Busy, busy...
Merry Christmas to our friends and family! I apologize for the lack of Christmas cards this year but we wish you all God's continued blessings this season and in 2011.
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I suppose most of our blog readers are probaby fed up looking at my African Violet but you'll be glad to know it is still blooming and lovely.
More importantly, Colin is home! YAY! After almost 3 months away, he came home on December 3rd and managed to avoid any Heathrow airport disasters or delays.
Almost as soon as he was home, he also had a job interview and since then a second interview for the same position. He felt the interviews went well and we both hope and pray (and ask you to do the same) that this position will be offered to him and he will be able to stay home with us in January. In the perfect world he would've had the offer before Christmas but no word as of yet. We remain optimistic he will hear before the end of the week.
While he's been home we haven't had much time to rest and chill out together because we moved, again. And painted. Painted some more.... Let's just say we're both exhausted and taking it easy today for the first time all month. We moved back into my parental home in Waterdown. My mom had the house listed but no offers could be firmed up before she moved into her new apartment so we moved in to be closer to her and possible job prospects. It works well for both of us but it involved alot of moving of both my mom and our things. We're not 100% settled but getting there and so is my mom. Her new apartment looks like a miniature version of the house!
Packing up Isla!
The other piece of life changing news is that Colin has obtained Permanent Residence in Canada! God is good - a prayer answered! Permanent Residence is not the same as citizenship. That can be obtained in 4 to 5 years as we wish to pursue it but in the meantime he has the rights of any Canadian citizen with the exception of voting and working for governement. The only hiccup we're having is that his PR card could possibly be delayed due to backlogs until June and if he were to leave the country without me accompanying him, he'll have to get a temporary entry visa in the UK to come back to Canada... More red tape, another reason we want him to stay with us in January FOREVER! If it happens, it's not the end of the world, just a nuisance.
Our Christmas was a nice family centred occasion. We were scrambling to get the house organized and to feel at home and we succeeded in meeting the deadline!
My mom came over on Christmas Eve to start the festivities and to open the new pj pressies.
The 'Poser'
After present opening and church on Christmas Day, Aunt Lynne and Uncle Jim joined us for the festivities. Isla was a spoiled little girl and loves her new train/car set!
We did try to make a girl out of her and bought her a tea set. She served 'hot tea' to anyone and everyone!
She is doing great. In the last few months she has matured so much! Her speech, mannerisms and also because she been toilet trained and is even in a big girl bed! My mom kickstarted the training process for us and I just continued on. She's a champion and is even dry most nights. It's amazing how quickly she caught on once she started. She went through the phase of refusing the toilet and only using the potty but once we moved, all her business is on the toilet, even the public toilets. I never even thought that was going to be an issue but over the past week or so she now uses them too.
Her new favourite things to say are 'Why?" and "What are you doing mommy?"... Great! ;-)
My baby in her new purple room and in her big girl bed!
Her 'big girl' bed is actually her crib but it converts to a day bed and single bed. We thought we would start with the day bed and so far so good. She goes to sleep no problem and when she does climb out, she goes back in. We haven't found her sleeping in any strange places or positions like I thought we might.
Our plans this week are for Colin to go skiing with my brother and his kiddos for a bit of fun, get his OHIP (provincial medical) sorted and other paperwork like insurance since he has also been able to exchange his GB drivers licence with an Ontario licence... Never a dull moment around here, but I love it and we cherish each moment we have together no matter how mundane it may seem to others - we don't need fancy holidays or elaborate 'things' to enjoy being together, just being together is a blessing!
God is and has been good to us in 2010 and we look forward to what He brings us in 2011!