Hockey Night

It's Saturday night, so guess what's on? Hockey Night in Canada on CBC! We usually end up catching at least part of one game. We're fortunate enough to be able to catch Canadian TV on CBET out of Windsor, Ontario, living as close to the border as we do. We're only an hour-and-a-half drive from the Windsor Tunnel.

Anyway, since it's Hockey Night, I thought I should post the current theme for the show. This version is from 2008 -- the captain raising the Stanley Cup at the end is different each year. It is the captain of the previous year's Stanley Cup Champions. I posted last year's version, which had Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings, instead of this year's version with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since we're long-time Red Wings fans and since Pittsburgh beat the crap out of Detroit in last year's finals, I thought I'd post the 2008-09 version.

Todd and Kelly, can you get CBC? Anyway you two, take note of the player's uniform at 0:47 through 0:50. Makes us want for the old days before this team moved to a warmer climate.

CBC also has the best Olympics coverage, though NBC finally did a respectable job of it in 2008. We're excited for the Games to begin on February 12.

-Alan & Jodi

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had the most amazing Thanksgiving to date. It was totally stress-free and our home was filled with peace and love. Praise you, Lord, and thank you. Thank you for giving me grace this year. For those that don't know me so well, I have a problem with control. When I can't control things or situations, I get easily frustrated and that frustration turns to yelling. I would yell at anyone and everyone. It might be because the potatoes weren't coming out right or the turkey wasn't ready yet or any other number of things. This year, however, I had enough. I was tired of being like that. It wasn't good on me and it definitely wasn't good on my family. So I prayed for peace and grace and my awesome God responded with an abundance of both!!! Alan even commented today on how much he liked it and he was actually falling in love with me even more. I melted and it was good!

We shared wonderful stories and tons of laughter. It was great to see everyone smiling without a care in the world, even if it was only for today. The fun continued with a couple games of bowling at 10 Pin Alley just up the road. We had a lot of fun! My sister, Joelle, got her first Turkey (3 strikes in a row) since she was bowling in the kids' league. She's 30 years old! *grin* Not only did she get 3 strikes, she actually got 4 strikes in a row before finally missing a pin. GOOD JOB GIRL!!!

Right now, I'm just resting and working on the blog. Alan is working on the base for the Turkey Noodle Soup we make every year. It starts with the turkey carcass. Alan picks the meat off the bones the best he can, and then puts the bones in a pot full of seasoned water to boil - salt, pepper, turkey rub, and poultry seasoning. We'll leave it boil for an hour or so and then let it cool. Once the pot is cool enough to deal with, Alan strains the broth into another pot. He picks out the bones and he puts any remaining meat in the broth. We chill it overnight to let the fat rise to the top. Tomorrow we'll skim the fat off it and when we're ready for some soup, we'll put in a couple of bags of frozen veggies for soup, some onion, and some celery and let that simmer for hours. When we're getting ready to eat, we'll put in some egg noodles to let them cook and then we serve it. The Turkey Noodle Soup is probably one of the best things about Thanksgiving dinner! Not only that, now we don't have to cook for the next couple of weeks!!!

I suppose that's enough rambling for now. I hope you have had a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving as well. I pray for safety for those travelling this holiday. May your journey be filled with blessing and memories.

Love to all!

-Alan & Jodi

32 Months & Thoughts of Thanksgiving

For some reason, this LID-aversary finds me in a state of peace. I feel as calm as the seas in the picture. I feel like we're just sailin' along, waiting for the next big adventure. I'm not sure what has changed over the last few months but something inside me has. I'm finding more peace and acceptance with the length of this journey. I don't like it, but I'm okay with it. I have had some major healing and growth in the last few months as well. Our home is being prepared for our daughter - physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. The Lord is blessing us with the gift of time and preparation. I just pray we can use it wisely.

Meanwhile, my favourite holiday is just days away: Thanksgiving! I can hardly wait for all the yummy food we'll have. My mom's delicious dressing, my sister's scrumptious sweet potato pie, and my colorfully yummy cranberry-orange relish. We'll also have the terrifically tantalizing turkey, the marvelous mashed-potatoes and gravy, and some simply delicious squash. We have desserts galore and we'll eat until we're stuffed.

The best apart is just being together. My grandma will spend the day with us before returning to the nursing home. My parents will bring my sister and her husband, who drove in from Virginia for the festivities, and we'll share some merriment with Alan's parents, brother, and grandma over the next couple of days via telephone.

We'll have plenty of laughter and strolls down memory lane. We'll probably even create some moments that we'll talk about for years to come. The best part of is that we'll be together as a family.

We pray that your Thanksgiving holiday is filled with laughter, love, good food, and great memories. Blessings to all!

-Alan & Jodi

Take a Stand For the Unborn

Click here for the full video.

For more information check out Americans United for Life (AUL).

The Muppets on Viral Friday!

A stroll down memory lane... Enjoy!

Wait

Well, today we celebrate our 31st month of having our paperwork logged in with the CCAA. I don't know if celebrate is really the word to use. Is waiting 31 months for your child really something to celebrate? I guess we should call it more of an observation. I observe that today exists and that we've been waiting an obnoxiously long 31 months (over 2 1/2 years) for our daughter. I guess 3 years seems to be the average these days so I shouldn't be complaining, right? Some days I don't know how much more of this I can take but then other days it's a piece of cake. My heart aches for a daughter that I don't even know exists butI long to hold forever. I've considered getting a puppy but that doesn't come close to filling the void in my heart and in my life. I guess we'll just keep waiting and waiting some more. Some day we'll have her home with us and all this will seem like a distant memory. And, some day, she'll have her very own puppy but, for now, we just wait.

30 Months & A Little Something Else!

Okay, so we celebrated our 30-month LID yesterday. It was a fleeting moment to us as we've been basking in the afterglow of our incredible Southern Caribbean cruise. We sailed the Carnival Victory from San Juan to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts, and back to San Juan - 7 ports in 7 days. For those keeping track, that's 2 US territories and 5 countries in 7 days. We are world travellers indeed!

We're still trying to come back to the real world so we'll post pictures soon, probably this weekend sometime. Right now we're working on unpacking, laundry, etc. The house is a mess from the luggage, laundry, and souvenirs all over the place. We'll get ourselves in order soon; I hope.

It's hard to believe that 30 months have passed since we our official LID with the CCAA. That seems like eons ago yet I feel no further ahead. I know that this has been a time of change and growth for us, however, and we are getting closer to our daughter each day. God is preparing our hearts and our home, so that we can be the best parents possible. He's entrusting her to us so we will be patient as He prepares us for the awesome life He has planned ahead.

Like the greatest of any orchestra conductors, fine tuning is necessary to ensure a masterpiece. God is fine tuning us so our family can be a reflection of His masterpiece. Thank you, dear Lord. I long to hear the beautiful song He's created for us and our daughter. The joyous tears and laughter of finally holding her in our arms is all I can imagine at this point but I'm sure it'll be even better than I can dream. Until then, Lord, we trust you with our hearts, our dreams, our desires, our hopes, our fears, our days. Amen!

-Jodi