Well done....

Good Morning Company Girls!!

Our son decided to re-enlist after nearly a year and a half of civilian life.....

This Is Paul......and his girlfriend Sara....and this picture is taken just after he re-enlisted in the Canadian Army.

This momentous occasion occurred while I was in Bermuda....I was disappointed that I would miss it this time...I WAS at the first time....about 4-1/2 years ago.....but this time he just found out at the beginning of April that it was happening and of course, my mother's trip could not be changed. Hubby was there of course and took pictures.

The next day Paul said a sweet good bye to his sweetheart and flew to New Brunswick, where he reported to Gagetown, for artillery training. The first enlistment, those years ago, was in the infantry. This time the infantry was full up and they had an opening in artillery.
Now , it's hurry up and wait...in true army fashion......his artillery course doesn't start til July! So, for now, he's in a holding company...which means he sits around all day, doing nothing...and getting paid for it! He says some other guys are grumbling about it but he's just smilin'.....he's been through this before...the first time through he was grumbling too...but now,...he's just smilin'....he's glad to be back.

People have asked me how I feel about it all......I feel just fine about it......really,..he's happy...isn't that what it's all about.....of course I don't want him to be put in harms way, of course, I wouldn't want him to be injured..or worse.....but...all mom's want their kids to grow up and be happy in what they've chosen to do...this is his choice and I support him.

Paul is a wonderful young man...I still remember vividly the day he walked up the steps of our front porch, holding the hand of the social worker...looking very apprehensive....he was 3-1/2 years old.....when a foster child comes to your home, most times, you really don't know just how long they will be staying with you....in fact Paul, only stayed a few months...the first time....then a judge said he could go and live with a 'quasi' family member...also for a few months...then one September day...I received another call....Paul was back 'in care' and he was asking to come back...to come back to our home. Memories come creeping back as I recall Lauren and Corey coming home from school,..walking up the road, and when Lauren saw Paul from a distance...she let out a holler and started running and when she reached him she gave him a huge hug. What a reception!

His name was actually Justin at that time....of all the kids we've adopted his case dragged on the longest...there are some cases that 'fall through the cracks'...through legal mumbo-jumbo, he was 16 years old before his adoption went through! Yes, unheard of now....but that's the way it unfolded in the life of Paul.....

When hubby and I have adopted our children....they're quite a bit younger...Paul knew that when they were adopted, Corey and Lauren...that their names were changed...we always kept their birth names as their 'third' name...but like every mom and dad we wanted to give a name of our choosing to our chosen children....up to this point they were young enough that they went along with it.....When Paul was about 8 years old, it was summertime...he said to me one day...'mom, when you adopt me....are you going to change my name?' I was taken aback, but quickly recovered and said..'well, you are older, I really think you wouldn't want to do that...would you?' 'yes, I would'...he said...well, you could have knocked me over with a feather....but, as usual...I did an excellent acting job...stayed cool.....'Really', I said.....'If you were going to change it...what would you change it to...?', he asked...'well', I said.....'you have three names....Justin Paul William...I think we'd probably just change them around.....you'd be Paul William Justin'...traditionally putting his first 'birth' name as his third.....he thought about that a moment and seemed pleased. 'You'd like that?'...'Yes, I would'. "well, we'll keep that in mind for the future", I said. A few days later, we were driving in the van and Paul spoke up...'mom?'...'yes'....'when are you going to start calling me my 'new name'...'when would you like us to'....'now'..'now?'....'okay...well, keep in mind that we might slip up and call you Justin'...'ya, I know'...'okay, will give it a try'....I had no idea whether he would continue with it or not...but a few days later he was writing his name down on a registration card for a local V.B.S....I observed him write Paul instead of Justin...I thought..well, I guess he's serious about this....fortunately, since it was his legal name, just switched around... the social worker didn't have a problem with it!

He quickly became Paul to everyone and Justin was the scared little boy that came to my home all those years ago....and also came into our hearts.....his growing up was not without trials and tribulations....but he's now a young man, a son whom we are very proud of for the good choices that he has made.

Well done Paul....

Bermuda!!!

Good Morning Company Girls!!

Ah....a Bermuda sunset...it was an overcast evening but it was our last evening and all the other evenings had beautiful crisp sunset shots...but I kept forgetting to take my camera to supper and supper was late enough that sunset came just as we were having dessert every night.

This is the room that my mom and I shared for the week...just out those patio doors was a fabulous view of the bluest ocean you will ever see...well, at least that I've ever seen!

This is my sister Adele and her husband Dave.....we stopped at a restaurant up at the dockyards to get a bit of something to tide us over til we got back to Willowbank (where we were staying) for teatime....they had a proper teatime served everyday at 4 p.m.

