Being Delivered!!!

As I write, my husband is being delivered to me by American Airlines and my excitement I can hardly contain. I swear I woke up every few hours to check the clock. But it wasn't that time yet. lol

  I posted this picture to show the beautiful sky. To me, that is God watching over him to make sure he gets to me safely!

I am down to counting down the hours now till I leave my office and hit the road to scoop him up!! Anxiously awaiting the first sight of him with his suitcase as he waits in the Arrivals pick up zone at the airport for me to get him. Will his hair be up? Will his hair be down?  However he has it that first sight of him has always given me the tummy flutter...lol (Even when I have a clue what he'll look like because he's posted photos of him on the way to the airport via Facebook).

The butterflies just reminds me of the first time we met, when I traveled to Miami way back on October 12th, 2001. Seems like a decade ago. But wait...lol....it was! Anyways, I was nervous like you wouldn't believe. After all, I had seen photos of him online but this was the first time we were meeting in person. Yup...I remember standing by the baggage carousel watching bags go around waiting for my bag while secretly trying to scope out my surroundings for view of him. Would he look just like his photos?

  Hmmmm.....This is what I had online to go by in 2001.  Oh yes indeed!

Then, I saw him standing not too far from me leaning against a wall with one knee up, his hair down, wearing jeans and an orange University of Miami jersey. OMG....He looked so sexy!  lol  And you know I made sure he could spot me. Had a cute pair of sandal heels on with a cute black skirt, all I remember. I giggle like a schoolgirl just thinking of that day. (I actually still have that jersey too. He gave it to me to keep) I didn't let on that I had seen him that day either. Nope, I tried to play it cool and kept waiting for my bags while waiting to see if he would approach me or if I had to approach him.  He approached me if I remember correctly. Oh man. Memories!! 

I had that same nervousness when he visited me for the first time after 6 years of not seeing each other on March 20th, 2009. Would he look the same? I wondered. And Voila!! There he was that day too, but this time in My city. He came to see me looking just as sexy as he did the first day we met. He aged gracefully, just like me.

Now...I got my Man!! After all that had been written in the pages of life between then and now. God is sooo good. This man is now my Husband and he is coming home! We can wait for Canadian Immigration TOGETHER!  We can enjoy life and do everything TOGETHER!  It brings tears to my eyes knowing that I will forever have this man by my side to comfort me when I feel down, to drive me nuts when he feels like it lol, to take care of me, to be my partner in everything and just to Love me like nobody has ever loved me before. (Not to mention what I will do for him) And, to show my children what real love really is and how God works everything out according to His purpose.  Yup...I can't help but shed a tear because for a while I figured I was getting up there in age and it was never going to happen for me, let alone with Furman the man I always had a torch for. But, we reconnected online.....and I swear I wasn't stalking him. This time, I was just offering my friendship to someone I thought was in need at the time and God did the rest.  I am so happy I didn't meet him in a bar, or at church, or on the street....nope, I love our story. To me, it Glorifies God and shows how good He truly is.

Keeping Track. lol There's an APP for that!

   

Halfway here!!

Anyways.....i'm gonna rush out of here soon but I forgot my darn wedding dress that I was planning to drop off for preservation. It's still hanging on my laundry room door. :(  Oh well.  So, I will casually head straight over to the airport for MY MAN and sit in the cellphone parking lot till he sends me that "I'm here" text!  I will say though, that i'm a bit nervous for him. It's not like he is coming for a week or two week vacation. He has a return scheduled for just before the allowed 6 month period. I'm just wondering if Customs/Immigration at the airport is going to give him a hard time. I mean gheez....just travelling for a week they ask you a million questions and give you uber attitude. Will there be any problems? Any delay?  You know what...the tons of questions I have in my head will only stress me out. So, i'm gonna just pray and leave it in God's hands that he will get through with a smile and a nod as always.....and into my loving arms. 

DON'T THEY KNOW WHO I AM?

When he get's through though, I have a little gift for him from my friends son that attended our wedding in Jamaica. He got him a welcome home Canadian Flag. lol This kid it too cute. You know i'll have to take a photo for him before Furman gets in the car. As for my gift....well, I'm it!!  hahahaha  No, but serious. :)

Don't worry, I will find time to blog while he is here. Can't keep everyone in suspense.  We still have to deal with Canadian Immigration for some permanency. But till that comes through, we will turn the pages and start the next chapter.

