Well, it’s been a really crazy week.  Some real lows, with the girls’ stuff not getting through court – but also some real highs as well.  Here’s one of my favorite day(s) of the week – getting out snowshoeing in Mt. Revelstoke National Park, crossing the Arrow Lakes by ferry, and soaking it up in Halcyon Hotsprings!

On a lighter note, and jJust for your amusement…

I work at home a lot – so Laughlin and Maggie often get ignored while I’m typing on the computer. 

Laughlin has, in his own way, solved the problem of me not paying enough attention to him.    He climbs up in my lap, and goes to sleep while I rest my elbows on him and type away.

Seriously, who could resist?

…and no luck this time either.

Apparently the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Ethiopia is moving offices and didn’t type up their letter.  So none of the families (to my knowledge) that had court dates today or yesterday passed – since none of us had the required letter of approval from MOWA.

Today is a bum day. 

Drat – I just wish this would be over with.  I wish the 95% sure thing would become a 100% sure thing.  I wish the girls knew who we were (they aren’t told until we pass court) – I wish they knew that we were here thinking about them and waiting on them.  I wish we knew when the heck we were going to be traveling and picking them up.  And I wish this long, up-and-down roller-coaster called the adoption process would be done with.

Sorry for the self-pity trip.  It’s just a rough day.

I was sent this video by a fellow member of my Rotary Club – it’s just great if you love music.  The video speaks to our commonalities and universalities – and how cooperation can bring us together.

Plus – it’s a total pick-me-up for your day.  Enjoy!

Our Imagine Adoption caseworker was back in the office today.  Last week she and the other caseworkers went to Ethiopia, to see the facilities, to watch a court case, and to get a sense of the process and the operation on the other side of the pond.  She said over and over how hard all the people work there to make things go smoothly, to get cases through court, and to take care of the children.  It’s great to hear. (By the way, our second court date is on Wenesday – so wish us luck!)

She did get a chance to see our girls – not to spend any time with them, but she did see them and make a few notes.  She said they haven’t seen many “ferengis” – foreigners – so they were pretty shy when a whole bunch of Canadians showed up.  One of our girls was in particular very very shy – the other was more in the action and a bit bolder.  If you have seen the pictures of our girls, you can tell who is the shy one  ; she’s always twisting her skirt up or hollding onto her clothes – the other is more purposeful and confident in the pictures.

She also said that they are so beautiful – that the pictures don’t even do them justice (and they are pretty darn cute in their pictures!) They are more petite than they look in the pictures, too. Not unhealthy, just petite. She couldn’t tell them apart – she had to ask the caregivers which was which and kept track of them by the clothes that they were wearing.  Funny, in pictures Jrock and I can tell them apart immediately… but in person?    We’ll just have to see.

One of the ladies at the agency office is tasked with sending out pictures – so we are hoping for pics of our little ones in the next two weeks. We’ll get them as soon as she gets them all in order and sends them out. If we are through court, we might even be able to post them here!

Speaking of posting pictures on the girls – we need to come up with some blog names for them… suggestions? 

 ______ and _______?

Post your ideas by adding a comment below.

A new shadow cabinet was just named by the Liberals.  So while you are at it, you can also send a copy of your letters about the citizenship process for adopted children (see my example below) to Liberal and NDP critics (especially in light of the recent political turmoil.)

Maurizio Bevilacqua, MP
Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic
20 Cranston Park Avenue, Unit 10
Maple, Ontari L6A 2W2
Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca

Olivia Chow, MP
NDP Citizenship and Immigration Critic
144 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2L5
Chow.O@parl.gc.ca

Thanks to N for the good idea!

My MP Ron Cannan got back to me and followed up on the letter I wrote (copy below.)  I have to tip my hat to Ron – he’s been such a good advocate for this issue!  Anyway, he is talking to the Minister. 

How are your letters being received?

