Hello Again!!

Did you miss me when I was gone?

I missed you.

We had/have some pretty big happenings going on right now, and to be honest, at one time it was all I could do just to get out of bed
or breath
or even function
so my blog took a really sad back burner to everything.

Here I am trying to really quick catch you up on what happened in our lives since September.

We started school really successfully.  We love having neighbours who also homeschool because it sure makes our co-op classes fun!  This has been a great year for school.  Busy, but great.

While navigating school, we also needed to harvest our garden.  We got some super yummy stuff, and even managed to save seeds off things like tomatoes (above), peppers, tomatillos, and squash.

We also had a super yummy fondue with our friends.  Fried food.  Really, what could be better?!

Speaking of food....

DH is the YM president here in our branch, so for an activity he had the YM come out to harvest some chickens, ducks, a goat, and a goose.  All but 2 went in my freezer to feed my family this winter.  Those 2 fed the YM some super yummy tacos.

Then we had another harvest of chicken.  We have had 4 this year.  It feels good to know what my family is eating and to know that the animals are dealt with in a humane manner, and are loved and respected.

Plus home grown meat just tastes better!

We also had the super awesome experience in October to be part of our neighbours baptism.  What a special experience to go through the discussions and baptism with them!  It is amazing to be with them as they learn and grow.

We also acquired a puppy.  She has grown since this photo, but she used to be so little.  She is still just as bad though.  Eating my dresses is sport to her...they blow around so therefore are game!

And because we weren't busy enough, on October 30th we got a phone call for a new baby!!

He is a foster to adopt baby.  We got to bring him home when he was only 4 days old! We are currently fostering him until he either goes back to his mom, or he is adopted by us.  Obviously we love him to pieces and he is such a member of our family already.  We should know more by about May of this year if we get to adopt him or not.

Then the snow blew in.

Drifts as tall as our fence happened (which our dog loved because she could bark at everything from Waaaay up high, and our goats loved because they like to climb!) and we got snowed in for two days before we were finally able to be plowed out!

Although I can't complain because I got DH for the whole time!!  It's not often that you get to take a snow day at work!

I also read some amazing books for our book club.  

Having the temple so close gives me ample opportunity to attend at least once a month.  Reading these books has given me a new perspective and opened my mind to so many beautiful truths that previously I didn't think about.  It is amazing.  I love going, even when it is to do baptisms with my boys.  They constantly amaze me, and their dedication to going on a regular basis is inspiring.

I started taking a wonderful herbal course called "The Taste of Herbs" from Learning Herbs.  I am loving it!  I have also spent quite a bit of time playing with herbals and making new things, like the muscle rub above.

The muscle rub has come in handy after a massive accident that scared and really rocked our little family.  On December 11th, I was driving my 3 oldest to the city 1/2 hour away to attend a ballet.  We lost control on the ice and collided head-on with another truck.

That is my poor little Explorer.  I am so very thankful that I was driving a tank though, because even though we were on the highway, and we were in a head-on collision, we all are OK.

My oldest was flown to the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, AB.  He had fractures in his orbital bone, a brain bleed, a large laceration above his eye, and was being watched for possible brain damage.

I have spent many hours crying, praying, and thanking our Heavenly Father for our blessings.

My oldest was released after 4 days and is so much better.

The most amazing part?  I could literally see the hand of the Lord as he healed right in front of my eyes.  He is still struggling with his brain injury, but it is not serious.  He ended up having concussion like symptoms and is fully aware of how blessed he is to be alive and well.

We all have emotional trauma, but we are all fine.

We came home and had an amazing Christmas together.  It was wonderfully healing to just be together as a family and love and play together.
 

Also for Christmas, my BIL came down from Edmonton.  Everyone who comes from Edmonton, or is going past Red Deer knows that they should buy me donuts from the Donut Mill!  BFF status is secured this way!!

Not only did he remember, he brought me 2 dozen!!

I also got a necklace that gives me permission to be bossy at all times.

What?  You can't see where it says that??

The little portion that says, "be wise" is a joke.  One day a friend of mine told me that she would listen to what I had just said because I was "wise".  Her code for "bossy"!!  Since then it has become a joke to the women I know around here.  A friend found this in Saskatchewan and brought it home for me for Christmas.
Aren't my friend's amazing?!

Life here is good.  We have had a few bumps along the way.

We are still struggling through a pretty major bump.  But we believe that Heavenly Father has a plan for us.  He has something in store that he wants to teach us.  We are trying really hard to learn whatever that is.

I am going to try really hard this year to make this blog something of a journal of the bumps and learning opportunities along the way.  Posting recipes, book reviews, happenings, and blessings we receive this year.  Please bear with me as I fumble along this year, and please feel free to come along with me!

Cheers

pssst...hey, over here....

We are now "Alberta Approved" as adoptive parents!  Whoop Whoop!  Now comes the matching with a child or two or three...

.....pssst...

We passed another hurdle with our adoption process.
Now we just have to pass one more committee and we are on!
Can't tell you how excited we are! 

So close....

G's B-Day

Well.

