One Year Ago!!!

Wow, hard to believe that it has been a year already that we have officially been on the wait list for adoption... Seems like just months ago we were planning on finishing up the last things before submitting our profiles and officially being put on the wait list. Crazy how quickly time flies. While I sit here and write this I think back to what this past year has brought us and can't help but smile, cry and laugh at some of the great memories of the past year.

February not only started us on the path to adoption as we finally were placed on the wait list but it also brought sadness to our family with the passing of Crystal's grandpa. The same week that we were saddened by this loss we were over joyed with the final step in the adoption process and finally being put on the wait list. It's crazy how one week can bring so much joy and sorrow.

The next big thing that happened was Scotland... Crystal's best friend Carmen was living in Scotland for a year and so we decided to pack our bags and go for a visit...NBD! Scotland was amazing and I would suggest to anyone that is thinking about going to go... The history in that country and the architecture that is still standing from 3 or 4 hundred years ago is incredible. We took a tour around Edinburgh and I remember the tour guide showing us a building and saying "now this is the new part of Edinburgh, most of it was built in the 1700's." I thought to myself (and most likely to Crystal) 'Damn, the 1700's is new? I think the oldest thing in Canada is the Banff Springs Hotel which was built in the late 1800's.' So their "new" stuff is still older then our old stuff. Amazing history there.... The only downside was the rain. So much rain...

Crystal and I in Scotland.

St Giles' Cathedral - Edinburgh

The summer also brought a whole new look to our backyard. We have lived in our house for just about 2 years now and we have finally got working on the backyard to get it all ready for fun in the sun type events. One of the many changes we made was digging up the old patio and getting Crystal's cousin Tyler to lay us a whole new patio... It turned out great, a little slippery, but still great. If you are interested in hiring them for any sort of concrete job, I would highly recommend them, the company's name is Tekton and you can check out their website here...
http://tektonsurfaces.vpweb.ca/default.html (Tyler if you get any referrals from people who found you on our website, I want a cut)

Before

After

Here are the before and after of our patio...











We also built a new shed (with the help of my dad) and a wonderful bar (with the help of a couple of friends). So many margarita's were consumed on this patio from the bar and so I would declare the summer of 2012 a complete success... The rest of the summer was spent playing slow pitch and simply just hanging out. Our backyard is finally getting to a place where we want to spend a lot of evenings out on the patio and believe me a lot of time was spent there...

At the beginning of October Crystal and I went to the wonderful world of LAS VEGAS!!! Vegas was experiencing higher then normal temperatures so this trip was all about laying by the pool with some delicious drinks in hand. Well ok that's not the only thing we did, but we did a lot of it. One of the best shows we went to on this trip was the Jabbawockeez, they were amazing. I would highly recommend anyone that likes dancing to check them out.


I suppose that brings us closer to the end of our journey through the past year... Crystal and I have experienced joy, sorrow and lots of sore backs and calloused hands in the past year but our house and our lives are coming together... Soon we will be ready to take on the next chapter of our life... Hopefully anyway.


Until next time!

Cakes

I have been on a baking kick lately, in that I love to bake cakes, just cakes...not cookies.  Actually, I love to decorate cakes...especially with buttercream. I love a good buttercream and am on the hunt for the perfect recipe. I could live without fondant or even royal icing but a creamy, smooth buttercream can make or break a cake. My husband is thrilled with this cake baking as he can eat the leftover buttercream straight out of the bowl, however, as a diabetic...having leftover cake and buttercream in the house is not good for my pancreas!

This past weekend, we celebrated my grandpa's 80th birthday. My parents made a whirlwind trip out from Manitoba and we spent Saturday afternoon with most of the family, eating, laughing, eating, talking and eating. Delish!

I offered to bake the cakes this year as it is good practice for my brother's wedding next year, in which they have asked me to make their wedding cake. This will be the second wedding cake I've done and I'm nervous but since I have over a year to practice, I'm sure I'll be practically a pro by then!

Baking the rounds. We did 4 different flavors and 9 rounds. 

Mixing the buttercream

Crumb coating the first cake

Smoothing the buttercream

I think I need a smaller tip

Finished!

Mmm...Vanilla & Red Velvet Rings with a white chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream

Chocolate! 

My grandpa's birthday cake...the deer seemed fitting

Neapolitan with vanilla and strawberry mousse and chocolate buttercream

My mom enjoying her cake :) 

 Right now, this is just a fun hobby but we'll see where it goes. I was pretty excited to have signed up for a buttercream class through Chinook College but alas, it was cancelled last week as there was not enough people registered for it. So...I'll just keep practicing at home and maybe look into another course in the future. Maybe when life slows down a bit...HA!

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.

Our First One

As I sit here, at work, I am thinking about what how I should start and what I should write on this our first post... Should I be witty? Or smart? Or should I just leave it at "Hello and welcome to our blog."? The truth is I am not much of a writer, my wife says I am too "wordy" (which I get quite honestly from my father) and yet here I am being the first one to write a post. I guess the best way to start anything, whether it be a blog, a new job, or even a new friendship, is with an introduction. So without further "Apu" (extra points for those that caught The Simpsons reference) I would like to introduce you to your writers...

The writers on their Wedding Day

Crystal and Mick Boisselle. Now for those of you having trouble telling which is which, Crystal is the beautiful looking bride on the left and I am the good looking groom on the right. Man we clean up good. CliffNotes version of our lives so far: Mick is 32, Crystal is 31. We met in 2006 as a non-date-date night set up by mutual friends. In 2008 we took a very big step in our relationship and moved in together, not just moved in together in Calgary, but moved in together in another province. August 2008 brought us together even more as we got engaged. October 17th 2009 began our journey as husband and wife and in 2011 we bought our first home. As I write this we are in the middle of our next big journey, adopting a child.

Now the whole point of this blog is to help us put to "paper" our journey through not only life but some of the things we see along the way. The title of our blog came from combining our journey through adoption (babies), the love of renovating our house (basements) and of course our love of good times that involve food (BBQ's). We hope that you are very much entertained by reading this blog. You may laugh, you may cry, you may want to punch us in the face, but for sure you will find 2 people that are deeply in love and are wanting to share their lives with you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this first post and I hope you return often to see what we have been up too. In closing I leave you with this quote I found on adoption.

It has been said that adoption is more like a marriage than a birth: two (or more) individuals, each with their own unique mix of needs, patterns, and genetic history, coming together with love, hope, and commitment for a joint future. You become a family not because you share the same genes, but because you share love for each other.
Joan McNamara
Adoptive parent

Until Next time!