Family Dreams

Doing the HAPPY DANCE!

2007-06-07T23:58:00.000-04:00

To most, they have no idea what LOA or Letter Seeking Committment means. To those in the adoption world it means the final ok, and it is so coveteted!! It means that the adoption is real and is finally really moving forward. It is an important document. It is your approval from China.

We received our LOA today, on DAY 103!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Notice the excitement)Today we received an email from my our agency, FOI, that our LOA arrived at their office this morning, and that we should have it in our hot little hands by Monday!

So, this is the last piece of paperwork that we have to sign. We just check the Agree to adopt box, an sign our names. It goes back to FOI, and then gets forwarded on to China, along with one very much the same from the Ontario Ministry.

The next and final step is TA.... which means Travel Approval! This can happen anywhere between 2 to 5 weeks after the LOA/LSC is sent back. Which means, we are so close to getting Aidan!!!!!!!!!!!

We expect travel will be in about 8 weeks. We are looking at about the first week of August. It is so surreal to think that we are almost there!

Travel will be exciting and interesting. Dan will not be travelling to China to get Aidan. Things are just too complicated with the clinic, and we are not able to have locum asssistance this summer. So, we have more paperwork to do with respect to wills, powers of Attorney etc.. that the Chinese government will require before travel. But, Aidan will be home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, everything else pales in comparison!

The Century Club!

2007-06-04T09:24:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it! The century club. It has been 100 days since we sent in our letter of intent. It is the "point" when usually families are getting ready to travel. Can you feel it? The excitement and the terror!? That is how we are feeling these days... So excited about Aidan coming and at the same time terrified! We found out that he is now walking, and is still the strong quiet type! He is drinking juice from a sippy cup and is still enjoying bottles. He is doing great! But, we are going to have to start baby proofing now!

To our friends, in the club with us, Let's hope it is not for long! For those waiting for LOA's, let's hope you don't join the club! :)

Wait, What?

2007-06-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

This is so how I am feeling these days. Had my first "day off" in a while yesterday, and only went to the office 3 times! We need to learn to slow it down a little bit in respect to work. It is keeping our mind off of the wait, but is not helping us health wise! I went out for a girls night out last night to relax, but was left feeling a little dazed and confused and out of the loop. Does everyone feel this way when the get towards the 100 day mark? Wait, what? 100 days... sheesh..... We are actually on day 98, but who's counting?

I am sure like many families out there, the frustration has set in a little bit. It looks like travel will be in August, (which is where the Wait, what? came in as our LOA's didn't arrive this week.) The pile on the directors desk must have been huge, and our group suspects that ours was at the bottom! We were secretly hoping that the LOA fairies would have been on our side and we would have them in our hot little hands this week. No go.

Our group of 7 have been emailing and calling our agency often, which profoundly always leads to more questions and the Wait, what? comes in. I think Bob, our agency contact will start drinking heavily if the group doesn't get LOA's soon... as in Monday or Tuesday!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T17:28:00.000-04:00

On January 13, we received a special gift. The referral of our son, Aidan. Today, we received another gift. This morning, when I opened our email, there was a short one sentence email from the SWI. It said: Wishing you a very special Mother's Day!

I was dumbfounded. I knew that I would talk to Jacqui today, as it is her first mother's day as well. I also knew I would talk to Kim and Tracey at some point today too, they know what "this" is like. I received my first mother's day card this year... from Tracey... which meant more than you can imagine. But, never did I expect Ms. Tang to think of me and send a message. Most don't realize that even though our children are not with us yet, we already worry about them and miss them.

We also think of Aidan's other family, who must miss him today. Today we especially think of his mom, in China. I wonder how she feels not having him there with her to celebrate. While we will most likely never get a chance to meet her, our son will always know of her and the precious gift she gave us. While he is our son, he will always be her baby.

To all the moms out there, one's whose children are grown, who have children at home, and especially to those currently waiting for their precious little ones: Happy Mother's Day. And especially to my Gram and my mom, I love you both so much and want to thank you for everything you have done and you do. I can't wait to be Aidan's Momma and hope that I can be even 1/10 as wonderful as you both were to me!

9 Months!

2007-05-12T22:03:00.000-04:00

We have reached the nine month mark for LIDiversaries! It has been 17 months since we started our journey. We are hoping that we only have to count another 1 or 2 months of LIDiversaries and we will be off to China!

We are so hoping that the next couple of weeks will bring good news for us about our LOA/LSC (Letter of Acceptance/Letter Seeking Commitment). Once we receive it, we have to sign it and get it back to China. After that it is Travel Arrangements/Letter of Coming! Which means off to China we go! When we last heard from our agency a couple of weeks ago, we were in Department 1, waiting to go into Department 2. Dept. 2 is where the LOA/LSC is granted.

So, when do we suspect we will travel? We are thinking late June, early July. Usually the file is in Dept 2 for a few weeks, then once LOA is sent out and returned TA should follow about 1-3 weeks later, and then we just have to wait for the next travel group to go.

So, we are counting the days. Today is day 73! For those not familiar with the process, families generally count from the day their letter of intent goes to China to the date they receive travel arrangements. 100 days is often the magical number, some earlier, some later. We have seen them as early as 42 days, and as late as 150 days. The new step of LOA/LSC has added some time in there. Day 83 has nagged me since the start of our journey? Coincidence? We are not sure. It is the day we fly down for Ryan's wedding, so maybe that is in. Only time will tell.

So, we did receive an update on Aidan this week. Today, he is one of 2 babies left in the nursery. One is going home today. She has been with Aidan for the last 7 months, so I am sure he will miss Amy.

Other things we found out is that he: is very active, is happiest after he eats, is a really happy guy almost all of the time, He is not afraid to try and walk, He has even tried walking with his head on the carpet! It is hard to explain but he can pivot and get good balance to walk. He has not really taken the steps yet because he does not want to be still long enough for that. He likes to be aware of his surroundings and does not like sudden change. He is actually quite happy in his crib in the morning when he wakes up. He knows right where he is and feels comfortable. He seems to require a lot of sleep, more than the other babies, he starts getting cranky when he does not have enough rest, but the SWI thinks that is normal granted that he is so active. They have not heard him say any words. He is quite quiet. His nickname from the nannies is Lin Lin. The director doesn't know how it started, but it is cute, and is really close to Aidan in sound, so that is great.

A special day in our household....

2007-04-13T21:31:00.000-04:00

Well, today is a very special day for us in our household. Aidan is a year old today!It is already well after midnight in China, so officially for him his birthday is over. We celebrated a little last night when we received pictures from the orphanage. The nannies work in rotating shifts from 8 am to 8 am the following morning. The only time they are all there together is at shift change, so they made arrangements to have Aidan's party at 8 am so they could all be there. I am not sure what happens at other SWI's. But, I know they went above and beyond for Aidan and had a party with presents and a cake for him. So, that was 9 pm our time. By before 10 they had sent us 21 pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aidan was pretty tired after all that excitement, but who wouldn't be having an 8 am birthday party, and he put his foot into the cake. He apparently wasn't really a cake kinda kid, but really liked his hat and book.

