Cindy and Jean

I believe in win-win situations! To help take care of our house during crazy travels each year Paul and I have house sitters in Toronto. This is our third experience doing this, and so far, we’ve had fabulous guests. There have been no issues. In fact, for the most part, we have really liked the people who have inhabited our home while we are away.

This year we started to get a little nervous when, by the end of November we had no bites of interest. Leaving on January 7^th, we decided to ‘soup up’ our advertising strategy and place additional ads in on-line sites.

With 24 hours, we had a call.

“I’m interested in your house offer. My name is Cindy Boudreau and my adopted grand daughter is scheduled for surgery at Sick Kids Hospital on January 17. How close is your house to the hospital?

We never got a chance to meet Cindy and her husband Jean. Nor did we even speak with their adopted daughter, Leslie, the mother of 3 children all under 3 ½ years old. We never laid our eyes on little Ria, one of the twins, born with a rare disease called Aperts Syndrome that leaves the baby with malformed bone structure in her head and various body deformities. We never felt the need to meet them. We just knew that they were right for our house and that they are good people.

Ria’s condition will require that she undergo a multitude of surgical procedures over the years. Several of them have already occurred. Up until now, all have been carried out in their New Brunswick home base. This, a more complicated procedure requires the expertise of paediatric doctors at Sick Kid’s Hospital in Toronto.

Cindy and Jean have adopted Ria and her twin Laura. Their older sister, Lana is just 3 years old. The mother used to have the support of their father, but he took off when he heard that she was pregnant with twins just 4 months after their first child was born.

I believe that Cindy and Jean are God sent. They have had several adopted children in their lives. Cindy is a nurse and is often the first to meet those brand newly born babies who need extra care and love and attention. And Cindy wants to help.

She ventures to Africa every year for a month with an entire group of medical practitioners all of whom travel on their own expense to medically support a community of children in Tanzania.

Jean and Cindy sponsor many children and families throughout the world through organizations such as World Vision, Unicef and Unesco.

“I fell in love with Ria the minute I saw her. I knew she had to be mine.” Says Cindy. Jean acquiesces and from that moment on, Ria was accepted into their care.

The cabinets of our bedroom are full of syringes and tubes and cotton balls and vials of medication for Ria’s care, all carried and administered by Cindy and Jean for Ria’s sake. The room provides space for the ventilators, breathing machines and vaporizers that help Ria survive. Our house has become a health care space.

I am comforted to know that Cindy and Jean are in our house. Our walls absorb the holiness of their presence and I feel gifted to have them in our home.

I think about Ria today as she undergoes her surgery. And, I send out good vibes to her for a strong and healthy recuperation and growth. God bless…..all of them.