And so it begins

I'll tell you something about waiting - it can be all consuming.

There is something about it that takes over your life. I know it sounds weird to say. I mean, really how can nothing take up your life? If you're waiting, there is no time commitments, no demands, no deadlines. You're just waiting.

The best analogy I can think of is to think back to when you were a kid and you were told you were going to the amusement park or a birthday party or the zoo or anything that would send you into dizzying anticipation. Now, usually there was a wait. A few days, a few hours, a few minutes. Didn't really matter because once you knew, it was all you thought about. You woke up in the morning thinking about it, you brushed your teeth thinking about it, ate your breakfast, played at recess. Oh sure, there were moments of distraction - a fight over marbles, an all consuming game of freeze tag, a trip to the corner store for ice cream. But always, your mind crept back to the amusement park, knowing it was tantalizingly close and yet seemed too far away. It's presence enticed you and frustrated you all at the same time. So much so that even the mention of it was unbearable, even though some part of your brain was permanently fixated on it.

It might surprise some of you to know that waiting can have the same effect on you as an adult. Sure, you can fake it better - you won't stand around the water cooler vibrating with anticipation or tear down the street yelling at the top of your lungs - but the same anticipation bubbles under your skin, commands your brain and pretty much consumes any free head space that is foolhardy enough to remain available. It gets in your head like one of those annoying princess pop songs that seem to float around and come out of your mouth without you even realizing it - without even really realizing it you're walking down the street singing Hannah Montana! Or in our case, you're mentally reviewing the calendar, counting off weeks, playing out possible scenarios. It's maddening.

And so it is with some relief that we can now happily say, WE HAVE FINALLY RECEIVED TRAVEL APPROVAL. Almost 5 months to the day of getting Ren's referral, the next stage of the paperwork came through. What's more, as of today, we now have exactly 5 weeks to get our butts to China. So all those things that I've been putting off because, well it just added to the sense of longing and frustration, now must get done in 5 weeks in addition to all the travel prep. It's a good frantic though, really...

We leave at the end of April, and for the moment, the itinerary has us travelling to Guangxi on the 25th and joining Ren on that same day. As per usual, however, all things are subject to change. However, what is not in doubt is that we are leaving for China at the end of April - tickets have been booked and accommodations are being reserved.

Time has not been standing still of course (although it felt like it at times). We have seen our first unbelievable growth spurt in Kiyomi. She sprouted an inch in a month. Within a few weeks all her pants became capris and her little dresses became long shirts. Not to mention that 'out of reach' has had to be re-evaluated in this house.

Much to her dad's utter delight, Kiyomi has totally taken to winter sports this year. Skating was a particular passion and the canal was a favourite haunt, and not just because of the gooey pastries available ice-side. She went from shuffling along to honest to goodness gliding within a couple skates. In fact, in one instance, she took off down the canal while I was still stuggling to stuff my skate on. Here's a small snippet of what I had to chase with one skate half done-up.

Kiyomi has also taken to skiing with equal enthusiasm. Her downhill lessons were a hit and ended with a bang when the entire ski school dressed in costumes and paraded down the hill on

the final day. She had a blast, especially as she took the class with 3 of her little buddies and they spent every Saturday afternoon tearing up the slopes.

Cross-country hasn't been given short-shrift either, and this season, we ditched the pulk (in large part because neither on of us were willing to tow the 36 pds kid plus the 10 pds sled). Kiyomi was able to ski all the way into the cabins, with some end of ski pole towing.

Pat and Sheila visited us for an all too short weekend visit from the far reaches of Winnipeg. We skied, ate and hit the bird sanctuary - all of which proved to be popular activities.

In a rather momentous occasion, Kiyomi's long-time companion, Elton, got a bath. That bear has been with Kiyomi since the day she arrived in Canada. Elton has been to Chicago, Australia, Japan, California and a few other places, but has never, ever had a bath. No trauma or seperation anxiety ensued, but the smell was way better afterwards.

The parting shot for tonight is a little long, but really, who doesn't love 5 Little Monkeys.