Jeremiah 29:11 - ""For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."" (NIV)

Set Back - Moving Forward!!

Clearly we have a set back!  WTH?

Person to be sponsored lives outside of Canada

Type of application	Step 1 Assessment of Sponsor	Step 2 Assessment of Person Being Sponsored (applicant) (The Call Centre does not have processing times for step 2)
Spouse, common‑law partner or dependent child	55 days (working on applications received on January 3, 2012)	View by country Status available online

You know what....my husband will be here very shortly and I am not even going to entertain any frustration right now. NO I'M NOT!

I've been keeping myself busy pretty much all week to make the time go faster, and I think it has. Movies with a friend one night (The Vow), Bingo with Mom tonight (We didn't win) and dinner with another friend tomorrow.
Then, ONE MORE SLEEP!!
So, Canadian Immigration, you are not gonna get to me!
When Furman gets here I will be too busy to worry about how long you are taking with our application.  (OK, who am I fooling? You know i'll still be on top of it)

I'm excited to get to bed so that I can get to tomorrow.

Had a great evening with mom at Bingo tonight. Almost didn't go because I had been feeling kind of blah for much of the day. Yes, in the midst of my excitement about Furman almost being here I did allow other non important things to get to me.  Sometimes I think people do certain things intentionally to get under my skin.  lol  When that happens, I often find comfort listening to messages from Joyce Meyers or any kind of gospel music. Fred Hammond is a favorite. I'll make sure to listen to him on the way to work tomorrow.  Fred Hammond - All Thing Are Working  And, Furman was a great help in encouraging me to go have fun with mom and i'm glad I did. She is always a breath of fresh air. Growing up I missed soooo much time with her (That's another story) that I always feel like we have to make up for time lost. I love her soooo much.

Took a new photo of my favorite lady today!!  Had to share.

MY FAVORITE LADY!!

MOM

God Bless Her Always

Anyways, as I said, i'm heading to bed so Friday can hurry up and get here!!

I just want to Thank God for answering my prayers. I'm very grateful for all He has done for me. I still have a few prayers outstanding though...lol  But, I know He is working on them, working on me.  I'm very blessed that Furman loves me just the way I am.

Tomorrow is another day!

OMG! 

What number are we at?

      Yes, I am counting down the arrival of my husband like a kid counting down their departure to Disney! I'm excited to have him around while we wait for Immigration to give us the seal of approval. So yes...i'm counting!! I'm counting this, i'm counting that....life just seems so much better when you have different things to look forward to.
   Actually, as I write it's about 98 hours still left to go!  But who's counting? lol I AM!!

While I had a pretty relaxing weekend, watching The First 48, going to church and doing a bit of decluttering while my daughter was home sick with the Flu, my husband was in Miami running the Super Spartan! He sure did! 8 miles with 30 obstacles.  All I know is that after seeing his video, i'm a little concerned about my own ability to complete the Spartan Sprint in June. Now that's only about 3 miles with 15 obstacles.
Oh boy...what have I gotten myself into?