Because we don't do friend parties anymore,  (whole 'nother story there!) birthdays seem to get spread out for a few days around here.  We usually give presents the weekend before the birthday, then do Tony Roma's (because that coupon is pretty nice), then cake on the actual day.

G's birthday is today so it is finally cake time.

He really wanted this robot cake.  Not my favorite cake (or subject), but he was thrilled!  Easy peasy and quick.

Cheers

BTW, we also had our first home visit with our adoption case worker today.  We think it went well.  (hopefully) So we are supposed to have a few more (she said maybe 5 or so) so it will take about 5 weeks or less.  Yay for finally getting this next part started!

Yesterday

I just had to share this.

Our house has been on the market for 3 months now.  It is not selling yet and I am getting really frustrated.  I want my farm so bad.

We have been in the process of adopting for a year now.  This is also frustrating as we are waiting for the government assessment to move us along...that is taking forever.  (for those who don't know, we are adopting older children already in foster care so it is a little different process.  For a bit more info you could go to this post)

Yesterday the house down the street that was priced the same as ours, looks like our house, but only had a few differences sold.  They didn't even come see our house. 

I was VERY upset.

I came home and was very unhappy.  A few hours later I had a phone call.  It was from our adoption case worker.  They want to come and see us in a couple weeks.  This is the visit that we have been waiting for. 

So, often I feel that somethings have to wait (our house selling I guess) for others to happen (our adoption visit).  I am really trying to be patient and take things on the Lords timetable, but sometimes that wait is just killing me!

Cheers

Adoption

Many of you have questioned what we are doing...sorry I have been obscure, but here is our journey so far.

This is our family now...we would like to add about 3 more kids. Yes, that would double our kids! :) (this pic is a year or so old...M is now 4 so he is bigger, and the others, but mostly M!) So here is a brief description of what we have done so far:

1. You have to research, research, research the best option for you and your family. There are so many different types of adoptions. You need to decide how old, how many, and what nationality. We opted for going through the Alberta Government as we would like to adopt older children, with the possibility of sibling groups. (there is actually a group that we would like that is not on the site anymore...we just really feel like they are "our" kids)

2. Going through the Government makes this step be filling out an application. Part of this process is getting criminal record checks, a check to make sure that CPS has not been called for you, and filling out paperwork. As part of this we also need to have personal references who also have to fill out a questionnaire about us. (6 in total)

3. We then had to go to a "Caregivers Training" class that was 21 hours of them telling us about the children that could come into the Gov't care. It is all about the legalities and kids that come into care.

4. Now we are at the waiting for our home assessment stage. We need to have the intake worker come and asses our home for the potential of having more children in our care.

5. After that we have more waiting and that is for the Board to approve us as parents. (Didn't have to do that for our natural kiddies! ha ha)

6. Then it is finding kids for us. We get "matched" to kids and then we accept more info or not. We can at this stage express interest in specific kids.

7. We get matched with kids. Then we get to be on "visitation" with them till they are ready to come home with us.

8. We have them in our home until the court decides that we are their parents. This is the last step until we have them as ours. This is the best part...after this, they are ours and we can be sealed for Time and ALL Eternity to them. It is exciting for our kids to think about that as well. They will come into the temple with us and witness...what a special experience that will be for us all to experience together!

So, as you can see, we still have a bit more to go. We are really hoping that this does not take the longest (they said the most would be about 3 years start to finish) time and that it will go fairly quickly. We are hoping and praying that this is the way it will happen.

Hope that answers all your questions. Please feel free to ask and I will try to keep you updated as we go through these steps. :)

Cheers

YAY!

We are DONE!! YAY! We (as you know) were at our "caregivers training" class this weekend. It was 22 hours of talking. zzzzzzz....

While most of the information would have been applicable had P and I not come from the families we did, we came from them and most of the information was repetitive. (and seemed longer as Sunday was our 12th anniversary!)

Our instructor was pretty enthusiastic and quite passionate about the material though, so that made it more bearable. :) We got split into groups quite a bit and that was a great experience. They split up couples so P and I were not together much. This was actually a good thing (and if you know us, really not that uncomfortable for us) as we got to meet and talk to lots of different people. Great learning from them.

There was a guy that used to live here when we were youth, I knew his sister. It was really nice having two people there that were coming from the same place. Sometimes I am hit with it over the head how we as members, really are a peculiar people. This was one of those times.
See the size of this book? (sorry the pic won't rotate) We did it all! That is why it takes so many hours. It is full of information...some useful, some not so much. Big though.

On another note...Several people I know have come down with H1N1. It is there, please be careful. We are trying hard not to get it in our house as well. Perry came home sick on Tuesday and was quarantined before he could spread it...seemed to work. Here is wishing you luck in this nasty flu season.

J

And We're Off...

...to our "Caregiver Training" classes. Another step in the adoption process.

These are going to take all our time for the next 3 days. Today it is from 6pm-10pm, tomorrow it is 9am-6pm and Sunday 9am-6pm as well! Whew!

See you after all our school! :) (its been along time since I had to sit for that long in a desk...)