The Waiting...

In the words of Tom Petty "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part."
Some say that patience is a virtue, these people obviously have never had to wait for something for so long. Now in the sense of it all I guess it hasn't been too long that we have been waiting. As I am writing this we have officially been on the wait list 11 months and we have seen a lot of movement so the waiting has been a little easier to take. But now as the year on the wait list marker is coming closer you start to wonder about things and the waiting becomes a lot harder.

Let me pose this question to all of you that have children...Think back to when you found out you were expecting a child, you know when you peed on a stick and had to wait 5 or 10 minutes, or when you went to your doctor and you had to wait a day or 2 to find out for sure. Do you remember those feelings? What if we are pregnant? What are we going to do? Are we ready? Will we be good parents? Will the child like me? The panic sets in and you start internalizing everything about your life and about how it is going to change. Now take those feelings and try and imagine what it would be like if you had peed on that stick a year ago and you don't know when you will get the results... That is where we are. We peed on the stick a year ago and now we wait... Waiting sucks.

As we wait we know that something amazing is going to meet us in the end and I think that's what keeps us waiting. I think that's what keeps us from going crazy.

Until next time.

2013

It is hard to believe that January is already half over. I love January; the quietness of the month that seems to come after such a busy December, the routines and feeling like life is back to normal, not having to be at the mall or the holiday parties or travel to see family. I have never been one to make New Years resolutions as if I did, I’m sure they would be like 90% of the population’s resolutions...something about losing weight, eating better, etc.

However, I do always have a “list” of things that I want to get accomplished in the coming year. The list seems to be revolving and by the time February hits, I never really remember what was on the list to begin with! I suppose you could call them resolutions. I am the queen of lists (as Mick will attest to…he always has a list of things I want him to do) so I figured that this was as good as a place as any to keep track.

New Years 2013

In 2013, I want to:

1.       Go to Jasper. I have never been. My first trip to Lake Louise was only in 2011. I don’t get out much apparently.

2.       Start and finish a crochet project. I have the pattern and yarn for a baby blanket for our nursery (more on that in a later blog post). Now I just need to find the motivation to finally start it.

3.       Actually make it to yoga at least once a week, preferably twice.  I have one wedding this fall that I’m in as the matron (I hate that word) of honour and two family weddings next year. Needless to say, lots of pictures and I want to look my best.

4.       Be more diligent with my diabetes (or die-a-bee-tis, as my mother calls it). After watching my grandpa pass away last year with complications from diabetes, I really need to get my act together. And I want an insulin pump as they are all the rage and all the cool kids have one.  

5.       Have more financial security. Paying off debt from house renovations, saving for our post adoption placement fee (and second adoption process?) and parental leave as well as, you know, life, can be financially exhausting. I want to make sure we are being smarter with our money. And that may mean staying home more and learning to love board games.

6.       Bake more. Cakes, cupcakes, whatever.  This in no way will affect #4. I love to decorate cakes and am taking a buttercream class in February. Maybe I’ll put my neck out there and see about selling more affordable, less over the top, wedding cakes. Mick is excited about all the taste testing he will get to do.

7.       Finish the main floor of our house with renovations…maybe not the kitchen as that won’t help #5 but it would be nice to get all the rest of the little projects completed. Now that the bathroom is finally (almost) done, we can move onto something else. 

8.       Host more parties. Having friends and family over more often without an excuse for a get together. We have a margarita machine. That should be reason enough.

9.       Make some new friends and connect with old friends. I find that as I am not getting any younger, I’m craving more female friendships and a group of women that I can connect with. 

10.   Take some classes. Try some new things.

11.   Schedule more date nights with the hubby that don’t involve a trip to Home Depot.

12. Try at least one new recipe each month. Our current standby meals seem to just rotate through and it would be nice to add some variety.  Taco salad, however, will always be in the rotation. 

13.   Read The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. I figure I should see what all the fuss is about. But I won’t watch Star Wars. I won’t subject myself to that.  