Furman doing the Super Spartan Race Miami Feb. 25, 2012

After I finish running the Toronto Yonge St 10K in April, I definitely need to start working on my upper body strength. I'm sure Furman will help me with that though. And, it's nice knowing that he'll be around to help nurse me back to health after i'm all beat up. I will not be backing out!! Nope...I am NOT a quitter!! I wanna make my husband proud. I'm sure my kids will be proud too although they think i'm nuts. I don't mind getting down and dirty like he did in this photo. But why am I doing this you might wonder. Well, I have no clue..lol I guess it's basically to challenge myself, which he inspires me to do, and have some bragging rights. Why not? I'm more active now than I was 10-20 yrs ago. Go figure.  When it's all done, i'll have bruises with a story probably for each one and some bling that might look a little similar to the bling he just got.
  Just think, my active life all started with the decision to do the CN Tower Climb on October 22, 2009 with my friend Catie from work! Took me about 36 minutes. 2009!! I wont even tell you what Catie did it in but she left me in the dust and she's got some years on me in terms of age.  So proud of her. She is pretty inspiring too! We challenged ourselves by climbing the 1776 stairs just so that we could say we did it. It was a bucklet list thing!!  lol Then, together we decided to do our first 5K race (The Toronto Women's 5K) on May 30th, 2010 and Furman made sure he was there for that, by surprising me. He's such a romantic. We did it! Damn, I had to....Furman was there to watch...lol    And i'll let you know that running definitely wasn't on my bucketlist. But, since we didn't get any bling for our first race...the rest is history. I had to do another, then another...and now look where I'm headed. My Athlete's Dashboard
I even went back to where I started and did the CN Tower Climb again to try and beat my time and I did. Running the 5K's helped me shave about 7 minutes off my first climb time...here comes the bragging.....29 minutes baby!!! Felt awesome!! Being active has done wonders for my asthma. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that did I? Yeah, i've been an asthmatic for about 7 yrs so on the first CN Tower Climb I  went up there with my puffer. When I hit floor 67 I thought I was gonna croak. lol But when I looked around me and realized there was only two ways out which was up or back down, I kept going. I sure did. And, when you see older people passing you and people looking like they are more out of shape than you are, you get yourself moving pretty quick. I had that shake your head "Hell Naw" moment that helped me finish both times. Now, If it's up to Furman, i'll be running a half marathon by next year if not sooner. (Stay tuned) lol I can't even imagine, but I will never say never. My husband has faith in me and that makes me feel awesome. I just have to learn to have faith in myself.  Till that time comes.....

Dear Lord, I hope I don't break anything.

I'm so proud of my husband. He's my hero!

  He's my SPARTAN!!


He will be here after 4 more sleeps. In the meantime, i'll keep running!

Today I started Day 1/Week 5 of Personal Running Trainer.  My friend James via text message said that i'm an inspiration. I started laughing. Wondering who i'm an inspiration to, because I can't seem to get anyone to get active with me. Then he said I inspired him. That was nice. I had a feel good moment. God is good. If I can do something for someone else while trying to do for myself...then i'm happy and know God is too.

What number am I at? Yeah yeah yeah....I didn't forget...4 More Days to Go!!

Last Weekend Alone.....

I thought i'd post today to mark my last weekend alone.
On this day next week my husband will be here!! Yay!!!! It's gonna come quick, I can feel it.

So, what do I do this weekend?  Party? Here's my jam!!

Ok...so those that know me can stop laughing now. I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a party. It might have been Valentine's 2010 when my husband came to surprise me actually. Not sure I went out after that. Guess that happens when you don't have the same friends you used to have to drag you out....lol  It's all good though. I can still PARTY at home. It just wont be wild. I won't get intoxicated but I might get sweaty from dancing. LMFAO (get it?)  I'll dance around the house with my broom or something and Party Rock as I organize!!! 

How can you not move when you listen to this tune? lol  

Awe, to be young again!!! Just gotta get up off the couch.

Speaking of the couch....In reality, my weekend will probably be spent on it watching The First 48 marathon of shows I have taped.  It's supposed to snow all weekend so I don't think I'll be heading out until its time for church on Sunday. Mind you, I still have my wedding dress hanging in the same spot it was when Furman left in October. I've been meaning to take it to a store to get packaged and preserved but haven't gotten around to it yet. Snow on Saturday is certainly not going to help my case. I'm sure Furman will say something about my dress not having moved. But hey, when he is here WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER!!!!  

Did I mention i'm excited my husband is coming?  lol  I think this might be the longest we have gone without seeing each other.  Last saw him end of November.  I'm tired of waiting.  lol

I really do have to find time this weekend to make that space I said I was going to. Husband-Proofing

After all, it's my last weekend alone.  At the same time, I know that I wont have to worry about doing too much because when he is here WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER!!  lol

Till then, I will keep waiting for my Sweetheart......

"You can kill a lot of time if you really wanna put your mind to it.."

