O Canada

O Canada… our (my) home and native land,
True patriot love, in all thy sons command…

Today – I took and PASSED the Canadian Citizenship test!  🙂

In 3-5 months (!!) I will be invited to attend a Citizenship Ceremony where I will speak the oath, sign the register, sing O Canada (in English and French) and then officially become a Canadian citizen! <3 <3 <3

…With glowing hearts we see the rise, the True North (*) strong and free…

It’s been 10 incredible years since I first set foot on Canadian soil and felt like I’d finally found my home.

Thank you Canada and all of my beautiful Canadian friends (and family) for enveloping me in love and hope. I am so excited that I will get to call Canada home now for life.

No matter what, this is a great reminder – Never give up, never surrender! Oh wait, that’s from the movie Galaxy Quest!

I meant to say… Never, EVER, give up!

May the next 10 years be even more amazing than the last, I can hardly wait to find out what they will hold! May the love in my heart continue to grow and flow.

…From far and wide O Canada we stand on guard for thee,
God keep our land glorious and free,
O Canada we stand on guard for thee,
O Canada we stand on guard for thee!

I feel very proud today. <3

Warm smiles and Love,
Ali Jayne 🙂

Law of Attraction – Mystical Clarity @ 4am…

The Law of Attraction Series

Recently I had some bad news, devastating news even, and as I sat in that chair hearing the news, seeing the person’s mouth move, hearing the words, trying – struggling – to comprehend what they were saying and knowing that what they were saying was not at all who I was or what I was about, I wondered, “how will I turn this around?”

I felt sick to my stomach with the information I had been given, the judgments that had been placed on me. But I had no time to wallow, it all happened right before another meeting I had to attend to take minutes for a local community organisation.

Taking minutes was the distraction I needed and because it was the “after the event” meeting, it went long. Really long. By the time I got home I only had time to shower and go to bed – exhausted I slept, until around 4am when I woke…and remembered.

For a brief moment I panicked, scared that the whole world would come crashing down around me. With a deep breath I wouldn’t allow it – I would not allow someone else to define how I felt about myself. No way. Nor would I allow this information to take away the excited optimistic childlike self that I am most of the time. I had been on top of the world for months now, excited about the direction my life was taking, excited about the internal growth that went with the future I was imagining, and overjoyed to be on the path to becoming a parent. Continue reading

Adoption – My Questionnaire

Expectant Mother – Adoption Journey Series…

Once all of the references came back, the police check was cleared, and the forms I’d submitted were processed, it was time for the “next step”…

The Questionnaire.

This is a questionnaire about my background, my family, my upbringing, my relationship with my parents, my parents relationship with each other, and about how I was raised.

Theresa emailed me and said:

Wow Ali, your information  has come in fast and furious…
I have all references, criminal record check  (clear) and physicians report
So, step 2  –  Questionnaire #1:
You need to read, complete and submit back to me the Questionnaire 1 form.  Would you like to grab it at the office or i can email it to you…please let me know.  It shouldn’t take you too long to complete…
Once it is completed and I take a look at it, we can set up our first home visit

Part of my insides were screaming, “whoa, this is too fast, too soon, we need the whole year to relax into this and be completely ready before we surge forward.” The other part of me that loves to compete with myself said, “woo-hoo, we’re already at step 2 and she said we’re fast!”. Continue reading

Adoption – References

Expectant Mother – Adoption Journey Series…

References.

Point number three on the Adoption Application Form almost stopped me in my tracks.

A minimum of four references are required, including one from each of the following:

  1. an individual who has known the applicant(s) for a minimum of 2 years;
  2. an individual who has had an active association with the applicant(s) over the previous 6 months;
  3. an involved member of the applicant(s) extended family; and
  4. if there are any adult children living outside of the home, at least one of these children. (if there are no adult children, please include another reference from #2)

This was one of the things that made me feel like perhaps I shouldn’t get my hopes up. One of the references had to be a family member.

“an involved member of the applicant(s) extended family;”

Technically, I don’t have any family that I could ask. Continue reading

Adoption – First Whisper

Expectant Mother – Adoption Journey Series…

As a student of the law of attraction for many years now I realise that there are no coincidences in life, however, as a human being with a human life (and lots of contrary beliefs going on inside of me) for many years more than my learning of the law of attraction – sometimes I forget that everything coming to me was pre-paved by me and I have a “wow, how did this happen?” moment! I love those moments! This was one of them, the first of many in my desire to become an adoptive parent. The First Whisper that adoption was possible for me.

Jennifer and I were both volunteering in the VIP tent at our town’s largest summer festival over the August long weekend. I am on the committee for this festival and work wherever needed, that year it was the VIP tent. Jennifer is married to one of the committee members and has been volunteering for the VIP tent since its introduction a few years ago.

I’ve met Jennifer many times before and always enjoyed talking with her, however, we’d never gotten to the point of “what do you do?”

During those two long days standing around serving our VIP’s beer and wine, we started talking about all sorts of things. Eventually, our occupations came up and she told me that she is a social worker placing foster kids in our community.

I was interested immediately and I told her I’d thought about fostering children and might be interested one day, and I lightly mentioned that I’d really like to adopt children. (At this point I didn’t believe that was possible as a single person.)

We went about serving some more customers, while my mind whirred with questions, when the line died down I ventured…, “do you know much about the adoption system?” Continue reading