Well, I finally have the date for my medical procedure, April 10. I was told it would be within six months and sure enough, April is the 6th month. While I go between panic and calm, for the doctors it is a routine, and a straightforward procedure, not surgery, but not without risk...for me, there are different emotions. I worry about me, I worry about Matteo. I would worry if I wasn't worried, but know this is normal to feel this way. It is fitting that it will take place so close to Easter, a time of renewal, rebirth and in some ways it will be, maybe the beginning of rebirth and renewal for my family.
I hope after this is in our past, we can move forward to the birth of another family member. So for now, I pray, and I celebrate another Easter with a deeper understanding of renewal and rebirth.
I'm not sure if I'll post until after, but will not make that decision.....there are a number of posts I've started but have not finished...the heart has not been moved to write, until now. So if you are reading this, say a little prayer for me, for us, that all goes well and life begins again.
Happy Easter and may your renewal and rebirth bring you to a deeper faith and a deeper meaningfulness of life's mysteries and miracles.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Catalyst Foundation Culture Camp
If all goes well Matteo and I will attend this culture camp this summer. We have registered and hope that all falls into place in the next few months. It is not only a camp for children adopted from Vietnam and their families but it is also a fundraiser to help build schools in Vietnam. The camp is in the US and there are a number of families from Canada heading down this year. We heard very good things from last year's camp and I am open to trying it to see how Matteo does. I'm a bit concerned as he sometimes warms up very quickly to new people and situations and at other times he doesn't.
The camp is only 3 days so hopefully in either situation we'll be fine. If you'd like more information on the camps and/or are thinking of donating to a worthy cause, you can read more information about the organization and the camps here.
Catalyst Culture camp
The camp is only 3 days so hopefully in either situation we'll be fine. If you'd like more information on the camps and/or are thinking of donating to a worthy cause, you can read more information about the organization and the camps here.
Catalyst Culture camp
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Family day....
This year family day was spent in the warm comfort of home with a pot of meat sauce simmering and then a great meal of comfort food...gnocchi.....had hoped to make even the gnocchi home made but that was not to be. We had such a busy weekend that when it came to Monday, realized that just spending the day alone and together was just the thing for family day.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Chúc mừng năm mới - Part 2, 3, 4.
Well it has been a busy few weeks....this post will mostly be photos to remember how we continued to celebrate Tet how we could...I managed to do a bit more clean up as that is an important part of preparing for the new year...also had our fruit offering to our ancestors...for Matteo I had an empty frame and hope at some point to find the right photo to add...still not sure on that......
This year we had a New Year's eve dinner party with Matteo's godparents and a student from Thailand who is living with us. (We definitely enjoyed this and will do it again) I had decorations from the year I was waiting for Matteo and they were featuring tigers (Matteo's year of birth)....Matteo loves the tassels...the tablecloth, which just happened to have snakes on it, is from Nepal, a gift from one of my sisters who viisted a family friend there....and I decided to order Thai food for all of us...I know I know, Thailand celebrates new year's the same as most western cultures, but I have not had success with the Chinese delivery options in the neighbourhood, though we have fabulous restaurants around....so for this year it was the choice...and then the student K. ended up making gold bags (basically spring rolls made into little pouches) stuffed with shrimp, pork, mushrooms etc....I managed to get the photo below before they were wolfed down by everyone. They are supposed to bring good luck...and I learned how to make them. K. is a certified Chef here to learn English and possibly at one point open her own Thai restaurant. We are fortunate to have her here, but more on that later. One other detail, the mango mouse cake was a New Year's cake with a Fish, another symbol of good fortune in the new year. So all in all everyone had fun, the children got lucky money and we even had leftovers to enjoy the next day.
The next set of photos is of the dragon parade held in Chinatown, a few blocks from home, in conjunction with celebrating Lunar new year and Winterlude which is the festival on now in Ottawa, to celebrate winter. It was a crisp day with beautiful sunshine. There were multiple dragons with costumed individuals dressed as all of the other new year figures from the Asian calendar....there were also two figures, an old man and woman, will have to find out who they represented. Matteo loved the dragons, and so did I.
The final couple of photos are of a dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant with other families who have adopted....and thankfully S. took a picture of me and Matteo as I took very few. And unfortunately when we were trying to get photos of all the children together, Matteo did not cooperate. I made the mistake of giving him my iphone to watch some thomas just as we were finishing dinner and he was climbing on and off the chair, and I wanted to try to do some socializing and finishing of my dinner...though I still seem to eat too fast....anyhow I forgot that once he has that phone in his hands and thomas, it is hard to unwind him from it...and/or it is just par for some of the challenges with challenging behaviour we've been having...that I'll leave for another blog...for now, I was happy that we tried different things to see how we feel comfortable celebrating Tet...loved that it spanned a couple of different weekends. Some of what we did this year we'll repeat and then also try other things, but one thing is for sure, we will continue to celebrate as it is great having a mid winter festival to celebrate and look forward to during the dark months of Jan/Feb. and March. Additionally this is also symbolically the beginning of Spring and after the cold winter we're having, that warmth is also great to celebrate and look forward to......so Happy New Year to all of you! Welcome Spring!