Last Weekend Alone!  (Keep in mind that when I say alone I mean no disrespect to my daughter...lol, but i'm sure everyone knows what I mean)

Love You Furman.....I'm here "Waiting For You"

Making Progress

Person to be sponsored lives outside of Canada

Type of application	Step 1 Assessment of Sponsor	Step 2 Assessment of Person Being Sponsored (applicant) (The Call Centre does not have processing times for step 2)
Spouse, common‑law partner or dependent child	48 days (working on applications received on January 3, 2012)	View by country Status available online

Now, don't get me wrong...it's nothing to jump around and dance about YET! But, it certainly puts a big smile on my face for the weekend and gets my brain wheels in motion. Trying to do some math here.  They update this weekly on Thursday's from what I see.  At this rate, I can expect that they will get to our application and we should receive a Client ID by the end of March.  Now that's based on my own math which is something I was never really good at anyways. lol  But hey, last update was 53 days as they were working on applications received December 22nd. I didn't think there would be much over the Christmas Holidays so I'm not overly surprised at the speed that this is moving. (Check out my CountUp on the right side of my blog) But like James Brown sang..."I Feel Good Now" nah nah nah nah

  

I might have to try to learn some of these moves so that I can do the dance when this all comes through...lol 

Till then......

UPDATE ON PREVIOUS BLOG:

Mourning the Loss of Baby Turtle

I contacted the pet store by phone to tell them about my daughters turtle. They indicated that I can bring the dead turtle in and they will replace it at no extra cost.  So, we went into the pet store last night but they said they wont have any more turtles available till Friday. (Left the dead turtle with them anyways) Looks like my daughter will be getting a replacement after all. And, in telling the store clerk about her turtle set up it was confirmed that my daughter certainly knew what she was doing and actually did better than the standard customer.  The clerk was impressed that she had a UV light for the turtle. Good ole Google...gotta love it.  My daughter did me proud - That's MY babygirl!!

In Other News..lol...... 7 More Days!!!

Mourning the Loss of Baby Turtle

Today is a sad day!
My daughter unexpectedly lost something that she was so excited to have...her baby turtle. It died, and we have no idea why. She only just got him 5 days ago.

 Not yet named.

I have no clue where she even got the idea that she wanted to have a turtle. She wants me to have a baby sister or brother for her so I guess this is her substitution. But, she wanted one and didn't need my help to get him. I mean this girl was serious!!  She was doing her Google research and visiting pet stores. I couldn't understand this all of a sudden urge and figured it would pass. Well, she showed me!! One day after church she convinced me to take her to a nearby petstore to have a look. However, they didn't sell turtles although they gave her information on another pet shop nearby. She had a backup plan though. Because she read that she could probably even order a turtle online but she needed a credit card. So, I gave her permission to load an unused prepaid credit card that I had in case she was going to explore that option. She didn't need to. She decided last Friday to check out the other recommended pet store only to find that they had turtles. Oh boy was she excited!!

Oh but wait...I gotta mention how she prepared for this turtle before telling you about her getting one.

In the midst of her research and checking out pet stores, she made a stop at the thrift shop - good old Value Village. They had a 10 gallon aquarium for $15 and she called me right away. This, was actually when I realized that this girl was really serious. She stopped at another thrift shop to see if they had any aquariums too then went back to get the one at Value Village. Without me, you know what she did?....lol  She borrowed the shopping cart to transport the aquarium home since she obviously couldn't carry it.  Had me cracking up when I found out. Sure did!  God Bless her....gotta love her determination. Takes after her momma if I must say so myself. It was funny when she was telling me about the looks that people were giving her as she strolled through the streets to get home pushing the cart with the aquarium. Needless to say, I now have a shopping cart in my garage that she needs to take back when the sidewalks are clear of snow again. She made other stops on other days too though. She made sure she picked up turtle food and water conditioner and some kind of gel stuff to condition the turtle's shell, a thermometer, something that looked like a little island for the turtle's basking and special lights. I mean, she was hooking it up! She forgot a few things though and I hope that those things didn't contribute to the turtle's ultimate demise. The aquarium fit lights weren't working so she was substituting with lamps and she didn't get a chance to pick up her plants. And, I think she was basing the turtle research she did on adult turtles and not baby turtles. But, what do I know? It's important to keep in mind too though that when she went to the pet store she bought the turtle from, that it was only supposed to be to check it out. But, in her excitement she brought him home. Little unnamed turtle about the size of a quarter.