So, today on this bittersweet day of having our child, but not having him with us, we will celebrate a year of milestones, and as one friend put to us in an email this morning (Thanks Tracey, you made our day so much more special!) "Just
take comfort in the knowledge that you have a lifetime of parties and birthday cuddles & kisses ahead of you!" and that is exactly what we plan to do..... It is also bittersweet, because we think of his birth parents and wonder if they are thinking of him today and are loving him and missing him too. We have a connection with people we don't know, but share a special bond of a son.

I made Aidan a panda cake (it just came out of the oven) in Cherry chip flavor to make Dan happy, as cherry chip is his favorite, and he is hoping Aidan will carry on that tradition. We are going to have Chinese food, and open some presents we got him. (And of course watch the Raptors game)Even though he is not here with us at the moment, he is in our every thought, wish and in our hearts. Happy 1st birthday Peanut!

Where oh where has the time gone?

2007-03-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

We have been so busy that we have not had time to keep up with both blogs, but will post more here shortly. If you wish to see our personal blog with our recent pictures of Aidan, please contact us at cowboysgirlforever@hotmail.com for permission and we will send the link out, or see www.familydreamscometrue.blogspot.com and ask for permission there.

Orphanage Donations..

2007-03-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of Aidan's orphanage, and we are currently begging for money! It is not for us, but for the orphanage that Aidan is currently in. They are in need of office equipment to make getting files and updates out to perspective families quicker. It would ensure that children are in the orphanage a lesser amount of time and get matched with their forever families much quicker. After recieving an update on Aidan this week, we realized how valuable this was. A family that had been at the orphanage in December donated a digital camera to them. What a wonderful gift for the children. This was the director and staff can take pictures of them as they grow to be given to their new families for the future. You can not imagine what a special thing this is for children to have: A link to their past and their former life. We feel very lucky and blessed to have the few pictures of Aidan that we do. So, Dan and I asked what else the orphanage needed and the answer was office equipment. So, we are trying to raise money for them. The donation items can not be bought here and brought over to China. This in to permitted. It has to be bought there. So, when we head to China this spring/summer (no, no details yet!) we will take this donation with us and go shopping with the SWI (orphanage) director for the items.

If anyone is interested in donating, please contact us and we will give you the necessary information.

Our hearts are so full, and we are grateful to be able to help the other children that do not have permanent homes. We wish we could take them all home!

Changes to our blog...

2007-02-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

After many conversations with various family memebers and friends, we have decided to take off our hometown and all pertinent information and pictures of Aidan off of the blog for security and safety reasons. There are a lot of ill individuals who like to surf the blogs and while we are protective, didn't think it was a huge deal. But, it was brought to our attention that anyone can read and get information and copy the pictures of Aidan.

We had decided to make the blog personal and by invitation only, but have had some resistance to this due to the sign in procedure. So, we will keep this one public and have a secondary blog for our family and friends with more detail and pictures that will require a sign on process. It is easy and doesn't take long at all. If you would like to follow the more personal blog the address is www.familydreamscometrue.blogspot.com. If you have not received an invite, please email me at cowboysgirlforever@hotmail.com and I will add you to the list.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but we want to protect our peanut's privacy, and know those who love us and have kids understand better to be a little more guarded than not be protective at all.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-18T19:52:00.000-05:00

The year of the pig has arrived and we just wanted to wish our friends and family a Happy New Year! We look forward to good luck and love this next year with Aidan and hope for the same for all of you!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Love,

Dan and Kelly

Ok, I am getting old...What is Wrong with People?

2007-02-17T11:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is how Dan and I feel today..... after being up from 4:06 am and on this morning, thanks to our neighbour's son. So, remember while reading this that we
have had this happen to us twice now. It is the middle of the night,
and we are cozy in bed. Peacefully. Until all of a sudden Kia starts
barking her low gutteral someone is in the yard bark. Dan bolts straight out of bed. There are lights shining in the window. It is a cab! Dan yells "not again", and flies down the stairs. I hear the screen door open down stairs and I hear him scream: I can see you! Pay for your (insert profanity here!) CAB!!! He sees 2 dark figures running through the bush towards the neigbours. One is falling down (drunk) and the other is a girl screaming for her partner in crime to hurry up! Dan then goes and gets his shoes and tells the cab driver that the 2 girls he just drove here who ran up a $100 cab fare coming the 40+ minutes from town, just darted through our our backyard going towards the neighbours and they are not our children. So, the cabbie proceeds to swear and goes flying out of the driveway towards the neigbours house, where it is all dark! He then drives up and down trying not to wake up anyone else but wanting to find the girls and wring their necks. About a half an hour later of listening to Dan rant and pace up and down, we realize how dumb these kids are. (When this happened in September, it was dark and we had no idea where they went, or in what direction, because we were alseep and confused when the cab driver started pounding on our door. He was screaming about our daughter ripping him off, and you know the rest of the story!) Well, it is not September, and bless Thunder Bay, there is some snow on the ground, and we can follow their tracks in the morning! Suddenly, a car goes flying out of the neigbours yard, after shining their highbeams into our bedroom window. (Which is very unusual as our neighbours tend to work evening or night shifts). Well, we are up for the day. Dan proceeds to go downstairs and watch the NBA Freshman all-star basketball game he taped the night before and then he heads to the barn to do chores. I lied there cursing teenagers and the fact that before we moved here this summer, our nearest neighbour was 1/2 km away and we had some peace and quiet. I swear that my son will not be disrespectful of others and over my dead body will he be having friends pop by at 4 am! (Let's revisit this post in 17 years and see if my predictions ring true!)

Needless to say, we did follow the tracks at first light this morning. Directly from our place to the neighbours back door. I called the neighbour this morning. She was oblivious. All she knew is her son had 2 girls over in the night, and she said she had no control over what her son did after she went to bed. I told her this was the second time, and she was a little confused. She had no idea that the kids were being dropped here, waking us up or the poor cabbie losing his fare.
She promises she will get to the bottom of it, and swears it won't happen again... "but, if it does, to call and she will deal with it". Good thing Dan didn't have shoes at the back door or he would have DEALT WITH IT!!!

Either Dan and I are getting old, or we were brought up with some respect and common sense. (Amen to both!!!)

