July Milestones

As always, July is a month of occasions for our little family.

On July 2nd, we marked our adoption day. Two years ago, Kiyomi was put into our arms, and we haven't let go of each other since. Adoption day is always a mix of emotions and recollections, and we were fortunate to mark the occasson with Kohji's family, sitting on a lovely deck overlooking a peaceful Canadian shield lake. It seemed somehow fitting, although I couldn't coax the loons to make an appearance to really make it a Heritage Moment!

And of course, tomorrow is Kiyomi's 3rd birthday. Hard to believe our little girl is already 3 years old (but she'll happily tell you if you ask). When asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner, she said cake. When I told her that cake was for dessert, and she needed to choose something different for dinner, she said "chocolate cake." Ah well, what can you do, she is her father's daughter.

I figured the best way to mark these milestones is to take a look back over the last year to see how much she's grown, and how much we've changed as a family. So, I'm posting a little movie that looks back over the last 12 months or so (and yes, it's set to a cheesy song, which some of you out there might remember for our university days)!

Once again, I thank our little girl for bringing so much to our lives. She teaches us more everyday and we still marvel at the strange twists of fate that brought us together. We are more as a family, than we could ever have been alone, and for that, we are eternally grateful.

Good night, from Ottawa.