ack! no more whining!

Does anyone else have kids who turn into little monsters after Christmas? I can't believe how awful they are today! Grrr. Over sugared, spoiled and tired. That's it! Next year, no presents. No candy. More rest.

Really. They got so much that it is just ridiculous. I feel embarrassed. All of this extravagance is so distracting from the essence of this time of year. Everything that I love about Christmas. The magic. The spirit. The mood that I apparently try to re-create through the disproportionate amount of food and presents. It has robbed me of fully experiencing what I set out to encounter. The value of appreciating what you have. Enjoying the gift of nature, of life. Gratitude and joy!

Instead, I am left with this post-Christmas hangover of greed, consumerism, and over-indulgence. A deflated sense of disapointment looms over my head like a Eeyore's raincloud. Do you know how many bags of garbage are going out in the trash tomorrow morning? I am embarrassed at the pile that will be sitting on my curb. Of packaging and non-recyclables. Not to mention all that plastic toy goodness that will spend the next 6 months in my basement and three thousand years thereafter in the landfill. Thank goodness the garbage man comes early and the days are short, so it should still be dark at pick up time! If I am lucky, my neighbours won't notice. I am so sorry planet!

It's no wonder there is such thing as a New Year's resolution. How could you not want to turn over a new leaf after all of this gluttony? Yep. Next year I want to try something new. No presents. No excess. This is my New Year's resolution. Can someone please remind me of this when the mad Christmas rush starts again next season?

A new beginning; another mountain

I have been waiting to write this post until I was comfortable enough with this decision to put it into words. We have decided not to renew with the new Imagine for various reasons. A major factor was our decision to begin an adoption from Haiti late this summer. We initially intended to proceed with both countries, but have now settled on Haiti alone.

We feel we have come full circle, since Haiti was our first country of choice, however, at the time we began our adoption, we did not meet the country's requirement of being married for 10 years. So this summer, when our adoption practitioner mentioned that there were 12 baby boys waiting for families in Haiti, we re-assessed our situation and discovered that we will have been married for 10 years by the time we get to court. We realize the risk in starting all over again, and it is a calculated one, however, the risk is no greater than proceeding with Ethiopia, either. We have learned the very hard way that there is no guarantee in International adoption.

On a lighter note, we LOVE everything about the orphanage we are adopting from. We are doing this adoption privately right from the orphanage. Which means, we work directly with them, with no facilitator in between. We are very confident in the people running this orphanage and are so happy to have access to information, pictures and videos along the way. I have posted a video at the bottom of this blog from Haiti Children's Home. If you have ever considered adoption, please watch the video with an open heart, as the majority of the children currently residing in the home need forever families!

I want to thank everyone again for your loving support on this journey.