Provincial approval

On November 30th, we received provincial approval of our Home Study (but we didn't know until December 5th when the letter was delivered). Yay - we're another step closer to our second child!

The latest word is that it could be approximately 3 years from log-in before we receive a referral. This is much better than the 6-year estimates I was reading about online, so 3 years doesn't sound so bad anymore. In fact, I'm starting to think it could result in a really nice age gap between the girls. After all, Claire would be in Kindergarten then, which would allow me and our new little one some time on our own. I think it would be nice for her to have me all to herself for at least part of the day, since Claire has us all to herself right now.

Here we are on December 8th, dreaming of Christmas.

Another milestone

Our adoption agency just signed off on our Home Study, so it's now with the Alberta government for approval. Yay!

BTW, it usually doesn't take this long for a Home Study report to be prepared; however, since we can't be in logged-in in China until after February 5, 2008, we told our adoption agency that there was no rush. However, now I'm starting to think we should have got it done a little earlier because:

• the Alberta government will take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to approve it (which could take us to December 18);


• it then goes to our coordinator for translation which could take a month or more (roughly January 18);


• it then gets returned to our provincial government who submits it to China (roughly another week or two?); and


• China then logs it in when it can (which can take anywhere from days to a month - for Claire, we got logged in about three weeks after our dossier arrived in China.)

So, for all we know, we won't get logged in until March. It doesn't sound like much of a delay, but due to the number of applicants, the CCAA is sometimes taking months of real time to get through a month of applicants. As a result, a one month delay on the part of us getting logged in could mean a referral several months later than planned. Oh well. As we learned with Claire, the wait simply means that the baby you are meant to be with isn't ready for adoption yet.

Our family at the start of the process

Here we are, just the three of us, looking forward to being four. Or five, if we are blessed with twins!

By the way, my hair is normally curly; it was just styled straight after a haircut. Claire had seen me with straight hair months ago but it didn't phase her. This time, it did. She totally didn't know who I was, and even when I spoke, she wasn't sure. She searched my eyes for clues and after several minutes, finally decided I was Mama after all!

Getting started

Part of the process of international adoption is a home study with a social worker. We met with Maria, the same social worker we had for Claire's home study, for an update yesterday. It was a pretty quick thing this time, having already spent hours with Maria before.

Big sister Claire was an angel during the visit. I always wonder what our second baby's personality will be; will she be a sweet, active easy-going baby like Claire, or a wild little baby who will keep us more on our toes? However she is, I'm sure she'll fit right in with our family in her own way. As my mom always says, her seven children enriched the family with their own unique personalities. I'm sure we'll be enriched by our new addition as well.

Why a second blog?

I've chosen to create a separate blog for our second child, rather than add her story to our existing blog, for a couple of reasons:

• I intend to create a book out of each blog and I thought it would make each story nice and neat if they were told separately in two distinct blogs.
• Also, as the sixth child in my family, there are few things that are my own. However, my mom was extremely diligent in detailing our childhoods in our baby books. We all have our books now, and every now and then, it is fun to read it through. I want my second child to have this blog as her own: her own story of becoming a part of our family. Of course, it will also include stories of Claire and us, but the focus will always be on her: our journey to her and our life with her.

At this point in time, I am assuming our second child from China will be a girl based on the social situation there and the resulting availability of girls. However, I hear in chat groups that more and more boys are being referred, so you never know .... In the event our second child is a boy, watch how fast I change all gender-specific references on this blog!

Here we go again!

After an incredible experience adopting Claire from China, we're ready to begin the process again. We know it will be a long wait - we hear it could be 3 - 4 years from our log-in-date in China - so we thought we'd better get started right away! We officially applied again on May 1, 2007. We hope to be logged in around February or March of 2008 (just after one year of receiving Claire).

We look so forward to meeting and parenting our second daughter. The wait for Claire was very difficult emotionally, and I'm sure it will be for this little one too at times. I think it may be a little easier on us this time around, though, because we now know from experience that whatever the waiting time, you come out at the end with the right child - the one meant for your family. Plus, we are parents now - a chapter in our lives we wanted to enter for so long - and we have much to keep us busy and our minds occupied.