Run for the Cure... and so much to be thankful for!

I'm sure many of you participated in the Run for the Cure today in whatever city across Canada that you live. I'm sure each of you knows at least one person who has been touched by this horrible disease. A few of you may even know someone who has been lucky enough to know they are a gene carrier and have received that information before this intrusive disease can touch them. I am one of those people whose dearest friend now has this infomation. And although having this knowledge is devistating in and of itself, I feel so fortunate that she has this gimpse into the future, while she is still healthy, and can take the neccessary steps to prevent ever being touched by the horror of Breast Cancer.

The road she still must travel will not be easy by any means, but she is fortunate to be loved by so many who will be able to support her through the tough moments. And I will be the first in line on those days! Afterall, she has been there to help me through the tough times in my life on more than one occasion.

I am so grateful for the news that she did receive this past week. And although there is no cure yet for breast cancer, I feel so fortunate for the technological advances of medicine today. Because of these advances, I am lucky enough to know that I will have many Friday afternoons enjoying a glass of red wine my dear friend as we share in the joys and frustrations of parenthood from the week gone by. I look forward to being old ladies reminising about the years that have passed with our children having grown from babies to adults with children of their own.

Our husbands often tease us about how strong-willed we both are, and I am so glad that she is. That trait gave her the courage to even have this testing done in the first place and because of that, we will have many more gatherings with our families together and thankfully there will be no empty seats at our table. We are truly blessed.

The road to Ethiopia starts with one small step...

Well, we (or I should say I) am starting another blog for our newest adoption journey. We are in the very early stages of the process, but I have a feeling that things may move quite quickly once our paper chase is complete. Our documents are almost all together, I just have one personal reference letter left to get (no pressure Andi ;-) , our Interpol clearance and Notice of Assessment paperwork which is en route from the government. Since we have been down this route already, I realize that anything involving the govt is bound to be our holdup! Although, so far everything has been progressing quite quickly. We met with our social worker to update our homestudy and start the process on Aug 22. Our official Provincial Approval meeting was on Sept 6, so it is really quite unbelievable that our file will be on the road to Ethiopia any day now. We had been told a few times that the list of documents required for the dossier for Ethiopia is shorter than the dossier for China. What a welcome relief!

So in the meantime, in preparation for our additional children, we are looking at some changes around our house. We have realized that changing our mudroom/ laundry room to just a mudroom has now become an absolute necessity. For those of you who know me well, you will understand how nothing thrills me like the thought of being organized! I would love to have a house where everything had a place! I drool at the thought of having California Closets, built-ins, a butler's pantry, etc. However, I don't have any of those things and life still motors on happily.

Prior to now, having an "organized" and well equipped mudroom has been a dream of mine. We already find that it is so cramped with four of us coming in and out of there throughout the day. The thought of 6 of us trying to squeeze through there leads to visions of trying to squeeze 6 clowns into a phone booth! As much as I had SO wanted to keep my laundry room on the main floor (because even with only two kids, I do a ridiculous amount of laundry) the added organization with built-ins in the mudroom will far outweigh the loss of the laundry room to the basement. And, I appease myself with the fact that we will add a laundry chute from the mudroom to the basement laundry room. (LOVE that!)

With four kids, a little organization will go a long way... I hope! Having said that I realize that with four kids I think the best I can hope for is "organized chaos"! (Don't laugh; such oxymorons do exist- think "jumbo shrimp" :0)

I'll be sure to include some photos after the reno project is done! We expect to be underway in about a month. Next on the list of changes... a van. YIKES!