A Giveaway!!

Michelle at Searching for Sophie is having a giveaway in honour of her 5-year blogging anniversary…also known as a Blogversary.

Drop by her blog for your chance to win some great prizes!!

I am hoping to snag one of those adorable bracelets that she is giving away…would love to see one with “Maggie’s” REAL name on!!

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I still can not post pictures of “Maggie” yet but very soon!!!! We just have to finish up some more paperwork and send it off to our agency and then you will all get to see her!!



Thanks so much for all your well wishes and congratulations!!! You are all a great support for us durring this amazing time.








A big welcome to all my new followers!!


I hope I don’t bore you to tears with my blabber…wait I know, your all just here to get a glimpse at our little cutie…well that’s ok, I can’t wait to show her off!!!

WE ARE PARENTS!!!!!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting our exciting news but after the phone call of a lifetime on Friday, it has been a crazy whirlwind!!!

We have been referred a beautiful little girl!!

She is gorgeous! (But then maybe I am a little bias...)

Her name is: Feng NianQiu
Living in: Feng Cheng City, Jiangxi Province (foster care)
Her birthday is: April 25, 2008

She has a cleft lip & palate, loves to play with her toys, looking at books and listening to music. I can’t wait to learn more about her and hold her in my arms!!

I have not spoken directly to my agency since receiving her referral so I will be calling them tomorrow, until then I will not be posting pictures but I will give you a sneak peek…



I will post more details as soon as I can.





Happy Father’s Day to the best Daddy in the world!

Larry, the timing of this referral was so wonderful! What an amazing Father’s Day gift, for you to see your daughter’s face for the first time on Father’s Day weekend!! I know you are going to be the best Dad to our little princess and I can’t wait until the first moment I see the two of you together…and every moment after that!! I hope you enjoyed your day!! Next year will be even better!!!!

TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I Love Ya’, TOMORROW…

You’re only a day away!!!




So…TOMORROW is the day!!!! The day we finally get to know who “Maggie” really is!

I am feeling less anxious tonight than I was yesterday. Just knowing that tomorrow is THE day has relieved some of my stress.

Today was tough until I finally got a hold of our Children’s Services office and got to speak to someone…at 3:45!!!!! ARRRHH

Why are they never at their desk or just never pick up the phone whenever I call??!!??!!

Apparently the lady that reviews the files was in meetings for 2 days and only got back to the office after lunch today…blah, blah, blah!! So she told me she would review our file and call me tomorrow.

“Maggie”,

Hold on tight little one, tomorrow Mommy & Daddy will finally get to know who & where you are. We are both over the moon with excitement and anticipation. Tomorrow is going to be the first step to “us”…the 3 of us…forever. My heart beats fast whenever I think about what tomorrow is going to be like. Your Daddy & I have waited so long for this life-changing day.
Love you forever and always,

Your Momma xoxoxo

NO CALL TODAY :(

I sat on pins & needles all day at work trying to will the phone to ring but every time it rang it was not the call I was waiting for. I almost had a heart attack every time it did ring though, lol!

This is a picture of me yesterday:


















This was me today:


















I sent 2 emails to our local Children’s Services today and did not get a reply to either one! Tomorrow I will be phoning them and will keep doing so until I finally get to talk to someone that can give me some sort of information…even if it is to tell me they are still working on it. At least that would be something!

Here is a picture of the set up we have in our office to record the moment the call comes! I will have still pictures (taken by Donna, seen in picture) and video (compliments of Mary’s webcam).


















We are so very blessed to have some of the most wonderful, caring friends. ♥ The comments are so amazing that everyone has been leaving on my blog & Face*book. ♥ Your support and encouragement during all of our stressful days has been nothing short of amazing!! ♥



Tonight I am starting to go over the immigration paperwork to keep my mind busy. And boy is it working!!! There is so much information and photocopies required it is crazy!!! Wow…I had no idea!

