Countdown to China

Goodbye January!

Finally, January is over. I know the old saying, "don't wish your life away", and I very much agree with it, however, January was a long month.(That was a long sentence with probably too many commas, but I got the period and that's all that matters in grade 2!) My next thing is January without snow is twice as long. I LOVE snow. Some people think I love it because of school closures (yes that too) but I've always loved winter time and snow. I think it's because my family always did wintery things. We had a huge hill by my house where everyone in the neighbourhood would come to go "coasting". Then we'd head over to my grandparent's pond to go skating. We'd spend endless hours at the rink watching hockey games. I've just always loved winter. It's my favorite season period! BUT, winter without snow just isn't winter to me...
So we're heading into the month of L-O-V-E. I love February...it's winter (preferably with snow), it's the month of love AND it's my birthday on the 16th. I can't believe I'm going to be 34. Now before all you older people get too uptight, I'm not saying that's old, I'm just saying it seems like yesterday that I was turning 18 and heading off to UPEI with my girlfriends. When Marvin and I started dating, he was turning 25 and I thought that was old. Never thought we'd be first time parents at this age but hey, we'll take it. We're so anxious and feel so ready...I hope that's a good sign!
I've been shovelling out Kennedy's room(since there's no snow to shovel!). She's got quite a bit of stuff in there already. A "couple" pairs of shoes (Angela, remember our little secret), a "few" clothes and "some" books. So Marv and I got out the magnetic letters yesterday and put them on the fridge (new fridge and stove last week...yay!). Now we only had one of each letter of the alphabet so we had to be creative...Here's what it says:
181 to Aug 06
Which translates into 181 days till August. This is when we hope to have our picture and info about Kennedy. The countdown is on. With any luck it will come sooner.
That's it for now. Hope a flake or two falls soon. Forecast is rain and +6 to +9 for the weekend. Yuck!
Welcome to February!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It's the year of the dog. Yazzy is thrilled about that. He's wondering what that means for him. Little does he know what it really means is he's not going to be #1 anymore. He's going to have to share our attention with his little sister. Should be interesting.
So on this New Year's Day, here's hoping that referrals start to move faster and faster. The China Centre for Adoption Affairs is relocating next week, so hopefully they will be even faster and more efficient in their new spot!
Have a great week everyone!

Yaz

This is our dog Yaz. He is our baby...for now. He is preparing to be a big brother to Kennedy. Not sure how he's gonna handle the whole thing. He loves babies, but he also loves to sit on mom and dad's knee at all times. I'm thinking that could be tricky. He's very jealous if Marvin and I sit near each other. He wants to be in the middle. We call him a baby with fur because he likes to be held like a baby and treated like a baby. Hoping he and Kennedy will be good to each other!

The latest news on timelines...

The most up to date information we have on timelines is that things have been slowing down. We've also been told (and we've already seen this happen) that things can speed up or slow down on a dime, so be prepared either way. Right now the CCAA (China Centre of Adoption Affairs) has posted on their website that they have reviewed files sent to them in June 2005. They have matched files up to April 25 2005. Now, our file was received by CCAA on August 31 2005 SO...that means, IF things stayed the same, we could possibly receive our referral (picture of Kennedy and info), by June and travel by August. But we have been told that the wait could increase so get ready for travel in the fall. Marvin and I are very optimistic about things, but we do want to be prepared to wait. We've already gone through some disappointment as we thought we would be travelling in April. But here we are almost at the end of January so time really is flying by.
If you have a minute, check out this really neat photography website.
www.davidclapp.com/main.htm
click on "some babies come by plane". Adorable!!

Ladybug things...

Introducing a few of my ladybug things. A ladybug pillow(front-left), ladybug seatcovers for the car(we needed seat covers anyhow!! back-left), a fanny bag to wear while in China (back-right),a soft ladybug book (in front of fanny bag), ladybug rattle (front right), two ladybug candles(middle) and a stained glass ladybug (front-center). I took this picture yesterday so I didn't get to include the ladybug scrapbook that my friend Sandra gave me today! I love ladybugs, can you tell? More ladybug pictures to follow another time...

