Day 3 back in Beijing-  Today Rachael had her medical exam.  All went well.  We saw a Canadian Chinese doctor at an international clinic.  Rachael weighed in at 18 lbs.  Doctor said she is in the 5th percentile here in China for most things.  Dr. Lucy was very kind and gentle with Rachael.  Rachael giggled thru most of her exam.  After lunch Doug decided to take a long  nap after being so sick the night before.   Rachael and I went with the rest of the crew to the Summer Palace.  Very Beautiful!   My snack fora the day was a corn on the cob.   When we returned Doug was awake and feeling a little better.  We decided to stay back from the group dinner tonite and ordered in Pizza.  This will allow us to be a family of three in our room for the evening.  I hope to get a good sleep tonite as I am battling a Smog induced sore throat.  Tomorrow we will go to the Pearl market to see what knock off deals we can find. Apparently we are also stopping at another Silk Market.  We hope to find Rachael a couple of Silk dresses.  We are having a ball.

Christmas Eve at Bread of Life Lutheran Church

Rachael stole the show in her silk Chinese dress as Pastor Carla, (Rachael's auntie,) led the congregation in the Sermon.  Carla drew a paralell between the birth of baby Jesus and the long adoption of Rachael.  This was illustrated through a very emotional powerpoint. We are all so blessed to have Rachael as a knew member of our extended family.  Thanks Auntie Carla.

We are home!!

After an extremley long day we arrived at the Regina airport to be greeted by both of our families and some friends.  What a heart warming welcome we received!!  I am wide awake and its 5 am.  Rachael woke me up so I just finished giving her a bottle.  The poor little Missy's clock is going to have issues for a while. She is back in her crib and I should head back to bed now too.  

Last Full Day in Beijing!

Chhinese Acrobat Show

This morning we ate an early group breakfast then we loaded the bus to head to
Tiannamen Square and The Forbidden City.  It was a very long day because there
was tonnes of walking and it was cold.  The history behind both of these places
is very cool.  Tiannamen Square is massive.  It can hold 1/2 a million people at 
one time.  The Forbidden City went on and on forever.  It too is huge.  There
are over 9300 rooms in the Palace.  We went through court yard after court yard. 
After touring through both places we loaded back on our bus to return to the
hotel.  Doug and I were hungry so we decided to join the O'Grady's for lunch at
our favorite restaurant across the street.  After lunch we all headed up to our
rooms.  At three Pam and I went shopping.  We both had some last minute items to
pick up. After our power shopping experience we headed back to the hotel as we
were supposed to meet at 5 pm to pick up our babies paperwork.  At 6 o'clock,
Doug Rachael and I, the Eeles family, Jennifer and Kenna Brandt and Randy Burtis
headed out to the Chinese Acrobatic Show.  It was outstanding. When we returned
to the hotel we bathed a very wound up Rachael, gave her a bottle and put her to
bed.  She is soundly sleeping now.  We are excited about returning home.  There
are so many things from home that we both miss and are looking forward to. 
Tomorrow morning consists of packing, and organizing things.  Our luggage needs
to be down  in the lobby by 12:30 pm tomorrow.  We are travelling home Air
Canada Flight 1119 via Toronto.  We are supposed to arrive at 11:45 pm on the
23rd.  We are coming home as a family and are hearts are both overflowing with
love for our new daughter.  Rachael is amazing, resilient, alert and bright
eyed.  We are totally in love with Rachael and are quite certain that it will
not be long before everyone connected to our families also falls in love with
her.  We will be laying quite low initially when we get home as we will need to
establish a routine and get over the jet lag.  The jet lag coming here took 3-4
days until we felt somewhat normal.  It is supposed to be way worse on our way
back.  Mom or Deanne I was wondering if one of you would help us out the night
of the 23rd after we arrive.  If not thats okay too.  Looking forward to seeing
everyone and sharing our trip stories. Tomorrow will be a little emotional as
our group breaks up to go their seperate ways. Doug and I and  Rachael  
willforever have a connection to the six other families.  We will miss seeing
all of Rachael's little buddies.  Bye Alex, Grace, Emori, Tya, Julia, and Joni. 
All of you will forever be a part of us.  We look forward to sharing pics with
our group members.  Thank goodness we had David Eeles on our trip, he takes
awesome pics!!

