Sleeping Beauty

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity.  I'm back to subbing and have been working a fair bit as of late and we have had numerous functions to attend.   Raina's naps are shortened on the days I work and she has had too many late nights in a row.  As a result she is exhausted!  Normally Raina awakens the moment I enter her room.  Not this time.  I managed to sneak downstairs to get the camera and snap more than 20 pictures!  Hopefully the rest of the week will be a little calmer.

Our New Shop

After more than 24 years of being self employed, Martin f.i.n.a.l.l.y. has a shop.  It is a project that has been planned for a very, very, very looooong time.  Of coarse the construction of this project could not have come at a more inconvenient time...as most of our projects do.  All our extra funds are currently going towards our adoption and this project really does not fit into our finances at the moment.  However, the contractor had already been hired prior to our decision to adopt and it is a business expense. 

We are so excited about this shop.  Now Martin can purchase and store extra materials and avoid delays due to his supplier being out of stock on certain items.  He should also be able to stock up on materials prior to another increase in prices...saving us money!  I can hardly wait to move all of Martin's business tools/equipment from the garage into the shop and hopefully gain a spot for my vehicle! 

I was fascinated by the construction of this building even though my dad was a framer and I have seen many buildings being built.  Things have certainly changed since then!  My nephew, Dylan, works for this company and it was the very first time he was responsible for lifting the rafters onto the roof...needless to say I was pretty impressed!

I imagine Worker's Comp. would LOVE to see this picture...but in all honesty the harnesses, etc that these workers are expected to wear are more of a hazard than a help.  I chuckled to see the owner of the company take calls on his cell while expertly balancing on a wall, all the while assisting in putting the rafters into place!

Perhaps what fascinated me most was that the first picture was taken the second day and this last one on day 5.  Impressive indeed!!!  I do believe we should always hire a contractor rather than trying to accomplish the job ourselves...it gets done in...well...lets just leave it at...WAY faster!!!

It's a boy!...(at least that's the plan)

For those of you still wondering what the last post is about...we are adopting again!  We are expanding our brood to 5!  We will be adopting a little boy from China!   We are all very thrilled and can hardly wait to bring him home!  Our agency expects us to have a proposal within a few months of having a Log In Date.



We only recently began the process and are still in the beginning stage...frantically getting all our paperwork ready.  Our criminal checks, medicals, child abuse checks have all been completed. For the most part the process is the same as a few years ago, however, we now need letters from each of our kids' teachers and a letter from each of our references.  Fortunately most of the info on our previous home study is the same, which will help speed up the process a bit.  We will likely need one more visit from our social worker and then our dossier can be sent to our agency.  As usual, this stage of the adoption process can not pass quickly enough!  Our kids are just as impatient...they insisted we needed to share our news NOW and not wait until we have a proposal.  Would you mind keeping us in your prayers?  Thanks a bunch!

Guess What??

It's official.  We have finally made the decision!  Can you guess what it is?

Sunday Morning

Have you ever wondered what little girls do to a grown man's heart?  I see it every day...when they run to the door shouting "Daddy, Daddy!", when Martin arrives home from work.  I see it every night as these two beauties are tucked into bed.  They erase the wrinkles caused by too much stress and sun and they soften an already soft heart and melt into a puddle of "I'll do anything for you!"...even paint your toe nails!

And Alex being the young man that he is, loves to do whatever his Dad does...and who can blame him?

PS:  Yes, I did allow my girls to go to church wearing all their "pretties".  They were wearing their jewlery before I had time to comb their hair and Icouldn't say no.  :)

You Know He Love You When...

You know he loves you when he buys you the CD you love but he hates!  And he lets you listen to it without complaint!

Yup! That's my hubby!  I really love the song "Today I'm Gonna Try To Change The World" by Johnny Reid.  It is one of those songs that makes me stop and think.  It makes me reassess what I value.  It makes me look past the end of my own nose and see the hurts and needs of others.  It makes me want to try to change the world...at least my little corner of the world.  I may mess up many times, but for today this is my goal.




The irony of it all is that my kids are the ones that have changed my world.  They have taught me to be more patient, to more gentle and kind, to fight for what is right, and to get back up and try again when I fail...and to love unconditionally!

Mother's Day

As usual I'm a bit late in posting.  It seems to have become the story of my life...always rushing to get things done on time.  I have begun to to just let things go and get to them when I can...and life is so much better for it!

I had the BEST Mother's Day EVER!  Some may shake their heads and wonder why after reading this post...but it's true.

I received two bouquets of flowers.  I LOVE, LOVE flowers!  It is one of the few unnecessary things I will actually buy for myself.

I was instructed to stay in bed, much to my delight! All my kids, let by Alex, came into my room carrying a gift for me.   Who can resist a Caramilk Chocolate bar presented by a wide eyed two year old...so not sure of what all the excitement is about.

Malia's gift was waiting for me at the kitchen table (the reason I didn't get breakfast in bed).  She made the sweetest place mat ever with her hand print and a cute little verse on it.

Morgun presented me with an invitation to the Grade 4's presentation of  Spring Fling and a beautiful card and fridge magnet with his picture in it.  The best gift from Morgun was the look of love in his eyes...he will certainly be wooing some girl with that look some day...so glad it's for me...for now!

And how could I not be tickled by the bath scrub sewn by my 12 year old, filled with homemade soap?!?  I loved it!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, going for a walk and napping.  I wasn't feeling very well...hmmm it seems to be a theme for me to be sick on Mother's Day...so it was a perfect day.  Martin had planned to BBQ chicken, but forgot to thaw the chicken, so he made a simple lunch instead.  Five years ago, I would have been ticked about this.  This year it really didn't matter.  I had all I wanted...my kids and hubby loving on me and making me feel special with all the little gifts and acts of kindness!  I LOVE how God is s.l.o.w.l.y. changing me for the better!  I suppose that is one of my gifts from HIM!

"I'm A Big Girl Now!"

My baby is potty trained...at least during the day!  Finally!  I have tried several times in the past few months and this time she got it!  I am not one to work on potty training for days or weeks at a time.  I find when my kids are ready, they "get it" by the second day...and that was the case with Raina as well.  She is so very proud of herself and loves the 2 chocolate chips she gets as a reward.  She loves wearing her big girl "unaware" and wants to wear them at bedtime as well...and she does...with a diaper underneath.  ;)

I'm really hoping this will help with the many soaked sheets I've been dealing with.  Every night I make sure Raina is wearing 2 diapers.   But, at least two or three times a week she has soaked through both diapers and her PJs...and that makes for a LOT of laundry!   I finally bought  the rubber pants for cloth diapers and that works well.  When Raina first began soaking her bed I thought the diapers I was buying were simply not as good a quality as I thought.  I even complained to Huggies and they sent me an apology and a coupon for a free box of diapers and some other coupons as well.  I eventually realized the diapers were not at fault.  Rather, her boots n' bar are at fault.  Because of them Raina sleeps on her back and does not move around a lot.  Therefore, everything collects at the back and soaks through...oops!  I feel kind of bad for complaining...

Spring Flowers

Malia bounded off the bus yesterday totally pumped, saying "Mom!  I have a surprise for you!".  She pulled a bunch of beautiful dandelions out of her backpack.  I couldn't help but smile.  Her eyes were sparkling and she had a huge grin on her face.

Needless to say, we will not tell her what a wonderful job our annual application of Curtail does...to her these flowers are pure gold! :)



On a side Note...I have no idea why my last 2 videos are not visible.  I even reposted one entire post.  I was able to view it when I checked into my blog as any reader would do, but a few hours later it was not visible...I am confused!  Any suggestions as to what is wrong??