Well, it's been a very sad week. My co-worker's mom died suddenly, another of my co-workers mother-in-law died after a long illness and a fellow teacher in Summerside passed away all since Monday. My friend (and co-worker), Crystal's three(out of four) children are all in the hospital with a respiratory virus. All this has come to pass in the last week! Feels like a lot happening all at once. I'm praying for all the people most affected by all this sadness. Hope you will say a prayer for them too.

This one's for you Uncle Garth...

Back in April of 2005, when we started this process, I found this Boston Red Sox cheerleader dress on MLB.com. Immediately, I knew we had to have it. As everyone knows, Marvin is a HUGE fan, even our dog is named after a former player. So here it is with a Red Sox hat to complete the outfit. This was our very first purchase for Kennedy ( note: there have been just a couple more purchases made since then...). This one's for you Uncle Garth. Another Red Sox fan in the family!

Special Things...

These are some of the very special things we received as Christmas gifts.
The bear on the left with the cradle is from the "Cherished Teddies" collection. Our friend Judy gave it to us just before Christmas. Thank you Judy!
The ladybug rattle on the right was given to us by our friends, Jeff, Jennifer and Savannah. They are also waiting for their baby in China. Thank you so much. Can't wait for our babies meet each other!
In the middle is the very special Christmas ornament given to us from our niece and nephews: Brett, Cody, Paige and Cole. We can't wait to hang it on the Christmas tree next year (high up so little fingers can't get it!). We know you are anxious to meet Kennedy. She will be so lucky to have you guys for cousins!

Happy Birthday Marvin!

Today was the big day. Marvin turned 39. We went out for dinner last night with the Clow's and went to Foxley River today for a turkey dinner. Dougie (my brother) is getting ready to go to Alberta to work on Tuesday, so it was also a farewell get together for him.
It's funny how we think about our baby as we celebrate every occassion. Marvin will be turning forty with a little girl in tow! Can't wait!

The Clow Family

I think I've got the hang of it now, so I'll add one more picture and call it a night.

It's Christmas eve, and we're at mom Clow's. The tradition of getting together, opening gifts and sharing some Christmas cheer continues. After a couple of hours of watching each person open their gift, Dale (Marvin's brother) turns to Mom and says " Is that everything?" And she says "no, there's one more thing". Then comes the pause...at the time, I thought everyone was doing the same thing...where's she going? What's she getting? Is this another one of Kevin's tricks and Mom's in on it? Then she reappears from the bedroom with an announcement: " Marvin and Carolyn, this is a little something for your trip". She passes us a bag with a beautiful brown teddy bear. I reach in to open the card and then the ugly cry begins (again). The Clow's have given us this card (above) full of money to help us with the cost of our trip. Completely overwhelming. I didn't sleep all night. We are touched beyond words. There is a lot of love in the air from both family and friends and we so appreciate every little gesture, kind word and private prayer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A gift from my best girlfriends

So here goes...my first shot at uploading pictures. Hope this works.

Before Christmas, my girlfriends(Susie, Leah, Jill, Jackie, Tracy) and I all went out for a little pre-Christmas get together. We exchanged names to buy little gifts for each other. So after all the gifts were opened, there was a pause (pauses make me very suspicious lately, more to follow on this in a future entry), and Susie says, "we bought you a little something". Out comes simply the most beautiful scrapbook ever! I was shocked to say the least and just as the tears start to come, I spot the ladybug on the top of the cover. This quickly sends me into the ugly cry, which seems to be happening a lot lately too. For those of you who don't know, ladybugs are a symbol of good luck and hope for those waiting for their babies from China. I am positive there is not another scrapbook on the face of the earth that I would love more than this one. You see, these girls are the ones who have seen me through the good, bad and the ugly. We've been friends for years and will be friends for many more. Thank you so much girls. You know I love you to death. I can't wait for Kennedy to meet you all. xoxo

New Friends

So tonight Marvin and I headed over to meet the Gillis/Mahoney families. Ian and Kathy adopted Jane and Lana and are on the Island visiting over the holidays. We had previously spoken on e-mail after I spotted them in church one Sunday with Jane. We had a chance to see lots of pictures from their trip to china this past October. Jane and Lana are absolutely adorable. Everytime Marvin and I get together with people who have been to China, we just leave so excited and anxious to get there ourselves. We've learned so much from so many people over the past year. Thank you to all of you who have shared your experiences with us. It means so much!