2007-02-16T19:25:00.000-05:00

Well, another busy week with working on the nursery, but we are getting closer to being finished. I painted the wainscotting yesterday, after finding the perfect paint colour. It is called Nantucket White, and is an antique cream colour. As you can see by the pictures, today we started on the decorative painting of the clouds. Krista came out to help Carol and I get started, and we finished the first 2 walls. Tomorrow we will finish the other 2 and Carol will start on the Panda Bear. We are hoping to have the chair rail and the trim and the baseboards done by next week so we can start to put the decorative touches on and touch up the paint before putting the furniture in. Our house looks like Home Depot. There is wood here and there, mouldings, a brad nailer, air gun and various tools, implements and supplies all over the upstairs. It almost looks like we know what we are doing! NOT! Good thing we have friends! :) Of course, I forgot to get one of the girls to take a picture of Dan and I working in the room for Aidan. Well, there is always next time.

Sweet Sentiments!!

2007-02-14T21:08:00.000-05:00

Well, my husband never ceases to amaze me! :) While he is not a man who does big romantic gestures, I have always know that he loves me. But, with the demands on him with the clinic and emergencies, he is not always able to make it to town to get a card on special occasions. Well, I came home today to a dozen pink roses (he knows I have issues with the traditional red roses) and a Valentine's Day card. I was so shocked. He has never bought me flowers before (except on our wedding day, and I still suspect he was coached by his brother!). When I asked what the occasion was since Valentine's day was tomorrow, he responded that they were not for Valentine's Day... They were for no special reason except to say that he loves me and he felt he should start taking better care of me. Ok, he honestly got me teary... Where did that come from? When I asked if one was from Aidan, he said ABSOLUTELY NOT! Aidan would have to fend for himself, all these brownie points were his! I am still stunned... don't know what to say, except I am one lucky girl...twice over. The yellow rose in the middle was a gift from one of our employees' husband, Martin. He came in and brought Tammy a beautiful bouquet of purple and white daisies and me the yellow rose. So sweet!

Thank you to our secret Pal!! - January edition...

2007-02-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to our secret pal. Our January gift arrived today, which was such a warm thing on such a COLD day! We love all of the "Feeding Baby" items from this month and know they will come in so handy both on our trip to China and when we bring Aidan home! I am really grateful for the sippy cups I hear that they are wonderful for kids and they are helpful in transitioning them to regular cups. SP must be a mom, because she knew the things we would need! Such a fun thing for a Monday morning!!

It was pretty funny. I opened the package at work and one of our staff, who just got married and is not a mom yet, laughed at the thought of us baby proofing the house, and the look on my face must have been priceless as I realized that maybe I should clear out some room in the kitchen for some plastic wear. Hadn't really thought about that part before. Room check. Baby gates check. High chair check. Things to feed the baby with-- uh oh. Watching an adopive parent panic? PRICELESS!

Thank you again secret Pal, and thank you for your wish. Little feet will pitter patter this year!

The Generosity of Friends...

2007-02-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

Our friend Kim, whom we are anxiously awaiting news from today sent us this fun and unexpected package in the mail. It arrived on Friday and made our day! It had some fun things for Aidan, as he currently loves his teethers at the moment, and some adorable clothes from the Children's closet. I love kids in orange, so immediately a smile came to my face when I opened this wonderful gift. Dan really liked the pants as they are lined and will be great for those cool fall days. I also love the bib, as I can see Peanut's mischevous face in the middle of it. My favorite things though was Kim's card. It was so sweet, and thoughtful. We are so grateful everyday for the friendships we have made on this journey. This time and the people who have touched our hearts can not be replaced and makes our adoption of our son so much more richer with special memories. Such an unexpected thing, but it means so much. Aidan is such a spoiled peanut already. Thanks Kim!

Just got an instant message from Kim! It is a "DONE DEAL!" and Channing is officially hers. The paperwork is signed and the LOI is written! I will wait to post this message until she has done so on her blog and to the groups as not to spoil her fun! We are so happy for her and for Channing, and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to travel together to get our children! More adventures are on the way!!! :) What a happy day! I think I will go and make some brownies and a big supper so that we can celebrate for them!

Happy Birthday to Mark! & More room renos....

2007-02-11T19:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mark!! Hope you are reading this and had a great day! We tried calling, but you were out. Hope Anne and the kids spoiled you. I'm sure that Mom made you a great BD dinner!

Today was a day spent doing the wainscotting and playing with colour designs with Ellena. The guys did a quick and wonderful job with the woodworking. Now I have to decide on the right shade of cream to go with the fabric for Aidan's room. Which means, a trip into town tomorrow to Home Depot! :) I love that store.

Ellena found this plaque for Aidan's room. It kind of hit her...seriously. She was out shopping in Home Sense and stuff started to fall from a shelf. This was at the top of the pile. Karma? It gave her goosebumps, and it is so weird as most people spell Aidan: A-I-D-E-N. So, the fact that it is spelled correctly and has a basketball on it-- Weird. Very weird. But fun!

Not such a good luck charm...

2007-02-10T23:46:00.000-05:00

Well, it wouldn't be fun if the Raps won them ALL. We lost to Detroit tonight, but it was close and they are a great team... That is all I am going to say!

Working on Aidan's Room...

2007-02-10T19:15:00.000-05:00

Today was such a fun day! We (well, me--Dan was out on calls and at the farm) worked with John and Ellena on putting in Aidan's flooring in the nursery. It is a bamboo inspired laminate, and we decided to put it right over the old carpeting. Well, decided is kind of a loose term... more like forced to as the carpet was glued to the floor 20 years ago, and there was no way of getting it up without creating an even bigger mess! But, it has made the floor feel almost bouncy, and the jokes were: Imagine how much higher Aidan will be able to jump as he goes for the dunk! (Ok- more basketball- a wee bit obsessive!). John used to do renovations for a living, and did such a nice job. The floor has a distinct pattern to it that is very neat, and he was so careful with materials we had over a box left over.

Of course, John was very shy for the camera, but I can forgive him for that considering all of the help he has given us. Tomorrow, we will continue on with the wainscotting and then the room will be ready for Carol's artistic design.

Raptors WIN!

2007-02-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, for all of you not too familiar with Dan and I, Dan is the BIGGEST Raptors fan. I was not, until just before Christmas. Then, Dan started insisting that I watch with him when the Raps are playing as I am apparently good luck and they were winning when I watched each night. So, this theory is true, and they have won every game that I have watched. Each one they have lost has been when I have not been home or have been busy and have not been next to Dan when they have played. (Aside- Dan is so superstitious about about it that he has his lucky Raptors hat -- his favorite Christmas gift next to the Carhartt's-- and it has to be sitting at a certain spot on the side table!) So, unfortunately for me and the staff at the clinic, I have become addicted to Raptors Basketball as well.