I thought I would post a few ideas about talking points if you have a chance to speak with your MP, their staff, or the Ministry.  Just suggestions, but here they are:

• The purpose of the Bill C-14 legislation was to end the discrimination and to treat foreign born children adopted to Canadians the same as children born to Canadians abroad. 
• The intention of the legislation is not being met.
• It is in the best interest of the children to minimize the time they spend in institutional care and to get them into loving families.  Institutional care, no matter how well run, is detrimental to the growth and complete development of a child.
• The Ministry ensured this new process (Citizenship) would be be in the best interest of the child in that it would be quicker than the old process (Permanent Resident Visa).
• A year later, the Citizenship route (processing Part B) is taking substantively slower through the Nairobi High Commission than the Permanent Resident Visa (old) route. This means children in the citizenship process are spending weeks and months longer in institutional care.
• Part B of Citizenship is being processed much quicker at other Canadian offices, such as China.
• The intention of the legislation is not being met – the process must be sped up.

When Bill C-14 was passed by the 1st session of the 39th parliament and put into effect in December 2007, the government’s intent was to stop discriminating against children adopted by Canadian families, by granting the children citizenship before they entered the country, instead of entering as permanent residents and then applying for citizenship afterwards.

In the following press release from Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, ”Canada makes it easier for children adopted overseas to become Canadian citizens,” on December 20, 2007, “The new legislation allows children adopted abroad by Canadian citizens to obtain Canadian citizenship without first having to become permanent residents. As a result, the difference in treatment between children adopted abroad and children born abroad to a Canadian parent is minimized.”

The concern at the time was that the new process would slow down the entry of children to Canada. Adoptive parents’ were worried that their children would stay longer in institutional care waiting for paperwork, instead of joining their families and beginning the next stage of their lives in loving homes.

The government assured families that the best interests of the children would be met.  (From the same press release:) “Now, Canadians will apply for their adopted child’s citizenship abroad rather than submit sponsorship and permanent resident applications. Parents will save time and have less paperwork as the steps are merged into one.”

Fast forward to January 2009.  For children in Ethiopia being adopted to Canadian families, the Citizenship process is taking months; whereas the old Permanent Resident Visa process is taking weeks.  At the encouragement of the federal government, many families chose the citizenship route and are now trapped into the new process. They are extremely concerned about their children waiting for them and wondering when their parents will ever come pick them up. 

The intent of the legislation is not being met.  Children are unnecessarily being trapped in institutional care, which is detrimental to their growth and development, and deprived of stable and loving homes, while they wait for paperwork to be processed at the Canadian High Commission office in Nairobi, Kenya. These children are legally Canadian citizens’ children – the parents have been approved by Canadian provincial homestudy processes and the Ethiopian court systems have done their due diligence in examining each child’s case before conferring guardianship on the parents.  The wait is unnecessary, and discriminative.

The process simply must be sped up – the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration must make good on its promise to make Citizenship a speedy route for foreign-born adopted children to come to Canada. Months of paper processing are simply not acceptable.

If you feel the same way I do, please write your own letter or cut and paste portions of mine above.  Send it to

The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1L1 
Minister@cic.gc.ca

Make sure you also send a copy to your local Member of Parliament.  You can find out their address here.

Also send a copy to the Prime Minister’s Office. It doesn’t matter that the Prime Minister might be changing – the office logs letters and those numbers determine the office’s priorities. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A2
pm@pm.gc.ca

Jrock’s mom volunteers a couple of days a week at the local thrift store (raising money for charity.)  She’s the one who sorts through the clothes donations – and gets to stock up at $2 a bag!

So the first parcel arrived while my sister was visiting  two weeks ago – here are a couple of pictures of the loot!

Thanks, Granny!

Yesterday we got together with several families from up and down the Okanagan valley for a family potluck in Lavington.  It was our winter gethering for Okanagan Families With Chidlren From Africa. It was really nice event – I love potlucks – they are so simple, and you get to try all these different foods…

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a few new families join us, which was awesome – including an Ethiopian lady and her little boy.  I am so glad that we started up this group a year and a half ago – it’s such a resource for parents going through the adoption process… but it’s also invaluable for kids to see other families that look like theirs – and a real treat for the Ethiopians to connect with Ethiopian kids and families so appreciative of their culture. There was one lady who joined us who adopted three kids from Ethiopia 11? years ago – and she brought some Doro Wat   So I got to taste another Canadian version and it was delicious!

Thanks to R and D who hosted, and N who showed her pics of Ethiopia! It’s wonderful that the group has a life of its own and I just love that other people are hosting and organizing!

