Green Gum Drops

Well, thank you!

To each and everyone of you who commented or sent me an email or a message on Facebook.

I appreciate it.

My motivation to blog has been renewed by your thoughts, advice and encouragement.

When I started my blog it was to document our journey to Ade as well to connect with others who were building their families through adoption.

It has been a positive experience and I want to keep going with it.

I have made some lifelong friendships.

Sometimes I hesitated telling the good, the bad and the ugly.

I don't want anyone to think everything is "happy, happy, joy, joy!" all the time.

Because it isn't.

But it isn't all doom and gloom either (it seemed that way to me for while).

It's real life.

The happy, sad, hard, fun, trying, amazing chronicles of....

Our life!

And yes, as someone kindly reminded me...it's my blog and I can blog about anything I want.

Even green gum drops!

See you soon!

Meeting Great Blogger Friends

Since I started blogging 3 1/2 years ago, I have had the pleasure of "meeting" some really fantastic people.

I put "meeting" in quotations because a great deal of these people live far away in another city, province or country and I have not met them in person.

Most of the time the friendships have been "online" friendships which have grown from following each other's blogs.

Some people I have started emailing regularly with and on the odd occasion the friendship has moved to a "we talk on the phone" friend.

Talking on the phone friendships are special to me because it seems in this day and age no one talks on the phone anymore. They email or text but don't actually converse and hear the sound of each other's voices. It makes me a little sad.

The best part of these "cyber" friendships is when I get to meet someone in person. And for the most part when I meet that person they are just as lovely if not lovelier than I imagined.

There is always an element of "Will we have something to say to each other?" when we meet. Looking into someones eyes and actually seeing their facial expressions can be intimidating.

Plus if the person you are meeting doesn't have a blog or doesn't post pictures there is always the "I pictured you one way and you are totally different from that image."

And a photo or series of, does not truly represent who someone is as meeting them does. I mean meeting someone allows you to see them in action.

Right here where I live some of those friendships have grown quite close and I am so thankful for that.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting a person I have "known" for a while. For the life of me, I can't remember how we started following each other's blogs. It seems as though she was just always there. We moved to emailing and again not sure how that happened but if I don't get an email from her every couple of weeks I feel sad.

One day she called me. She took a leap of faith, picked up the phone and dialed my number. I'm pretty sure she wasn't expecting to get the crazed, crying gal on the other end but she did. She could have said "I'll call you another time" and hung up, never to be heard from again. But she didn't. Instead she listened to me talk about my post adoption depression and she let me get it all out.

And she was there for me over the last few months as I dealt with it.

It seemed only right that we meet. And so we did. And it wasn't awkward at all. Oh sure, there is that initial "Will this turn out o.k." fear. But when we opened the gate to her house she was there, arms open, waiting with a giant hug and I knew it would be o.k.

Plus our toddler boys fell instantly into like with each other.

So thanks Tova, for being my friend. It is a pleasure and an honour to know you and to have not just you but your entire family! And over Sushi to boot!!!!

A Little Privacy Would be Nice

I have been toying with the idea of taking this blog private but have decided against it because I like the idea that maybe we have "helped" someone find their way to adoption somehow....however, I do have some thoughts I need to get out and you have all been such a great lifeline for me....and I do miss being able to let loose on my keyboard whenever I have too much going on in my head to contain it without going a little crazy.

So many of you have been here for us cheering for us for so long that I would like to share some of what is going on with us but I don't feel comfortable just putting it all out there for just anyone to read....

I thought about starting a new blog but honestly I am having a hard time with keeping two blogs up - since my second one was the Project 365 blog and it has now gone bust because of a lot of emotional turmoil over the last couple of weeks - I have decided to use that one as my "I need to vent but don't want the whole world to read it" blog. I can password protect certain posts and get my thoughts out of my head and maybe get some advice back from you all.

So, if you are interested in reading some of those protected posts - send me an email (see the right side of the blog for my email if you don't have my personal one)

I have set some general guidelines as to who would qualify and you should be able to say "Yes" to at least ONE of the items listed below to get the password (not so hard right):

1. We have emailed previously more than - oh let's say 5 times.
2. We have talked on the phone more than 6 times
3. You have been to my house
4. I have been to your house
5. We have been emailing for months and months venting, ranting, crying, laughing...
6. You have allowed me into your private blog to share your story (thanks to those who have :)
7. I was born to you or someone close to you
8. We have been friends for a really, really, really long time
9. I have cried in front of you and vice versa.
10. We have gone for coffee, tea, lunch, supper together more than 4 times
11.. You have been following our blog forever ( and it seems like forever) and commenting and supporting us that way...well I probably "know" you....

Now, as I said you don't have to qualify for all of these items but you get my drift - if you are someone who has been reading my blog but has never, ever commented or come out of the woodwork to email me personally (because you might be to shy to comment on a blog) than I probably won't give you the password.

But if we have been sharing our stories thru blogs, emails, phone calls etc. and supporting one another than send me an email...but only if you wanna :)

I will still be blogging here because this is our main blog about our journey to family!

Much love!

P.S. Oh and you will find the link to my other blog on the right side as well - it will take me a couple of days to get this all sorted.

*Edit - if you want to leave your email in the comment section that works too - I will delete it so not everyone sees it!

Julie and Krista I have your email addresses already!