We adopted our beautiful daughter Olivia in Feb/07 at 11months old. She is the absolute pride and joy of our lives. We are thankful that God blessed us with miscarriages and fertility issues, or we wouldn't have the beautiful daughter that we can't imagine life without. Just look at her, she was meant to be.
Thanks for stopping by to share our life with us.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
Well we punched another night well at least I did. I think Kirk can sleep no matter where he is. I woke up at 1:00am and haven't went back to sleep yet (now 2:00pm) We went to summer palace today and had an AMAZING time. The weather was just perfect with the sun shining and very little wind. I'm really too exhausted to post much about it, but here are some pictures from the day. Hope everyone is doing well back in Canada and my American pals from DTC group :-)
We are off to the acrabts show tonight. Eventually sleep will happen - it just has too!
Well we had quite the day/night or whaver the heck you want to call it. We woke up at 3:30am and I never got a wink on the plane. Kirk was snoring away but I made my time useful! I was showing Olivia's picture to all the Chinese folk aboard and pulled out my little tranlation cards so I could communiate with them in "Debbie" Chinese. Somebody must have told the attnedant about us adoption cause they made an announcement to congratualate all us future moms and dads aboard who are going to China to get their baby. It was really cool!
We crashed last night at 7:00 and now here are the 2 of us WIDE awake at 1 in the morning. I am sooooooo glad we came early. We are all meeting our guide at 9:30 in the lobby. She has some tourist attractions planned for us 6 families that are here early - BONUS!!!!
Here's a couple pics from the Toronto airport and then CHINA!!! Yipee its really happening - we are in Olivia's country
I'll try to post if we have any exciting pictures later.
Well in about 48 hours we'll be in China. It is sooooo crazy to think our time has come. After all this time waiting and waiting reality is having a really hard time setting in.
We leave bright and early Sunday morning, arrive Monday afternoon in China, have a couple days in Beijing and then off on another flight to Guangdong. We will get Olivia Thursday afternoon which is Wendsday night in Canada. We then have some tours set up to the local zoo, markets, and other local sights before heading back to Beijing. Once back in Beijing we are going to do the Great Wall, Silk markets and other tourist attractions that the guide has set up for us.
The one place we really want to go is Olivia's finding spot. We are going to ask the tour guide to set up a taxi for us so we can go and spend some time there. Just thinking about what her birth mother had to go through leaving her in that spot is going to be very emotional. We want to spend lots of time there taking pictures and soaking up every once that we can. We also want to see if we can get a tour of the orphanage. There are lots of things to see in China but our main focus is going to be Olivia. We are going to be very baby focused and if that means missing the tours than that's what it will be. It's funny because all along I've been talking about all the things we'll get to see in China. Since getting her picture and especially the recent video, my mind has changed. I think my maternal instinct is already kicking in and I don't even have her yet.
Tomorrow is going to be a major day of house cleaning and finish the last minute packing. We still haven't figured out when we'll change our sleep routine over, but I guess it will all work its self out.
If I don't get a chance to post tomorrow - thank you to everyone who is following our journey and I'll be reading your posts while in China. The support that family, friends and the adoption community provides is beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you to everyone.
I can't believe it!!! We just got this video clip from Cathy who was at Olivia's orphanage during Christmas (She's in pink). We can't believe that she actually got footage of Olivia. We feel soooooooooo blessed!!! I just had to wake Kirk up and we can't stop watching it!
Purolator came to the door today with our final paperwork. We now officially have our "Notice of Coming" It's soooooooo real now. It's been getting more and more real everyday, but seeing that official document made it hit home. I went upstairs to pack the paperwork and decided I would unpack the suitcases. BIG MISTAKE! Can you say luggage explosion! I thought that I could pull everything out and repack properly but now I'm having a meltdown. Well, I guess it will keep me busy for the next couple of days. I thought it wasn't suppose to look like this until after the trip.
Here's an old video that I made from the old house. The nursery is her old nursery but as you can see its all the same stuff. Little did we know at the time, we'd be moving.......
Well with all the chitter chatter of us girls last night, my camera just couldn't take it. IT BROKE DOWN!! Can you believe it, the camera broke 1 week before we leave for China. The last thing we had money for was a new camera but its also the last thing we would want to be without while in China. They say everything happens for a reason......
Here's some shots with the brand new spankin camera. I had no clue what to practise with so....... yep - used Olivia's nursery!
