DIDN'T I SAY SCOTT WAS A "HANDYMAN"?

As I have said in a previous post, Scott has become quite the "handyman" during this basement renovation. Now that I am thinking about it, I may want to take back what I said. He figured it would be faster if he rented a spraying machine to prime the walls in the basement. Something tells me that he wasn't entirely sure how to use the machine. After this happened, he decided to go back to plain old rolling of the primer. Good idea Scott - Asha would be so proud!

UPDATE...

We got an email last night, actually Scott got the email. I was downstairs at the time and he came running down the stairs like I've never seen before. I thought something was wrong because he was crying; but they weren't sad tears, they were happy tears!

We have been patiently (no, not really) waiting to hear about a court date. We had been told back at the beginning of January that court would be in the middle of January, but there was some miscommunication between our agency and our lawyer in CAFAC. The reason why court is such an important step to get to is because technically Asha is not "officially" ours until court goes through. But God has been working during this whole process and let me tell you how I know this. First Ms. Martin who facilitates the adoptions through the St. Vincent adoption board has to send out documentation to each member and have each of them return the document to her before court can go through. We were told that this can take up to four months to complete. The documents were sent out only two weeks ago and they have ALL been returned. After this step, our lawyer can reserve a court date for our adoption to be processed and finalized. This is the email we got:

Scott and Desiree:

We received the following report from Agnes today.
Karen

From: Agnes Cato
To: cafac@minnedosa.com
Sent: Feb 25, 2009 5:51 AM
Subject: Asha Mikaela Nyah Parisien

Roberta, I am informed by Ms. Martin that this adoption should be ready to be sent up to the Court by next week. I shall keep you informed. Agnes

What does this mean? Well after Agnes - our lawyer - books a court hearing, several days later she signs on our families behalf and the decree is released. Then Agnes applies for Asha's new birth certificate and passport. She then sends the adoption decree, passport, birth certificate onto Trinidad for Asha's visa to be finalized. This is normally when we would get notified to come and travel to St. Vincent. As you have read we plan to leave on May 1st, but if God's work still continues like we know it will, we could possibly look at going to get our daughter earlier. So keep those prayers going for us like you all have been doing and praise the Lord for this wonderful news!!!

ANGELS ON EARTH...

We never would have guessed in a million years that what happened today, actually would happen!

It has been so difficult to be away from Asha and to be able to hear how she is changing and growing and the new things she is doing. Some try to be an encouragement to us by reminding us that it is similar to a pregnancy and that we have to wait the normal "9 months" for our child. Although others try to empathize, nothing can really fill that emptiness or void that we feel because our daughter is not here in our arms.

We were on the phone today with Asha's foster mother Lynda to check with her to see how Asha was doing this week. Lynda was asking questions about our home and if it had a ramp or steps so we were telling her a little more about the layout of our house. She then said, "We don't know if you would agree or how you feel about this, but what would you think about coming and living at Asha's first home until the paperwork is done and you can bring her home?" At first we were speechless and in utter shock! How would we feel??? BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF...we asked them if they were sure that they wanted to have us as house guests and she said that she wouldn't have asked if she wasn't sure. We talked about how it may be a couple of months and they told us that we were welcome to stay as long as needed.

So, what does this all mean? It means that we are going crazy without Asha and that we will be leaving on May 1st to go and live with her in St. Vincent, afterall she is OURS! Then we will be bringing her home with us. We can't complain about having to live in the Caribbean for a few months can we?

The plane tickets are booked. Now all we need to do is count down the days...

GRANDPA "CHEEK"...

If anyone knows my Dad, he is almost always a happy go lucky guy who has had the motto, "be nice, say nice things" since I was a small girl. He is truly a man of few words, very sensitive and doesn't like to outwardly show his feelings and emotions. He can cry at the drop of a dime and at the silliest little things (for example, seeing a commercial with a dog running in a field), but that's what makes him special! He has a true heart of gold and anytime I have needed anything growing up to help make my life easier because of my disability, he has always come through. He is not perfect, but he really knows when things NEED to be done and gets them done.

My Dad wanted to refinish Asha's crib and promised to have it done for our birthay, which was on February 14th, Valentine's Day. And sure enough, that day it was finished and delivered and is absolutely beautiful! Now all that is missing is Asha, but Laureen will keep the bed warm until we bring our princess home.

He was also refinishing a dresser that used to be one of our neices. He called today to give me his "progress report" with how the dresser was coming along. He said to me, "I sprayed the dresser once, but didn't like how it turned out so I went back and had to fill in all of the nicks in the wood. I couldn't have left it the way it was because it just was not acceptable for my Asha." And this time, he didn't cry but rather made me cry. I know my Dad is really looking forward to being a "Gramps" and to hold and cuddle Asha. At the same time though, he is a little worried. A couple of weeks ago he said, "What if I squeeze her too much?" What a guy!

WE'RE ON HOLIDAYS...

Scott and I are on holidays this week from work. Most would think, "Good for you guys, it'll give you some time to relax and to spend time together before you become a family of three!" WRONG! We took these holidays for one reason and one reason only...to get a good start on our basement where Asha's room is going to be. This is something that I have stressed about for so long as I know that it would not be good to be renovating when Asha is here. The time to finish the basement is NOW!

