Is February finally gone???? Thank Goodness!

February 2012 was awful.

I needed to step back, take a break and re-evaluate which is why I haven't been blogging of late.

My dear, sweet, kind, feisty, lovable Grandma passed away.


We were close. Very close.

Growing up I probably spent close to every day with her except when we lived out of town. After school I would go to her house until my mom was done work and could pick me up to take me home. We would sit and watch t.v. together and argue over the news. We always had differing opinions on everything so it was always enjoyable to get into heated debates with her. There is probably no one else on the earth who could challenge me like she did...and get me riled up the way she did too.

Even as an adult, we talked every week. I tried to see her every week too but sometimes it was hard and it would only be a couple times a month. She loved Yvan. I think more than she loved me and she always told me how lucky I was to have found him. She was right.



She prayed hard for our adoption to go through as well. She would always say she just couldn't understand why it was taking so long and why they were keeping our babe from being in our arms where he most needed to be. She was beside herself with joy the day we came home with Ade.

She was fiercely protective of her kids and grand kids (great grand kids too) and her world revolved around family. Many holidays were planned with Grandma involved because we just all liked to be together.

The last month before she died I was privileged to be able to spend almost every day with her and to tell her how much I loved her. Her family came to be by her side in her last days and she was so happy to have them all there.

I was very honored to be able to say the Tribute to her at her funeral. It was incredibly hard to put her 88 years into words. I did my best to honour the little lady who was so special to so many. She always said she was so lucky to have us as her family but the truth is, it was us who were so unbelievably lucky to have her as our Matriarch.

I miss her terribly. I always will. As a friend so eloquently said, "the longer someone is in our lives, the more we miss them when they are gone."

My grandma had been in my life since the day I was born.

Wordless Wednesday

He's 3!!!!!!!

Who can believe he is 3??! And has been home a year?!!

We can't!

Where did the year go??????

We threw our wee, little man a party to celebrate turning 3 and being home with us for a year! Our fantastic family and friends came over to help us celebrate which made it even more special for him and for us!

Chillin' the night before the big party!

Opening a special gift from a special little friend in Calgary :)

My first ever attempt at a birthday cake! I'm quite proud of how it turned out!



A little overwhelmed by all the people singing "Happy Birthday" but he had a blast and got to play with so many of his favourite little friends!

The Cold is in the House

And I'm talking the kind that takes root in your head.

Just underneath your eyes and nose.

The kind where your nose feels so stuffed out that your eyes might pop out.

The kind that makes you cough until you feel like you can't breathe.

It has taken 2 out of 3 of us down.

Thankfully Wee Man is o.k. but he is rampant upon his two sick parents.

Will continue the one year reflections of Ethiopia soon.

Inflight Entertainment or Ade's First Christmas?

I could regale you with stories from our 13 hours in the air enroute to Dubai but I'm not that mean. I would hate to bore you with 13 hours of nothingness.

I won't bother telling you that Yvan slept almost the whole flight and I spent the entire time fighting off the hand of the guy sitting on the other side of me. I won't mention that he tried to grab my ass pretty much the entire flight and covered it up by pretending to be asleep. There will be no stories about how said guy never spoke a word to us unless Yvan got up and went to the washroom. Then the "ass-grabber" told me all about himself and how if I liked he would give me his number and he could show me around Dubai while we were there. Not sure how that would have worked since MY HUSBAND would have been there too.

Anyways, instead of telling you THAT story....I will show you pictures of Ade's first Christmas with us instead.

It is a much happier story!!! I will title the story.....

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!

Christmas Morning - having our oatmeal.

Coffee on the couch with Daddy. He still doesn't understand the presents under the tree are for him so he isn't even interested in them....YET!

Opening his stocking.

Ooooooh! What's in here?

There's more?????

Brunch with Yvan's family (missing his sis and her hubs - they joined us later)

Post present opening disaster area!

Playing choo-choo trains

Helping Grandpa open his gift :)

Riding his new car!

It Takes 3 Flights to Get to Ethiopia

And Janaury 10th, 2011 at 3:15p.m. we boarded the first of those 3 flights on our way to Ethiopia and to our son, Ade.

One year ago we embarked on the greatest journey of lives to date.

If you recall we received our long-awaited, much-anticipated, highly-stressed-over Visa for Ade on December 28th, 2010. I woke up to an email from a friend who was in Addis Ababa and had been with our representative over their when she picked up our visa. She knew the CAFAC office was closed for the holiday season and she didn't want us to wait one more day to find out Ade was finally ours to go and get.

I screamed when I opened the email and read the words, "I'm thrilled to tell you this, - ADE'S VISA IS IN!!!!!!!" .

I yelled to Yvan and my mom that Ade's visa was in and then started to weep! All the worry, waiting and wondering came rushing out in one swoop as I cried and cried and cried! Yvan and my mom encircled me with their arms and we all cried together.

The next 2 weeks were spent finishing up packing Ade's bags and getting our bags packed as well. List were checked and re-checked. Calls were made, work was organized and soon it was time to leave.

But wait! What about flights you ask? Well, Yvan and I had taken a leap of faith before Christmas and had booked flights on December 23rd. Something told both of us we it was time to go to Ethiopia and not leave Ade waiting any longer. So, flights, well, they had already been waiting for us!

January 10th, 2010 was a Monday. We had most of our bags packed with just a few last minute things left to go in. We had a couple of things to run and get and one might think we were unorganized but this was probably just to keep us from sitting and pacing at home until it was time go.

We were both so nervous and emotional. We knew life as we knew it was about to change big time. As we zipped up our bags and hauled them all downstairs to the back door, I started to cry. It was here. The time had come. We were going to Ethiopia. Going to meet our son. Become a family.

Yvan gave me a big hug and told me to take a deep breath. It was all going to be o.k.

As we waited for Yvan's dad to pick us up, we talked about our past life together and how the future was going to change. We imagined what it was going to be like to see Ade for the first time and how he and we would feel in that moment.

I cried all the way to the airport. The rest of Yvan's family met us at the airport to see us off. I cried the whole time. I cried all the way through security and while we waited to board. It must have been the last 18 months of stress and waiting working itself out. It was also excitement, fear, happiness, uncertainty and so much more.

I settled down as the plane took off and we relaxed back into our seats and held hands.

When we landed in Toronto we made our across the airport to the International area of the terminal for our flight to Dubai. We had booked to fly on Emirates airline through the UAE with a one night stay over in Dubai. Just weeks before we travelled, the UAE had put a new Visa rule in place for Canadian citizens but luckily since we were travelling with Emirates they would sponsor us.

However, we had not been told how to pick up our visa, hotel voucher and food vouchers for our stay in Dubai. (Emirates pays for your hotel and food when you are on a layover.) The first boarding agent wasn't very helpful at all and told us she couldn't help us and we would have to go back outside of security to the front desk to collect our papers. Boarding had just been announced and I panicked thinking we were going to miss our flight. Yvan managed to talk to someone else who was kind enough to radio and have someone bring our documents to the gate.

Whew!

We boarded the A380 (which holds 500 people, has a first class with suites, and business class with flat-beds and an economy class with the night sky on the ceiling!) It is absolutely the biggest airplane either of us have ever been on. Yvan and I marvelled at the smoothness and quietness of it as we took-off into the night sky.

13 hours later.....we landed in Dubai.