Give me this short intense rain over "June-ary"

Here is the video I promised.  I hope it works.  The rain there beats the grey, dismissal, dreary June skies of Vancouver in June-ary!

The video will come.  I have tried but I can't upload directly from my computer and have to try to get it on You-Tube first.  The rain is spectacular and loud.

Temporarily Suspended - will be back to my other blog

Unfortunately my journey to my country was not quite as I'd had hoped and wished for.  There were no young, single children available, a few sibling groups with 4/5 year olds, and then only a few older children.  I knew going down there were no children under three but had opened my heart to a 4 or 5 year old.  I did meet an absolutely delightful and very sweet older girl who I am trying to get more information on.  I spent quite a bit of time with her over my last days there and there is a real connection.  Any information from the country is very slow to come given the experiences of other families who have been waiting for five months for rather simple documents!   Thus there are a number of "p" words that continue to be required or followed or held on to.  Patience, perseverance, persisitance, perspective, passion, process (belief in it) and progress (I'd hoped to make some).  One thing abunduntly clear to me and I think many others in the process of international adoption is the lack of "P"redicatability and the need for the process not to "P"reoccupy one and one's life. 

From my experience, it seems many children are temporarily and voluntarily put into care by their families and thus obviously not available for adoption.  The system is wonderful for families in the country as there doesn't seem to be any negative views around this but makes it very difficult for those of us trying to adopt.  Imagine somebody in the developed, western world walking into an office and saying,  "I'm out of work, I don't have a place to live, I want to find a job and get back on my feet. Please can you look after my kids for a while?" 

I have a few videos of some spectacular rainstorms and will try to post these soon when I have time to figure it out.

What to do now?

I have been home a week and can't stop thinking about the child I met.  She is older than I have been approved for in my homestudy but a real sweetheart.  I talked to the director of the agency in Ontario today and am waiting for the agent in my country to try and find out more information about this very special little girl.  I found the quote below on another blogger's blog today.  She found it on Pinterest.  It kind of speaks to where I am at at the moment.

Source: Pinterest

Goodbye, we are homeward bound tomorrow!

Hi Everybody,
There have been no pictures from the last two days so I am attaching a few from our walk this morning.  I am so glad L is here because I certainly wouldn't be out walking around on my own!

St. George's Anglican Cathedral

These windows allow for a nice breeze to flow through the cathedral.

These two stained glass windows were side by side.  Note the words, faith and hope!





I don't think kids back home would know what this is!  The library here had two of them!

The city's only escalator according to the tour book!

I feel like I have seen some parts of my future child's city and am glad we got to have the time to do this.  I am not sure I will be doing some of this when I have my child in tow.  Although the manatees, zoo despite it's state, and the museum will be musts.  I hope you have enjoyed the pictures over the last 10 days.  We are having torrential  rain tonight and I think we could safely say rainy season has arrived.



The Last Two Days

Sunday was a very quiet day.  I spent a lot of it at the orphanage visiting with the 7 3/4 year old that I am being drawn to.  I didn't sleep on Saturday as I thought about my decision.  I realized that because I had extended my age to 5 for the trip but not officially, I am going to have to increase it further.  It has been a very long and emotional trip and I think I need to go home and make a decision.  I may regret not making it here as soon as I get on the airplane but I want to make sure I am making the right decision.  I had hoped for more years with a younger child but as a friend pointed at the age of 8, coming from an orphanage there will still be many firsts.

This morning, Monday, L and I went to the ministry and met with a secretary.  We then tried to visit the lawyer but he wasn't available.  L holed up in the hotel room all day while I went to visit two other girls available, they go half-day and I wanted to see them without the little girl I seem to have bonded with around.  Of the three girls, I definitely have a connection with the 7 3/4 year old.  I came back to the hotel and then went back over to see the little girl I am considering when she got home from school.  The visit went well and she read to me and talked to me even though the other girls were interacting with some US college students.  I sat with her while she ate dinner and then came back to the hotel. 

Unfortunately I have no pictures from Sunday or Monday that I can post.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Here are some pictures from our excursion with our new friends this afternoon.  Thank you N and T for being wonderful hosts. 

The old cricket grounds where we enjoyed a champagne flavoured shandy.  Love the British influence but not sure of the champagne taste!   Dad makes really good ones!

It was very humid today and I couldn't determine if these boys were in their underwear or not!

The Botanical Gardens

The manatees in the garden pond

A parrot in the zoo

A bit too close for comfort especially when this teenager started throwing things at it!

The monkey people were shaking hands with! 

This looked like a cub at the zoo, although bigger in the photo!

He or she liked me talking to him.

The Kissing Bridge, a photo spot for weddings.  We didn't walk over to it as it was dusk.

For the record I think I took 191 photos today!  What did we do before digital cameras?
Goodnight from G,G

The rest of Friday, May 25, 2012

Here are some pictures of the famous wooden cathedral in town.

side view

The front of the cathedral.

the other side

There are a lot of horse-drawn carts, even on the coast road!

I forgot to tell you all but you see a lot of people riding in the back of open pick-up trucks here.  The other day, on our long trip, two men were standing on the back of a pick-up holding on to lumber and the cab roof!  I couldn't get a picture of it but the truck must have been going 90 km/hr!

Another very popular and heavily used form of travel - the minibus!  They are always packed full of people!

The National Library



This is for Cheryl, apparently this little fellow is a 'kisskadee'. 
I have to check the spelling.