some of the things i love about her

I love how on Halloween evening I asked her if she wanted to change into her ladybug outfit and she said "No hank you", she then looked down at the shirt she was wearing, patted it and said "Nice butterflies".

I love when she yawns during the day, she says "Not tired Mama, jus yawning".

I love how she emphasises certain words, like "Love you SOOOO much", "ALLLL done" and "OHHHH dear".

I love when she told me (many times) how she 'fall over' something last night and I wasn't getting it, she changed the wording and said, "Mama, I tipped (tripped) over it".

I love how every night after supper she requests a "Tup a tea".

I love when we're messing around with her, she will look at us with a grin and say "Jus doking (joking) Mama/Baba".

I love when we were at the cash register in a shop today, (I was buying her a little tub of ice-cream scented play dough) she said "Hank you for duying it Mama", not once, but three times.

I love how at night she prays, how she scrunchies up her eyes so tight and clasps her hands up to her chin while lying in her crib. I love everything about her little prayers which are mainly a repeat of what we say; praying for the little boys and girls in the orphanage that they will soon have Mamas and Babas and how she thanks God for her birth Mama.

I love how she wants us all to hold hands at the supper table at night and then says "Circle" with the happiest smile on her face, and we tell her we're a family, we all love each other.

I love how she tells me numerous times during the day that "Baba is worting hard".

I love when I tell her to be careful, she returns the favour and says "Mama be tareful".

I love when we're driving through our neighbourhood, she recognizes it and will say "Almost home Mama".

I love how her words that are supposed to be pronounced with the letter c instead are pronounced with t, like tutting (cutting), tat (cat), tar (car), tootie (cookie), toklate (chocolate), tying (crying), toss (cross), tute (cute) and toat (coat).

I love when she gets off the potty, each and every time she says "Mama so poud (proud) you".

celebrate adoption

November is National Adoption Awareness month, a time set aside to celebrate the joy of adoption, and a time to raise awareness for the children that are waiting for a loving family.

The Lord put the calling to adopt on our hearts even before we were engaged or married. I can still distinctly remember our conversation; Colin and I were just dating at the time, but somehow the subject of family came up and we talked about Colin's heart condition and adopting a child. As I write this, I still get that 'what an amazing God we have' feeling. He put adoption on our hearts more than 11 years before we held Lilah in our arms. It truly amazes me. Adoption is an incredible journey, not without its share of ups and downs, fears and tears; but our faith and strength were renewed daily. The prayers and supplications of our family and friends carried us through many days, weeks, months and years.

James 5:16 - The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

There is nothing that brings more joy than seeing your child grow and learn. Watching our beautiful daughter develop and transition from a scared and confused 18 month old baby to a confident 2 year old toddler in a matter of months wasn't always easy, but a real joy and an answer to prayer, many prayers. We have been truly blessed, more than we could ever try to put into words. She is simply put, a gift from God.

Psalm 127:3 - Behold, children are a gift of the LORD

I read an interesting piece recently on gotquestions.org about 'What does the Bible say about adoption?' and this little blurb stuck with me: "Both those who adopt and those who are adopted are receiving a tremendous blessing, a privilege exemplified by our adoption into God’s family". How true is that, every believer has been adopted into the family of God. Our prayer is that Lilah will choose Christ as her own and personal Saviour.

Romans 8:15 - Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

We sometimes talk about a child being chosen, rather than adopted. One of the things that I realized recently is that Lilah didn't choose us and even though we really wanted a child, we didn't personally choose Lilah. It was our Heavenly Father chose us and her, and brought us together. Even before He formed us, He knew us, and praise God, He made us a family. We are absolutely delighted, His way is perfect.

Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

trick or treat?

soooo much

As she lays in her crib and I lay in bed, over the familiar tune playing on her crib music box, I hear her repeat "Nigh-nigh Mama, fove you soooo much".

I have this overwhelming feeling of pure joy.
It doesn't get any better than that.

halloween cupcakes

Today we made some halloween cupcakes together, Lilah just loves to help and shake and eat and clean and lick and bake. Yeah I know what you're thinking, isn't that 'shaker' stuff just great! Oh yes it is, it's handy dandy and I love handy dandy! All our pictures are here.

ready set go
- add milk
- shake cupcake mix
- pour into bun cases
- lick out the left overs
- pop cupcakes into the oven for 20 mins
- taste test the chocolate frosting
- wash your face
- take cupcakes out of the oven
- tear open pumpkin icing package using your teeth (like mama does)
- taste test the pumpkins
- squeeze on frosting using the icing bag
- add the pumpkin
- et voilà!

i heart faces - 'halloween dress-up'

I absolutely, totally and utterly heart this face.
She's as sweet as the cotton candy she's licking off her fingers.

Well maybe this photo doesn't exactly fit the catagory, because she isn't dressed-up and it isn't a halloween photo, but hey, it's a very sweet face all the same!

[ check out more adorable faces at the link below ]

halloween at the farm

Today we went to a Halloween party at the Experimental Farm. Well, they call it a party, but really it was a mix of fun crafts, activities and cookery demonstrations. It was really nice. We decorated a pumpkin, which I must say, looks fabulous! Lilah is definitely not a 'less is best' kinda person! We made a spider bracelet by drawing around her fingers, very neat idea. Also, we got to watch in on three cookery demonstrations, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies and carmel apples. Watching everything being made was okay, but tasting it all, ...yummy!