I met with a bunch of waiting mommies last night. It was soooooo much fun. We laughed, told stories and of coarse drooled over Olivia's picture :-) We were a bunch of 10 women who came from the East End, West End and the North. There were lots of pictures taken but gaining my 30 pounds, I look HORRIBLE!!! I'm sure you'll see the pic though on the gals blogs. One funny thing happened towards the end of the night and Catherine almost picked herself up a sugar daddy! See her blog to get the full story.
Here's a picture of the "loot" I got (bumper pad toy missing because I ran it right up and tied it on her crib). It was friggin so funny when all the gift bags started coming out. Poor Jill was stuck in the middle with everything coming from her at both ends. It is a great bunch of girls that I can't wait to meet up with again. I'm sure I'll be wanting a "mommie" night away in the future.
I did lots of chatting with Laurie who adopted her daughter from China 2 years ago. She gave me lots of tips for feeding and bonding so it will be nice and fresh in my mind. Still can't believe this is actually happening!
Well here they are cute as cute can be! This is our gang of babies that we are all travelling together to get next Sunday (man that sounds good). I made a lanyard to wear with Olivia's picture for travelling and then I thought, hey I might as well make one for each of my posse!!!
Just look how lucky all of us mom's and dad's in waiting are going to be. We have 2 boys in our group of 11 which is quite unusual. We are all over the moon with excitement and counting the days til we get to our bundles of joy.
Check out the yellow dress on Samara and Olivia(click on picture to make larger) - do you think I have a chunkster on my hands????? She must be stealing food from all of her orphanage pals......
While Debbie is in China I may be posting to her blog for her as none of us will want to wait a minute more than we have to to see pics of sweet Olivia!
The adoption world is a wonderful place! My cyber friend Erin sent me these Gerber Liquilytes via Fed Ex today for a very special gift (can't get in Canada). I can't believe how fortunate I am to have such support through the internet. Family and friends are great, but they just don't get it the same as our unique group of adoption gals. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift Erin. I really hope Olivia doesn't get sick while in China, but if she does I have her a fix for everyday we are there. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
Big cyber hugs to all my China moms and moms to be!
As you can see, I'm up at 11:30 on a Sunday night doing nothing else but playing with my blog. I have decided that I'm going to start a blogroll. If you want your blog linked on here, please just leave me a post.
Cheers (14 more sleeps)
Well I guess that depends on how many night I actually go to sleep......
Well, I think I have Olivia's stuff all figured out but now for me!!! I have a little tiny corner in Olivia's suitcase for mine and Kirk's stuff. I think I better repack. Kirk and I may be dressed in the same ratty clothes everyday but DANG she'll look good :-)
For the last year every time I saw a child's item with Canada on it, I would buy them. I heard that the little children in China just love it when you give them a little gift. The little bears are key chains with zippered money pouches for the older children and the rest of the stuff can go for any age. It's funny how something so small that we can pick up at our little dollar store will bring so much joy to these little ones faces. The chocolates and candies are to go with the pile we are all gathering up for the nannies.
Well, I started packing today and decided to take a pic of our flight clothing. I'm wearing my "pregnancy" shirt (that always seems to turn heads) and Kirk will most likely wear his China shirt. I cut her pictures and put them on lanyards so we could wear every second until we finally meet our baby Olivia in person. It's hard to believe that its only 2 1/2 weeks away. I think packing has really made things hit home. Now I just want to finish packing and get going!!! I hope the rest of the month goes fast.
We just set up this baby pen today to see where the heck we were going to put it. We had to re-arrange the living room, but eventually we figured out a spot for it. It's directly accross from the kitchen so it works out perfect. I can see her even when I'm slaving in the kitchen (for the ones who know me, stop laughing) Apparently these little people eat ALOT and the like that home cooked stuff.
So we just started buying toys and the place already looks full. I can only imagine once she actually gets here and we figure out what we really need to occupy her. Ahhh, I bet she's worth every cent :-)
Our house will never look the same and I LOVE IT!!!!!
*****Notice where the computer is, think that will stay there long??*****
The little one in the green sweater and pink pants is one of our travel mates son! He belongs to Donna and Avery. The little girl in the picture with Olivia and the Nanny was adopted last week to a couple from the States. She was Olivia's best friend so when they brought her back to the orphanage for a visit they took a picture of them together. What a special keepsake that is going to be for Olivia. The only thing that bothers me now is that Olivia's poor little heart is broken missing her wobble pal to crawl around with. Ohhh the mother instict has already kicked in!
Hi Everyone!
