Spring is here!

We had a great Easter weekend! My husband Raph and I got to enjoy a little bit of spring weather. We visited the pink house that we both liked so much, and went through almost every inch of it with an inspector. He told us that it is a very good, solid house...no structural problems, or signs of previous water damage or anything...so, that's great news! The inspector went through it in detail, trying all of the faucets, checking the electrical wiring, the gas fireplace, the foundation, the attic, etc...
He was coming up with minor details, like a little screw missing on the handle of the window sill...which is a good indication that he was searching and there just really wasn't anything! We received bank approval for the mortgage, and the Sold sign should be up very, very soon! Yay! We officially have a new house! There's not much work that needs to be done, except for some paint and some work on the kitchen. Also, it's all stones right now in the front yard...I would really like to put grass there eventually. It's not a priority, but it will look a lot nicer! Now the only thing left is to sell our house over here!! But then, we're putting that in the hands of the company, so it's not too stressful! ! We're both really happy and excited and can't wait to move into our new house!!

We went to Montreal for a couple of days as well, and stayed at my brother's. It was great to see my little nieces! My brother and his wife are fully equipped to make Sushi, and we decided to make Sushi for dinner! I kept putting too much rice and stuff in the Sushi, so mine wouldn't close anymore!! I wasn't very adept, but we had fun...and the kids loved the small Sushi's with rice and strawberries, cucumber and avocado. They ate the ones with shrimp too. I admit that my preference was similar to theirs!! Not a very traditional Easter dinner, and I'm not a huge fan of Sushi...but fresh, home made Sushi is yummy!! The next day, we went to the Sugar Shack with my brother, his wife, the girls and some neighbours. We ate way too much, of course!! Very greasy, and lots of sugar...not to be done too often!! It was fun...the girls were especially excited about making a kind of toffee with maple syrup in the snow...major sugar rush! We'll definitely have to bring our child to the Sugar Shack in the spring to experience that together one day!! My niece showed me her newly acquired reading skills as well...wow!! It's so amazing to see and watch a child learn to read and write!! Now that's another experience that I can't wait to share with my child!

I took the bus back home on Tuesday, and classes started again on Wednesday. A nice short week! It takes about six hours to drive by car, but by bus it's closer to ten hours!! With all of the stops that they make, it's a very long ride! I listened to music and read a bit, the weather was nice and it wasn't too bad! I finished reading "Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew", by Sherrie Eldridge...there are some interesting points to keep in mind, but I feel she focuses too much on the difficulties and the negative aspects of adoption. I understand the feelings of loss and grief that Eldridge deals with, but I hope our adoption experience will be very positive for everyone involved! As Eldridge writes on page 59: "I have learned to see adoption not as a mark or a scar, but as a gift. It is a gift because I am a gift." Note to our future child: this is the positive message that we want to share with you and for you to take away. You are a precious gift!! And no, please don't think that you owe us something, that you need to pay us back or that you have to be perfect...we promise to love you just the way you are, and to accept you with all your gifts, talents and your faults! Nobody is perfect, so how can we expect you to be?! What we do expect from you is to aim to be an honest, loving, caring, generous, genuine person and for you to live up to your full potential by not letting your natural talents and gifts go to waste...
As I look at the pictures of your beautiful, tropical homeland, I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt for taking you away from that to bring you to the cold, grey, long months that are winter in Quebec! I guess I am romanticizing a bit here....

I had a nice Easter break, but it's always great to be back home, in my own things. There are only four weeks of class left...it's going very fast now!! Raphael stayed behind to work...he already started his new position, and is staying in a rented, furnished apartment for the next couple of months. We will probably only see each other weekends till we move into our new house the end of June. I have to admit that the wait for the move and to receive our referral seems a lot easier now that the snow is finally melting! Yay!! It looks like spring has arrived :0)