Hello everyone, Our trip of a lifetime is winding down.  We are anxious at this point to get home, but have made a unique lifetime connection with 6 other families, our adoption agency (FOI: Bob and Yulin), as well as our guides:Vivian and Faye. What an amazing overall experience we have had.  We will be coming home late Thursday night just in time to celebrate Christmas with our families. Our most amazing Christmas wish has finally been answered, we are so lucky!!
Today after breakfast we all loaded onto the bus to head to the Silk factory and the Pearl markets. I had a blast shopping and bartering with the vendors and scored many great treasures!! Doug opted out of the shopping and instead went for a walk with Rachael to" The Temple of Heaven" which was in a beautiful city park close by the Shopping markets.  Tonite we had our good-bye/birthday party for all of the children as our facilitator Yulin is heading home tomorrow.  It was a delicious meal. We were treated to Peking Duck and many other delicious dishes as well as a majic show and birthday cake.  A great time was had by all.  We dressed Rachael in her new red silk dress.  She looked gorgeous.  We are so looking forward to introducing her to our families and friends.  Tomorrow is our last tour day before our group starts breaking up and going their seperate ways.  We are going to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City.  I may sneak a little more shopping in in the afternoon.

Day Three in Beijing

Day 3 back in Beijing-  Today Rachael had her medical exam.  All went well.  We saw a Canadian Chinese doctor at an international clinic.  Rachael weighed in at 18 lbs.  Doctor said she is in the 5th percentile here in China for most things.  Dr. Lucy was very kind and gentle with Rachael.  Rachael giggled thru most of her exam.  After lunch Doug decided to take a long  nap after being so sick the night before.   Rachael and I went with the rest of the crew to the Summer Palace.  Very Beautiful!   My snack fora the day was a corn on the cob.   When we returned Doug was awake and feeling a little better.  We decided to stay back from the group dinner tonite and ordered in Pizza.  This will allow us to be a family of three in our room for the evening.  I hope to get a good sleep tonite as I am battling a Smog induced sore throat.  Tomorrow we will go to the Pearl market to see what knock off deals we can find. Apparently we are also stopping at another Silk Market.  We hope to find Rachael a couple of Silk dresses.  We are having a ball.

Day Two in Beijing

Day 2 in Beijing-  We went to a Jade factory,  shopped, then headed to the Great Wall.We climbed the Great Wall , I went up the easier route and Doug went up with Rachael on a more difficult route, Nonetheless it was amazing for both of us.  After the Great

Wall we were taken to a factory for lunch.  Of course we bought a few items, then had a delicious lunch.  Doug had a bit of a bug shortly after eating, he fell asleep on the bus.  When we returned to the hotel Doug was violently ill.  Vomitting and Diarreah for about 6 hours.  Thankfully today he was feeling a little better.  

Day One in Beijing

Sorry folks, since arriving in Beijing we have encountered some internet trouble, and we have been  so busy with the little Miss and excursions , I have not had  much time to  trouble shoot the problem.

We are getting along just fine. Rachael seems to be super resilient and in love with us.The little peanut had her very first plane ride on the 13th.  We hope we have the same luck on our way home on the 23rd. This was no problem, she was very happy on the plane and was unphased by by the pressure changes.  We very much enjoyed our time in Chongching, the city we received Rachael from, however we were very excited to return to Beijing to meet back up with our group members and all the babies.We have had a wonderful time here in China.The food, the sites and the culture are amazing.

Our first full day back in Beijing-This morning we had a group breakfast down in our hotel.  After we had free time until 10:30 am when we went to Yulin's room to complete Visa paperwork. After  the entire group was done, we  all met down in hotel lobby for a large group photo.  This was tough to coordinate as some babies were sleeping.  After picture our group loaded on the bus and headed to the Beijing Zoo. Baby Rachael is amazingly cute, cutest giggler and best toothy smile.  We  all went out for a group supper where we dined on lots of authentic Chinese dishes.  They always bring out steamed egg for the babies and plain rice.  The days here are hustle and bustle like.

Forever Family Day Today!

