Caught in the act . . .

Mmmmmm, chocolate pudding!!!





Notice the second pudding cup on the table just waiting for when she's done that first one . . . . ummm, I don't think so!

11 years ago today . . . .

. . . . I was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by the worst nightmare ever. After the blur of phone calls, ambulance, hospital sounds and smells, my Dad was pronounced dead. He died peacefully in his sleep from unknown causes . . . still unknown to this day. He had a complete physical only days prior to this and was completely healthy.

I’ve constantly missed my Dad over the years . . . sometimes more than others. He wasn’t there when Mike and I announced our engagement. He wasn’t there to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. He wasn’t there to hold our newborn daughter. He wasn’t there to hold our newborn son. He wasn’t there to celebrate when Samara was placed into our arms. He wasn’t there when we bought our first home or moved to our second home. He wasn’t there when we needed a handyman or needed advice about something. These are the times I’ve missed him the most. What a fun and loving Grandpa he would’ve been to the kids. I’m saddened by the fact that the only way my kids will know their Grandpa is by pictures and stories they hear about him.

BUT I also know that none of these things matter because by the GRACE of GOD, he’s in a place far greater than anyone could ever imagine. AND someday we will be together again. I can’t imagine living without the promise of EVERLASTING LIFE.

Miss you Dad!

Six months . . .

. . . and waiting.

Austin and his sisters

Austin's a pretty lucky guy. Some people grow up not having a sister at all and he has TWO! He may not always think he's lucky but at times like these, I'm thinkin' he loves it. These girls can't resist cuddling with a handsome brother like Austin.

10K Run

On Saturday morning I laced up my shoes to head out and run my first ever 10k race.

To give a little bit of history, back in July or August I joined a running group of women as a way of keeping myself motivated to run. At that time there were five of us and now the group has grown to nine women with another member joining us next week. I'm so glad my friend Michelle convinced me to join even though I originally told her there was no way I could get up that early in the morning to run. If anyone knows me, you'll know that I am SO NOT a morning person. This group runs at 5:30 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, meaning I have to get up at 5:00 am at least. Crazy? Maybe! But oh so worth it.

As some of you know, I have run a few 5k races over the past year or so and I always said I had no interest in running a 10k. But since everyone else was doing it . . . talk about peer pressure eh?? Due to my recent breathing/reflux issues, I wasn't even sure if I could do it so I left it until the last minute and finally signed up three days before the race. I'm so glad I did . It was a great feeling to actually complete a 10k race!

Here we are before the race began. The sun was shining but the wind was chilly. See how cold we all look?

Here's a picture of Deb and I halfway through. We kept each other company the entire 10k.

Here I am finishing up the race - don't I look thrilled??

And here we all are again after finishing the race. I think the after picture is much better than the before picture! See the sense of accomplishment on our faces?

Thanks TPTW Ladies! It's been a pleasure running with you all. See you all bright and early tomorrow morning. Yawn!

Our Three Little Goblins

And thus ends another halloween night. The kids had a lot of fun as usual - got to bed late with bellies full of goodies! Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to try to get them off to school.

The pictures didn't turn out that great but here they are all dressed up.

Our heaven sent angel:

Our ferocious lion:

Our hunka hunka burnin' love:

And here they are all together:

Pumpkin Patch

The kids had no school on Thursday and Friday so we headed out to the pumpkin patch with my sister-in-law and her kids on Thursday morning. There was so much to do and we probably would have stayed a lot longer if the weather wasn't so cold!

The Wait

As many of you know, and many others of you don't know (but can probably imagine), waiting for a referral (picture and information about your child) is one of the most difficult parts of adoption. When you begin the process of adoption, you are told by your agency what your approximate timeline will be. This, however, is subject to change and most likely will . . . that's been our experience anyway.

When we started the process for Samara, we were told that we would wait for six months before getting a referral. As we got closer to the six month mark, the timelines changed and we were told it would be more like eight months. Eight months quickly turned into ten months which turned into a year and eventually we had waited for 15 months before we saw Samara's sweet face for the first time. I know that doesn't sound very long for those of you that are waiting to adopt from China currently but when you're told six months, then 15 months is a long time.

