We had a really nice Xmas in Saskatchewan…. I drove the whole way there and back with the new truck (boy, the dogs were nice and quiet with so much room for them!) but Jrock flew half the way (he didn’t have as much time off.) We did the regular christmas things – chatted with family, played games, went for walks… 

A selection of pictures!

Hope you all had a happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate!

My parents just arrived at our place tonite…

I told them that they really need to unplug!

(Apparently we’re the first wireless on their Western Canada trip, but it still made for a funny picture!)

This weekend Jrock and I got to visit my favorite little lion, Leandro.  The pictures below are of me giving Leo his Xmas present, K cooking up some delicious okonomiaki, L feeding Leo and my dogs salmon, and Jrock reading “The Cat in the Hat.” to Leo.

We visited with Hamish and Maggie – and it was so fun watching the almost-2 year old and the dogs interact.  The dogs were, of course, exhausted.  The 2 year old has more energy!

Leo understands Portugese and English (and a little Japanese) but his own vocabulary is still developing.  So he called the dogs “bow wow”s.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjHCvshD5BU]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOExlMM6o3Q]

He really liked the Brazilian Playground music CD we gave him!

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

Leo trying to teach Jrock some sign language!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eAikFiTC7o]

Congratulations to my little brother B, who, after 3 universities, a couple of different programs, 6? years of school and a heck of a lot of exams and practicum placements, graduated as a teacher last week!

To all those who wonder if your kids are ever going to make their minds up on a career, take note: sometimes the long, winding road leads you to exactly where you are supposed to be.  B will be the BEST physics teacher out there!

 We’re proud of you!!!

Jrock and I did some serious pondering over the past two weeks, and decided to change the age perimeters on our request.  We decided to do this after realizing that there were many sibling groups just over 3 years old that are waiting to be adopted.  We also decided that adding a year to our request for an older child wouldn’t make much of a difference – a 3-4 year old would still be at home with use for at least a year before they went off to school.  We also talked a lot about attachment, and the difference a year might make when binding with our older child.  We decided that there might be different issues (more awareness of loss, grief – and how to discipline a child you are trying to attach to!) but not insurmountable issues.

So now, we are requesting to adopt from Ethiopia:
2 children ( siblings ) – probably a boy and a girl
1 child under 1 year old
1 child under 4 years old

Our very nice social worker wrote up a homestudy change lickety-split (ok, so it was only changing a couple of numbers, but still!) and our local agency is firing off the request update to Kids-link in one day. Very nice!

Will this change our referral wait time?  Maybe… but I don’t really think so.  We have been waiting 3.5 months already, so I suspect everything will all happen around the same time.

Anyway, a small change, but a meaningful one for us – and one we are very comfortable with.  Thanks to all my blogging/discussion group friends for their great advice and support!

Nicky & Jrock

One of the ladies Jason works with, L, and her husband, J, have 6 sleddogs.  Today we had a super fun time going out sledding with them!  We went up to Myra Canyon Park, which is not very far from our house, but straight up switchbacks into the mountains.  Thank goodness we had the new truck, complete with new winter tires and 4×4 - we never would have made it with the Toyota Echo!

J took us out with their daughter K, one at a time… he even let both Jrock and I drive the dogs, which was quite something.

Especially after so many weekends doing nothing but renovations, it was an awesome winter treat.  J and L said they would take us out again, too!

Watch the video by clicking below!

dogsledding 12/16/07

Life is hard when you are a dog.

Hamish – exhausted after a day of work.  Look how the laptop cradles his wee head.

Maggie – wow!  she wrote all those Christmas cards… What a trooper.

Saturday, January 26, 2008 – Kelowna
Timkat Celebration
5pm-8pm, Reid Hall, Benvoulin Heritage Park, 2279 Benvoulin Road, Kelowna
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This gathering of the Okanagan Families With Children From Africa will celebrate the biggest festival of the Ethiopian calendar.  We’ll include all the secular parts of the Orthodox celebration, including eating great Ethiopian food and listening to Ethio music. Dancing and frolicking is encouraged! Parents should bring a *small* gift of a new article of clothing for their children, as is the tradition.
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Want to come? 
$15 adults / $7 kids / $0 babies
5pm-8pm / Reid Hall, 2279 Benvoulin Road, Benvoulin Heritage Park, Kelowna
We could use some help cooking, if you are game!
Also looking for families that have been to Ethiopia already to share their photos and/or do a short presentation.
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Please RSVP to okfca@hotmail.com

Learn a little more about Timkat/Timket here and here.

I was out shopping today and I picked up the two most awesome CDs for my kids and for my godson Leo.  I have a bunch of CDs from the same company, but I had no idea they did kids’ CDs. 

For our kids, I got African Playground, and for Leandro, I got Brazilian Playground.  Of course, I’m going to make a copy of each for the other.  Leo’s Brazilian mom, if you are reading this… act surprised! when you see it after Christmas

Check them out.  You can buy them at Chapters and on Amazon, but here is their direct website with samples of the songs! Putumayo Kids CDs There are Celtic, Asian, French, Carribean, etc. CDs…

It’s been a busy weekend, as per usual…

 Jrock and I have been painting and staining and constructing away.  I suggested today that we may actually be at the point in our renos to make a list of “things yet to do.”  He thought that was a little optomistic. 

Still, it is coming along.  Al the cabinets in the kitchen are painted, and the bookshelves.  We have a guy coming to do all the tile this week or next… so we’re just pianint a couple of rooms, getting ready for him to do his thing.  All in all, it’s coming along.

I also got a couple of “snow day” activities done – I updated our database of friends and relations for Christmas cards.  It’s always a big production, but I love sending them out – there is nothing like getting mail! especially a card and  I love sending letters of all kinds.

 And of course, we did a lot of talking this weekend.  I thank everyone who posted on the blog, called, and emailed their advice on my last post. We got a pretty clear message – good advice – don’t change your request based on a quicker referral.  And now that my flash of frantic frenzied referral craziness is over, I agree. 

That said, a post and an email from our case worker at the agency have got me thinking.  I didn’t realize that the vast majority of sibling requests are for kids under 3 years old… and that there aren’t that many sibling groups with such close ages.  Rather, usually, they children are a little further apart in age… So the majority of sibling groups aren’t what the majority of people are requesting.

Anyway, to make a long meandering story short, I’m thinking about expanding our age range.  Jrock worries (understandably) about attachment issues, and the bumpy ride with a talking non-English-speaking toddler.  So do I. But we’re talking about it anyway.  We haven’t come to any decisions.  It just sort of surprised me when I realized that the arbitrary age range we had drawn in the sand is pretty much exactly where most people draw the line.. and there are a lot of kids standing on the other side.

 So we’ll keep you posted on that one.

Nicky (& Jrock) 

I haven’t posted since last Friday… following the old adage: “If you can’t say something nice; don’t say anything at all.”

Friday was really rough on me – this wait is really hard.  I’m not sure how I’m going to cope through the coming (gulp) months.  And today we got an email from our agency, Kidslink, saying that the referral wait time for siblings has been extended to 6-10 months (instead of the original 6-8 months.)  Doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but…

So I’m not sure what to do.  Apparently, referral times for siblings 3+ is only 2-3 months.  Maybe we should reconsider our age request of a child under one year old and 1 child under three.  Jrock and I said we’d have this conversation if Xmas rolled around and no referral had happened… but now I’m not so sure.

Long sigh…………….