[ more pictures here ]

children's bridge halloween party

Today our adoption agency (Children's Bridge) hosted a Halloween Party.
Our little Ladybird had piles of fun.
She spent most of her time at the craft tables.
But best of all, she got to fly around and catch up with all her little friends.

***************************************************************************************************

Amelia & Lilah: We travelled to China with Ameila's parents and spent those first two weeks of our lives as a family, together. We received our beautiful girls (in the same room) just minutes apart. Very intimate moments. We have a strong connection with this sweet family.

Saltanat: We met Saltanat's parents at our first 'waiting families' get together.

Olivia: We also met Olivia's Mom at our first 'waiting families' get together.

Lilah, Olivia and Saltanat's referrals all came within about three months of each other. We were all waiting for referrals from different countries. Lilah was born in China, Olivia was born in Vietnam and Saltanat was born in Kazakhstan. Our beautiful Asian girls, all born in different countries, all with a similiar story of how they came to be with their family.

We have been blessed beyond words.

[ more pictures here ]

her favourite song

Lilah really enjoys singing now, especially in Church. She'll be singing at the top of her lungs for a few seconds (at a time), stops, looks up at me and says quite loudly (because we're all still singing), "Good singing Mama?". Yes, of course Lilah, you're such a great singer! She doesn't know the words at all, but sometimes she can pick up a few of our words and runs with it. It really makes me grin. Also, she has to have her Bible when she's singing. It's a mandatory part of singing, in fact, you pretty much can't sing without it! Here's a little movie of her favourite Sunday School song of the moment, "Jesus loves me", she's really getting the hang of this one.

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so

[ there are a few more retakes at the end of this movie set ]

autumn in gatineau park

Lilah and I went for a little drive to Gatineau Park yesterday, actually we all went as a family to Gatineau Park on Thanksgiving Monday, but I didn't bring the camera with me. I know, shock! Anyway, we went up to get a few pictures in the last of the Autumn leaves. A lot of them have fallen already, last week was a pretty cold one and the forecast for later this week is rain, so yeah, I think it was probably our last chance to have fun in the crisp Autumn leaves!

I even got in on a picture using the self timer.

[ more pictures here ]

two funnies

I captured these two funnies on movie recently and they both crack us up. The first one is of Lilah saying "Tim Forton", otherwise known as Tim Horton's, it's a common Canadian coffee and doughnut restaurant where every now and again she gets a chocolate milk. The second one is of her doing a pretend burp. I know, not in the least bit educational or even social graces for that matter, but funny nonetheless. And no, we definitely didn't teach her how to do it!

hello kitty

While we were in China we made our very first Hello Kitty purchase, an alarm clock. No idea why, because Lilah was only 18 months old and in all seriousness, as brand new first time parents in a different time zone, we definitely didn't need an alarm clock! Lilah was in fact our very own alarm clock! However we bought it, but there wasn't much interest shown in it. In fact, here is a picture of her with it while we were in China. I think her look says it all!

Fast forward several months...

My sweet cousin Kerry (from Ireland) sent Lilah a pair of gorgeous pink Hello Kitty pajamas this past summer and well, Lilah loved loved loved them. We would be heading up the stairs to get ready for bed in the evening and she would excitedly proclaim "Heywow Titty dammies". She even used to ask if she could wear them during her midday naps. She EVEN used to ask if she could wear them as daytime clothes! Yes, she definitely loved them and she still does, but unfortunately it's wayyy too cold to wear them now.

Which explains why I found a dress in Montréal that I couldn't put down, I just knew she would love love love it. I wasn't disappointed. Our love for Hello Kitty is still alive in this house! It is also alive this season in the H&M kids store. Really really 'over-the-top' alive!

[ more pictures here ]

montréal

On Friday we drove to Montréal for a little overnight getaway. Montréal is about a two hour drive from Ottawa and before Lilah came along we used to go every once in a while. We just wanted a little break from our daily routine. Not to mention the city is well renown for it's shopping, especially Saint Catherine Street, right downtown, which is where we stayed.

Lilah loved the little getaway as much as we did, she was too excited to have her regular midday nap on the drive there and has since been asking to go back to the hotel again! She had herself a nice double bed to sleep in and as long as she had her blanket, her piggy and her Bible, all was well. She doesn't normally have her Bible with her when she's in bed, ready to sleep, (just in case she rips the pages!), however she did have it this time and fell asleep holding it. She was fast asleep as I was heading to bed, so I took it from her tight little grasp. Well, she woke up around 2am, obviously she couldn't find it, she cried out and I went over to soothe her, thinking she might be afraid of the different room and bed. Not so, in a worried questioning voice she said to me "Bible?". She sure has a good memory.

[ more pictures here ]

the cutest little pumpkin

pillowcase dress by 'my red ladybug' on etsy

[ more pictures here ]

pumpkins galore

We're on a pumpkin roll around here. We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday past, we eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Sunday and then yesterday we went out to Dollarama for a few festive pumpkins to decorate the house. There is an orange glow around here and if Lilah didn't already know the colour orange, she definitely would by the time Halloween is over!

She isn't much into the Halloween scary stuff and to be honest, I'm not really into the scary stuff myself. Each time we walk down the 'scary isle' in the supermarket, Lilah is very quick to point and say "Not nice". She shakes her head and gives a scowl that's as fierce as the faces looking back at her!

So for now and maybe forever, we're all about the pumpkins.

Oh and speaking of pumpkin roll, doesn't this look and sound delicious? I so have to make it.