For now, it's a NO.

DH called staffing today to see if they would be able to change his transfer order and they said that at this time Toronto does not agree to release him to Ottawa. If he met the language requirement it might be easier to convince Ottawa to fight for him. Staffing guy told DH to keep him updated on what's happening at our end and strongly encouraged him to get his language profile up to par.

I am disappointed but OK. It doesn't change anything for us since we knew it was a long shot. Plus, it's good to hear that there may still be a chance of getting it switched if circumstances make that beneficial to the employer or something else changes...like DH meeting the language requirement or if we haven't sold our house after 2 years of trying.

Who knows, maybe even if we excede the time frame for sale of our home or DH does get the score he needs for French TO may still hang onto to us for dear life because there are 35 guys in Toronto who've been waiting more than a year to be transfered out and can't leave because they are wating for replacments like DH. Gosh, I hope after DH does his 3 years that doesn't happen to us.

I looked up the symbolism of Eagles last night. They represent strength and courage - both of which will come in handy if things don't pan out for getting home on our next move.

Marble Mountain

This afternoon we decided to go for a Sunday drive. It was a beautiful sunny day and with the prospect (and great hope) of DH going to work in Ottawa very soon we thought we should take advantage of the nice weather and tour the Island we've lived on for the last 4 years.

A ride up to Marble Mountain is one of my favorite afternoon Cape Breton drives. The view of Lac Bras D'Or from up there is breathtaking.

By the time we got to the lookout the kids were both fast asleep. So, DH and I sat on the bench overlooking the clear blue water. We sipped our coffees, marveled at nature, took a few pics and talked about our hopes for the future. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
As we discussed the possibility of getting our transfer changed from Toronto to Ottawa two Bald Eagles came into sight. They were quite close at first but quickly flew far out over the water. I did my best to capture them with my camera but they were really far away. The one in this pics is flying right over the island that is in the middle of the picture above.

Are majestic eagles soaring overhead a sign of good fortune? I sure hope so.

Spirit Babies

A few weeks ago I was thinking a lot about the babies I've lost. The 3rd anniversary of my 2nd m/c and the D&C I had to have for it is about a week away. DH noticed I was down in the dumps and when I told him why he just listened. I asked him if he ever wonders about them and what they'd be like he just smiled and said - they're J...they were all J waiting for the perfect time.

Well, that's one way to look at it, and while I'll never stop being sad and wondering what would have been I take some comfort from DH's perspective and belief on this subject. It's the same idea as the article below, which is a real tearjerker. I came across this on a pg loss board after my 2nd m/c. I guess DH is not alone in his thinking about m/c.

RELATED ARTICLE: Spirit baby.
PEGGY VINCENT
NOVEMBER 1983
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

Colin, my 12-year-old son, discovered me late one rainy afternoon sitting at the kitchen table, a damp Kleenex crumpled in my left hand, wiping my eyes as I tried to compose myself for his sake. It was the third week of January, two months after I'd miscarried a pregnancy, but I still found it impossible to get through a day without at least one meltdown into misery.Stunned when the test came back positive, my husband, Rog, and I had stared at each other with doubt and ambivalence.

At 41, my professional life consumed me. I had just achieved what some had predicted was an impossibility: I'd been granted delivery privileges at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, and as a consequence, my midwifery practice burgeoned. Some months I delivered 12 babies, and no one ever knew if or when I'd be home. Rog, too, felt stretched to his limits, keeping his business afloat while picking up the slack for my frequent unscheduled absences. Colin and my daughter, Jill, approached their challenging adolescent years. How could we fit an infant into our lives? But when I lost the pregnancy and all hope for resolution dissolved with my tears, I fell in love with the baby that was not to be.

Colin asked, "Are you crying about the baby?" and when I nodded tearfully, he said, "Well, you just have to have another one, Mom, because it's a Spirit Baby, and you should be its mother."I must have looked puzzled because he said, "Don't you know about Spirit Babies? How could I know about them if you don't? I mean, you're my mom!" But he could see my perplexity.

So my first child, this not-yet-teenaged boy, pulled a wooden chair to my side and draped his thin arm across my shoulder, saying, "Well, Mom, here's how it is. See, I was one myself, so that must be how I know. Anyway, every woman has a circle of babies that goes around and around above her head, and those are all the possible babies she could have in her whole life. Every month, one of those babies is first in line. If she gets pregnant, then that's the baby that's born. If she doesn't get pregnant, the baby goes back into the circle and keeps going around with all the others. If she gets pregnant but something bad happens before the baby's born ... now listen, Mom, because here's the really cool part. It goes back into the circle, but it becomes a Spirit Baby, and all the other babies give it cuts. Each month, it's always first in line. Isn't that great?

Plan C

Here's a short recap of where we've been so far and why we need Plan C:

Plan A was to sell and move to Toronto before Christmas. That obviously didn't happen.

Plan B was to just move to Ontario. We tried to make this work in Feb/Mar. I was to stay with family in Ottawa with the kids and DH was going to stay with a family friend until we sold our house in N.S. and could buy something in T.O. But, our family friend was unable to help us out so plan B got scrapped.

So, now for Plan C, which came to DH the other morning.

We have had our house on the market for nearly 8 months now so, DH thought at this point perhaps we could try to convince his employer to consider taking him in Ottawa now in order to get him working for the unit he's been trained and waiting to get to over a year. Lots of BS from his current boss and not being able to sell our house quickly has kept us here since March 2006!

So, he called and explained to the HR guy for that unit that if they would be willing to give him time to meet the French language requirements (Ottawa requires intermediate french ability in reading, written and oral) while on the job in Ottawa he could start next week . He would stay with his parents until our house here sells and I would remain here with the kids (in the short term at least). The HR guy actually listened to everything DH had to say and is taking the rest of the week to see what he can do. Yay!!!

This is much more than we expected. Dh was sure he'd get told no right off the bat. We are afraid to believe that this dream could come true for us. We can deal with it if the answer is NO, but we hope so much that they will allow DH to start working for this unit, which happens to be desperate for qualified people.

DH is only somewhat optmisitc. I think it's because he doesn't want to get his hopes up only to be disappointed if it doesn't work out. Totally understandable. Personally, I think our chances are good. We have clearly demonstrated that we are doing everything we can to get to Ontario. The housing market here is so slow that all we can do it wait for the right buyer to come along. Several others who've been transferred from here in the past few years have taken up to a year to sell their homes, so what's happening to us is not usual for this area.

We know that it could still be a long time before we sell this house and buy one in Ottawa but we're willing to do whatever it takes to get back home and if it means that I'll be here with the kids for a while it's fine, we'll figure it out.

So, I have my fingers, toes and everything else crossed, and I am praying that they go for Plan C so we can skip Toronto and just get straight home. If you can spare any, we could really use some prayers and positive thoughts that they decide to change DH's transfer and take him in Ottawa.

Sunshine and renewed hope

It's a warm, bright sunshiny day. It seems as though spring has finally arrived in Cape Breton - hooray!

I had a dream last night that we were packing up our house because we were finally moving! Here's hoping that this dream comes true very soon.