So, tonight's face up was with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. Well, let me just say that Raptor's WON AND KICKED BUTT! I am equally pleased because my "boy" Anthony Parker was matched up against Kobe a lot and he did phenomenally well and had his highest score in a game ever. It was fantastic! And, the best part is they were playing in Toronto and the crowd was going wild. Ok, I have lost it! I am posting basketball to the blog. Somebody help!

A referral for Kim?

2007-02-09T21:45:00.000-05:00

Waiting and hoping that Monday comes very quickly for our friend in Saskatchewan who is waiting on the referral of her little girl! We hope the next 2 days fly by and that she is able to meet with her social worker EARLY on Monday morning. We are thinking of you Kim, and hope the stork flies quickly to meet you. We can't wait to meet Channing!

I wonder which province she will be from? Maybe she will be like Aidan and live in Jiangsu province. Xuzhou is up at the top of Jiangsu at the extreme left of the province (look for Shanghai on the right and go up!).

Our Little Peanut!

2007-02-08T16:08:00.000-05:00

The last week and a bit has been such a blur between the clinic and all of the excitement with our news. We celebrated yesterday, both our referral and Dan's 36th birthday with Raptor's basketball (another win- YEAH!) and with Dan's favorite home made pizza and cherry chip cake. All in all a great day!

It is funny how attached you get to a little person you have not laid eyes on yet. We both look so forward to him coming home. We have a lot of work to do yet between finishing the nursery and getting things prepared for when he comes home. But, luckily that will keep us busy and hopefully the time will fly by.

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

2007-02-04T21:32:00.000-05:00

We would like to introduce everyone to the newest member of our family. OUR SON! Yes, you did read correctly. We received our referral, and we were granted the immense pleasure of becoming parents to our beautiful baby boy! Our agency received the file along with the others on January 8th. We then had to wait for translation and for the referrral. Our social worker was away for a week, so we needed to wait for her return, accept the file and then have the paperwork issued and signed. We heard from Joan on Monday and she was in agreement that this is our son. Family Outreach sent the paperwork on Tuesday and we signed on Thursday! So, now we wait on more paperwork and travel arrangements to go to China to meet him and bring him home!

Travel can take a while, so here are some facts about Aidan to keep everyone occupied and to get to know our little bundle of joy.

We have give him his Canadian name: Aidan Wyatt Xiaolin. (Meaning- Aidan: Little fire, Wyatt- From the wood.)It is kind of interesting that we had his English name picked out before we knew his Chinese name. They are very close! Meant to be. We referred to a couple of Doctors about his file. He is doing fine, and is growing like a weed.

His Chinese name is: Xu, Xiaolin. Xu is his last name. Xiaolin is his first name. Chinese names can have many meanings. It depends if the syllables are separated out or kept together. His name is comprised of three syllables. Xiao has the same sound in Chinese as little (named this as he was brought to the Orphanage on the day he was born) it also means strength. Lin is in reference to the Police at local officers brought him into the SWI. Xu is for the city in which he was found. His name is pronounced SHOW LIN SU. (X's are pronounced S). Dan thinks he sounds like a kung fu master! His name translated into English is Dawn Forest. (We think this is in reference to him being found in the forest at dawn, but this is a question we will ask the SWI director when we are in China).

He was born on April 13, 2006. He is on the younger end of the kids referred in the program.

What the SWI director said was that he is a very happy and active child. He is 70 cm tall at the moment and is 8.5 kg in weight (as of January 18th), which is great as he is right on par with what the Canadian growth scale says he should be. The orphanage director said he is "lively, lovely, very likeable, but is also very mischevous!" He is crawling, and likes to try to climb out of his crib. He is light sensitive (this is one of the symptoms of the albinism), but says it is not serious, as he does not have a problem with indoor light. He drinks 6 bottles per day and the majority of his diet is still milk. He has 3 teeth, and he loves his caregivers very much. He is very close with his nannies. He sucks his thumb, especially when he sleeps, he likes brightly coloured toys, and is very curious by nature.

Two questions we are being asked is: I thought you were adopting a girl!? and: What happened, I thought you were adopting from China? Ok, to make it simple we thought we were getting a girl, Because girls are mostly referred, but were never opposed to a boy and we were approved for both by the Ontario ministry. Secondly, Aidan is Chinese. He has albinism. Which simply and without going into a lot of details means he was born without pigment in his skin, eyes and hair. Well, the other question we are asked daily by everyone (including those who don't know the news) is WHEN are we going. Not an easy answer, especially with all of the changes brought into effect by China in December. Could be anytime in the next 6 months. Travel arrangements often take a while and we are still at the mercy of the Social worker, Ontario goverment, Canadian government, our agency and China. We just have to wait and see.

We have mailed off of Letter of Intent to adopt, which is basically a health and nuture plan that is sent to the CCAA to let them know that we have agreed to adopt Aidan and that we have done our homework and have a plan in place with our GP and know what steps we will take to ensure Aidan's medical needs are looked after when he returns home. After this, we wait for another piece of paperwork in the Waiting Child Program and that is called a Seeking Commitment Form. After that, we should have our travel arrangements. We are officially waiting again and back in the paperwork stage, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and staring at Aidan's pictures makes it easier and harder at the same time!

New Files Received at FOI! Is the stork on the way?

2007-01-10T21:19:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday Kim (our FOI friend from Saskatchewan, who is a great source of support and a godsend!) emailed me with some exciting news! Family Outreach received a new bunch of Waiting Children files. Since Dan and I are near the top of the list, we are pretty excited because that means that we could be matched in the next couple of weeks. FOI recieved 8 files, which is a little bit scary as there are currently 25 families in the Waiting Child Program with FOI. They had asked for 25 files to be able to match everyone, but only 8 came from CCAA. There are 4 boys and 4 girls. I guess who is matched will Depend on what the files say, families will be matched based on the special needs, ages and genders the families had requested. If there are no special needs that fit the ones we had stated we were comfortable with or if the children's ages are older than 18 months, we may not be matched on this round. We are so excited that it is difficult to sit still! (Except of course to watch Raptors ball!)

Hopefully we will have updates next week. Poor FOI, I would hate to be them at this moment. Everyone must be calling and emailing and waiting and wondering. Patience is something that is non-existant (going from our experience) at this point....

Happy 2007!

2007-01-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

To all of our family, friends, blogger buddies and FOI family, our wish for you is to have a New Year filled with peace, love and happiness. To all of those who have arrived home with their children recently, enjoy this beautiful new year. To everyone travelling in 2007, all the best! We hope to travel with many of you.

Our New Years eve was so much fun. We stayed in and had a quiet evening with our friends Rob and Krista. We watched movies, ate (too much!) and instead of a traditional New Years kiss, Dan received a page from a client. All was good and he didn't have to go out. Luckily! We stayed up until after 1 a.m. watching the DaVinci Code and eating this amazing bacon and onion dip that Kris' Dad sent for us. So good, but hate to think of the calories involved!

