Celebrate!

As you know, this past week we celebrated having Alex in our arms for one whole year.   To round off the week, we decided to have a Korean meal with Matt’s family.  Finally.  I’m ashamed to say that this is the first full Korean meal we have had since Alex was home.  But to our defence, there isn’t a store in Stratford that sells Korean groceries – the closest one is about 30 min away.  There also are no Korean restaurants.  Just a few corner stores owned by Korean families – and sometimes you can find treats like Korean soda or snacks there.  So yesterday morning, the three of us went to the small Asian market in Kitchener.  We got lots of goodies – kimchi, tempura mix, rice cakes, sweet red bean paste pastries, snacks, seaweed sheets and lots more. On the way home I gave Alex a small piece of the seaweed - let’s just say it isn’t his favourite thing to eat.  Matt thinks Alex thought it was punishment for something.  We will have him try it again someday…  I was hoping they might have some little toys there – but no such luck.  Guess I will have to order Alex Pororo toys from eBay.

So our meal was as follows:

Apps
Onion Ring snacks
Korean sweet cakes
Tempura prawns

Main Dish
Kimchi
Korean sticky rice
Sweet and Sour Pork (from this book - don’t include the egg in the sauce if you try this recipe – it has to be a typo)
Bugolgi (Matt’s mom brought this)

Desert
Sweet red bean pastries (the fish shaped ones)

Everything turned out amazing!  We used our Korean pottery, chopsticks, and placements - all bought in Insadong market.  I downed my kimchi, Alex loved the bugolgi, rice and pork, but unfortunately the pastries were not Matt’s favourite.   We have a lot of leftovers – yum! We won’t wait for another year to make a dish or two – that’s for sure.

A family for 1 year!

As of today, Alex, Matt and I have been together for a full year!  Thinking back, I get overwhelmed at what an emotional day it was.  It truly was heartbreaking leaving the SWS after seeing how much Alex’s foster mom loved him – and we knew how much she was going to miss him.  Some of you commented about the hug Alex, his foster mom and I shared in our flashback show - it was a real special moment.  I had to cut that very short, because those of you who have been there know how personal that can be.  I wanted to share it with all of you since you have been with us on our journey – but at the same time, I wanted to keep it private (so you got a glimpse before the tears started flowing).   

We didn’t do much tonight to celebrate, just some extra special cuddles at bedtime.  This weekend we will be having a homemade Korean meal (wish us luck), and perhaps a treat or two for Alex.  I wish we had tacken a new family shot tonight – but Alex is coming down with a cold, and I’m getting over one, so tonight wasn’t the best for photos - this weekend for sure. 

Since I’ve been doing photo flashback, here are a couple from one year ago today. 

 

After!

 

Love this pic - even though it is blurry. (silly flash)

Wordless Wednesday

Hockey Day in Canada…

and Stratford!  Yesterday was Hockey Day in Canada – a day where Canadians celebrate our national sport – hockey.  Each year, a different location across the country is chosen to host the big day, while most communities also celebrate with local events.  This year – Stratford was the host city – and that is our home town!  So all week there have been events going on around town, the stores downtown were all decked out in hockey colours, with blue and yellow ribbons and there was a real buzz in the air as hockey celebrities descended on Stratford.  On Friday I went to get my hair done and it just so happened that the salon had given out an invitation to Don Cherry & Ron Maclean (hosts of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada) to have spa services done – and the CBC came in to interview the salon owner.  I had colour on my roots at the time, so luckily I was hidden from view of the cameras (although they did catch my boots at one point).  Matt went skating with his school with hockey celebs and his uncle Dean, a local author, was interviewed about Howie Morenz, the Stratford Streak, a famous Hab. 

So yesterday, in the -18C weather, we  got bundled up and went down to the festivities.  It was pretty cool to see, but it was way too COLD to stay around very long – especially since most activities were outside.  There was a lot of ice skating on the river, you could have your picture taken with the Stanley Cup, or you could watch hockey all day long.  After about an hour we went back home and watched the rest of Hockey Day on tv…. and played mini sticks.

 

When you wish upon a star…

… your dreams can come true.  And ours certainly did.  

