Surprise!

On Friday, we had an inservice at work, which means all the clinicians are in the building and the day is somewhat more relaxing.

I was in my office at lunchtime, when a colleague came in for a prearranged meeting to discuss a case and closed the door. After a few minutes, another coworker entered the office and asked if we could come quickly to help her with a problem she was experiencing. She had such an odd look on her face, and she was acting so strangely, that we didn't hesitate to follow her to the Board Room.

You can imagine my surprise as I walked in to a beautifully decorated room filled with the great group of people I work with! They had arranged a wonderful potluck lunch, which was absolutely delightful, and presented me with a very generous gift card to pick up all the last minute items from the local mall.

Thank you to all my thoughtful colleagues. You certainly make work a wonderful place to be.

Growing Like a Weed

We have been asking to obtain updated information as to Amy's height and weight and we've now been told that she is 9 kg (19 lbs, 13 oz) and 82 cm (32.3 in). She has grown 9 cm in the last 6 months. If she keeps growing at that rate, she'll be much taller than Sean by the time she's ten!

We Are Officially Invited!!!

Although we have made all of our travel arrangements, we have been missing one document which would actually permit us to go to China to proceed with adopting Amy - our "Notice of Travelling to China for Adoption", the formal confirmation from the Chinese authorities that we have received our final approval and will be allowed to proceed. That document finally arrived this afternoon, allowing Robin to breathe a big sigh of relief that the legal requirements had been satisfied. There is no longer anything we can do now in Canada with respect to the legal process - the actual adoption will take place in China.

Our Itinerary

Oct. 4 - Leave Winnipeg at 5:10 am, Arrive in Toronto at 8:35 am
Oct. 4 - Leave Toronto at 2:10 pm
Oct. 5 - Arrive in Beijing at 3:40 pm
Oct. 7 - Leave Beijing at 10:55 am, Arrive in Nanchang at 1:05 pm
Oct. 8 - AMY DAY!!!!!
Oct. 8 - Oct.12 Adoption process
Oct. 13 - Leave Nanchang at 5:50 pm, Arrive in Beijing at 9:15 pm
Oct. 14 - Tour to Great Wall with lunch
Oct. 15 - Medical examination
Oct. 16 - Tour to Summer Palace with lunch
Oct. 17 - Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City
Oct. 18 -19 Free
Oct. 20 - Leave for Canada at 1:20 pm, Arrive in Vancouver at 12:20 pm
Oct. 20 - Leave Vancouver at 2:10 pm, Arrive in Winnipeg at 6:48 pm (AC296)

Hotels:
Beijing Poly Plaza
Nanchang Galactic Peace International Hotel
Holiday Inn Central Plaza Beijing

Amy's Mural

We've had a local artist, Sheila Berg, at the house for a few days this week to create the most beautiful mural in Amy's room. I was wanting a 'Peter Rabbit' look and that's exactly what I got - and more!

I was going to wait until we got everything in her room before I posted pictures, but the artwork is so exceptional, I want to display it first on its own. As I can't think of a more riveting subject than paint drying, here are the pictures.

Enjoy . . .

Delivery!

We just received word that Amy's second package has been received at the orphanage. We hope that she is enjoying Kristin's Dumbo!

Swimming to China?

Things are moving along quickly now after so many months of waiting with nothing happening.

Robin and I went for our second immunization shots today and Kristin and Sean have had their first. The baby gates are up all over the house and the crib is being delivered tomorrow. I have finally started to sew the nursery linens and the gorgeous mural in Amy's room is almost finished. Yes, things are changing!

The difficulty now is our flights to China. As mentioned previously, there is a major holiday in China from the 1st to the 7th, which means the flights seem to be booked up. We are having difficulty finding four seats to Beijing on the 5th and so we are now exploring other possibilities such as flying on another day, flying separately or leaving from the States. We will, however, get there, even if it means swimming across the Pacific!

It's Beginning to Feel Very Real

For the past year, we have imagined life with Amy, but there are now physical signs around our house that strongly suggest our lives are about to change.

This weekend, my friend Arlene helped me paint Robin's office/Amy's room and I changed the light fixture to one that Robin had brought back from Toronto (and my favourite store, IKEA) last fall. The room is now ready for the Muralist who arrives today and will be here all week creating her magic.

I began shopping in earnest and bought a high chair, which is now up in our kitchen area, as well as other odds and ends. Robin is pleased to report that there were no clothes bought during this shopping spree.

We have also begun purging to make room for Amy and her accoutrements. Arlene took our coffee table for her basement so we can now get a soft leather ottoman with storage for toys. We just need to get rid of the couch downstairs. Anyone interested in a big, brown sectional??

We're Going to China!

We received an email yesterday morning from the director of our agency telling us we should be looking at flights so we can be in China for the 7th of October! This is terrific, as there is a major national holiday in China from the 1st until the 7th and all government offices shut down. We are assuming that we will be united with Amy on the 8th! It seems unbelievable to type this after imagining that day for so long.

