Adoption video!

I am up late watching adoption videos on youtube and crying (thanks a lot Nicky). This one in particular got me and is so inspiring to watch. A family of ten, wow! It makes me want to adopt again already! lol.
This family is beautiful, and the song is amazing too. Enjoy.



Okay, here's another one! I've watched this one throughout the past two years of researching and dreaming about adoption. I love the photo of the one of boy looking out the airplane window. It makes me cry everytime.

Is there a purpose in writing letters?

Whatever happened with all of those letters we sent? Well, I never actually received a response back from my MP or the CIC, however, several people in my yahoo group did get emails back and even met with their MPs. At first the letters back from CIC were quite patronizing and told us nothing that we didn't already know (basically excuses). But since then we have suddenly seen medicals and visas being issued at a faster speed than we have ever seen before! This is huge! We even have an insider who has told us that CIC is trying to speed things up and make things more efficient (thanks C!).

Just last Friday there were 20 visas issued to parents adopting from Ethiopia. In the past year that I've been on our forum we maybe see 1 visa or medical a month, NEVER 20 issued in one day. So, from this, we are concluding that the government has listened and that the people at CIC are now trying to stay true to their word by truly making adoptive children a priority.

So THANK YOU to everyone who wrote a letter! I'm now praying that with 20 families that can now travel there will be more referrals coming our way for all the families who have been waiting for so long.

Thanks again for sending in a letter, It really did make a difference and children are now spending less time in care. I remember when we started writing letters.... I felt like Jo in Little Women. Remember when Marmee is upset about what happened at school and she immediately says to Jo, "I'm going to write him a letter" and Jo sarcastically remarks, "A letter. That'll show 'em." I honestly didn't think any of this would make much of a difference, but it really has. Maybe there really is a purpose in writing letters afterall! I love Little Women!!!

1 month down!!!

Or is it just four weeks? I wasn't sure if I was supposed to post this on April 17th (our dossier landed in Addis on March 17th), or if I should post it today, four weeks later? Any suggestions? You see, I don't have a ticker which tells me these things!

Either way, it's been basically a month and we have been so busy with life that I haven't really noticed the wait yet. This may change when I have 2 weeks off at the end of this week and I have all the time in the world to read adoption blogs.
But, I also know that we are far away from a referral so I am not freaking out yet. I'm actually more anxious for other people in our yahoo group to get their referrals. Tons of people will be travelling from Canada in the next month or so, and we're all hoping that means more referrals are on the way.



It is so exciting to celebrate with others. In fact, I want to say a big congratulations to Justine (a mother of 6 boys!) who just got a referral for two beautiful girls ages three and five. Justine, I am so happy for you! I hope all your paperwork comes in smoothly and you can travel very soon.

You can check out her blog at: http://sixboysandalittlelady.blogspot.com/

Our growing book collection

I can remember when Mike and I planned to tell my mom that we were adopting... we decided to get a children's book with an african boy in it and write in the inside cover. We excitedly drove to Chapter's and found absolutely NOTHING that had a black boy in it or a racially diverse family. We were so disappointed. We bought a classic children's book instead.

Since then my mom and my sister have bought us some beautiful children's books (ordered in of course) that will be perfect for our future family!

Fire on the Mountain (a story from Ethiopia), Bringing Asha Home (about a family adopting from India...perfect if you have a child already that is trying to understand the adoption wait), Ruby's Wish (beautiful story from China), and Over the Moon (classic adoption book for explaining adoption to your child).


Recently my mom bought us these new books for us for Easter. They are all great! When you open them up you can see faces from all over the world, yeah!




I love the line in "Shades of Black" that says, "I am black. I am unique. I come from Kings and Queens." To some these may just be cute children's books but to us it is SO important that the books you have in your house, reflect who is reading them! Imagine what it would be like if every doll and book you ever had as a child looked nothing like you. What would it make you think?

This whole idea made me think of a video that was circulating around months ago. Let me know what you think.