One year ago today we met our son.  It still seems surreal that we travelled around the world and were blessed to be able to bring home the most amazing and beautiful little boy.   This year has been the best year ever (although I really could have done without teething and H1N1).  We have learned so much – and it is amazing how much love you can have for someone.  I can’t wait to watch Alex grow into a young man… I know it will happen in a blink of an eye – and that saddens me, but it also reminds me to enjoy every second we have with Alex because he truly is a wish come true. 

Here’s a little video I put together of our trip to Seoul, meeting Alex, our Forever Family Day, and then our trip home.  I hope you like it.

 

What a Week!

Seriously – what a week!  On Wednesday I mentioned that we had an offer accepted on a house Monday, Tuesday we listed…  Since then we have had our financing approved, and last night we sold our house! We are in total shock at how quickly things have moved. Mind you we are very happy things are actually working out as planned.  So we are looking at new appliances, a vacuum (we have central vac here), pricing of a fence, and so much more.  So we should be fully moved in by March 19.  We are really going to miss this place – it is an awesome home, with great neighbours, but it is time to move on to a new project.

On the home study front, we have decided to delay meeting with our AP until mid March.  Our AP is so sweet – she sent us all the paperwork so we can get it all ready to go, then when we finally meet, it won’t take as long to process.  She most likely will have paperwork done by mid April – amazing woman!  This way we can focus on the home study – and not get too over whelmed with moving and  home study paperwork at the same time.

One Year Ago…

We left for the most amazing adventure of our lives.  You can reread about it here.

Busy? Understatement

Sorry for being MIA from the blogging world the last week (really, the last few weeks… or is it months?)  But a lot has been going on around here. 

First of all, we hopefully will be moving in March.  We have been looking at houses for a few months now, wanting a single family home (we are in a semi), and perhaps something in the country with a little property.  Last week we found something, not rural, but a single home within our price range, that is only 2 years old.  And it is so cute! So we have an offer in, and it has been accepted… but we have to sell our place first! We listed it last night, and already have had interest (should be seeing an offer tonight!).  We have been decluttering, boxing things up and staging in general (thank goodness for all those TLC shows).  I’m really going to miss this place, but I think it is time to move on.  We said we would live here 5 years, and we are in our 6th.  The new place has a lot of potential, and there are some really nice people in the new neighbourhood.  I’m really going to miss our current neighbours though (luckily I work with a couple of them!).

Secondly, the night we were finalizing our offer on the new house, I got an email that stated we could start working on our homestudy! Seriously – an hour before we were signing our offer, and getting our house listed…  While we are super excited to start the process to Alex’s brother or sister… it was a big shock.  We were expecting this summer to start, but since the Ministry of Child and Youth Services is taking about 17 weeks to process applications (it was only 8 weeks when we adopted Alex), we were advised to start earlier.  So, now we are talking to our adoption practitioner about a possible start date.  I’m hoping to start in March.  I think February is going to be too busy with packing etc., and we want her to evaluate us in our new home (fingers crossed!).

Little man Alex has also been keeping us on our toes.  He is faster than the speed of light it seems, and lots and lots of fun.  His newest obsession (besides trucks) is hockey.  Which is perfect for Matt…. and the fact that Hockey Day in Canada is being hosted in Stratford this weekend!  Should be fun.  He is also now taking swimming lessons on Sunday morning.  Pics coming this weekend.  We’ve been battling some very dry skin on Alex’s throat – and since he likes to scratch, we are not winning the fight.  Actually hydrocortizone cream has been helping quite a bit. 

So there you have it.  Where were are right now.  So much for Wordless Wednesday.  Another post coming later too!!  I guess I’m making up for lost time.

 

Wordless Wednesday

For Haiti

A quick post tonight. 

I just made a donation to CanadaforHaiti - just a drop in the bucket, but every bit helps.  It breaks my heart hearing the stories, seeing the pictures.  I just can’t imagine.   As a crafter, I wanted to share a  link to yet another great fundraiser for the Haiti effort – Craft Hope.  It’s an etsy shop and all proceeds will go towards Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.  So… if you have a birthday coming up, an anniversary, or just want to buy yourself a present, look here first.   Once they reopen donations for items, I’m planning on donating one of my brooches (every bit helps right?!)

We can make a difference.