My Mom & Larry went for their first shot of Twin*rix today. There are pictures but they are on my Mom’s camera so I will post the pictures another time. I am waiting until we get the call and I have some information to tell our doctor about “Maggie” before I go…which will hopefully be this week!!!!!

My next question to all of you…how much do the Twin*rix shots hurt?????
I want to be prepared. My friend Mary is going with me to talk me through it so hopefully it won’t be too bad. Ugh, I hate needles!

Oh well, I will do it because I LOVE my “Maggie” and will do whatever it takes to bring her home!

Please keep us in your thoughts & prayers as we wait for the most amazing call of our lives! Every thought, prayer, good vibe or whatever is very much appreciated!!!!!!!

~ Don't forget to read the post below and submit your guess for "Maggie's" age, special need, and province. ~ If you haven't done it yet come on…make your guess now!!!

Emotional Overload!

So as most of you know we were not in the last batch of referrals...

BUT…

Yesterday I received a message from Cathy at Children’s Bridge that she was looking for a copy of our provincial approval. (I was planning on sending this to her once we had a new one completed to amended the level/degree for cleft palate.) She insisted that she needed this right away for our file because she could not send out any referrals without a copy of this. She also said, “we have received more referrals” … So I called her back right away to let her know that I hadn’t sent the copy of our first provincial approval because we were in the process of completing an amended to it which I was planning on sending to them once it was finished. Of course she was not at her desk, so after calling MANY times in the end had to leave a message for her to call me back.

Today around 11:30am my phone rang and the call display said Children’s Bridge…this is when my day took the wildest turn ever!!!!!!!!!!

I told her why she didn’t already have a copy of the letter and she said it should be all right and for me to just fax her a copy of the first one we had done. She then said again, “as I’m sure you know, we have received more referrals”. She also told me that because we live out of the province of Ontario, our provincial Children’s Services would have to be the ones to call with our referral news. At the end of the call she said, “because of provincial rules I can not say much but I think by the end of the day you will have some GREAT news”. Cathy finished the call by saying she would make some phone calls to our social worker and our local Children’s Services and call me back this afternoon.

Insert here: shaking hands, the in-ability to speak, and TEARS…LOTS of tears!!!!!!

So after my mini meltdown I dug out the approval letter and faxed it her and then called Larry. He was excited but still a little in disbelief that it is really going to happen.

Not knowing what the next phone call later in the day would bring I gave my camera to my co-worker/friend, Donna, so she could take pictures of me getting the call. Another co-worker/friend, Mary, brought her personal laptop in to my office and set it up so I could record the phone call with her webcam. Everything was ready…

So I kind of fumbled through the next couple hours and at approx. 2:30 Cathy called to let me know she was in touch with our social worker and NS Children’s Services and the wheels are in motion!!!!!! So tomorrow we will set up the cameras and webcams again to try to capture a special moment...guess we will just have to wait and see!!!

I feel like I am caught in an emotional storm!!!


This journey has been LONG but during the next few days a miracle WILL happen!!!!!! ♥
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WHAT'S YOUR GUESS??

Lets have some fun while we wait…

Our age request was:
A girl under the age of 2 at referral

Our special needs we listed were:
Clubfoot
Cleft Palate/Cleft Lip
Missing/Additional Digits
Minor Correctable Heart Defect (VSD)



Here are your questions. Please leave your guesses in the comments below.

1. How old will she be?
2. What will her special need be?
3. What province is she living in?

Who will be closest in their guesses?

Here I sit…head spinning and time ticking!

Last week I made a phone call to my agency, just for some random questions … low and behold, part way through our conversation she says, “ oh by the way we received our special needs files for this summer”

WHAT!!??

I had no idea; I thought they weren’t arriving until later in the summer.


There are 11 families waiting on the active SN list with our agency and we are #6 on the list.

Now for a little Q & A:

Q - Are we close?
A - YES

Q - Is our referral in this batch of files?
A - POSSIBLY

Q - When will we know?
A - YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE!

All I do know right now is that our little girl’s picture could be sitting on someone’s desk in Ontario as her crucial information is translated from Chinese to English.