Well, back to work tomorrow! It will be nice to get back into a routine. I do find when I'm working the months just fly by...which is kind of what I want so we can hurry up and get to China! I've been hearing from other people online that perhaps the wait time will not continue to increase, maybe even decrease, once the Chinese New Year is passed. I really don't want to get my hopes up for anything. Right now, I'm guessing referral in August travel in October...anything before that would be bonus!

Those of you who know me well.....

will immediately note that the time on my last entry is incorrect. Ofcourse I was not up creating my own blog at 6:49 a.m. I only have one more day to sleep in before my Christmas vacation is over. Don't ask me where that time came from, maybe it's pacific time or something.

So the holidays are over and we're head first into our new technology...video camera (watch out all you folks who spent new year's eve with us...I told you that footage could show up somewhere sooner or later. Just kiddin'!), new digital camera and new MP3 player. The excuse was that we "need" all these things for our trip to China. Thought Marvin would enjoy listening to some tunes on the way over, probably will have his hands full on the way back. So we're practicing the editing of photos and video and I have approximately 8 months to figure out how to make my own movies using pictures, video clips and music. We've already selected many songs that will go well with our china pictures. I'll probably never have this much free time on my hands again so I'm enjoying it and trying to do all the little things to get ready for our trip.
I think most of you know about the 100 wishes quilt and scrapbook we are making for Kennedy. If you're not aware, here's the idea. We'd love for you to participate!

Dear Family and Friends,
We copied this from the internet to give people an idea of what we want to do. Since we have not quilted before, this could be a major undertaking but we’re up for it! We think it is one very special thing we can do for our daughter while we wait for her...hopefully it will mean a lot to her when she is older.
If you are interested in seeing a "completed" version, go to
http://www.cleger.photosite.com/album9/
Thanks everyone!!
Carolyn and Marvin

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 the baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a creative memory scrapbook with the wish for the child. The quilt contains the prayers, luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. Select a fabric that is meaningful to you, it doesn’t have to be new- a project you started but didn’t finish, a piece of skirt, something you thought was pretty at Walmart or if you are a parent it can be from a child’s clothing. (In China, these quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with luck/good wishes.)The purpose of the 100 Good wishes quilt is to create a quilt with each of the quilting squares associated with a specific person/wish. This type of quilt is common in China and has become popular in the Chinese adoption community. The person sending the piece of fabric also sends a wish on a piece of paper for a scrapbook for the person who will eventually receive the quilt. The wish can be for good health, something religious or some other positive life outcome. The square should be a 6x6 inch piece of fabric (or there about) then we can cut it to the correct size . It is ideal if you place a piece of the fabric on the paper containing the wish so that we can associate the wish with the fabric and the person who sent the fabric.The Wish: Your wish and the way it is presented can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. The wish might be a prayer, favorite poem, a heart felt random thought, a Bible verse or a quote. You can write it on an index card, white paper, stationary, lined paper, acid free paper- whatever you like. You can hand write or use a computer, make it scrap-booky or stamped - whatever you like- this is your wish/prayer for our daughter, we want it to reflect your personality.Some of the wishes I have read include- I wish you more good hair days than bad hair days, I wish for you to find the love of God, I wish for you happiness …… Let your personality shine!

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone and welcome to our blog. I thought this would be a good place to update people more frequently on what's happening with our adoption process...and all the other little things that happen on a daily basis. Our website will stay up and running as well...we will post our referral pics and our travel log from China when we go. So Happy New Year everyone! I will write more later. Carolyn