Today was another emotional day for us. Rachael officially became our daughter.  We went back to the Chinese Centre of Adoption Affairs where  we received Rachael.  the Director of her orphanage was there, as well as her Nanny. There was a formal ceremony where fingerprints were taken, pictures were taken, many signatures signed,  and we also took an oath.  We promised to always care for Rachael, always love her and to never abandon her, we also promised to give her the best life we can.   Rachael was very content today.  She never even really reacted to the Director of her orphanage or her nanny today.  In fact for someone that nas very upset when her nanny gave her to us yesterday she acted as though she did not ever know her today.  This made her nanny  very sad, but also happy that Rachael has begun to bond with us. We started the morning off with a delicious breakfast.  Rachael ate congee, yogurt, small pieces of ham and some fruit.  She likes apple juice too.  So far an excellent eater!  She had two naps today, the teething is kind of bothering her, otherwise a content little girl.  She fits nicely into her size 12 months duds, some are even a little big.  Rachael  surprises us daily.  Today when I left the room to go to the bathroom, she had somehow moved across the room.  I went back into the bathroom then peeked around the corner and I caught her crawling again.  Small gains everyday.  She is very beautiful, petite,  chubby red rosy cheeks and a skiff of black hair.We are in love!  Sorry having trouble with pics transferring onto computer.  As soon as I can I will send some more to go with this post.

Pictures with Rachael!!

Doug, Rachael and I

Rachael with Doug's old blanket

Rachael with her Nanny

Rachael and I

Rachael!

We received Rachael at about 2:20 pm today.  When we walked into the Government adoption facility we saw Rachael right away sitting on the couch with her Nanny and the Assistant director of the orphanage. She looked exceptional. We both recognized her right away and I went to pick her up.  As soon as she could not see her nanny, she began to wail very loudly.  I passed her over to  Doug and he was able to settle Rachael temporarily. She was obviously very attached to her nanny.  The crying was loud and broke my heart.  Rachael was very healthy looking and bright eyed.  She was dressed in layers of clothes with a beautiful wool sweater.  The nanny gave us some bottles, diapers, and formula to get started, and two winter styled jackets.  When we got back to the hotel the guide and I went to the supermarket.  We left Daddy Doug home with Rachael.  He held her the whole time while she cried.  When we got back with food, diapers and bottled water I took some of Rachael's layers off and changed her diaper.  I rocked her and she is now laying down in her crib. We are so in love, she is gorgeous!!!

Excitement is Building!

Tomorrow is our big Gotcha Day!  It is Sunday in Beijing around 11 am while I am typing this. We are both doing fine.  I am still a little jetlagged, Doug seems to be fine.  Today at noon I will be having a 1 hour massage in our room.  Some local lady is coming up to work me over.  After we have plans to hit the dirt market with fellow group members.  Tonight we have a meeting about our departure to receive Rachael in Chongching.  We have been told that we are to be ready to head to the airport by 5:30 am.  We will receive Rachael tomorrow in Chongching at a Government official office.  We will stay there until Friday then return to Beijing to complete the official part of our adoption.  We are so excited to finally become parents!  We will send a picture or two out tomorrow once we have Rachael.
Blogging and Facebook here is blocked, so there will be few posts while we are in China.

Landed in Vancouver just waiting at the Gate for our flight to Beijing

Boarding call to Beijing in the next 15 minutes.  Yeah

We are on our way, yeah. Just sitting in the Regina Airport waiting

We are leaving as two, but coming back as three.  So excited, but very surreal.

ONLY 2 MORE SLEEPS TILL WE FLY

Tonite we went out to our Vietnemese spot for dinner.  Our fortune cookies were somewhat applicable.

(You will soon meet a life long kindred spirit.)  (Speak less of your plans, you will get more of them done.)

Packing our suitcases tomorrow.  Almost there......

A very sentimental Gift for Rachael

We got together on the weekend with the Toth side of the family to celebrate advent.  It was a fun family get together.  Of course Rachael received lots od beautiful gifts but the one that had both Doug and I in tears was when Doug's younger brother Kevin presented Doug with his old baby blanket.  Doug's mother who passed away gave it to Kevin to give to Doug when Doug became a Daddy.  Doug is now a Daddy to a beautiful little girl in China.  She will be able to use this blanket that was made by Doug's mother.  We are very greatful for a supportive and loving family.

Notice to travel!!! Finally

We are set to go next Thursday Dec. 9/10.  We finally received our notice to travel from China today.  It's official we are leaving next Thursday!!
  Now to pack!!!!

