This is What Love Looks Like

Adoption Awareness

Did you know November is Adoption Awareness month? What a wonderful thing to celebrate! There are so many children that have much better lives after finding a family to love them and raise them.

After a discussion with Cody the other day, I was reflecting on how things have changed a lot over the years - impacting adoption and prospective adoptive parents. It has become socially acceptable to have a baby without being married and social assistance has made it possible, even appealing, to have children without a real means of supporting them. For this reason, many unsuitable parents choose to raise their child when a few decades ago, they might have given it up.

This may seem like a good thing. But it also means that kids need to be taken out of the home when they are a few years old and have emotional or physical scars. They are then placed with foster families who then deal with issues far beyond what typical families should have to.

I know several foster-to-adopt families and it astounds me the hoops they need to jump through in order to have a foster child live with them. Many have chosen this option after a long struggle with infertility. Sadly, infertile couples cannot simply adopt a child. They must go through this foster-to-adopt process which is tough on the adults AND the kids. They may have several kids come and go before they have the opportunity to actually adopt them into their family forever.

I'm thinking back on that talk with Cody. It started with him, once again, wishing he had a little sister. It breaks my heart because, of course, I would LOVE for him to have a little sister. When I explained that that's not what God has in store for our family, he asked if we could adopt a sister. If only it were that easy!

Once again, it made me grateful for having him in my life and how dear he is to me. To all the adoptive parents out there, thank you for making such a difference and loving those kids.

You Want Lights With That? (Part 2)

This week Devin & I were setting up the Christmas tree in our basement and stringing the lights in preparation to decorate it with Cody. Last year, we had a terrible time with the incandescent lights. They had served me well for most of my years since moving out on my own, so I couldn't complain. But, many of them had burnt out and we decided to pitch them and get new LED lights this year.

So, we strung our new lights on the tree - they looked great! Then we put the tree topper on. Yuck. It had old incandescent lights on it and the faded yellow light they emitted compared to the nice bright white lights on the tree just looked awful.

I looked at Devin and asked if we should get a new tree topper? I was hesitant because this one had particular sentimental value. Three years ago (our FIRST Christmas together) Devin & I decorated my Christmas tree. As we put the star on top I commented that it looked nice in the daylight but since it didn't have any lights on it, it looked strange in the dark with the tree lit up. He quickly asked if I'd like him to add lights and got some tools out of his truck.

I was swooning! Here is this amazing man that is not only capable of doing such a thing, but he's willing to do it with a smile on his face! AND I was marrying him. I was so impressed, I blogged about it here.

Fast forward three years to when we put the topper on the tree this year and my comment about the lights. Just as quickly as last time, he asked if I'd like him to switch out the lights to LEDs? He was eager to do so and within about 20 minutes it was on the tree, looking like it belonged.

The funny thing is, the next day when I looked at my Facebook memories, the original lighting adventure popped up. It was nearly to the DAY. Too funny!

And for the record, I'm just as enamored with this many three years later. In fact, perhaps even more so!

Micro Vacation

This weekend, Devin & I headed to the big city of Toronto for a little getaway. It's amazing how just 30 hours away from home felt like such a vacation!

The inspiration for this getaway was a Facebook ad for Toronto Christmas Market. I thought it looked absolutely lovely - like a Christmas card. So, I suggested it to Devin and he liked the idea. I arranged to go on a weekend when Cody was going to spend time with his biological mom, so we dropped him off and raced to the Go Train station in Burlington. We arrived in time to take the 5:01 train and we were thinking we'd need to take the 5:31 or 6:01 depending on traffic. Sweet!

We hopped on board and settled in for our journey into the city. We are certainly not pros at taking public transportation, so we needed to find our way once we got to Union station, but we were soon taking the subway to our hotel and checking in. We dropped off our bag and were back out in the crisp evening air to go to the market.

It was beautiful! Little white lights everywhere, Christmas music, delicious smells wafting from booths selling delectable treats. I was LOVING it. We were pretty hungry by this time so we stopped for some dinner and a chance to catch our breath and take in our kid-free getaway!

The rest of the evening was spent meandering in and out of shops, buying a few Christmas presents, and taking advantage of the many Instagram-worthy photo ops! A great way to kick off the holiday season.

Our hotel (Bond Place Hotel) was a great little spot - steps from Young/Dundas square. It had been a while since I was in downtown Toronto and I was taken with how much it reminded me of being in New York City with all of the oversized screens and holiday decorations. It was kinda fun to feel like we had gone on a trip but we were really only 2 hours from home!

Saturday was spent wandering the Eaton Centre and admiring the Bay's window displays - reminiscent of the Macy's windows in NYC. We had such a great time together and agreed that taking these micro vacations should be a regular thing. It felt so great to get away and have some downtime to recharge and just spend time together instead of feeling like we need to be working on the unending list of projects at home! And speaking of that list, we were able to squeeze in a stop at Ikea on the way home - supplies for our next project!

And so begins my most favourite time of the year! Welcome Christmas 2018, I've been waiting for you.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween is not my favourite holiday, but it has been fun to come up with family costumes and go out together. Last year we passed on trick-or-treating and attended a party hosted by Cody's babysitter.

This year when discussing costume options, Cody wanted to be Mario and Daddy would be Luigi. I went online and, wouldn't you know, I found a kid's Mario and adult's Luigi costume! I drove to Port Dover on a Saturday afternoon to get them, but I got them.

The logical solution for my costume would be Princess Peach, but I decided to go a bit more creative. I came up with the idea, but Devin executed to perfection!

It was fun to travel around the neighbourhood together and get reactions from other parents :) Now, to overcome the candy coma!