I don't know what happened. All I know, is that it wasn't me! She left me to babysit the turtle on the weekend but when she came home Monday night that turtle was alive!!! It sure was!! Today, is another day and it must have passed in the middle of the night or early morning. Again, I really don't know. I'm still scratching my head on this one. I'll have to play Sherlock Holmes when I get home tonight. I hope its playing tricks on her!!
She's been texting me since early morning with her distress over the loss of her turtle and I feel so bad. She said she is 100% positive that he is dead because he hasn't moved an inch. I mean turtles really don't do much anyways so you can imagine my questioning how sure she was. But, she's sure. So now what?

I will say....that I am soo proud of her because of the initiative she took and everything she did to get her turtle. Clearly, there needs to be a bit more research. Then again, maybe she got a lemon? lol So, when I get home tonight, i'll have to find a way to cheer her up. Maybe take her to a movie. Good thing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been out of the box office for years. lol I'll be a bit more involved now to help her figure out what went wrong and what needs to be done differently. Then, when she thinks she got it right, i'll pay for a new turtle for her to try again. In the meantime, how do you dispose of a dead turtle? The ground is still kind of too frozen for a small burial. What about the compost? Guess we'll have to Google that too.

Furman, you are coming home to a teenager!! Be ready!
Parenting is no joke!!  lol

FAMILY Day!

Well today is FAMILY Day! Or as the American's know it, President's Day.



In 2008 our government decided to give us all an additional holiday because they realized that there was no holiday between New Years and Easter. So our gift is called FAMILY Day. Some of us get it, some of us don't. Judging by the very light commute to work this morning, it seems that most definitely get it. I think some employers didn't get the memo.          About Family Day - Wikipedia

Who better to spend your Family Day with than your Office Family?
Forget hanging out with your kids at home who get the day off of school by the way. Nope...those with smaller kids who have to work have to make daycare arrangements and possibly travel arrangements because if they take transit there are additional issues. It's a holiday, so transit is on holiday schedules which doesn't help those that need to be at work early. Oh....but you get to spend the day with your Office Family, doing what you do day in and day out...work. What's better than that? After all, we just had a weekend off!! Have you ever thought about the number of hours you actually spend with your co-workers? Definitely more than you do with your immediate and/or extended family. So, why not call them Family? In many instances, they act just like family too.

Think about it this way:
Just like your extended family, there are often co-workers you can't stand and those you absolutely love. Some talk about you behind your back and some are great at keeping secrets.  There are those nosy parkers that want to be in everybody's business and there are those that really want to keep to themselves away from the possibility of any drama. They just want to do their work and go home. And, just like that crazy uncle or crazy aunt that many families have...the office has one or a few of those too. Oh, and don't forget the one's that are always trying to be the boss or are always kissing the bosses ass. But, for the most part, many are pretty good at coming together for special occasions. Ie. Birthday's, Retirement, Showers, etc....or just the standard office meeting. You get to see those not in your immediate work group till the next occasion just like the occasional family get together that families have. Oh Oh Oh, let's not forget that just like your home family, your office family loves to eat too!! They sure do. So office families are like your family in many ways. Difference is, you are stuck with them every day unless you move to another office family. Yup, that's a difference with real family, you can't get rid of them completely no matter how hard you try. You are connected by blood if not anything else.  They will always be your family whether you like them or not. You didn't pick them. But, an office family, you've chosen in a way by choosing that job. And, as long as you want to get paid and be happy at work, you get to like them, or not. lol Some of them, you even like outside of the office....they've become real friends and often help make that day at work more enjoyable.

So, it's Family Day and I'm at work. But, i'm not complaining because i'm still with Family, of a sort. Now, if my husband was here at home while I'm at work...then we'd have a problem! I'd be all grumpy and stuff because I can't hang out with him unless I took a day off.  lol  I know, I know....I'm a Newlywed. I've already heard grumblings from other co-workers about how at home with their spouse and/or kids is the last place they want to be.  LMAO  I don't want to ever feel like that.

For those who get to enjoy Family Day off. I hope that you are doing just that and having a FAMILY day. Take that opportunity to enjoy your loved ones and maybe take part in one or a few of the many Family Day activities happening around town. After all, like I pointed out, we spend a whole lot of time at work. We really do!!  On that note....I'll get back to mine. I am very blessed to have worked with the same company for so many years and with some really and truly great people. So whether I get the day off or not, "I won't complain".