Fall has come and gone...

and much has happened since my last post. I do plan on catching up, but for now I've decided to post a few of my favorite pics that were taken in the past few weeks. Enjoy!

I don't want to go to school!

Noah kept repeating the same sentence this morning...I don't want to go to school! Although we've been counting down the days and he was very excited to start school, this morning the reality of it hit hard. Poor Noah, he was not happy.

But after I told him he could bring Woody to school with him, he finally cracked a smile.

So thanks to Woody, Noah suddenly had no problem going to school. He gave a big hug to Baba, Mommy and Liam and walked into his pre-k classroom with a huge smile. Woody saved the day!

Summer vacation went by so fast

One more week and school starts! UGHHH!!!! I don't know if I'm ready yet for all that it entails. OH how I will miss our lazy mornings and fun days with no schedule to worry about.

Referrals!

Not so long ago, I posted that our dossier had been reviewed and accepted. Click here to read that post.

Our dossier is now in the matching room at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) . The matching room is where the CCAA chooses a child for you. After you are matched with a child they send you your referral. Your referral is all of the information about the child China has matched you with, including pictures! Referrals are usually sent out once a month. Last Monday, families with a LID through May 15, 2006 got a very special phone call. I thought you would like to see a few of these lucky families who have posted pictures on their blog. Enjoy!
By the way, although our dossier is in the matching room, we do not expect to get a referral sometime soon. The CCAA is only sending referrals to families with a LID through May 15, 2006. Our LID is November 13, 2008. The families below who received their referral have been waiting for 52 months! That's right...4 years and 4 months!!!! So we still have lots of waiting to do! We have been waiting for 21 months now. We are hoping our turn will come end of 2012.

The Bumblebee and the Ladybug

Peaceful Panda

Adventures in Bellahland

Baby Steps...all the way to China

Hope

Abby

The Mercer Family

The Long Road to China

Cantrell Crew

My nephew

I already love you so much! I can't wait to meet you.

Catching up!

We're back....and have been back for a while now! Ha!


Deb and Chris, we had so much fun visiting you. Thanks for having us for 2 whole weeks! We miss you so much! Here's a little montage of our time with you.


If you would like to see more pictures of our trip, click here.

2 weeks in San Francisco!

This is a picture of us back in 2006 on our last visit to San Francisco. The boys were almost 1 and 3. I can't wait to rediscover this beautiful city through their eyes again!

AUNTIE & UNKIE here we come! Woo Hoo!

More fabric for Mia's Bai Jia Bei

We have received more fabric!

Fabric 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 are from my mom. She took the time to choose beautiful fabric for Mia. They are so cute!!!! My favorite one is the one with the turtles.

Fabric 16 is from my Dad. I was so touched to know that he took the time to choose the card and fabric himself.

Fabric 17 is from Laura and Jay. I absolutely love the bright colors! Thank you for your beautiful message to Mia!

Fabric 18 is from my aunt Suzanne and my uncle Jacques. My aunt is very sick, but she took the time to write a beautiful message to Mia and choose such a cute fabric design. I am very grateful. Merci beaucoup tante Suzanne!

Fabric 19 is from Nanny. I have fond memories of my grandmother. She was such a loving person. If she would be here with us today, she could have made Mia's quilt with her eyes closed. She was one talented lady. My mom kept some of her leftover fabric when she passed away as a keepsake. She recently gave me this beautiful fabric in her memory. I am so happy that she will be a part of Mia's quilt. Thank you Mommy!

Fabric 20, 21, 22, and 23 are from Steve's family in Syria. Steve's dad recently took a trip there to visit his family. We were very touched upon his return to receive these fabrics for the quilt. Thank you to Soeur Vartouhi, Aboud, Rita, Madeleine and Peter Saydouni, Tante Madeleine and cousins Katherine, Emil and Gabi. I absolutely loved the idea of the postcards!

My favorite flowers!

I love flowers! Some of my favorites are daisies, Gerbera daisies, roses and tulips. But by far, my favorite ones are the wild flowers the children pick for me in the grass. I enjoy watching them carefully choose the perfect one and then quickly run towards me! I also really enjoy watching their faces as they proudly hand me their gift.
Last September, when summer was quickly coming to an end, I was worried that it might be the last summer they would do this, as they are getting older. Click here to see that post.
Well, I am happy to say that I might still have an extra summer! YAY!!!!

Great weekend!

This past weekend, we rented a cottage up north with Chantal, Bob and Maï-Lee. The cottage was located in what felt like the middle of nowhere. It was GREAT!!!! We were surrounded by trees, a beautiful lake and the chant of owls at night...and to top it off, there was an outdoor jacuzzi!!!! The kids absolutely loved the experience...going to bed late, playing with their flashlights in the dark, playing with worms, learning how to fish and eating to their heart's content lots of food they don't usually get to eat at home. Lots of candy, cookies, chips and marshmallows. Yes, there were sugar rushes and some meltdowns, but nothing too dramatic!

