Cole...Get Well Soon!

Trip to the Hospital

My nephew Cole took a fall yesterday. He was sitting at his computer (his FAVORITE thing to do!) and fell off his chair. Initially, it seemed just like another tumble. But last night it quickly became apparent that it was causing him discomfort. Cole has a bleeding disorder called hemophilia. Ofcourse at three years old it's very difficult to determine what is an injury that needs factorIX and what is just a regular bump that will heal on it's own. As the evening went on, Cole began to express his discomfort and the arm began to swell and bruise. This is a sure sign of an internal bleed. For those of you who do not know our family, our father also has hemophilia. So we've lived with this all our lives, but seeing a little person go through it is very hard. It is a genetic disorder that is passed through the females. So my two sisters and myself are all carriers. Our sons have a 50-50 chance of having hemophilia. My older sister Kim has two boys, neither of which have hemophilia. Amy and her husband Trent do an amazing job with little Cole. He's had his share of poking and prodding. It's so difficult to watch him at the hospital because he's so afraid of the needles, etc. Hopefully when he's older, he'll understand better. Until then please pray for little Cole. He is staying in the hospital for a few days. He has a line in his "good" arm where he receives his factor and the other arm is the injured one. Needless to say, he can't do much with his hands right now (although he still managed to use the computer at the hospital!) The pictures show him in the recovery room. They had to sedate him because they had so much difficulty finding a vein. Get well soon Cole! We love you!

Kiana's 1st Birthday

Here are some scenes from our neice Kiana's first birthday. How fast a year goes by. Initially, when we thought we would be in China by April/06, we thought Kiana and Kennedy would be very close in age. Now it is likely that Kiana will be the "big cousin" that Kennedy will be trying to catch up to. Please note: Kiana showed up all dressed up in a pretty denim skirt and pink top. She ditched it early on and decided just a diaper was the way to go!

Progress...

Well it's 7:18 and I'm just heading out the door for school (only a seven days left!) and I just checked the CCAA website. Good News! This month they sent out referrals for 13 days (June 16-28). I realize this doesn't mean too much to my readers if you're not involved in the adoption process. So I'll review. Our file was logged in at CCAA August 31/05. Each month they send out referrals (picture and info of your baby). They had slowed to a snail's pace, but now they are finished up to and including June 28/05. So now we have to wait and see how long it takes them to get to August 31/05. If the 13 day pattern holds true or increases, we could have our referral by the end of November and travel 6-8 weeks later. I can handle that. I just want to see her face.

Rain, rain go away...

So it's Saturday afternoon and it's raining...again. We've just had terrible weather lately. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Our pool is ready and just needs some sunlight to get it a little bit warmer.

A few of us went out to celebrate my sister, Kim's, birthday last night. Munchies, drinks and loud music...guess I'm not used to it anymore. I woke up this morning with a splitting headache (blame that on the drinks)and a scratchy voice (from trying to talk over the band). Can't remember the last time I stayed up until 2 a.m. Pathetic, I know. I just don't seem to have it in me anymore. Or maybe I did it enough in my university days to last a lifetime!! Fun was had by all and Kim and I both agreed, that will do us for awhile. (No pics...it's just as well, trust me.)

Marvin's mother had knee replacement surgery and is in rehab in Charlottetown. We visited her Thursday...she's having difficulty putting any weight on it but hopefully things will improve over time.

Our neice, Kiana, celebrated her first birthday on Wednesday! Happy Birthday Kiana!

School is quickly winding down. 12 days left with the children, then 3 days after that to get organized and put things away for the summer. Can't wait for July 1st! First day of vacation.

No news on the baby front...we are waiting to see how many referrals are sent out at the end of this month. I'm resisting the temptation to buy any more baby stuff...I've been fooled by timelines so many times, I've probably bought clothes for all the wrong sizes/seasons...just talking a lot about her these days. It seems like we go through cycles of shop, shop, shop, or talk, talk, talk. It still seems like a dream sometimes...we know it will come true, it's just taking so long now...

We are cheering on our adoption friendsNatalie and Daniel on their journey to bring home their little one. They live close by and I'm sure our gals will be friends. Can't wait to see that picture guys!

That's all for now. I'll try to post more soon. Rainy days sure help.
Take care everyone.
Carolyn

Beautiful Videos

Early last year while searching the internet for information on international adoption, I came upon the website of a couple from the U.S. who had adopted one little girl from China, and were preparing to adopt their second daughter. Jasmine's video
was so inspiring for me. It shows the most intimate moments of receiving your baby. Take the time to have a look. I watch it over and over and I still cry every time.
Then in July 2005, they brought home little Tahlia. You can watchTahlia's video also!

I have shared e-mails with Jasmine and Tahlia's mom, Sandra, and she gives me full permission to share this with you. You can also follow their blog by clicking here.

Officially waiting for 9 months...

Well, yesterday marked 9 months since our file was logged in at CCAA. Wow! In some ways it seems like it flew by, but in other ways it seems like forever. If our wait is 18 months, as is being predicted, I guess we have another 9 months to wait. Ugh! I guess it feels like we've been waiting much longer because the process started long before August 31. Anyhow, we're in it for the long haul so we'll settle in and wait, wait, wait...