and I’ve made it onto the suppliers list for some business training for the Olympic games (how much work will come from that, though, is anyone’s guess.) 

So for the meanwhile, I’m tracking down some opportunities but I’m also applying for EI today.  In the next month or so, I want to take some time to do some academic writing, and hopefully get some articles published from the results of my Master’s degree.  It’s not a money-making endeavor, but definitely a career investment.

How does this intertwine with adopting? Well, last night I started filling out the immigration papers for our “unknown children” and it says that if you are on social assistance, you can’t sponsor a child for immigration.  So I panicked… and then called Ottawa this morning.  Apparently, “social assistance” means welfare, not EI.  So I’m good to go!

Today I join the ranks of the blissfully unemployed!

So Jrock and I talked and we decided we’re being a little paranoid about not showing our faces on our blog… so here goes:

We were at a Rotary district conference this weekend, and in addition to listening to serious speakers on hunger, water, and health projects, we also had a little fun!  Here we are dressed up for the dance Saturday night in true Klondike fashion:

Fort Edmonton is a really special place for us, because it’s where we got married 2 years ago.  Our wedding was a 1920s themed wedding – with amazing costumes designed by my sister, an authentic 1920s hotel to host the festivities, and even an 18 piece big band.  (there were only 60 guests – it was a high band member to guest ratio!) Anyways, it was a little bit of an anniversary celebration too. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=demRHgul2Zk]

So my mom said that we couldn’t have kids until we had a proper rocking chair.  So I’ve been on the hunt for the last couple of months, and what do you know?  I found this beauty at a day care and bought it for $50.  They said it doesn’t work well with 30 kids, but it will be perfect in our home.

“I have spent the last four years watching people die.”

This is how Stephen Lewis, one of our greatest Canadians and the former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, begins his Massey lectures.  The Massey lectures are broadcast on CBC radio, and are published in a book as well.  Stephen Lewis was the speaker in 2005… if you listen to his lectures, or purchase the book, you will know why people (including myself) are so impassioned about the AIDS pandemic and the resulting millions of orphans left without families, schooling, possibilities.  (14 million little ones orphaned due to AIDS in Subsaharan Africa alone.) I DARE you to listen to these lectures and not care.

Here is where you can download the Massey lectures.  Stephen Lewis is not only very informative; he is an astounding speaker.  Jrock and three friends of our friends and I went to hear him speak a month ago, and he is pretty amazing. 

You can also see him doing an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos here.  It’s a great clip.  Another great clip is from the CBC production of “Stephen Lewis: The Man Who Couldn’t Sleep.”  Watch it here.

I will warn you, there are a few acronyms in the first Massey lecture… but if you get through the first one, all the rest are easy to listen to. You will be a changed person if you listen to all four.  The videos are, of course, easy to understand.

More information about the Stephen Lewis Foundation here.

(We got a new camera!)

Introducing, our family….

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y-8xNDGwpo]

They always get along just nifty.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOpTPdIEz4]

Hamish and his Elmo have a special relationship.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTSXMwZXL6A]

Yesterday I travelled to Edmonton and met several other families who are or have adopted from Ethiopia.  It was definitely worth the drive… Oh, the Ethiopian kids are SO cute.  I mean, REALLY CUTE.  There were a couple of 2 year olds, a handful of three year olds, a seven year old boy… a well as a few Canadian born kids. 

As I said to Jrock on our long telephone conversation as I was driving home, (he was on call and couldn’t go,) what really struck me were two things:

First, in our family and circle of friends, we’re the only ones adopting and certainly the only ones adopting from Ethiopia.  So it’s unusual.  Curious.  But with that group of families, it’s normal.  Everybody understands automatically why you have made that decision.  You aren’t weird at all.  And the whole group of people – although all different personalities – seemed really nice.

The second thing that struck me, was that here are all these families with normal parent / child relationships.  “For the seventh time, you may NOT go out onto the street!”  Parents half paying attention to their kids’ insistent requests and trying to carry on an adult conversation while still nodding at what their child is saying.  A little girl colouring on her mom’s lap to pass the time. Just all those everyday things.  I was sitting at a table with a mom who has had her daughter home for 2 weeks, and her daughter was so loving and comfortable with her. It was really comforting and relaxing, really, to see how our family will be just like everyone else’s family… (with just a little twist.) I guess I got a flash-forward of our own lives and it was really something to look forward to.

I called my mom too, after the supper.  She’s planning on joining us on the May long weekend for lunch with some other families in Calgary, and she was quite disapointed when I said that I didn’t think there would be any kids there.    I’ll see if I can do some “families with kids home” recruiting beforehand… just to make my mom happy.  (Oh, heck, who am I kidding.  It made my week to see those kids last night!)

Selam, Nicky

School is almost out for summer!  Report card time!

Each year the

writes report cards for the wealthiest countries in the world, grading them on their contributions and achievments to providing education for all children.

Here is Canada’s:

Now, 8th place, for a country that prides itself on it’s global contributions, 8th is pretty dismal. 

If you would like to see the other countries’ reports, click here.

So it seems like about 60-80 people visit this blog a day… Where are you all from?  Push a pin to the guestmap (on the right column)… I’d love to see who is visiting.  You don’t need to leave your email, just your name and a little note, if you like

Instructions: Click on the link.  Click on “Hide instructions.” Click on “Post”, push your pin in, and then fill out the info.  Voila!