One Wild Week-end !

Yes....you read that right. I just got back from a wild great week-end.

Did I get your attention?

You're probably thinking - ohh...where did she go this time with hubs and the kiddies? Well, you'd be thinking wrong - sorry.

I was solo. Yep, alone. Just me (and about....oh.....40 or 50 other wild gals) on this cute little island in the middle of Lac St. Louis.

So....are ya still with me?

I went on a ladies retreat. Ever been to one of these? It's typically a time where you get away for some alone time, away from the hussle and bussle, do some soul searching, or thinking and praying and hopefully come back refreshed. Thus the name - retreat.

And if you're really lucky you get to hear some fantastic thoughts and sharings by a great speaker.

Bonus.

Well.......it was a powerful bonus for me.

The guest speaker was my dear, dear friend - Joanne Goodwin - whom I have known forever. (Here's her website link.) And man can she speak. From the gut with an arrow straight through to your heart. I used to be a public speaker and have sat through many speakers, preachers and more. Some are good, a few are great and a very few are blessed with a rare and wonderful gift from God.

Joanne would fall in the latter.

And then some.

She can make you almost pee (no really) your pants with a rare, bawdy humor and tear your heart out with such a poignant picture of pain and despair, then lift you up with a balm of encouragement and hope. Whew - it's just a gift.

And I share it with you.

She's just that good folks.

Joanne speaks all over North America so check out her website for her schedule and go catch her if you can. You can order audio CD's from her site and she has a DVD coming out. She will be a guest speaker on a Carribbean cruise in Jan and I think there are still a few spots left.

If you have ever wondered why bad things happen to you, why your kids are messed up and what can you do about it, is God really there and does he really care.......Joanne sheds new light on these not so new issues. I'm just waiting for her to write that book. I believe I've been nagging gently suggesting this for years.

So Joanne, get writing. (And umm....I want the first copy.)

And btw....... hubs and the kiddies?

Did.

Fab!

School's out....well....for a day.

Time to hit the park.

"oohhhh....looky here....it's a ladybug."

"umm....'xcuse me.....remember me? The cute little one.....I'm over here"


" 'k....that's better! "

" ooo....let's look over here. It's a little chapel."
" see, I know Mom wants me to stand here and say....cheese. She doesn't even have to tell me anymore. I'm just smart like that! "


" see that blurry background? Mom liked that........wide-open lens, she said....or something like that. "

"Oh, looky, looky....a really chubby...ummm......hmmm.....I don't know what to call that. And how odd, Mom's stumped too. Does anyone know what kind of duck,bird,waddling thing this is?"

" let me get a closer look."

"Ohh....impressive wing span."

"No, really, I just want to say hello."

"Awh...come on now."

"Stay.....I have treats."

"...'k....bye."

"Look at this cute little village. I knocked on all the doors. Nobody was home."

" Ahh.....beautiful swan loves sissy's Cheerios. Ssshhh.......she's napping in the stroller."

Ahem - Mom here. Check out the pattern on this black swan's feathers. I would love to design some fabric or wallpaper or something like that. I love it!

That's all. Just ignore me. Back to the cute kid talkin'.

" hmm....this one likes my sissy's cheerios too."

" Hey, sissy's awake. Let's rock 'n roll."

" Wheeeeeeee.....

....eeeeeee !"

" yah...ok....you're cute.....but Mom's gonna have to push you."


"So, Mom......when's the next school holiday?"

Mom will have to check the calendar.

:)

Wordless Wednesday

Forever Family Day - November 8, 2009
Dahlia - age 6

Milana - almost 2

5 Year Gotcha Day Anniversary !!!

My life was good!

I managed, despite some nasty weather, to find happiness wherever I looked.

And I've had a lot of fun and laughs along the way....

but there was always something missing.

I've been blessed with the ability to do just about anything I set my mind to (except speak French very well....ahem......let me not get waylaid but plunge ahead). But of all the things I've loved being able to do - nothing compared to being a mother.

And after many years

it finally happened.

Five years ago, I finally became a mother and Danny and I the parents to an adorable baby girl from Hunan, China. The girls from Hunan are nicknamed "spicy girls" and that's what we got.

One gorgeous, hot, spicy, spectacular, loving

daughter.

Happy Gotcha Day sweet Dahlia!

We love you with all our heart.

I had to make the trip alone (along with some special friends) and this is a few days before Gotcha day in Shanghai at the Yu Gardens. (Interestingly, the Yu Gardens are the sister garden to the Chinese Garden here at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. Kinda like that connection!

My friend Helen and I both took pictures of eachother and the empty cribs in our rooms the evening before we were receive the babies. We were just nervous Nellys the whole time.
I prayed over this crib - that my little one would know how much she was loved.
And here she is - next morning.

Same crib - filled with a little love thing. All soft and sweet (and scared and confused). She stuck to my cheek for about 2 hours after our first moments together. My little love.



Here I'm trying to get her to laugh so I can send Daddy a happy picture at home.

She was just a butter ball really.

Below is one of my favourite pictures. Here we are with Helen and Angelo and their daughter (Dahlia's BFF) Angel, from the same place. Poor Angelo really had two wives (without the

benefits) during this trip. I'll be forever grateful to them both for making that solo trip so much easier for me. Danny and I were both heartborken when his doctors told him he couldn't fly for a 6 month period and I'll never really know how hard that was for him to know I was there, meeting our daughter while he was home alone. It was difficult for me to be alone but it must have been unbearable for him. Dahlia's and Daddy's gotcha moment was at the airport in Montreal - 2 weeks later.

And this is 5 years later (this past August) at the same spot but with Danny this time and our two newest ones.

My beautiful Dahlia!

The little girl who made me a Mommy five years ago.

I'm so proud to call you my daughter,

my first born daughter.

And I love you so much - to the ends of the universe

and back, my love!

Had enough of Halloween yet?

Yes?

Awww......too bad....'cause I have yet more pictures to share.

Our "princess in training".




Belle face!
(please excuse me....I can't help it.)


Dahlia has been taking ballet since she was 3 and every Halloween they have a little dress-up show at the end of the lesson where we drooling, overly excited parents are allowed into the hallowed ground practice hall where our little giggling darlings strut their stuff.

Here (below), Dahlia is with her BF - Angel - who has taken lessons with her since the beginning.

Proud? Who....us?

(click on any picture to enlarge)

At the end of the little show, Milana was let loose and ran to her sister's arms. My heart just melts with these pictures.

...I gotcha, sissy.

Their ballet teacher gave out treats. Oh boy!

Sweaty, satisfied and happy - my little ballet princess whips off her tiara. She's done!

Let's go home, Mom.