My Brain is definatley not at work today

Help, I need to make it through 3 more days at work, not including today.  I have zero motivation to be at work.  All I can think about is packing and getting on the plane next Thursday.  We are both so excited to meet little Rachael.  We are hoping and trusting that she is in good hands until we get there.  Doug still thinks that all of this will be no problem.  He is convinced that Rachael will come right to him, and nothing will make him happier if she does.  Yesterday he bought a luggage set for himself, phew!!  Up until then he had told me the only thing he is taking is his gym bag and naturally I told him that was not going to be enough for two weeks. Nice try but he would do anything to get my goat.  Days are slowly moving but before we know it we will be in the air.  Cannot wait!!!
J

Busy Busy Busy Go Riders!!!!

We are busily preparing our house to bring Rachael home.  We had our carpets cleaned yesterday and this turned our lives upside down.  All our bedroom furniture and front room furniture was in our living room/kitchen, we even had to sleep downstairs because we had also had our mattress done.  By this morning the carpet was dry and we were able to put everything back  We had most of it put back before I went for a haircut and color, then major running around.  Picked up some Rider mitts for my nephews, picked up a larger memory card for our camera, debating what to do about a video camera?????  Tomorrow is the big Grey Cup Game.  We are really hoping for a win for our RIDERS!!!  I only have 6 more days of work and Doug 4 days  We just made a very large lasagna for the Grey Cup PARTY WE will be attending..  I may send Doug running errands next Friday on his day off while I'm slugging away.  We  are leaving December the ninth, how will we ever get everything done before we leave.  So excited to finally meet Rachael Marie Kai after 5 years. yahoo.

So in love! An updated picture

We are so thrilled that our agency was able to email us an updated picture of our daughter, Rachael Marie Kai Toth.

She looks to be a healthy 16 lbs.

Today was a very exciting day

I met up with a teacher friend from the school division I work for.  Anyway she and her hubby have adopted twice from China.  Both of their girl's stories were great.  She brought 2 large creative memories albums loaded with their adventures.  I borrowed them so that I can go through them again and also to show Doug what we are about to be doing.  We hope to connect with AnnaMaria and Alphonse again before we leave on December 9th.  So much excitement ahead of us, I can hardly wait.

3 WEEKS TODAY we will be in BEIJING

I am finding it difficult to sleep at night, function at work, etc.  We can hardly wait to become parents to our sweet little Rachael , Marie,  Kai Toth.  We will be busy getting organized these next couple of weekends.  Hopefully time will fly by.

Back to Work tomorrow for 15 more work days.

So much organizing and tidying up to be done in the next few weeks. I know that once I get back into the groove at work, time will fly.  Tomorrow is my first day back after a 4 day weekend.  The break was relaxing and productive and I have to also mention that  we got all of our Visa paperwork done and couriured to FOI.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the BC Lions in double overtime to advance to the Western final against Calgary next weekend.)  Wahoo, this is great news for the Saskatchewan football fans.  Well I better be off to prepare for my work week.

Where is our Daughter?

From Regina Saskatchewan Canada to Beijing China then to Chongqing China

She is residing in Chongqing at the Kai County Children's Welfare Institute. Chongqing is just South east of Beijing. She has been there since she was 3 days old.  We will be flying into Beijing on the 9th of December where we will be meeting up with our travel group and then on December 13th Doug and I will fly to Chongqing China to pick up little Rachael.  The day we will meet her is typically called GOTCHA DAY.  Lots of preparing to take place between now and then.  Yikes!!!

Finally we have accepted the referral and decided on a name

Introducing: RACHAEL MARIE KAI TOTH

MacBook

We purchased  a Macbook today, something I have always wanted.  It will be great to have in China for pictures and blogging.