So Scott being the "handy-man" he is, began working to finish the basement in October. Now if any of you know Scott personally you know that the word Scott and handy-man do not go together, but let me tell you...Scott has become quite the Mike Holmes! He not only surprised me and our families, but I think he actually surprised himself. I am so proud of him. He did all the framing himself and did the electrical with his Uncle Grant.

Here is Scott taking a rest in Asha's room from all of his hard work.So, if Scott got everything else ready, then who did the drywalling? Well, we have been so blessed to have two couples we have known for years who are wonderful friends - they have been with us through thick and thin. The two husbands happen to be brothers and they own their own drywall company. More than anything, they wanted to be here for us to get the basement ready for Asha. They came on the weekend and in one day we saw the basement be tranformed from only being framed to being completely drywalled; and because the whole reason for doing the basement was for Asha, they did it all as a special gift for their neice for no charge. What a huge blessing that was to us! Thank you Uncle Curt and Uncle Shawn!

My Dad and Scott worked on the taping of all of the rooms on the weekend. The mudding is a time consuming and tiring job so this whole week Scott has been hard at work to get all the mudding done. Our hope is to be able to prime on Sunday and then start painting on Monday but we'll have to see how things go.

If you look very carefully, you can see the main inspiration for working on the basement. A picture of Asha is hanging on the right wall and Scott has been moving it from room to room to keep him motivated!

I have connected with several other families who are in the process of adopting and are actually in the same waiting period as us - just waiting to hear that they can come pick up their little ones. It is awesome because they live in Saskatchewan as well and our children are all around the same age; it is so nice to have that connection. I have been fortunate enough to watch their baby rooms come together and have yearned to start Asha's room. With all the work being done, being a Mom is starting to feel even closer and more real. I can't wait until the day when I can sit in her room (even if she's not here yet) and just soak in everything - her crib, dresser, the butterfly garden that her Daddy is going to paint for her, all her little outfits hanging in the closet. That is going to be one of the best days of my life. Now, all we need is our girl to be home and sleeping in her crib...that is what will make her room complete and perfect.

WHAT IS NEW WITH ASHA?

We talked to Asha this past Sunday and she is just getting sweeter and sweeter each week that passes by. Here were some things we asked:

Have you tried any new foods with Asha this week? "We mix togedda Callaloo (which is similar to spinach) and pumpkin. She loves food so much she not want her bottle no more. I may have to get her a multi-vitamin to make sure she gettin' all da nutrients she need. She is funny and cries when there be no food in her mouth."

Did she do anything new this week? "We put a bed mattress down on da floor in the livin' room and she likes being down. She is now pullin' up on stuff to stand. If we put someting on one end of da mattress, she jumps across to get it, but no crawlin' yet, just gets on hands and knees and jumps. She makes lotsa words now, she sees the goats and says "meeeey", and she make the **seepsin' sounds (like a reversed pssss, it's how they call people). When she want to go outside in the sun, she say 'go' and when we put her in da stroller, she look up the hill outside and keep saying, 'go, go'. She is very opinionated!"

Is she ticklish? "She is ticklish under the arms. When she is sleeping though she doesn't like to be hugged or touched. Maybe because she is too hot."

Thank you for the pictures. That meant a lot to get those right before her six month birthday. We noticed something though; she has dimples (so adorable)! "Yes, yes, she does have dimples. We first saw dem when she started smilin'. She does have two dimples, but one is deeper den the other."
** Speaking of seepsin', Lynda put Asha on the phone with us and Lynda said, "say hello your Dada, call your Dada, call your Dada", and then after a moment we heard, sssspssssspssssspssssp... it was so funny! We thought she was just breathing heavy into the phone, but Lynda started laughing and said Asha was seepsin' us! So cute.

Stay tuned for more updates like this one!

MISS ASHA IS GETTING COMPANY...

We have posted before about our new friends who are going to St. Vincent to visit their friends and family. They are such loving and generous people and if you have followed our blog, you know that they offered to take a box full of things for Asha as well as bring her our many hugs and kisses.

It's so difficult to count down the days until Asha will be in our arms forever but is makes it a little easier knowing that someone will be going to visit her in our place. Only SEVEN more days until they go to see our precious daughter; until that time, we are counting down the days in anticipation for what they will bring home to show us and tell us about our sweet baby girl.

We miss you Asha! Be a good little girl and on your best behaviour for the Craig family. Don't give TOO many slobbery kisses because you need to save some for your Daddy and Mommy!

COOKING ST. VINCENT STYLE...

We have been blessed richly to become friends with a lovely family who we met at our church. Brendon is originally from St. Vincent - born and raised - and met his wife Karen in St. Vincent when she came to the country for a missions trip. They spent much of their married lives together in St. Vincent but now reside in Saskatoon with their two boys.
If you have continuously visited our blog, then you all know that we have done many things to prepare for Asha by embracing her culture. We know that St. Vincent is, and will always be a part of who our daughter is and it is very important for us to incorporate parts of SVG that are indigenous to the country. We have been getting ready for her in many ways and one of those ways is through cooking. But no one knows what true St. Vincent cooking is like unless you have actually lived there and have learned the recipes from others in the country.

No words can express how excited we were to have these new friends come over yesterday to teach us some of the national delicacies. We figured it was only appropriate to serve something tropical for drinks, so we made the pina coladas and they showed us how to make the rest. We now can say that we know how to make PELAU with GREEN SEASONING, SALTED COD and BAKES. A huge, hearfelt thank you goes out to our Vincy friends; we are overfilled with joy and gratitude that you are in our lives and Asha's life!