Great support - thank you all, it is very much appreciated. MALMASON, thank you your kind words are much appreciated. ANN, thank you for all your helpful advice. I do not know if I can get in touch with the Judge, though, I would like to, believe me. My former lawyer is sending the whole file back to me. I have received another helpful letter from him laying some recommendations out to me and finishing off with "I wish you well with your applications. I believe they are well supported and I would be making the same types of applications if my grandchild was at risk. Please contact me to let me know of the outcome". Ann you gave me some really good advice which reminds me to constantly be in touch with the authorities etc. In fact I am going to communicate with the case worker on Monday. She certainly has taken on a lot of power and I know does not believe in separating the siblings, but we do get along and is quite easy to talk to. The foster mum though has become a friend and we can discuss things amongst ourselves which we do not share with the case worker, and we are in touch with each other more than once a week. I do have contact information for all the other lawyers, who now are obliged to include us in all notifications. I already have a very large file of my own and have been diligent in saving all e-mails and printing when relevent, infact anything to do with the case, Our huge affidavit, as well as our police records, home study report and anything that we have from the ministries, and our lawyer. Our son who has been involved but in the background, we believe will be more visual on our lawyer's recommendation as he is the birth father. Even though his job as a tree faller makes it impractical for him to parent Ryan, he has made affidavit to the fact that he wants and trusts his parents to do this. Thanks again. ATHENAINWI, thank you so much. Very appreciated. KATHY, thanks again dear friend for your kind words. ROSE NUTTY, you are so right, so many people believe that. If she has not changed in the last seven months the children have been in foster care, what are the chances. Obviously the children being apprended had made no difference to her. Though she says they are her life. Thanks for your encouragement, much appreciated. ROSELVR, thank you so much for your response. Firstly I want to wish you the very best in your own legal matters too. Yes, cost is phenominal. I think we are up to $20,000, but not had the final account yet, there may be a little left from the original retainer. This would have cost us easily another $10,000 if we had retained counsel for the next JDR and trial, I am sure! Anyway, in the end I trust it will not be a complete waste of money, if only to do with the knowledge that Ryan knows we were there and stood up for him, but I am hoping for a little more than that. Roselvr, I need to organize my files like you, I am sure that will be a big help. Similarly, I have one with everything and then another one with the important material I need at the time. When you talk about a binder with plastic sheets, are they attached to the binder so that it really is in book form and they keep the pages clean, or is this something where you can grab the material easily when you need it, sorry I am not sure I understand? Your last sentence is so true, and we hope and pray too. Thank you so very much. ZEFFY, Just an explanation here. Sorry for any confusion. I refer to my son-in-law a lot because he is a lawyer in Vancouver. Though he practices corporate law, he has still been helpful to us, though he does not profess to know a lot about family law. He was thinking we had no rights as grandparents, where in actual fact that is not the case when the children are in a foster home, grandparents and extended family also, do have rights! In our case there are obstacles. Anyway Florence thanks for your response, you are very kind. I do hope it turns out like your friend's situation, that would be great. Situation seems almost the same, it is, where we as grandparents come from, our grandson is important like theirs, unfortunately we have two extra things to deal with, the issue of the half sibling who is years apart in age and the geography, two provinces apart.:SIGH All of you have been great and supportive and I will keep you updated. Roselvr, good luck to. I will be thinking of you on Monday. Florence, lovely to have you back in full force and "walking" around your garden. Hope you have a great season and your daughter comes on in leaps and bounds too! Pauline - Vancouver Island

Melissa, you're going to look great. Trust me. But, can I make a suggestion? You may want to get enough to put on the girls' dresses too. You know they're gonna want it, right? Lol, have fun! =========================================================== Okay, let's use those strips of blocks, shall we? Beginning with the 7-block long strip, center it on the edge of your panel block. If it doesn't quite make it the entire length of your block, don't panic. Half-square triangles can be tricky, and your block will be centered once we're done. Here's a picture for reference... Once it is centered, sew it. This is what it should look like... Next attach your 2 9-block long strips. Be careful and make sure you are continuing the checkerboard pattern around your corners... When that is finished, here's what your block will look like... Lastly, grab that 11-block long strip, and attach it too. Again, be careful to continue the checkerboard pattern. (The nice thing about an odd-numbered checkerboard pattern is that, if you need a dark-colored block on the bottom, all you have to do is turn your strip around until it is, and then your pattern will take care of itself and be where you need it once you are done sewing. I noticed this accidently when I was designing this block. Who knew?) ========================================================== While I was taking pictures today, I had someone helping me with her advice and critiques. Here's a picture of Miss Stella, ever the helpful one! She has asked me to ask you all if you'd like the rest of the mystery quilt instructions now, instead of after Easter. Apparently, Stella believes that it would give everyone the opportunity to plan ahead during what is a busy month for everyone... Easter, taxes, planting (don't forget the catnip!), babies (or kittens), and Spring Break. If you all want me to post those instructions, let me know, and I'll go ahead and do it. There are only 2 more sets of instructions, probably about an hours worth of good sewing, to do, so let me know, will you? And don't forget, it would be great if you can post pictures of your blocks! See Ya! Dan

I am growing super sweet 100 this year for the first time so can't say yet but am glad to see the high praise it has received here. I grew sunsugar 2 years ago and found it to be the sweetest ever. Produced well. Not a very complex taste though. Last year I grew sungold. Not as sweet as sunsugar but delicious. My favorite tomato. The first tomatoes were tart but they became sweeter later in the year. Huge production even though a rabbit bit off the top when the plant was still tiny. I took it down on Oct. 18 and it still had over 200 green tomatoes left. Complex taste like wine. I regret not growing sungold again this year but didn't have time to grow from seed and the nursery only had the supersweet100s.

A new toy!! How nice!! I remember how excited I was when I bought my new sewing machine. Definately take advantage of any classes that are offered.... it is the best way to get questions answered you may have. (as you 'play' with your machine...keep jotting down those questions, nothing worse than forgetting what you wanted to ask! Quilting is a wonderful hobby. What other way can you relax and make something along the way. Not to mention the nice people you meet. Great way to trade fabric, and learn new techniques. Enjoy the adventure. Welcome. ~Barbara