Now I'm wondering what's going to happen this time around. When we started our homestudy, the wait to receive a referral for an infant boy from Ethiopia was 2 - 4 months. That changed to 3 - 5 months and then we heard it would take at least six months. People are now waiting seven months for a referral of an infant boy from Ethiopia and we've been told to count on at least eight months. That brings us to January but having been there, done that, I think I'll count on next spring.

Having said all that, I'm happy to report that I'm still feeling content and at peace with the wait. I don't know if it's because we've been through it all before . . . but whatever it is, I'm glad I'm not as anxious as I was the first time around. I know that it's all in God's capable hands and that we'll get our referral at the exact time we were meant to. Samara fits into our family so well and I know that's why we waited as long as we did last time. I know we'll be waiting the exact amount of time we need to this time too so that the child God already has picked out for our family will be ready at that exact time.

So for all those who are wondering . . . that's where we're at. We appreciate your continued prayers and support.

Five Months!!!

Woo hoo! Our file has officially been in Ethiopia for five months as of today. What does that mean? Nothing really . . . just another month down and a little closer to seeing the face of our precious little one.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We headed up to Keene to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Carmody as is our tradition. We never know what the weather is going to be but this year it was amazing. We spent the entire weekend outside and had a great time. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Last fishing outing of the year. The kids caught a variety of fish this time instead of just sunfish. Very exciting!

The kids were excited to paint pumpkins with Grandma again.

The finished product:

Rolling races down the hill:

Celebrating Daddy's birthday:

A nice walk with Grandpa:

Sleeping Beauties

Mike and I always peek in at the kids before we go to bed. Victoria and Samara share a bedroom and most nights can be found sleeping peacefully in their own beds. This particular night, however, Victoria asked if she could sleep on the floor. I don't usually like this but wasn't in the mood to argue about it and so she was allowed. When we checked in on the kids later that night, this is what we found:

We assume Samara somehow fell out of bed even though she has a bedrail. It was a little freaky to walk in and see her face down (which is how she still loves to sleep) on the floor and we both rushed to check if she was breathing! Thankfully she's a deep sleeper and we could just pick her up and tuck her back into her own bed. (Obviously Victoria's a fairly deep sleeper too cause she doesn't wake up when the bright camera flash goes off in the dark room!)

Photo Session

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were playing outside while Mike was away somewhere and I thought I'd snap a few photos of them together. It's super hard to get a picture of three kids looking at the camera with all their eyes open and no one squirming. So when I realized that these turned out pretty good, I thought I'd make it into a birthday present for Mike. I found a cool frame and had the pictures printed in sepia tones. It turned out really nice and Mike loved it.

Here's a picture of the gift:

Here are a few of the pictures in colour:

Happy Birthday . . .

. . . to the greatest husband and dad in the world!

Future Runners

I guess the kids were taking it all in on Sunday morning at the Run for the Cure because they decided to have their own running race in the afternoon. Victoria made numbers for all three participants and away they went. They even ended up adding hurdles. I think they got that idea from the Olympics because trust me, I have never done hurdles . . . unless you count stepping over piles of laundry in one room, toys in another room, etc.

Whenever I come home from running, Victoria and Austin beg me to go for a run with them too. If we have time, I will run around the block a few times with them and they love it. I think it would be neat to participate in the Run for the Cure every year and then when they are older, I would love to participate with all of us as a family.

What am I saying? By that time, we will have beaten this dreadful disease and there won't be such a thing as a Run for the Cure right?

Here are my little runners in training:

Run for the Cure

We headed out to Burlington this morning so I could participate in the 2008 CIBC Run for the Cure. I didn't sleep at all last night and to be honest I was really dreading the run. I've had some stomach/gallbladder/reflux/breathing issues lately and will be going for some tests this month and so I haven't been running as much lately. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to complete the run today and assumed I would walk a large portion of it. However, once we started, it wasn't so bad. Before I knew it we were at the 3k mark. Once I hit the 4k mark, I knew I was in the home stretch. It all went by really fast and I actually felt really good. I completed it in just over 30 minutes (which is two minutes faster than last year even). Not sure how that happened but perhaps it was the cute cheering section. I love it when I run by the kids and their little hands are out ready to give me a high five. It just gives me that extra burst of energy I need to finish the race.

Thanks to everyone who supported this cause in one way or another.