This is the view out our patio doors....lovely to wake up to every morning to be sure...

...and here's the lady we made this trip for...my mom...soaking up the rays sitting on the ferry...

Well, it was a lovely trip...I wouldn't exactly call it a holiday....I missed my hubby a lot and it's a huge responsibility having the care of an elderly person with dementia....my mom did fairly well, she did have some days when her confusion was more than other days ...there was one day when she took off on me and I couldn't find her...I'm sure that if someone had taken my blood pressure at that point it would have been through the roof! My sister, who was still recovering from her strep ear infection had some days that were more difficult then others...the hearing in the damaged ear is no longer there so she has to work very hard to keep her balance and on days when she was tired she was quite 'wonky' as she described it. Sometimes I would forget and be walking on her 'bad' side and start talking to her and suddenly realize that she wasn't responding....then I would quickly touch her arm so she'd look at me or quickly move on to her other side to have a conversation....

......the weather was just lovely...each day getting warmer than the next and we only had one day when we had a slight sprinkling of rain...which you really didn't mind at all....

All in all I would say it was a successful trip....mom finally got back to her beloved Bermuda...although she says now she wants to go back again! This time she wants warmer weather...she loves the heat.....we'll see but the reality is that I think this was her last trip...her dementia is only going to get worse and that makes care taking and her safety very difficult...especially when she gets stubborn and insists 'I can do it myself'! ...and when you ask her to stay in one spot while you're gone , just for a moment and she takes off with the attitude of 'I can go somewhere if I want..I don't need anyone with me'...scary attitude when she can't remember where she is at times!

My sister made her up a lovely photo album, complete with captions so she has a tangible remembrance of her time in Bermuda...I think it will become invaluable in the days to come!

One day my mom said to me, with some concern in her voice.."I can only remember little bits of your dad being here with me'....as I commiserated with her she said....'I'll be so glad to see him again'...I said..'ya, so will I'...she said...'I told him, you be waiting for me at those gates...you'd better be there when I come'....

True love....never dies...just waiting...

Busy, busy, frightfully busy.....

Well, Good Morning Company Girls! It's Friday...again...and I must run off to my applique class soon....which I don't have my homework done for yet....good grief...at my age worrying about homework! Anyways, thot I'd take a few moments to dash off some lines...busy weekend ahead which is winding up a busy week filled with appointments and drama..... Maya is coming home for the weekend with two friends that she works with at the camps....Maya's 19th birthday is next week so she'd like to have a little celebration this weekend...special birthday supper order has already been put in....have to take her to get her health card renewed and take both my Old English sheepdogs to the groomer to get shorn...plus...a bridal shower tomorrow afternoon...the usual busy Sunday stuff...plus did I mention three extra adult size people in the house all weekend.......but Monday...Monday will come and I am scheduled to get on a plane at Toronto airport...with my mom and my sister and her husband and a few hours later land in lovely Bermuda! I am truly torn because I love Bermuda...hubby and I have been fortunate to go there twice ....once for our 25th and then for our 35th wedding anniversary...but...alas...hubby is not going and I truly hate going places without him.....yes..after 41 years of knowing each other and almost 38 years of marriage...we are still joined at the hip.....so...even though I'm sure this will be a lovely treat.....it will be difficult to be separated from my true love for so long. So...off to class..hope everyone has a marvelous week...if I can post next Friday from Bermuda than I will.... Take care everyone!

My Gang!

The Grandchildren!

William is sitting on Honour's lap, Afton is next...the guy smiling in the middle is Jairus, then Verity and then Donovan!!

Jairus officially entered into the double digits this week when he celebrated his tenth birthday on Wednesday!

William is 16 months, Honour is 7, Afton is 2, Jairus is 10, Verity is 5 and Donovan is 6.

Honour and Verity love getting into my bathtub and have a ball...they turn on the air jets and make all sorts of bubbles!!

William, last Saturday morning waiting for his papa to give him his breakfast....

Good Morning Company Girls!

Well, last weekend was a wonderful, very busy weekend.....I told you about wee grandson William coming and on Sunday I invited another grandson Donovan to come ...it was a wonderful time having all the grandkids together.....as you can see in the pictures above...it's not easy getting all six kids looking at the camera at the same time!

William arrived (with his parents) about 1 o'clock on Friday.....I will admit to being a little concerned because I really haven't spent a lot of time with him since he was a newborn...and I highly doubt he'd remember that! Other times when they've been visiting, there's always a lot of family around to amuse and take care of him and I rarely get the opportunity....all my concerns were for nothing really because he was just fine...he ate well, he played, he had his bath (although he protested at getting his hair washed!) and he went down to sleep without a peep! He slept right through the night!! The next day he was absolutely no problem at all and in the afternoon his mommy and daddy came back home. It was a wonderful time and I enjoyed getting to know this littlest grandson!