This year we had a New Year's eve dinner party with Matteo's godparents and a student from Thailand who is living with us. (We definitely enjoyed this and will do it again) I had decorations from the year I was waiting for Matteo and they were featuring tigers (Matteo's year of birth)....Matteo loves the tassels...the tablecloth, which just happened to have snakes on it, is from Nepal, a gift from one of my sisters who viisted a family friend there....and I decided to order Thai food for all of us...I know I know, Thailand celebrates new year's the same as most western cultures, but I have not had success with the Chinese delivery options in the neighbourhood, though we have fabulous restaurants around....so for this year it was the choice...and then the student K. ended up making gold bags (basically spring rolls made into little pouches) stuffed with shrimp, pork, mushrooms etc....I managed to get the photo below before they were wolfed down by everyone. They are supposed to bring good luck...and I learned how to make them. K. is a certified Chef here to learn English and possibly at one point open her own Thai restaurant. We are fortunate to have her here, but more on that later. One other detail, the mango mouse cake was a New Year's cake with a Fish, another symbol of good fortune in the new year. So all in all everyone had fun, the children got lucky money and we even had leftovers to enjoy the next day.
The next set of photos is of the dragon parade held in Chinatown, a few blocks from home, in conjunction with celebrating Lunar new year and Winterlude which is the festival on now in Ottawa, to celebrate winter. It was a crisp day with beautiful sunshine. There were multiple dragons with costumed individuals dressed as all of the other new year figures from the Asian calendar....there were also two figures, an old man and woman, will have to find out who they represented. Matteo loved the dragons, and so did I.
The final couple of photos are of a dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant with other families who have adopted....and thankfully S. took a picture of me and Matteo as I took very few. And unfortunately when we were trying to get photos of all the children together, Matteo did not cooperate. I made the mistake of giving him my iphone to watch some thomas just as we were finishing dinner and he was climbing on and off the chair, and I wanted to try to do some socializing and finishing of my dinner...though I still seem to eat too fast....anyhow I forgot that once he has that phone in his hands and thomas, it is hard to unwind him from it...and/or it is just par for some of the challenges with challenging behaviour we've been having...that I'll leave for another blog...for now, I was happy that we tried different things to see how we feel comfortable celebrating Tet...loved that it spanned a couple of different weekends. Some of what we did this year we'll repeat and then also try other things, but one thing is for sure, we will continue to celebrate as it is great having a mid winter festival to celebrate and look forward to during the dark months of Jan/Feb. and March. Additionally this is also symbolically the beginning of Spring and after the cold winter we're having, that warmth is also great to celebrate and look forward to......so Happy New Year to all of you! Welcome Spring!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
TDH Newsletter
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Chúc mừng năm mới
Today we began celebrating for Tet and were invited to Vietnam house by the Vietnamese Embassy. This was an event for families with children adopted from Vietnam and it was not a huge event. Many of the families that did attend, had recently travelled and returned with children adopted through the special needs stream. The two twin girls that I have mentioned and whose blog I posted, came with their family of 11, and another family who also adopted from vung tau was there too....anyhow a few surprises which started with Matteo's very first Ao Dai....another pair of twins adopted returned from Vietnam a few days ago and their parents brought this for Matteo....we drove out to get it this morning and were not able to visit as the family is still dealing with getting settled, but we look forward to some play dates...they are cutie pies too!
Matteo looked so cute and it brought a tear to my eye!! He loves getting dressed up in princess dresses at daycare and I think he has been longing to wear an Ao Dai as when we put it on him, boy did he like it!!....so on some intuitive level he is somehow suited to wear his traditional outfit.
Anyhow the Tet event was simple and Matteo, and all children, received a gift bag...we had a nice time, though we were both so tired when we got home...here are a few photos to remember the day....
Matteo looked so cute and it brought a tear to my eye!! He loves getting dressed up in princess dresses at daycare and I think he has been longing to wear an Ao Dai as when we put it on him, boy did he like it!!....so on some intuitive level he is somehow suited to wear his traditional outfit.
Anyhow the Tet event was simple and Matteo, and all children, received a gift bag...we had a nice time, though we were both so tired when we got home...here are a few photos to remember the day....
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