Steve also got to learn how to fish thanks to Bob...He was quite proud.

Merci les amis pour ce beau weekend!

Click on image to see larger.

Deb this is for you...Wordless Wednesday

And here I go again...Once upon a time....

6 years ago...





5 years ago...




4 years ago...




3 years ago...




2 years ago...




1 year ago...




My sweet boy is 6 today!!!! Happy Birthday Liam!
Mommy, Baba and Noah love you so much! Have fun today!

Once upon a time...

4 years ago...







3 years ago...






2 years ago...









1 year ago...





Time flies oh so fast...my handsome boy is 4 years old today!!! Happy Birthday Noah!
Mommy, Baba and Liam love you so much!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!





Better late than never! Anyway, today I talked to the boys about their family heritage and they really got into it. I decided to draw shamrocks on their cheeks and they insisted on the rainbow. Noah was very wiggly, so the rainbow is quite crooked...but aren't they cute!!!!

Also, here's a story I found and wanted to share with you. It is written by Jean MacLeod.

A Little Bit Irish…

Hanna, my seven year old from China, was in the tub. I was helping her rinse the shampoo out of her hair when she asked,
“Am I a little bit Irish?”
My mind swept over some of our recent conversations about our family heritage, and I answered, “Well, ethnically you are Chinese. But since I’m a little bit Irish, then culturally, you are a little bit Irish, too.”
“When did it happen?” Hanna wanted to know.
“When did WHAT happen?” I asked, concentrating on her soapy head.
“When did I become a little bit Irish,” she explained patiently. “Was it when you kissed me for the very first time?”
I paused, shower wand in hand, and watched my daughter squeeze water out of her hair. I thought about the tiny, bundled baby that had been handed to me at the Anhui Hotel seven years earlier, and I remembered how her head felt against my cheek. I hadn’t wanted to scare her; my baby-kiss was soft and swift as I cradled her upon my shoulder. Unremarkable, it was the first kiss of many thousands, yet now, through Hanna, I see it with fairytale eyes:
My first kiss to my adopted daughter infused her with my love, my world, and the generations of my unknown ancestors! Like Sleeping Beauty wakening with a kiss from her Prince, the mother-daughter kiss called forth a magical intermingling-- a covenant leaping past genetics, it bestowed Hanna and me upon each other…
My pragmatic daughter had chosen to make sense of the vast, familial complexities of international adoption with a powerfully simple symbol of promise and connection.
“Yes” I said finally. “I think that’s when it happened.”

~ Jean MacLeod

Good news!!!!

After 16 months, someone at the CCAA actually blew the dust off of our dossier and reviewed it!!!! We have passed the review room.
So what does this mean? Well....we sent our dossier to China on November 7, 2008 and it was  logged in on November 13, 2008. This date is our LID (log in date). Our LID is our "ticket in line" for our adoption. Our dossier was then placed on a stack of other dossiers to go through review. In the review room the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) went through our dossier and made sure there were no problems with our paperwork and they also checked if there were any medical conditions they felt they needed more information about. Now that our dossier is through the review room, it is now on its way to the matching room!!!! The matching room is where the CCAA chooses a child for us. 
As of now, families with a LID through April 11, 2006 have been matched to a baby. So with our LID of November 13, 2008, we still have a long wait ahead of us. We are hoping for end of 2012.

Slowly but surely, we are heading in the right direction!

Happy Birthday Baba!!!

Fun weekend...and an incident!

Liam was off school on Friday, but Noah wasn't. I decided to take advantage of this time with Liam and go on one of our special 'dates'. On most of our dates, we go to our croissant place and eat till our belly's can't take anymore. Now as a mother, I really cherish these special moments. So on Friday I got up, asked Liam if he wanted to go on a date with me and headed downstairs to start our day. I was packing Noah's snack for school when I saw Liam coming down the staircase dressed in a shirt and tie. He had missed a few buttons on his shirt and his tie was loose...he had gotten all dressed up for ME. He said : "Look Mommy...I want to be handsome for our date." My heart melted!!! Here is a picture of him on that morning.



When Noah saw Liam in his shirt, he also wanted to wear a shirt like his big brother.



On Sunday, Liam had his ski lesson. He started about a month ago and is doing pretty good. Here is a small video of him going down a slope.


















Later on, we got a call from our friends to join them for some outdoor fun. It was such a beautiful day on Sunday...almost Spring like. We met in Chateauguay and headed to a nature reserve not too far away. Chantal, Bob and Maï-Lee were in the car up front and had the misfortune of hitting a dear. The whole thing happened so fast!!! Thank God nobody got hurt. Bob skillfully controlled his car and avoided what could have been a disaster. On the other hand, the deer really got hurt. The police had to come and put the poor animal out of its misery. The whole thing was horrible! Noah was sleeping throughout the whole ordeal but Liam saw the whole thing. He had so many questions. After answering all of them, he seemed to be at peace with the whole situation by the end of the day.  We did end up going to the nature reserve after the incident and had fun walking on a trail in the forest. Here are a few pictures.