LAUREEN...

We have not been members of the Saskatchewan Caribbean Association for too long but we have already become close with several of the people in the group. One of the woman we have connected with is a sweet and loving soul; she was generous enough to pass along a precious doll for Asha. The doll was handmade and it was given as a gift to her girls when they were little. This doll has already become a permanent fixture in our home and has melted the hearts of those around her.

We named the doll Laureen, after the kind woman who gave her to us. Laureen wanted to have a new festive outfit for the holidays, so Nana Balaberda took her shopping for the perfect outfit. Each place we went this year, Laureen cheerfully came along with us dressed in her best clothes. We can't wait for next year when we will get to see Asha dragging Laureen around herself.

Thank you Laureen for blessing us with such a special gift. We will treasure it forever!

CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR...

Even though Asha wasn't here this Christmas, we celebrated as though she were. Thank you so much to everyone who blessed Asha this year with your love and many gifts. Next year she will have slobbery kisses for you all!

NEW PICTURES...

We were truly BLESSED this Christmas!

We envisioned that Christmas would be difficult this year without our new baby girl. But, although we did not have Asha home for Christmas, we had the next best thing! The foster family was able to use the camera we mailed them and emailed us new pictures of our daughter. We received them on Christmas Eve - what an amazing gift. Seeing more pictures of Asha was something we wanted more than anything else in this world! What a truly amazing present we received.

We have attached the pictures for you to see our little bundle of joy! Make sure you check out her chubbiness! She is obviously eating well.

Much love and blessings to you and yours this holiday season.

ASHA TELLIN' STORIES...

We have called The Ottley's several times throughout the last couple of weeks. Everytime we called to talk to Asha, she had JUST had some "tea" - what they call the bottle - and had been put down for a nap. They do not have her on a specific schedule for nap times but each time we have called lately (different times), we always get told she is sleeping! Today, we finally got to talk to our little girl and was she ever making noise. If you listen very carefully, the foster mother Lynda tells us that she is upset because she brought her inside and she doesn't like to be inside. She loves being out in the sun! Make sure before you listen to the clip that you turn down the music player on the left side of this page.

THE PARISIEN'S NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION...

Family is all about traditions and for us being that our little girl is going to be home soon, we wanted to start our own Christmas tradition. We decided to make sugar cookies and to honour Asha we made some of the cookies with a St. Vincent flair. Keep in mind, this is our first attempt at these, so they are not perfect but let us tell you...they sure taste yummy! Here are some cookies we made in the St. Vincent national colors.

Our foster family, The Ottley's, refer to us as being plain skinned and call themselves brown skinned. So we made this bear just for The Ottley's because he...you guessed it, is brown skinned!!!

Daddy wanted to decorate cookies to look like Asha helped to make them. Which cookie do you think Asha would have made?

NOT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS...

We have been ready for Christmas for quite some time already. Our tree is decorated, stockings hung, gifts all wrapped and under the tree and the baking is completed. Although we are ready for Christmas in that sense, we will never be ready for the sadness we feel this holiday season.

To us Christmas means the birth of Jesus Christ but it is also a time for children. And for us, our most special and important gift is not going to be here this Christmas. It will be Asha's very first Christmas and she will be away from home, away from her Daddy and Mommy. More than anything, this time of the year makes us miss her that much more. We are trying to look to the future, to next year when she will be with us and will have her FIRST Christmas home with her family. We try to imagine what she will be like at Christmas next year with the lights and the gifts and the treats and the snow! Especially the snow! What a shock that will be for her!

So during this time, although our hearts ache to hold our little girl in our arms, we hold on to the dream of how wonderful Christmas will be next year. 2009 WILL BE the best year of our lives!!!

ASHER'S BIG FLIGHT...

We wanted to send off a package to our little girl with some things to keep her busy until we could come to bring her home. The first thing we knew we wanted to send to our daughter was a teddy bear for her to cuddle, so we went to the Build-a-Bear Workshop and made her a bear we named Asher. We also put a recording of our voices inside Asher's paw, telling Asha how much we love her. So as Asha grows during her wait for her Daddy and Mommy, she can hear how much we miss and love her every night before she goes to sleep. Asher has a big heart and we know that he will give Asha all the love and hugs that she needs.

We ended up sending the package by UPS and it will hopefully get to St. Vincent by Tuesday this week. It has made us that much more excited to be able to track Asher's journey to find his best friend. Asher wanted to try on Asha's onesie before we sent it. Isn't he adorable and don't you think this onesie will look adorable on Miss Asha?

If you haven't already done so, pause the music on this page (bottom right hand side) and check out the video from Asher himself which is posted below. For a tiny bear, he sure does have a lot to say!