Robin has a hearing from the 1st until the 5th, but he is going to try to adjourn after the first four days (there are other days set in November), so that we can leave on the evening of the 4th! I've already submitted my paperwork for a discretionary leave for the 5th for travel and to begin my Parental Leave on the 9th, the day after Thanksgiving. This is perfect, as I get nine months off, taking me to the beginning of July and summer holidays. I won't have to go back to work until September, 2008!

If we were in PAPM before, I'm not sure what you would call this hyper state now! Sean is receiving accelerated immunizations (we are hoping that they won't produce a third arm or some other mutation), Kris is figuring out the impact on her school and work, Robin dismantled his office last night while I tried to organize and clean. He's off to work this morning, while I'm off to shop. Later, my friend Arlene is coming to help me paint Robin's office/Amy's room. Then it's back outside to tidy up all loose ends of the outdoor projects. Busy, busy, busy - but I love it!

Working Hard

I am finally almost finished my long list of projects that I had compiled for myself to keep me busy over the summer. The fence and deck are painted, the new garden is in, the new soil is spread and the very elaborate sandbox has been constructed.

I was not working alone on these endeavors, but had the assistance of my fantastic nephew, Scott. He has arrived at 7am most mornings and stayed until well after 7pm for a number of his precious summer vacation days. I have left the construction of the sandbox entirely up to him and this is what he has come up with - a sandbox with a huge cover on hinges that you can open up like a trapdoor. I'm sure Amy will some day appreciate that the neighbourhood cat will never be able to do his business in there!

Thank you Scott, you've done a great job.

It's Not What You Say . . . But How You Say It!!!

Last fall, Robin and I signed up for Mandarin lessons. Although I am somewhat of a professional student, I found this to be one of the most difficult classes I have ever participated in! Four weeks into the course, we both withdrew, as the pressure to give short but perfect speeches in front of the class in Mandarin did not meet my expectations of learning "Traveler's Mandarin" - the prof seemed to expect that we would devote at least 12 hours a day to practising our pronunication and expressed her frustration at those who did not.

A few weeks ago, Robin ordered a language package very specific to Chinese adoption. It contains phrases such as "I love you", "Don't cry", and "Are you hungry?". Although we know that Amy resides in an area with a dialect that, by one report, does not have much resemblance to standard Mandarin, we felt that, by knowing a few phrases that might sound familiar, it might be comforting and assist in communication. We hope that Amy may understand what we are saying better than if we spoke English, even if we do as most travellers and speak English slowly and loudly in the expectation that that will somehow enable a person with no English to understand!

One of the things we learned in our Mandarin lessons is that the tone and inflection used when pronouncing a word can change the meaning tremendously. You can imagine the teasing that is now occurring in our home as we discovered that "Wo shi ni de ba ba" means "I am your Daddy" while "La ba ba" means "Poo poo"! It would appear that we are going to have to be very careful when referring to Robin!

Care Package #2

Yes, I do know that we might be leaving for China in a few weeks, but I had originally bought too many things for the first Care Package (it has to fit in a shoebox!) and so we now have #2. I'll drop it off at the post office this afternoon and expect that she will get it in the next 10 days or so.

Aside from the toys, an outfit, books, a camera, and candies for the nannies, this package also contains a very soft, cuddly Dumbo with a blanket attached from Kristin. This is one of the items she had been collecting for Amy.

Just as with the first package, so that there will be a sense of familiarity, we have duplicates of everything that we will be bringing with us when we go to China.

Squealing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were told in early July that the time which would pass from the date of the Letter of Intent being received at the agency in China until we received the next required document would be 100 days. We have been patiently (?????) having those days pass, not counting them at all (?????), although it has been difficult! On August 31st, Robin sent an email to our agency, gently pointing out that it was Day 50 and asking if there was anything else that we could or should be doing. Shortly after sending that message, Robin received a reply asking that he call the agency director. When he called, she told him that she was laughing as she read his message because, at that moment, she was on the phone with the provincal Director of Adoptions, who was advising her that the province had received a letter for us from China.

Robin raced to the provincial office and discovered that this was the long awaited (but not as long as we had expected!) Letter of Acceptance! Robin called me and, for my response, see the title of this post! Fortunately, although I was in my car at the time of the receipt of this call, no major carnage ensued; however, I may have broken a few eardrums in the vicinity!

What this means is that, instead of travelling in mid-November or later, we expect to be in China in October - possibly early October! Robin refers to the period prior to any vacation as PVPM - Pre-Vacation Panic Mode. We are now both in PAPM - Pre-Amy Panic Mode. The immediate consequence of PAPM is compulsive development of lists!!! We already have many lists of things to do in the next five or six weeks. In a way, the tasks on the list are really just a useful distraction; otherwise we would be too overwhelmed by the thought that we will likely be holding Amy a few short weeks from now.

Amy has her Care Package! - August 27th

When we sent our package on August 17th, we were given a trackng number so we could follow its progress. The package arrived in China on August 24th and we did not expect that we would hear anything further about it; however, on August 27th we received notification that the package had arrived at the orphanage. We were giggling at the thought at the nannies showing Amy the pictures of her new family of giants!