The stork has landed!!!!! Yipee!!!!!

I was on the top of Whistler Mountain, skis strapped to my feet enjoying breathtaking views on a blue sky day when the call came in. The phone sitting in my breast pocket started to go, the phone that only Kohji or Jenna from the adoption agency had the number for. It was Jenna at the end of the line. The conversation went a little like this:

Jenna: "Hello, this is Jenna Ryan from Children's Bridge. How are you?"
Tamara: "I'm on top of a mountain at the moment Jenna! How are you?"
Jenna: "Well, you should be on top of the world!"

At which point the conversation disintegrated to a lot of "oh my gods!"and "wows!" on my part, as Jenna proceeded to tell me that our referral had arrived. I blathered on a fair bit, cursing myself for not having a pen/paper and thinking to myself what exactly do you say to a woman who is telling you that you're a mommy while you're standing on a mountain top. Luckily for me, Lauren (my interpid ski parter and human recorder) told me to say it out loud, and was able to remember what I shouted out to her. If not for her, I probably wouldn't have even remembered our daughter's name! We owe you big time Lauren.

Of course, after getting off the phone with Jenna, I promptly called Kohji who was actually unreachable as he was at that very moment hurtling through the bush on a dogsled. My god, this poor child has to suffer with us as parents for how long?

Once we finally touched base, we met at the hotel and logged in to get the first photos of our adorable little girl and get the first little dribs of information.

So, we are overjoyed, over the moon and overwhelmed to introduce our daughter, Kiyomi(Chinese name: Wan Jin Dian), currently in Jianxi Province in southern China. There aren't a lot of details yet, but we do know that she was born on July 18, 2005 (also Brahm's birthday). She's 6 kg and 61 cms long with the chubbiest little cheeks ever.



We expect to get the translated file in 5-7 days, at which point we will have more information on our little girl. At the moment, we expect to be travelling in late June or early July to bring her home.

The stork is in the air!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got an email from the adoption agency confirming that the CCAA has matched to, and including, June 6, and that they expect our referral is in the up-coming batch. Here is the verbatim report from CB:

"Well the time has come we can confirm the CCAA has matched files up to and including June 6, 2005. We are expecting your referrals to arrive late this week to early next week. Please remember we will require a minimum of 6 hours to review copy and scan the referral before we can call families. We try and call families as soon as we can, so please rest assured we are working hard to get them done."

So, barring any unforseen fiascos, this time next week, we should have a photo and some information on the new addition to the Miller-Suzuki clan. KT's gonna be soooo jealous...

We'll post a photo as soon as we can!

Possible good news - JUNE 6!!!!!!

I really hope I'm not spreading rumours prematurely, but as of this morning, the CCAA (China Adoption Agency) says that they have matched files registered in their office before June 6!!! To quote it precisely, the CCAA website reads:

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 6, 2005."

If that is the case, then we are in. Our referral should be on its way here.

Our agency, however, isn't committing to anything just yet, which makes me a little uncomfortable. They are saying that they expect the information on the website is reliable, but that they themselves haven't heard anything from the CCAA directly.

I don't think we'll be 100% sure until the referral is actually here and CB confirms its receipt. However, we'll be watching the phone rather obsessively for the next few days (ok, well Tamara will)!

Cross your fingers everybody that they haven't made a typo or made premature changes to the website! In the meantime, I'll be sitting here trying desperately to sit still (good thing I brought my shoes for a lunch time run or there is no way I'd make it through today!)

Yes folks, there was snow!

The parking lot was brown, and until the base of the first run, there wasn't a stitch of snow to be seen. However, Killington claimed to have 40 runs open and it sure felt like snow when I face-planted!

Yes, as a means of calming Tamara's irritating adoption rumour obsession (and give her index finger a rest from all the incessant clicking), we headed down to Killington, Vt., over the Easter weekend for a little ski vacation. Which in this case, meant occassionally picking our way across boulders and grass with skis on, but generally heading in a downward trajectory with snow under foot. We agreed we were probably a little nuts, when we heard another guess exclaim to one of the hotel employees - "Skiing? Who would be crazy enough to try skiing at this time of year?!" - while we sat sheepishly in the corner with ski pants and long underwear on!

Of course, tales of our skiing adventure are not what you checked in here for, so I will spare you the details and get straight to the goods: rumours.

'Double, double toil and trouble, rumours burn and heresay bubble' ...

... to paraphrase an oldy, but a goody. (Extra points to the person who can tell me who wrote the original and in what work. Dad, you're excluded for obvious reasons).

There is a building level of speculation and the rumours seem to run the gamut. The prevailing one seems to be that the CCAA will match the first week of June (but does not specify to which date). However, there is also a nice juicy one saying that the CCAA will only match May 31st. What that means for us (with a registration date of June 3) is anyone’s guess. What it confirms is that no one has any idea. So, we are all confimed in our not knowing... (ah, my bureaucratic skills are coming through brilliantly).

Children's Bridge has told us that the referrals are expected at the end of April or the first week of May. As luck would have it, we will be in Whistler from April 27 to May 2. Fear not, we will be bringing the laptop with us and posting updates if we happen to get them.

So, check in soon, and check in often all you cool cats, cause there may be something in the next couple of weeks... unless of course, there's nothing...