A Packing List

I borrowed this off someone in our groups blog.  Is all this really necessary???
PACKING LIST
Paperwork
Copy of Dossier & Addendum ?
Brown Envelope docs
Passports

Adult Medical Kit
Antiobiotics

2 Antibacterial wipes/liquid -one in carry on also
5 Packs of kleenex
Sinus pills
Band-aids
Peroxide/Alcohol
Neosporin
Benadryl cream
echinecea
energC powder

Epi pen
Ventolin
Serevent
Back Tylenol

Cold/Flu medicine
Cough drops
Vitamins
Eye drops
Tums
Pepto Bismal
Tweezers
Melatonin (natural sleep med) (used first night)

Tylenol
Advil (used 2x)
Tylenol head congestion (day & night)cold and flu

Robitussin cough
Imodium
Laxative
6 pkg. FFreinds, red and original

Baby Medical Kit
Scabies prescription
Digital Thermometer
Glycerin suppositories
Pedialyte (powdered)
Baby Tylenol and/or Motrin
Baby Benadryl
Teething Tabs
Butt balm/(Diaper Rash)
Ear ache medicine
Cold/Cough medicine- herbal
Saline Drops
Bulb syringe
Nail clippers


Holy, for real do we need to take all this?

Travel Plans are booked!! Wahoo

We went over to my dad's today for lunch and we made our travel arrangements.  We depart Regina on the 9th of December and return on the 23rd of December at 11:45 pm. Wow this is going to creep up faster than we ever imagined!!  Home for Christmas too.

It's official!!!!

We are very proud and thrilled to announce that we have just confirmed acceptance of our daughter from China

Her Chinese given name:  Kai(open)- Fu(blessing)- Ting(graceful)

birthday:October 30th 2009
Living:  Chongqing, China
We will travel to China early December to bring her home just before Christmas. 
We have named her Rachael Marie Kai Toth
We are thrilled and excited and going to be crazily preparing for our China journey.  Stay tuned for more details.  We are waiting on more pictures.....

After 5 long years-Here she is... The Stork arrived yesterday

We are delighted and excited to announce that we have a daughter!!!  Finally!!!
We have not named her yet as we are still in shock.
Born-October 30/2009
She has been in an orphanage since November 3/2009
Weight-15lbs  a tiny little one

We are enamoured by her bright eyes and chubby cheeks.  We are in love.

Stay tuned for more information.
We are waiting for documents to be translated...Soon, Soon we hope
Possible Travel date of December 11/10-Dec.23/10 or January 8???  Everything up in the air.  We must complete more paperwork, book tickets, send a letter of acceptance etc., Get visa's etc.

The Stork arrived today!!

Time to celebrate... the wait is finally over!!!

After phoning back and forth today with our intercountry adoption worker, finally at 3:25 pm I was advised to check my yahoo mail account. I immediatley logged in to disover our referral of a beautiful baby girl.So bright eyed and  alert looking.  Immediately tears of joy flushed down my cheeks and my heart rate went crazy.  I frantically tried to reach Doug, but could'nt get him, so instead left him several disjointed messages. We are delighted to announce that we have a beautiful little girl who was born October 30 2009.  She has been in the orphanage since November 3 2009.  She is 14lbs, sits up, takes a soother, passes objects back and forth, and has a happy disposition.  We are in shock and very very excited.  Once we have everything translated we will share other information.  Picture to follow tomorrow morning.  Give us a few days to decide on a name too.  We shared our joy with Granpa Jim and Grandma Cheryl  over Chinese food and Champagne.  We also had special visits from Sandi Robertson, mom, Tracy Johnston, Laverne Williams, and Auntie Lynn and Uncle Dale.  They say that good things happen to  people who wait.  It's been an extremley long and unbelievable wait, but well worth it.

Proud Granny and Grandpa T.

Good News on the Rumour Queen this morning

Report of First Phone Call

November 1st, 2010

The first phone call has been reported, with a LID of 5/23.
If you are expecting a referral in this batch and would like your blog listed on the Babies! post then please list your Blog URL and Blog Name in the comments to this post.
Congrats to all of the families who are so close to finally seeing their child’s face for the first time!


Also I spoke to our intercountry adoption worker today in Saskatchewan and he believes we will have something for sure within the next 10 days.Excitement Excitement.  This would be the best 40th birthday present ever!!

My Horoscope from the Globe and Mail today

" The sun in your sign is doing wonders for your confidence and this weekend in particular will see you chasing after new adventures. But don't chase after them alone. Take someone along for the ride."

I hope this has to do with getting our referral, then us planning our adventure to China with 4 other families.

Thanks Jennifer Brant for sending this to me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Lots of very cute ghosts and goblins so far.  The weather is so beautiful that we have had tonnes of kids already.  So much fun for the little ones!!!!