Today was a quiet day as well. Just barn chores and taking down the Christmas decorations. Dan was a little upset today. He is in a funk about New Years and work. Hopefully we will be able to find another vet that will move here and help to alleviate some of the work stress issues for us both. Until then, we work hard, and look forward to the future. It was a little sad with the tree being down. We love the decorations on the tree. Most are home made and so precious to us. We will have to find a little tree and have it decorated next year for Chinese New Year. That way we can have a little one up for a month or two more, and celebrate that special holiday as well.

I started something new today. It is a secret exchange with another adoptive family in the States. They have the same DTC date as we do and every month the coordinator of the group picks a different theme and you trade gifts. Like secret Santa, but monthly. Thought it would be a good way to pass the time and to spread some joy to someone else. January's theme is mealtime for baby. We have a $15 limit, so it should be fun to do some shopping for that. My mind is already going with fun creative gifts!!!

Enough with the turkey and the caffeine!

2006-12-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

All turkied out! We are officially at that stage where we are SOOOO sick of Turkey! Actually sick of eating in general! So, I am avoiding the growling in my stomach and have decided to do some internet and scrapping stuff. Realistically, I should be painting and cleaning the house, but the laundry is on so I have a little bit of a reprieve. Dan is out on calls and I so wish he had one day this week that he could just spend at home. Ok, I am whining. I should stop. I guess I am feeling what a lot of pre-adoptive parents are feeling. In limbo. WHEN IS THE REFERRAL GOING TO COME?! I keep telling everyone that when it is meant to be, it will be. But, I am not used to the lack of control over something and it is driving me CRAZY!!! I should lay off of the caffeine. Maybe that will help because I am wired!

Ok, back to the normal me. I did some research this morning about our names in Chinese. It is kind of interesting to see them. Now, if only I was more computer saavy, I would post them up in a permanent spot on the sidebar. I really do need to learn moree about blogger. The first symbol is Dan, the second 2 mean Kelly. Dan's is so
simple compared to mine. Now, if
only I could figure out how to
do our last name in Chinese.
But, I fear it would take years and years of schooling to be able to do that!

Song By Third Day

2006-12-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

I was hoping on posting this before Christmas, but the holiday season kept us pretty busy. This song was sent to us by a friend. It really hit home, especially since it has been over a year since we started the process.

"Merry Christmas"

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine
It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here
It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
and we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his lifeand prepare a place for us
so we could have a home with him above
It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

100 Best Wishes Quilt Update...

2006-12-28T18:31:00.000-05:00

We have had some questions lately about how the quilt is coming. Currently, my Aunt Donna is quilting it, and I think that we are close to the 100 mark. Hard for me to say exactly, as we had some family drop squares off directly to her. I am thinking that we may be a few short yet, but will see when I talk to her on the weekend.

There were so many different fabrics sent to us, and they were all very meaningful and beautiful. I will post a few pictures for everyone to see.

We really enjoyed getting squares in the mail from adoptive families that we met in Canada and the US. While they are all very special to us, some are at the same stage that we are in the adoption process, and some we may even travel with, so they hold a special place in our heart!

We had some chinese theme, lots of ladybugs, farming -- John Deere, cows, chickens, a farm scene, sheep etc... So CUTE! We also had things that were important to the people sending them. Favorite colours, animals, things that reminded them of their childhood and home. Our favorites include: one from our good friend Rob who is a Police Officer here in Thunder Bay. He cut apart one of his uniform shirts, and included a badge to go with it (while we have not received his card yet to go with it, we are assuming it is because he always wants Peanut to feel protected!) One from my childhood friend Mandy from Sudbury. It is a Winnie the Pooh flannel piece that was from her children's receiving blanket, The Sushi fish one from my best friend Jacqui's nephew (he is about 3 now!) and all of the wild colourful ones for the scrapbooker in me!
I started the scrapbook album for the 100 BWQ. I was worried that I had lost my mojo as I haven't had time to scrap in a while, but I think the opening page from Dan and I turned out to be pretty good. The name part is not stuck down incase we are referred a son instead of a daughter. The three cards above were done by one of my red hat buddies, and they are of her three daughters. They are so beautiful and mean so much as Jenn has been such a great supporter of the adoption and understands our journey very deeply.

The Nursery Continued...

2006-12-28T18:20:00.000-05:00

Lots of posts today, mostly because I finally have the pictures downloaded from the camera, and because I have time to sit at the computer and not do paperwork! :) Dan thinks it is silly to keep this blog, but I am doing it for myself as much as for our friends and family that are far away and don't always hear what is going on.

So, a little more about the nursery. I am on the hunt for a few panda bears for the room and a lamp. We bought the lampshade that matches the bedding, so the hard part is done. This picture is what the bedding looks like. In the picture, it has a purple shade to it instead of the blue, but it is just the lighting at the store. It has NO purple in it as we wanted it to be very neutral. Unfortunately, the bedding has been dicontinued from the company that makes it (Sweet Kyla in Kitchener, Ont.). But, we were able to contact them and they do have some fabric left and are able to make us a few of the pieces we wanted. We just have to decide which ones. Right now, we are leaning towards the basket covers, a couple of decorative pillows and the dragon fly wall hangings. Ok, can you tell this is our first? Gone just a little crazy, and overboard, but hey, we are excited! Originally, we were going to do a black and white bedding with a hint of pink and green, but it just didn't suit what we were thinking, and really wanted to keep a theme to it.

The Nursery....

2006-12-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

We have begun to work on the nursery. The furniture arrived a week ago, and today, we picked out flooring and ordered the materials necessary for the walls. We are going to do wainscoting along the walls, and Bamboo for the flooring. We have a friend Carol, who is an interior decorator, who will be painting the room as a gift to us. She plans on doing clouds, with a panda bear on one wall, which was inspired by a chocolate bar. If it involves chocolate, I am in! The furniture is an antique black from College woodworking. (Canadian Craftsman, yeah!). We decided to go with a convertible bed which will go from crib to toddler bed, to a double bed, and the above storage unit for a dresser/change table, which she can use later on for pictures etc..

It will be beautiful when it is done. Unfortunately, the gentleman who makes the wainscoting from the one supplier passed away before the holidays, so we had to order it in, and it will take up to 4 weeks, but patience is a virtue, so we are told!

The above fabric is what we are using in the room. It is a heavy Waverly print and it is coupled with a green and white and blue and white check. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued by the company that makes it, but I seem to have that happen a lot. It happened with my china and crystal too. I must be late at finding beautiful things!

