patience

Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper sprinkle cool patience.

-Shakespeare

part 2: Liebster award

Now that my necessarily cryptic weekly post (see part 1) is up, I can share my exciting news--my blogging friend Elizabeth at My Road to Motherhood has nominated me for a Liebster award!  Thank you Elizabeth, I'm thrilled and honoured, and I feel the same way about your blog.  You write so openly and honestly about a journey that has thus far been very difficult, and I really appreciate knowing that I'm not alone in some of the things I have experienced. You are actually one of the people who inspire me to keep writing!

I had never heard of this award until I won it, but I think it's a wonderful way to connect more people expressing important things in the blogsphere. Liebster recipients are asked to do the following:

• post 11 things about yourself
• answer the 11 questions posted by the person who nominated you
• nominate 11 new blogs (or less if 11 is not possible)
• post 11 questions for those winners to answer

A more thorough explanation is posted at My Road to Motherhood.

11 things about me

1)  I have lived in all these places: Barrie, Ontario; Greenwood, Nova Scotia; Ottawa, Ontario; Lennoxville, Quebec; Villefranche-sur-mer, France; Jasper, Alberta; North Bay, Ontario; Hickory, North Carolina; and Brampton, Ontario.

2)  I love to travel and have been to many places across Canada and the U.S., as well as France, Spain, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland, England, Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Martin, Domincan Republic, Puerto Rico, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and Costa Rica.

3)  I have had a tattoo of mother earth on my ankle since I was 19 year old.

4)  I have degrees in French Studies, Teaching English as a Second Language, Education, and a college diploma in Media Communications.

5)  My car's name is Amalita Amalfi, after a character who appeared in one Sex and the City episode.

6)  I honestly love my job.

7)  My new favourite tv show is HBO's Girls, and I think Lena Dunham is my long lost sister!

8)  I love playing acoustic guitar (although I think I am a horrible singer!)

9)  My favourite singer/songwriters right now are Michael Franti, Colbie Caillat and Taylor Swift.

10)  My favourite movies of all time are Love Actually and Slumdog Millionaire.

11)  I believe that I was not put on this planet to lead a conventional life, but I was put here to adopt fur and human children.

Elizabeth's questions for me

1)   What is your favourite book/author?

The Curse of the Singles Table by Suzanne Schlosberg.

2)   Do you have any pets?  If yes, info (type and name) and pictures if you are willing.  If no, would you like one and what kind.

I have a cat named Bebe Gatita (gatita = kitten in Spanish), a 6-yr-old domestic shorthair dilute tortie. She is my third cat, after Fellinita Principessa Muccia Prada and Minou (Mimi), all adopted one way or another. Adopt a homeless pet, you'll both be glad you did!!  I love dogs too, and someday I may add more fur orphans to my family.

3)   Name one place you would like to visit. 

Vietnam! In the meantime, I'm going to Belize in February. My dream is to see Hawaii.

4)   Do you have a favouite app (phone, ipad, or if you don't have anything "i", an edible appitizer)?

I am years behind in the technology department! I recently got an android tablet and I only have a few apps, but I'm looking forward to putting kids' books and games on it so that I don't have to lug to Vietnam a suitcase full of that stuff.

5)  Tell about a surprise in your life.

Winning a Liebster!  This is my first award as an aspiring writer (I'm already a writer/editor by profession, but my dream is to write a book about adopting my daughter, so an award-winning adoption blog is a good start!)

6)  What was your favourite childhood activity?

Figure skating.

7)  Tell about something you have learned, anything from anytime.

Deep inside us, we have reserves of emotional strength that we could never have imagined.  I'll put that and everything else I've learned over the past six years in my book!

8)  What stresses you out?

Anything and everything related to child adoption.

9)   What are three words would your family and friend use to describe you?

Introverted, smart, funny.

10)  White wine or red wine?

Red, because something in white keeps me up all night.

11) A wish you have

To meet my daughter.

my Liebster nominees and their questions

Here's where things get a bit complicated! Nearly all of the blogs I follow are in French, and I don't know how comfortable the bloggers are with English. So I'll post below my questions in English, then I'll send them in French to the winners, along with the info about the Liebster. If they respond, I'll post their names and links!

1) Name one thing you are passionate about.
2) When are you happiest?
3) Who inspires you?
4) If you could be anything, what would you be?
5) What do you know for sure?
6) If you won the lottery, who or which cause would you help and why?
7) Tell me one interesting thing about you.
8) Where is your favourite place in the world?
9) Tell me one of the reasons you were put on the planet.
10) Who would play you in a movie?
11) What would the movie be called?

part 1: faith

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.

-Rabindranath Tagore

inner chaos

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.

-Nietzsche

joy

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.

- Matsuo Basho

new year and waitiversary

Today year SIX of the wait for my daughter begins. Since it's much too traumatic (and I don't use the word loosely) to think about that, I'll just focus on the positive and put down a few thoughts about 2012 and 2013. I survived 2012, thanks to travel, mother nature, a new kayak and a bit of magic. September 29 was a magical day that topped all the others (I'll tell you about it someday), but another great day was the one I spent sea kayaking in Somerset Bay, Bermuda. On this frigid January 1st in Ottawa, where the snow is piled up to my roof, this photo taken on that mostly perfect day in Bermuda (the only thing that was missing was my girl) warms my heart. I can't wait until the day I can finally show my daughter my island love.

I have hope for 2013. I believe that 13 is my lucky number, that my stars are aligning right now, and that my girl will finally, finally be coming home this year. While I wait for the magic, I need the things that keep me going, i.e., travel, nature and a kayak. So I'm planning a February eco-adventure in Belize! I will meet my group in Belize City, then we will visit Mayan pyramids in the mountains, hike in the jungle at the Crooked Tree bird sanctuary, snorkel at the Blue Hole of Belize, and camp and kayak at Lighthouse Reef atoll (base camp photo below).

Besides Belize, there's not much I know for sure going into 2013. But there is one very important thing: I am one step closer to my girl. So this song, One Step Closer to You by Michael Franti and Spearhead, is for her today. It helped bring a little friend of mine home from Ethiopia last year, and now it's time for Michael to work a little magic in Vietnam. For those of you also waiting to adopt, you know--either first hand or through stories like mine--that it takes too long, it's too hard, and the risk of someone stealing your dream is too high. But if your heart tells you that your child is out there waiting, pick yourself up and follow through, because she needs you as much as you need her. I wish you a happy new year and a miracle.

I've been down for far too long

Till my faith was nearly gone

I never knew somebody just like you

Could be a friend I could call my own

Till I let go of a broken heart

I let go to an open heart

I let go of my broken dream

I let go to the mystery

And I believe in the miracles

I believe in the spiritual

I believe in the one above

I believe in the one I love

And take one step closer to you

I just take one step closer to you

Even when I've fallen down

My heart says follow through

I take one step closer to you

                                 - Michael Franti