So much for our referral being imminent for September or October

We are still waiting for our referral to arrive.  When our agency emailed us in late July with the news that our referral was imminent for September we were very excited.  Of course we all know that the referral did not come in September, so then we watched very closely expecting it to arrive in October.  Well today is October 29 2010 and its a Friday and we are still waiting on a referral.  We do know that China started matching on October 26th and that perhaps they have been mailed out.  We are hopeful that we may receive our referral possibly next week which would be in time for me (Jana) to celebrate my 40th birthday.  What a wonderful way to turn 40 and become a mommy, and parents etc.  That would be the best gift I could ever hope and wish for.  Regardless of what happens we are both staying busy and working hard at our respective jobs.  Did I mention TGIF...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Matching has Begun... Wahoo!! finally!

Heard today that matching has begun, should not be to much longer before we see our babies face.

matching has begun

The rumour today is that the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) is matching babies with our files.  We can hardly wait after all these years of waiting to see our childs picture for the very first time.

Rumour Queen

She posted this morning that she is officially on rumour watch.....  Let the news trickle in.  Referral here we come.  We can only be hopeful!!!

Not another week with no news. The waiting continues...

Each day this week we calmly hoped that something in the form of referrals  would transpire.  No such luck!!  I took Friday off for a medical appointment and an Optometry appointment.  When I got home I was very frustrated that we still had not heard a thing so I called our agency (FOI))  I spoke with both Bob and Yulin and neither had any information to offer us.  Yulin told me she would call China Sunday night to see about any news and then she would call us back.  It is 9 pm and we still have not heard anything.  Hopefully with snow on the horizon this week that it will blow in our referral. 

Sadly nothing to report

The Rumour Queen who usually has her pulse on whats happening in China had nothing of any consequence to report this week.  Yesterdays post on her site was so random  "What does Sesame Street ans Old Spice have in Common?" Way too random, she is posting desperatley boring unrelated things, come on referrals!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for! However, we were hoping to be thankful to have our referral in our hands already. Hopefully in another 2-3 weeks we will see our daughter's face for the first time!  Two ladybug sightings in the past few days, with warm fall temperatures, they're all over the place! Hope everyone enjoys their family time, Happy Thanksgiving!

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call mother.
Two different lives, shaped to make your one...
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first gave you life and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.
One gave you a seed of talent, the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One gave you up ... that's all she could do.
The other prayed for a child and God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me, through your fears,
the age old question unanswered throughout the years...
Heredity or environment, which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling, neither.
Just two different kinds of love.

Finally a Rumour this morning

Happy Birthday Dougie, I love you!!!, but I wish that a referral would have come to make your birthday that much more special. 

According to "the RUMOUR Queen"  referrals for September have been mailed out and that people with Log in dates of the 16h 17th and 18th of May are included in the September batch.  This rumour is listed at an R3 which means its pretty believable.  Two things-  this means that we are not included in Septembers batch of referrals,.... oh well....September is almost over and what it does mean is we are for sure next up to bat.  They will have our file in the matching room as they prepare to match the October referrals.  The referral should come later this month as there is an international Chinese holiday in there. We are so unbelievably ready to be matched with our child and to see her face for the very first time.  We wait....

Should know more once this week goes by

We anxiously wait to see what China will do this month.  Our agency speculates that we will know for sure within the next 10 days if we will be receiving a September referral.

Lady Bug Bedding

My sister Danielle, who lives in Scottsdale Arizona called last night because she came across some very cute Lady Bug bedding for our daughters crib. I viewed it on the Target website under bedding.  I typed in Ladybug crib bedding.  It was so cute, I loved it.  It is light pink, light green and beige.  Super cute and it will match perfectly with the rag quilt my mother and I made out of flannellette. Cannot wait to get the referral so we can start setting up a room etc.  September referrals have not yet been announced, so there is still a possibility that we may get in that batch.  The Rumour Queen is saying it will be a late batch.  Stay tuned for late September.  We Wait....  When the bedding arrives I will post a pic.

Referral rumours are starting

The rumour Queen has the following preliminary rumour on our site.

"I don’t see any agencies reporting rumors yet. I see one board talking about the 18th as a rumor, but I don’t give that source a lot of credibility. I need to report it because I realize it’s being talked about, but at this point it’s down in the R1 or R2 range."