I'm excited for all the things that 2013 will (hopefully) have in store for us! Now I guess I should tackle that crochet project. 

Until next time! 

Let's go get some BBQ and get busy!

As I sit here and look at the wonderful dump of snow we received last night I can't help but dream of the day when I get to fire up the old BBQ and get down with my bad barbequing self this summer. I have a lot of great ideas for this summer and my BBQ. I was lucky enough last summer to talk my wonderful wife into buying me a brand new 4 burner Brinkmann Grill, much like this one to the right... I love it. Although I got a lot of use from it last summer, this summer it is going to be used a heck of a lot more.

This past Christmas I asked specifically for some new BBQ tools and boy did I get some. I got a flipper that I am pretty sure could flip brontosaurus burgers, I got some skewers that I am know would allow me to defend the castle from any medieval prince attacking with a sword (not so much a bow and arrow). I also got one of the greatest inventions for a BBQ, it combines my love of chicken with my love of beer and makes what I can only imagine is one of the greatest tasting chickens ever, Drunken Chicken!

Now for those that don't know what a drunken chicken is, let me explain. You essentially take a little roaster chicken, turn it on end and stick a can of beer up its backside... Simple. I have never experienced the drunken chicken but I am sure it will be delicious...

To go along with the chicken I think I will be trying some new delicious recipes for ribs, maybe try some homemade hamburgers and of course the summer staple - steak.

Although I have a lot of meat (that sounds dirty) that I want to try this summer (not getting better) I think I will also expand to some veggies to grill up on the BBQ (phew saved that sentence). I always see those wonderful pictures of all the good looking veggies on the BBQ and think "Man I hate veggies! But those kind of look good." So expanding to veggies will for sure be a thing I will try this summer, I think.

I really hope that I can write about all my summer barbecuing adventures and keep you all up to date on how the drunken chicken turns out. In closing I leave you this last little piece of advice (which I hope I can get on an apron for this summer).

Until next time!

The Options

Mick and I had discussed adoption for many months and even years before we actually got the ball rolling. It was something we both wanted to do and we needed to make sure we were ready for it, both physically and emotionally as well as somewhat financially.

There are many routes a family can take to pursue adopting a child. There are government adoptions which are through the foster system. These waiting children are generally older and may or may not have disabilities.  There are sometimes sibling groups. Social services tries to keep the children with their biological families whenever possible and this can often result in numerous foster homes or back and forth for the children. This can be hard on both the adoptive or foster parents as well as the children.   Placements may happen faster and there are less upfront costs. We went to a meeting outlining the process for foster adoptions and  we think that this might be a route we will take in the future to grow our family.

A second route would be international adoptions. I have always wanted to adopt a child from Africa as this continent is near and dear to me. There are a few African countries open to adoption but unfortunately and fortunately, due to corrupt governments and child trafficking, the rules are getting stricter and some countries are closing their doors. While it is great that these governments are cracking down on incorrect practices  it is expanding the wait time for families waiting to bring their children home. It can also result in ballooning costs and unexpected fees. We are looking at adopting from Ethiopia which has stringent rules for adoption and has a great track record from both agencies and previous adoptive families. Costs for adopting from other countries such as China or Russia can climb upwards of $50,000! A US adoption is also considered international and has large fees.

The third way to adopt is to pursue domestic adoption. This is the route we will be taking for our first child. We will be doing an open adoption, which studies have proven is better for all three parties involved, especially the child.  Essentially, the birth parent(s) choose us based on our profile and we develop a relationship with her/them. We could be meeting a birth family that might live in Fort McMurray and we'd have to travel there when our child is born.  While the concept of an open adoption is still a bit scary, we are confident in our decision.

If you have any questions about the process or open adoption in general, feel free to leave a comment or email us directly at crystalandmick at gmail.com. We are definitely not experts but we will answer them as best as we can!

Until next time.