CCAA Changes - December 8, 2006

2006-12-28T17:30:00.000-05:00

This is the information given to us from Family Outreach about the upcoming changes from the CCAA. While we meet all of the necessary criteria, FOI is not sure how these changes will impact us and the adoption at this point. They (FOI) are currently in China and are hoping to sit down with CCAA officials to get a better picture on what is going on and how to handle all of the incoming calls from concerned adoptive families.

Important Notice from the China Center of Adoption Affairs
December 8, 2006
Ms Word Version
Adobe PDF version

The following are excerpts from the CCAA written statement on new regulations and policies that was sent to us this week. The translation was provided by CCAA. The section headings were supplied by us.
Opening Statement
At present, the number of adoption application documents that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (hereafter referred to as CCAA) receives is increasing very fast. However, the limited number of Chinese children available for inter-country adoption is far from being able to meet the demand of families from overseas. The CCAA maintains, in accordance with the principle of protecting the best interests of children in the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (hereafter referred to as Hague Adoption Convention), that adopters in the following conditions answer better to the spirit of Hague Adoption Convention and the provisions of adoption law in both China and your country, and are able to offer the Chinese children adopted the best possible environment to grow in. It is our hope that you read this letter attentively, screen the families and give priority to those in the following conditions, and submit the adoption application documents for them:

The CCAA first accepts and reviews adoption applications of foreign adopters who are qualified with the following conditions from the day of 1St May 2007, and then makes placement of adoptees with them. Adoption applications of the other adopters who are not qualified will be put into consideration after all the cases of the qualified have already been dealt with.

Qualifications
I. The adopters are a couple of one male and one female with a stable marital relationship. In case that both the husband and wife do not have any ex-marriage, the length of marriage has to reach two years. In case that either the husband or wife has ex-marriages (not more than 2), the length of the current marriage has to reach 5 years.

II. Both the husband and wife have reached the age of 30 years and are under 50.
For adoption of special needs child, both of them should have reached the age of 30 and are under 55.

III. Both the husband and wife are fully healthy physically and mentally, and do,not have the following conditions:
1. AIDS;
2. mental handicap;
3. infectious disease within infective stage;
4. binocular blind or binocular parallax or monocular blind and with no ocular prosthesis;
5. binaural hearing loss or language function loss; adoption of special needs children
who have identical conditions will be exempt from this limitation;
6. afunction or dysfunction of limbs or trunk caused by impairment, incompleteness, numbness or deformation; severe facial deformation;
7. severe diseases which requires long term treatment and which affect life expectancy, like malignant tumor, lupus erythematosus, nephrosis, epilepsy, and etc.;
8. post-surgery of major organs transplantation, not yet 10 years;
9. schizophrenia;
10. medication for severe mental disorders, like depression, mania, or anxiety neurosis, and etc, stopped not more than 2 years;
11. BMI (BMI=weight (kg)/ height2 (m) )>_ 40.

IV. Either the husband or wife holds a stable occupation. The family annual income reaches $10,000 for each family member, including the prospective adoptee and the family net assets value should reach $80,000.
The family annual income does not include welfare income, like relief fund, pension, unemployment insurance, or government subsidy, and etc.

V. Both the husband and wife have received education of, or above, the level of senior high school, or vocational skills training of the same level.

VI. The number of children in family under the age of 18 years does not reach 5, and the youngest one should have reached the age of 1 year.
Adoption of special needs children will be exempt from the limitation of "the number of children in family under the age of 18 years does not reach 5".

VII. Both the husband and wife have never come under any criminal sanction. And they behave honourably with good moral characters, and abide by regulations and laws. Both of them do not accord with the following situations:
1. have a history of domestic violence, sex abuse, abandonment or abuse of children
(even if they are not consequently arrested or criminated);
2. have a history of taking narcotics like opium, morphine, marijuana, cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamine, and etc, and medication for mental diseases, which are
able to arouse addiction among human beings;
3. have a history of alcohol abuse and have given up drinking not more than 10 years ago.
Adoption application will be given consideration on a case by case basis when either the husband or the wife has less than 3 criminal records of slight severity with no severe outcomes, and the time for correction of wrong has reached 10 years, or has less than 5 records of traffic law violation with no severe outcomes.

VIII. The adopters are able to have a correct cognition of adoption, and expect to provide a warm family for the orphaned children (or children with handicap and disability) via adoption and to meet the needs of the children adopted for the sake of a good development of them. They have a correct cognition of inter-country adoption as well, and are fully mentally-prepared for the potential risks within inter-country adoption and for the situations of children adopted as potential diseases, developmental delay, post-placement maladjustment, and etc.
IX. The adopters make in the adoption application letter clear promises of being able to accept post-placement follow-ups and offer post-placement reports as required.

X. The fixed number of year or age that appears in this letter shall be dated from the day when the adoption application documents are logged in at the CCAA.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2006-12-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends and all of the Canadian and US Families we have met through our adoption process! We hope the holidays have been happy and peaceful for everyone. We had a relaxing day on Christmas and had a quiet holiday. Dan was quite happy on Christmas morning, as he received his Carhartts that he really wanted for the barn. "Santa" even brought him a little pair for Peanut too!

We were very grateful for all of the cards, letters and pictures we recieved via mail this Christmas. It was so nice to have correspondance from our loved ones. We wish that we could have been off for Christmas so that we could have spent time with family, but maybe next year things will be different. 2007 promises to be a year full of excitement for us!

Back on the blog!

2006-11-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

So much has happened in the last few months. We have finally gotten settled into our new home, and are feeling much comfortable with our new space. We are starting to come up with ideas for the nursery.

On the adoption front, we have been logged in with CCAA since August 8, 2006. (A great date since this is Aunt Donna and Uncle Gary's anniversary). We then received a letter from FOI saying that we were to have a long wait ahead of us 4-8 months until they expect a referral for us. This is not really a long wait considering what many families have to wait for their referrals. FOI expected travel 6-8 weeks after the referral. For us that would mean travel anywhere from November to June. Dan is really hoping for a March travel date, that way it would fall between calving and haying season. I would love to go anytime.

We had another trip home for the twins Christening. Dan had some bonding time with Nick and Katie, and this was one of the pictures we took with our god daughter. Dan was so good with Katie and had a good time. While we couldn't quite convince him to change a diaper, he did enjoy holding her, talking to her, and comparing his hands with hers. Unfortunately, I was behing the camera and did not get a chance to take pictures of me with the babies.

Dossier to China!!!