Q - Are we “ready”?
A - UMMM…GOOD QUESTION!!

You would think after all these years I could confidently answer this question with a resounding “YES”, but for some reason now that we can see the light I am in a state of shock & panic! Every time I think about it I get butterflies in my stomach. I’m not sure if it is because it is getting close or because I am trying to guard my heart because of the unknown. As most of you know the adoption world is ever changing…you just never know when the rollercoaster could jump the tracks and get thrown off course!

But seriously…“Are we ready?”…Well, there is still a lot of preparation & paperwork to do, appointments and arrangements to be made, and a nursery to finish…but YES, YES, YES, in our heart of hearts we are more than ready for every single precious moment to come!!! Along with many friends & family!


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It seems I can go from a very boring, ho-hum life to a crazy hectic one with the snap of a finger. Along with all of the referral excitement I am also trying to complete the second part of the payroll course I was working on before. I am trying to get through chapter 4 and all of the assignments, essays and quizzes that go along with it before Wednesday because on the weekend I will be doing the mid-term exam. I also have 4 appointments this week after work and will be starting the immigration paperwork for “Maggie”. I would also like to fit in some time for exercise, eating and bathing sometime during this hectic week, lol!!!

How will I ever find enough hours in the day when Maggie gets here!?!?

Now back to studying...time is ticking away…

Mother's Day & Emotions

Today is Mother’s Day, a time to celebrate all the wonderful Mom’s out there!!!



Today I celebrate my Mom,
she has always been,
my encourager,
my defender,
my teacher,
my supporter,
and above all…
my friend!

Happy Mother’s Day to you Mom, one of the strongest women I know!!
Love you! xoxo

Make a Smilebox greeting

This is the first year that I feel really emotional about this day. The last few years for me it all seemed surreal, that one day I would actually be a Mom. I was hoping for it to happen, and happen fast but so many obsticals have slowed our process that it just seemed like a dream.

Today I received my second “Mommy-to-be” Mother’s Day card for this year. The thought came to my head that this is probably the last Mother’s Day I will spend without my little Maggie here. Then the realization hit that she IS alive somewhere in China right now…and is probably no longer with her birth mom.

So, today my heart is a bit heavy with the thoughts of Maggie and her birthmom and the sacrifices that were made.

Maggie, my little princess, this is the last Mother’s Day you will spend without a Mommy. I am praying to see your precious face soon and long for the day I finally hold you in my arms, until then I will pray for peace and comfort for you and your birthmom.









(If you click on this graphic it will open up larger so you can read it. Then just click the back arrow to return to this page.)











Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.
- Lin Yutang

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.
- Oprah Winfrey

Easter Greetings!!

Happy Easter to all of you!
















I hope the bunny finds you & you all enjoy a nice day with friends & family!

Time For Another HS Update

Well the course I was taking has ended, YAY!!!!!!

After a lot of stressing & studying I passed my final exam with a 90%. I’m glad the course is over for now but we start the second part on April 20th, so we get a break but not for very long.

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Larry & I go to Halifax tomorrow to amend our homestudy and submit the list of special needs we feel comfortable, capable and have the resources to deal with. Then we wait for approval from the Nova Scotia Government.

It feels like it is taking forever to get to this point. Hopefully we will receive our referral in the next batch, possibly August or somewhere around there. I am excited and scared all at the same time.

Birthday Bowling Break!

This weekend I took a little break on Saturday from the studying to go out for my birthday. My birthday is not until next weekend but I will need the whole weekend to study for my exam on Monday March 30. So we thought a break on Saturday for some fun would be a good idea. I had a wonderful evening with lots of fun, friends and laughter. We started the evening with some bowling and then headed home for a game of Cran*ium and a few snacks & beverages. Lisa & Jeff spent the night at our house so we finished off the evening with some games of w*ii … and finally caught some shuteye around 4pm!!





I had a wonderful evening and love all the thoughtful gifts from my friends. Thanks so much to all of you!! xoxox