In the evening hubby and I went to Toronto a Steven Curtis Chapman concert...hubby had purchased the tickets months before so we had already told our son and his wife that we'd be out for the evening when they called to ask us to babysit....It was a very good concert....and a lovely evening out and about! Toronto isn't one of my favourite places to go , but it was really one of the outlying suburbs so that was okay.

The next day was Sunday which of course started with church and our Sunday school program....usually I come home exhausted and hubby makes lunch but this time son Ryan and his wife Jenn and William had to leave in the middle of the afternoon so we had our 'big dinner' earlier....so, when I got home from church I immediately started whipping up the batter for the Yorkshire Pudding...my family loves Yorkshire so I make four batches....Donovan arrived, which was great because we hadn't seen him in months...his mom and his dad(my son Corey) aren't married and not together anymore, so it's a little difficult and complicated to see him regularly.

Then daughterLauren came by and decided to have lunch with us..which was great....it's a rare Sunday that I don't make what my kids call 'a big meal' and everyone is invited to come if they want to, kind of an open invitation...most times Lauren and Paul have other plans but sometimes they come. I'm glad Lauren decided to come..I knew she'd want to see William too!

It was a full dinner table with fifteen sitting at it...a little noisy at times but it was just great...I love having everyone come together ...there was just enough food...roast beef, roasted potatoes, gravy, peas and corn and of course the Yorkshire pudding....I think everyone enjoyed it!

At the end of the day, when everyone had left...I was picking up this and that..doing a little tidying...and hubby came up to me and gave me a hug...and whispered...'do you hear it'?....I said 'what'....'the quiet' he said.....ya,....the family is great...and I love having them all..but when everyone leaves..oh the quiet...the quiet is nice.

Good Morning Company Girls!!
This is William.....he is my youngest grandchild....well, youngest that is born right now....his mommy is expecting a little brother for William to play with this August...and today...William is coming here..to nana and papa's house while mommy and daddy get a well deserved little getaway overnight! I have a funny feeling that papa and I wont be getting too much rest in the next 24 hours..but that's okay..we'll survive! This is my sister Adele, yesterday she was admitted into the hospital with a very resilient infection in her ear that is not responding to medications by mouth and so they want to get her them into her via intravenous. She was away last week in Florida and thinks she may have picked it up in the swimming pool where they were staying. She's been quite ill for over ten days now....I hope these I.V. meds will do the trick!

It's been quite the week...my days have been turned upside down, backwards and inside out....we had a snowstorm on Wednesday that closed the schools for the day....good grief..I just got the kids back to school from March Break! On Tuesday I had to miss quilt class when both Megan and Ben had dentist appointments in the morning and then in the afternoon I took my sister's place (she usually does the 'mom appointments').....and took my mom to the dentist....at least I got a lot of reading done in my book!

Yesterday I took Megan to the orthodontist and in the afternoon I had a much needed massage....the evening was spent with my sister and her hubby at the hospital while she was being admitted. Today is busy, busy, busy...have to get myself into high gear and tidy up the house to prepare for William coming...he's walking now so I imagine there's all sorts of things that I will be putting up to a much safer level! To find out more of what's been going on in our house please check out my previous post....any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Take care and have a great weekend!

What Would you do?

Emma....

So, last week I went and saw Emma's counselor...she thot we should touch base because Emma was cutting..again...she had stopped for a few weeks......she admitted to me that she was at a loss of what to do....she had tried everything to get Emma to want to change, to have a better life....but....Emma doesn't want to change...the counselor figures that she's very comfortable with the way things are...she has it made really....a place to live, food to eat, her very own bedroom, parents who have done for her...tried to help her in so many ways...but she just sits in her room....doing her hair and makeup...or sleeping....she's always sleeping....the 'experts' say that she's not depressed...just bored...she never does school work...sometimes she passes her school work and sometimes not...she doesn't really care...the only thing she cares about is her school friends.....when the counselor admitted to me that she was at a loss of what to do it reminded me of when I was taking Ben, my developmentally delayed 20 year old, to a social worker for anger management....she got to the point that she said that she had tried everything but because his comprehension level is so low that she couldn't think of anything to help him understand.....I came away from both meetings feeling the same way....discouraged.

Due to the damage done to them by unthinking, unknowing, and sometimes uncaring birth parents these kids and in turn, my husband and I, because we chose to adopt them, are stuck...stuck in a world where people don't know what to do...how they can be helped...and the older I get the harder it is to take...when you're in your 30's or 40's you have the energy to tackle things head on and have a 'can do' attitude. Not now...now I'm just weary.