2006-07-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

As of Sunday, we are officially Dossier to China. This is the next step in our journey to our Peanut. Our dossier (file) with all of our information goes off to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs, and now we wait to be logged into the system. Because our file was hand delivered by our Adoption Facilitator (FOI --Thanks Yulin!!!) we don't really have a know time frame on how long it will take to get into the system. Could be as early as a week, could be as long as 2 months or more. But, whatever it is we will take it!! :)

We are waiting for a package to arrive tomorrow Xpress post from Family Outreach. We were told by another family who has adopted that there will be information in the package about travelling to China, flight information etc.. We will have to wait and see what goodies will be in it, but once we have news, we will pass it on.

In the meantime, we have been quite busy with the new house, and haying. Tis the season. Dan is very excited about the new house, and took a swim in the pool tonight. I have spent the last 4 evenings scrubbing the grout on the tile floor in the kitchen. Germaphobic... well if the shoe fits, I will wear it! The house is various shades of pink (yes through out the whole house... Tom you would love it... ok maybe not). We are looking forward to painting it. It is like deja vu. We did this last year at this time with the addition and the clinic.

It will be nice to have a home for our little peanut, with children next door to play with. We are working on colours at the moment, and once we have some pictures, we will send them off.

Yahoo! DTC and a new house. Great week!

A ladybug for luck!

2006-06-28T21:09:00.000-04:00

We have provincial approval! We recieved notification from FOI that the province approved us on June 14th. Our documents are now being translated and FOI is getting our dossier ready to be couriered to China. We are unsure of the wait time for this stretch. I guess it will depend on when FOI can get enough files together to send over at the same time. In the adoption circles, friends are saying it can be anywhere from 2 weeks (which we are at now) to 6 weeks. But, our provincial approval took 8 weeks less than expected, so maybe Dossier to China (DTC) and log in date will surprise us too. A little lady bug for luck!

We have been keeping a close eye out for Ron and Val Thom in BC who are currently in China to get their precious new addition Olivia. I first spoke to Val when we started the adoption process for some ideas and advice. It is such a special time for them and we are enjoying watching their journey.

We are now officially done the paperchasing portion of the adoption and are now on to the waiting portion. We are meeting more and more people who are adopting and are getting quite a network to help us out and support us. So far the wait has not been too bad. We have been occupied with our 5 day trip to Southern Ontario to see our new neices and nephew and our minds are also on our new house.

Yes, you did read right! We bought another house. Time to move the business out of the house. Well, more like time for us to move out of the business environment! :) The house is 4 houses away on our road, which will give us enough space from the clinic, but at the same time be close enough for us to be here for emergencies, and Peanut will have the best of both worlds.

Once I have pictures of the new house, then I will post them.

2006-05-27T21:38:00.000-04:00

Ok, Guilty... Just a little behind on the updates! Things have been a little crazy around here for us. We have been tied up with spring calvings, and getting the farm ready for spring/summer. Thank you to everyone who has been checking in to see our progress, and we will be trying to keep things more updated.

So, what is new on the new front? We are finished our homestudy, and are now in the provincial approval stage. Our Adoption practioner sent everything our homestudy off to Family Outreach on the 15th of April, and FOI had it sent off to the Ontario Government on the 19th of April. It has been there for 5 1/2 weeks. One month down, 3 more to go? On May 2nd, we sent the remainder of our information necessary off to FOI for our dossier to China, to give them a leg up to get a lot of the documents translated into Chinese. In these documents were our passport pictures, lifestyle pictures, marriage certificate, birth certificates and our letter of request to adopt. This was what we sent:

To: General Director, China Center of Adoption Affairs, Beijing PRC

May 1, 2006

It is our most heartfelt desire to adopt a healthy infant child under the age of eighteen (18) months age from within your country. While we have been preparing for a daughter, it does not matter to us the sex of the child as either a boy or a girl would be most welcomed into the heart of our family. We are ready to expand our family by adopting a child. We currently have no children. In the past, we have experienced infertility. During this difficult time, we found ourselves researching adoption from China as it has been in our hearts for several years now. After discussing infertility treatments, we have come to realize that adoption is the perfect fit for our family. Our hearts lead us to your country as we look to fulfill and complete our family. We have so much respect for the Chinese people, their many great contributions to civilization and long impressive history. In addition, China's international adoption program has an excellent reputation for being fair, honest and efficient.

We were both born in Ontario, Canada and are Canadian citizens. Dan was born in the Northern area of the province in a town called Thunder Bay on February 7, 1971. Kelly was born in the Southern area of the province in Hamilton, Ontario on March 17, 1975. Dan is a Veterinarian, and works with both farm animals and companion animals and Kelly currently runs his veterinary clinic, which operates out of our home. Our hobbies and interests include farming, spending time with friends and family, playing basketball, scrapbooking, photography, computers and watching movies together. Our extended family is excited about having a new addition and looks forward to their various roles in our future child’s life. Our free time as a family is spent improving our family farm and looking after our animals and enjoying the outdoors on our rural acreage. We promise not to abandon or abuse our adopted child and also promise to treat our adopted child the same as we would our biological child. We further promise to raise the adopted child so that she / he can grow up in a healthy manner. We both feel education is very important and will help him / her to enjoy learning and strive to be the best he / she can be. We will encourage our adopted child the exact same way we would our biological children, to explore different activities to find what he / she has a passion for. We will have regular medical exams to make sure that he / she grows up healthy and happy.We humbly thank the China Center of Adoption Affairs for considering our request to adopt a healthy infant child, less than eighteen (18) months of age. It is an honor to be considered and we thank you for helping realize our dreams of parenthood.

Warmest Regards,

We found it difficult to find the words to come up with to ask for a child from the Chinese government, and hope it is adequate. We took some pointers from a couple who has already adopted from China, as well as from FOI. Now, we just have to relax and wait for this part of the process to go through. We have had a lot of comments from other adoptive families who found this part of the process a difficult wait, but the last few weeks have flown by, and we are of the opinion that we have a lot to do before Peanut gets here, so being patient is a little easier.
Peanut now has three new cousins to look forward to. Twins Kathryn and Nicholas and Laela, who had to have surgery at 4 weeks old, but is now doing great at 7 weeks. We are very excited and happy to be an aunt and uncle again.

Thank you to those who are working on our wishes quilt. We have recieved one square already --thanks Bill, Shari and Kelli! We really appreciate the effort and the research you did! :)

A New Project...

2006-03-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

We are onto a new project....

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a custom to invite friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a creative memory notebook with the wish for the child. The quilt contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.We would like to make a 100 Good Wishes Quilt for our child, so if you'd like to participate please provide a square and a wish. Here’s the scoop, please send us 2 things ~ a patch of cloth and a written wish. Most of the cloth will go towards making the quilt and teeny piece will go into a scrapbook with the wish.

