a year later...

We've been thinking quite a bit about our time in Ukraine a year ago. We tried to read our blog entries every day a year later in order to relive the experiences a bit. With a bit of distance, it still amazes us how well things went. As we predicted when in Ukraine, we are now pretty nostalgic about much of it. And how could we not be? It now feels like a marvelous adventure where we got to know our daughter a bit before bringing her home. Although I (Darren) am occasionally accused of living more in the past than in the present, these days it is pretty easy to be in the now. Frankly, life is pretty good.
Shona here now. Ivanna has continued to grow (she's 6 inches taller than a year ago), learn and blossom into an even more delightful little girl. We continue to just revel in the fact that she is our daughter. What a gift she is to us and we continue to be so grateful and thankful. We have spent the last few months doing much of the same. It's amazing how little time there is between breakfasts, playing, snack, playing, lunch, nap, reading books, snack, playing, walking to pick up Daddy at work, supper, and bedtime. We've had many playdates and suppers with friends and more playdates. We went as a family with Ivanna's buddy, Natalie and her family to Fairmont for week in March. 4 adults and 3 children under 3 in a 7 seater minivan, and all went surprisingly well. The kids did marvelously with the long drives and we all had a relaxing time there. I (Shona) did about 2 months of working 2 days a week, to help out at my workplace and Ivanna did well with being away from her Mama - getting to spend time with her nana, papa, and daddy helped. Ivanna and I accompanied Darren on a work trip to Waskesiu in June and we stayed for a brief family vacation overnight (we would have stayed longer, but the weather was cold and rainy). We've also just come back from a weekend up in Nipawin visiting Ivanna's Great Grandma and Grandpa (Darren's Grandparents) and discovered just how light sensitive our daughter is for sleeping as it doesn't get dark up there until after 10PM...not good...but a great visit nonetheless. Our plans for the summer are to spend as much time outside in the parks as possible, go to family camp at Oshkidee and try some camping (likely later in the summer when it gets dark sooner!)
We've just celebrated Ivanna's 3rd birthday. Wow. We have a 3 year old! We had her party at a local indoor pool (the weather was too threatening to have a pool party, as planned, at Nana and Grandpa's) and true to Ivanna's interests, when it came time for her to blow out her candles, she threw a little fit, and said 'no cake' and promptly jumped back into the pool...not caring that neither parent was near. She loves the water and would much rather play than eat sweets! Eventually we convinced her to come out and blow out the candles and at least the other kids got some cake! Anyway, that's our update...we'll post pictures soon :)