See the video above, and you can see more pictures here.

We’ve been stabbed.

Right Arm: Meningococcal

Left Arm: Typhoid

Soft Spot (on me, anyway): Hep A and Hep B

And then some Dukoral and antibiotics to go.

Grand total? almost $800.  (for the two of us.) And we still have two more hits of Typhoid in the next 6 months.

Now, I have a BIG fear of needles… but, I have to get my blood taken about once month and give blood periodically too.  So I’ve figured out fear management techniques.  However, when the vaccines were burning up in little pools under the skin of both arms and I was asked to lean up against the counter with my pants down- I was not feeling very brave anymore. 

~I kept on picturing the two little girls in my mind, sitting in the same green polka dotted chair, laughing and pointing at the camera, and reminded myself why the heck I was putting myself through this!

We didn’t get Yellow Fever, because it’s only required for people coming from countries where the disease is endemic. (Not Canada.)

And luckily, we are not going during either Malaria season – nor to any areas where it’s common.  So we’ve avoided both those drugs/shots. I used to have to take a malaria med for other stuff – and BOY, did it give me crazy dreams.  I didn’t sleep well for a couple of months.  (This is why I used to take it. Past tense.)  And the funny thing is, it’s the one med that you are not supposed to get dreams with.  So I’m really glad we don’t have to worry about that.  I didn’t want to be a space cadet for a few weeks – certainly not when we’re first time parents and getting little sleep as is.

On a totally different but related to adoption note, our second court date is January 28th – so wish us luck.  A few families have been getting through lately, even with the changes to the Ethiopian court system.  ~I have faint hope.

I had a couple of emails and a comment asking about the Ethiopian cookbook that my friend T gave me. 

I haven’t tried any recipes yet, but it LOOKS really good – there are tons of pictures, a section on stocking the pantry, and all the ingredients are stuff you can find in any Canadian grocery store.  So that’s great.

The book was published privately, so you can’t get it at Amazon or Chapters – but you can order it directly from the author’s website!

http://www.recipeoflove.com

Have fun cooking!

And thanks again, T!

Silena had two extra sous-artists today:

Since it’s the weekend, I got to help a bit today with block colours, sponging and even doing a *little! bit of painting. I thought you would like to see how a porcupine grows quills – it’s pretty cool how it all comes from her head onto the wall.

This is her last day painting – and there are a few days left. So unless the highways close again (which they HAVE been doing all week) Silena is off back home and will have to finish up when she visits at the end of January. Usually rooms don’t take so long – but this is so realistic and special – well, I can’t wait to show you when she is done!

If you are interested in having murals done in your kid’s room, Silena will travel! to to locations near Calgary, the Okanagan, Vancouver and the Kootenays. Check out her website, mosscampion.ca , or contact her at silena-ann@shaw.ca .

In the fall portion of the room, there are two little skunks playing hide and seek. There isn’t much to this wall, since the big headboards are on each side of the big window. Silena still is working on the fall leaves / tree.

If you are interested in having murals done in your kid’s room, Silena will travel! to to locations near Calgary, the Okanagan, Vancouver and the Kootenays. Check out her website, mosscampion.ca , or contact her at silena-ann@shaw.ca .

Speaking of little stinkers, ~tee hee~, we took a morning off to run some errands and visit my friend T and her daughter Z across the lake. 

It was so nice – T gave me this Ethiopian cooking book she had ordered from a cookstore in Toronto – how cool is that?!? I can’t wait to try out the recipes.

Her daughter Z kept us all amused, as usual!  T must have so much patience, cause Z is just boundless energy.  She’s a real charmer – I have a soft spot for her, for sure

Silena finished the winter wall today -

Now, I can’t spoil the finished product for you, so I will just give you little glimpses and hints – tee hee:  a little badger, a little martin, and the family of bunnies.

The colouring is bad because I took the pictures at night when I came home (someone’s got to earn the money to pay this starving artist! lol) but you’ll get the idea.

Click the pictures to see them closer…

If you are interested in having murals done in your kid’s room, Silena will travel! to to locations near Calgary, the Okanagan, Vancouver and the Kootenays. Check out her website, mosscampion.ca , or contact her at silena-ann@shaw.ca .