If you would like to send more than 1 square and wish feel free! We need:FABRIC: One 10"x 10" square of 100% cotton, washable fabric. It can be new or "used and meaningful" fabric. Please pre-wash the fabric so it has done all the shrinking it is going to do before you cut it. (Shortcut-go to your local fabric store and look for "fat quarters". These are pre-cut squares of fabric specifically for quilts-no measuring and cutting required!)WISH: This is the fun part. Send us a 4"x6" card with a good wish for the baby and a scrap of your fabric (glued to the paper). Your wish can be simple or elaborate, handwritten or typed. It can be something you wrote or a favorite poem, lyric, quote, or anything else that strikes your fancy. You can even include a picture if you'd like. Please remember to sign your wish and include your city and province. These written wishes will be placed in an album for our family so that your wishes will always be remembered.
We plan to make a twin size quilt that our peanut will receive when old enough to appreciate it. Keep in mind that he or she won’t read your good wish until they are older. Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!~ Love, Dan and Kelly

Being poked and prodded...

2006-03-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

Today was my day for my physical with our family Doctor. All went well, except there were a few tests that she did not realize had to be done. TB testing was one of those tests. So, I got a needle in the arm twice today, and had a 1 hour and 45 minute wait at the lab. But, the hard part is over and Dan gets to have his done tomorrow! Lucky guy! (Atleast he does not have to go through all of the yearly female testing too!) The bloodwork should be back fairly quickly, with the exception of the AIDS testing. That usually takes about 10 days before Dr. Magee will get the results back.

Our meetings with Joan went very well. It is difficult to open up about yourself that much. Who sits and talks in chronological order for 2 hours about their life? Dan wasn't sure what to say as he usually does not open up to anyone.

I flew to Edmonton in mid February with a friend to visit my cousin Mandy, and to go to the largest Scrapbook warehouse in Canada! It was so much fun, and I got to see the Chinatown area of West Edmonton Mall. There is not all that much there, but we saw some really cute outfits and some beautiful jade jewellery in one store. I just took a fleeting look....

Our renovations are coming along very well, and only have 2 closets left to be put in, and some trim upstairs. After that all that is left is the siding of the house. We are thankful that it is almost over. I have to touch up a lot of areas after the walls have been banged into. But, it is nice to have blinds and no carpet left in the house. And, alteast things will be all set and we don't have to worry about fixing anything up. Just have to paint 2 more rooms....

We recieved our marriage certificate. Once we get back the blood results and the fingerprints, the homestudy will pretty much be completed. Then we will start the paperwork for the Ontario government.

We are hoping to meet some families in the area that have adopted. We have met a couple on line and hope to meet with them soon.

Hope all is well with our family and friends!

Update...

2006-02-10T18:56:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy few weeks! We met with our social worker Joan for the first time on February 1st. It was an interesting meeting amdist construction on the clinic and renovations still beening completed on the house. We also had family visiting, and 4 little boys here (not during the interview). Chaotic but fun! :) The interview went well, and we think Joan was a little surprised at how much research we had done and how prepared we were for everything. She gave us lots of information and reading material (we thought when we graduated we were done with homework!).

From there we went and got fingerprinted on Friday and tried to have our criminal check done. Little did we know that there would be a few glitches at the OPP office. (Could only pay in cash in exact change, needed Joan's signature on the paperwork etc.) But, we will have it all sorted out tomorrow.

We received our information package from FOI, and have signed the necessary documents there as well to get us on our way. We have started to get together the necessary things needed for our dossier to be sent to China. We are currently waiting on our marriage certificate in the mail but we applied for it 6 weeks ago, so hopefully it will not take much longer.

I meet with Joan alone tomorrow afternoon, and Dan will meet with her on Thursday afternoon to go over a few things. Then we will meet with her another time together. Joan was not sure that she would need to meet with us more than 4 times. We have booked our appointments with our Doctor for our physicals, but the earliest she had available was March! But, hopefully the paperwork will all fall into place and we will not have too many delays on our hands.

Many have asked us when we will go to China to pick out our child! Just to let everyone know, it is not like picking out a puppy in a window! We are matched with a child in China after our paperwork is all approved here with the social worker, and then again on the provinical level. Our dossier goes off to China, and if we are approved, they will match us with a little one and send back the necessary pictures and information for our approvable. From there we will travel to China about 2 months later to complete all of the necessary paperwork and then bring the baby home. All in all we are looking at somewhere between 14, or more realistically 16-18 months of waiting.

News is out!

2006-01-18T13:03:00.000-05:00

Well, our news is out! We had only told a few people about our plans to adopt... mostly just the few that are writing our reference letters for us. But, last night we called Dan's family to let them know, and my family as well, so that cat is out of the bag so to speak. My brother seems very excited at the prospect of being an uncle, and his financee is expecting, so it will be nice to have cousins close in age. Colleen, my sister is expecting twins in May, so there will be lots of little ones in the family soon.

We have still been at more paperwork, and my autobiography is written. Dan is still thinking of his, but has not had a good solid hour to sit down and put his thoughts on paper. (For our homestudy) At the advice of FOI we have started to do some of the paperwork that doesn't require assistance, and have started to put together our picture album for the Chinese government agency (China Center of Adoption Affairs). They like to see our home environement, our pets and family pictures. We have been told to make sure we have lots of ones with family at Christmas and various holidays etc.. and that preferably both Dan and I should be in the pictures, or atleast one of us in each frame. That is difficult, because I am always taking the pictures, and Dan and I live so far away from our families, so pictures of us with the kids are rare. If anyone has ones of us with their kids that they would be willing to send us, that would be great!!!

Not much else is happening at this point. More research and reading!

Hope to be in touch with everyone soon.

Starting our family dreams...

2006-01-12T10:49:00.000-05:00

We are using this blog as a way to keep our family and friends in contact with what is currently happening in our lives. After much thinking, reading and researching, we have decided to adopt internationally. We are very excited and nervous about the process and we are anxious to start our family.

We have been together now for 6 years and have been married for 3 1/2. We wanted to start a family right away, but our efforts have been unsucessful. We suspected that infertility might be an issue with us, and as such discussed many other ideas about family. Adoption was something we discussed every once in a while, but was waiting for our lives to settle down and the practice to mature. We made the decision in December 2005 to adopt. We researched several countries but something about China kept pulling us back in, and it was Dan's country of choice all along.

We have started the paperwork involved with adopting, and will be starting our homestudy shortly with our Social Worker, Joan. We are looking forward to meeting other Canadian families that are going through or have gone through the process. We welcome any comments or questions and any advise from these families, and our own family and friends.

We decided on Family Outreach International as our agency and liason of choice, and have started collecting the necessary documents (birth certificates, passports, and marriage licence) required to get the ball rolling. There have been many late nights of reading books on the subject, and discussing our hopes and dreams about the upcoming 2 years.

We are so overjoyed at the thought of adopting a beautiful little one from the People's Republic of China. Let the pape