Unfortunately if this rumour holds any truth it means that our Log in date of May 19th 2006 will not be receiving a referral in this September batch.  It does, however mean that we for sure will be included in the October group.  We will wait to see what happens......

First Day Back With Students

I am so exhausted.  The day was a whirl wind.  Before I knew it, it was time to pack up for the day.It was kind of fun catching up with the students and being back in the classroom, although I felt as though I had never left.  Summer vacation is such a precious time, I just wish that it did not fly by so fast....  Routine back in my life will be a good thing, but will take some time getting used to.  I am still lurking on the adoption sites hoping to hear some news about September referrals.  We sure hope that we will be matched with our child this month, if not we know for sure that we will be in October's referrals.

Matching has begun

There are reports that the CCAA-Chinese Centre of Adoption Authority has begun matching children with their forever families for the September referrals.  This may mean that our file is in the matching room right now.  Finally....  Hopefully families will be seeing a picture of their child for the first time by mid September.  We hope that our file will be matched this month.

OUR 100 GOOD WISHES QUILT...WOW WE LOVE IT!!!

Many of you know Doug and I are adopting from China. We embarked on this journey in December 2005 but we still have not completed our adoption. We are somewhat hopeful that we may complete our adoption within the next few months. This whole process has been extremely frustrating and long. We are confident that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. To make time go faster and to give us something to do in the meantime, I have researched some customs that accompany the Chinese adoption. One of the traditions in the Northern part of China is to make a 100 Good Wishes Quilt, or a “Bai Jai Bei”. It is a custom to invite friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the new baby. Part of the cloth goes into the quilt, and the other part will go into a creative memory book with the wish made for the baby. The quilt contains the prayers and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. Ladybugs are symbolic of Chinese adoption and a sign of good luck. Often their images are included in the fabrics that make up a 100 Good wishes quilt. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. Our hope is to wrap our baby in this quilt made up of our friends and families love, the minute she becomes part of our family. So many people to thank,  Mom, Deanne, Bev Thompson, Sandi Robertson, Heidi Ostrander, Jacqui and Brenda Norick.  Brenda your time was extremley appreciated beyond words.  I am also so proud to say that I sewed the entire back on my own as well as the binding.  We will treasure and love this quilt forever.

First Day Of Work in two months....

Well, I'm up early,made coffee, exercised and stretched, then I will start getting ready (Wouldn't want to wake up my prince before 7). I think that 6:15 may have been too early.  I hope this day goes well.  I look forward to seeing my friends/colleagues then pretending that I had a great summer and that I'm beyond thrilled to see everyone and be back at work.  I think this will take a good few weeks of getting used to. I am so happy to be hanging around with Sandi 24/7!  She is the best person ever:):):):):):):)

What will the CCAA do this month??

What will the Chinese Centre of Adoption Authority do this month for Child placements, we will anxiously wait to see??????

2010-2011 School Year

I start the school year tomorrow with mixed emotions.  How long will I teach this year, when will we get our referral? They have me teaching half time and doing Student Services the other half.  A little freaked out about facing the students this year.  Summer was great, but too short.   Hope it does not take to long to get into the groove.

My Awesome Niece Taline

Our niece Taline Blakley has asssisted us in setting up our blog. THANK-YOU!! She is the greatest!!!! Finally after 15.5 years she is almost as tall as me.  Hard to believe as I am 6 feet.  Good luck in grade 10 Teenie.
Love Auntie J and Uncle D.

Finally after 5 years some news from our agency.....

On May 12th, 2010, we received a phone call from Bob at Family Outreach International.  He predicted that we would have our referral in 3-6 months time. 
On August 16th, 2010, we received an email from Family Outreach International, our agency, stating that for those families who have a Log in date of May 19th 2006 that our referral is imminent for September 2010, with plans for travel late November.  Wahoo!! Finally a real sign of life, we wait impatiently for our daughters beautiful picture.  We cannot wait to see her face for the very first time.

what should we call our blog??

How about"Doug and his Slugs",  "Sunshine ad Moonbeams", "Little Miss Muffet", "The Very Lucky Lady bug", "Regina to China:Lady Bug Trails", "Eenie Meenie Tiny Toes"???