The counselor said...come back in a few days...we'll talk again....so I did.....she suggested setting up things in our home like a group home....if she wants something she has to earn it..set out the guidelines and expectations....let her hang out with her bisexual friends with their black clothes and multiple facial piercings..because let's face it....Emma will be 18 this November and in another year she could possibly go off to college...where, as family history has presented itself in our family...the kids lead altogether different lifestyles than we (my husband and I) have brought them up with...we are a fairly conservative Christian home..when they leave they have to try everything..they are convinced that all those years we've kept them from having fun...having the good life....

So,..at first my thoughts were...absolutely not, no way....then the more I thought about it the more I thought....maybe, maybe we should consider this.....I thought some more...maybe if we let her do this now, cause just face it Marie, she's doing this lifestyle anyways...everyday, at school...when I can not do anything about it anyways....maybe if we do allow it now we can still have some input instead of waiting til she's on her own and she's completely away from any parental influences.....so, I convinced hubby...he thought I had lost my mind...maybe I have....

I set up the guidelines...they must be adhered to if she wants any privileges.....there are expectations...she must get a volunteer position..somewhere....every kid that graduates high school in Ontario must have 40 hours of volunteer work...so far Emma hasn't any.....she must do all her chores without being asked.....she must treat everyone in the family with kindness and respect. She must tell me where she's going and when she'll return.

Emma's requests were to spend more time with her school friends after school, hanging out, sleeping over at their homes, being able to call them on the phone...she also wanted them to sleep over here.....we vetoed that particular one....I have Ben and Megan in the home...two very developmentally delayed kids in the house...they don't need that kind of exposure to Emma's friends in their own home....neither do I for that matter....

So far, Emma has been doing her chores, she has plans for getting volunteer positions but hasn't followed thru yet. Last night her friend, Kimma called....she used to go to Emma's school...in fact, I'm pretty sure that she's the one that introduced Emma to the whole bisexual world....apparently, according to Facebook....Kimma and Emma are 'in a relationship'...they are 'dating' now.....I feel a huge heaviness on my heart and soul...I feel sick inside....I want to take Emma's body and just shake it...(although since she's bigger and way stronger than me, that ain't going to happen)...good grief...don't call the cops on me.....I want to yell at her and say...'smarten up' 'what the pete do you think you're doing?' 'you're ruining your life'......when I see on Facebook, all her friends congratulating them and telling Emma how wonderful it is that she's with Kimma...well, it just makes me sick and I feel badly for the kids of today that their standards and morals are so screwed that they think that all this is just fabulous....am I a homophobic?...probably....I see it as a lifestyle that has a lot of sadness in it...a lot of society 'accepts' it on the outside but on the inside they're still going 'yuck'..'how can they do that!'....

I fear for Emma...she has turned to these kids because the other kids...the non-bisexuals have shunned her...they think she's weird, not because of the bisexualism but because that's just the way she acts....I think she scares them....she does act weird a lot of the time....you'd never dream that she was going to be 18 by the end of the year....

So...what's a mother to do...what would you do?

The Quilt Room!

Hello Company Girls!!!

Ta Da! The Quilt Room!

This is a small room, 8 x 10....the view standing in the doorway...I think I'll just put a little valance at the window....

This is my mom's old Singer sewing machine and cabinet....made in 1940! Cool huh?

Book shelf with all my quilting magazines and books.

Obviously, my sewing machine....the chair was in my dad's workshop...

Little ornament that I got down in Pennsylvania last Christmas when we went down for Sight 'N Sound theatre....cute huh?

Little ornament on the window sill...that I had to paint white cause the previous daughters had destroyed the window sill and hubby had to sand it...matching the stain to the rest of the window would have been next to impossible since it was done over 60 years ago!

Pressing area! The little table was also in my dad's shop....

Curtains covering the closet...the gold chair was my nana's...someday I'll get it recovered....but it's a nice spot to sit and contemplate life....

Curtains opened, displaying the fabric stash....

Another view.....

Cutting table.....the table was in an old office that hubby worked in over twenty years ago....when the weather gets warm I plan on taking it outside and painting it...maybe a nice white....

You can see the striping on the wall in this shot...turned out great and a little tip that Rachel gave me created nice clean edges....

Another view....love those walls...

And...there it is...something that I've dreamed about for years.....I've actually started a new quilt this week...and I can just leave everything laid out...don't have to pack anything up at the end of the day....fabulous...and the only expense was the paint for the walls...everything else I had in the house...now everything is in one room....before,...there was quilting stuff downstairs, in the dining room, the living room and my bedroom...I love having everything together!

So...what do you think......my hubby worked very hard and I think it's terrific.....Yes, I know...I am spoiled!!!



Happy Birthday to our son Ben who is twenty today!!!