Well, I will be honest, there have been a number of difficult days in our family since I last wrote but I am happy to say that we have come out on the other side. And, once again, despite everything, on numerous occasions we were reminded of the blessings that we have in our life. Most importantly, we were reminded of how lucky we are first and foremost to have each other and also to have such supportive friends and family in our life. So I find myself, after having taken the time to mourn what was lost, still able to appreciate all the gifts we have in our lives and the possibilities that await us...I have accepted that the baby that was meant for us will find us in time...

And, of course, the best therapy of all has been spending time with Mathieu and Gabriel...We have had some exciting days lately as Mathieu started kindergarten the other day. He was counting down the sleeps!!! Unfortunately, I was working that day but Mathieu got to have a very special morning with Papa! Vincent took him to breakfast at Patric's (our friendly neighborhood baker!) and then they were off to school to meet his new teacher. Mathieu was so cute as he headed out the door with his new back pack and lunch bag!

As for Gabriel, well he has now officially taken Mathieu's place at Momo's daycare on the days that I work. Momo had a party the other night to celebrate the kids that were "graduating" to kindergarten as well as the new arrivals. On the morning we arrived at Momo's for the first time, Gabriel ran right in and seemed happy to finally be able to enter his big brother's the territory and play with with all the toy's. He and 2 year old Gael have already become the best of friends!

On my side, I have officially accepted a job at the YWCA starting next week doing employment counselling with immigrant women. It is a part time job and the schedule and location will be much easier in terms of balancing work and family life. I do enjoy my work in CLSC however, and decided to keep my name there in order to take on occasional replacement days here and there. It is a such a valuable experience and I am learning so much.

I had to work 4 shifts this week and it was actually good timing since it helped to keep busy. Also, I find that, though difficult, working with people who are in such dire straits really helps keeps things in perspective and it really reminds me that you can't take anything for granted. For example, this week, I worked with several families that did not have enough money to buy school supplies their children's first day of school. I definately thought about that as I was packing Mathieu's backpack with all of the things that I had care freely bought him the other day. Its quite amazing to see the poverty that exists in Montreal...

Anyways, on a happier note, Danielle and I have decided to start kid swapping - she and Doug take our kids for the evening every two weeks and we take hers! So, this means that Vincent and I get an evening out to go for supper at a fancy restaurant. La vie est belle!!! Grosse vie sale!!

Back from Winnipeg and Japan!!!!!!

Hi everyone,

We recently arrived back from our trip to Winnipeg and Japan and had a wonderful time. I spent one week with the boys in Winnipeg before flying off to join Vincent and his family in Tokyo. After about 24 hours hours of travel I finally arrived at the hotel at 7:15 p.m. local time (5 in the morning my body time!!!) and had 45 minutes to shower and get dressed up for the pre-wedding dinner. Fortunately, jet lag had not kicked in yet so I felt pretty good both for the dinner that night and the wedding the next day. The wedding was lovely and quite an unforgettable experience. It was a traditional japanese wedding held at a Shinto temple and then a traditional japanese meal and reception at the Four Seasons in Tokyo. The whole day was very touching and beautiful.

The next day, every one parted their separate ways. Vincent and I travelled to Kyoto for a few days, then Nara, Hiroshima, Miji and finally back to Tokyo. We had a wonderful trip.

As we were gone the boys apparently had an awesome time in Winnipeg. They got to go to rodeo and fair in Morden, Manitoba where Mathieu fell in love with a cowboy hat and apparently would not take it off for days afterwards. Then Mathieu went to Grandpa Moe's cottage. After that, the boys, my sisters, their kids, my mom and Gilbert all went camping at Westhawk Lake for 4 days. Mathieu was very excited to tell me that he caught 2 fish and had a great time learning to kayak!!!

We are back in Montreal now and happy to be home though the transition was a bit difficult and Mathieu was really missing Winnipeg the first couple of days. The boys made a trip to Quebec city while I was working so apparently swimming in Grandmama's pool did the trick to help cheer him up!!! We just got back from a day at the beach at Oka so that was also good for everyone's morale!!

Vincent is back to work tomorrow so the regular routine begins again!!! The big difference being that we will be getting ready for Mathieu's first day of school on August 26....Hard to believe!