11 months

We have reached 11 months of waiting for a referral and to be honest I don't really feel like we are getting any closer. I seem to go through phases where I feel more at peace with the wait, and when I feel really down. When the summer arrived I started to feel more at peace again and wondered if it was because there is so much to do and keep busy with. But then last week I felt downright rotten, so I have realized that there is no way to predict or control your emotions with this. I am leaving tomorrow to fly out to BC for my brother's wedding (with my mom), so I will post some pictures when I return, it should be fun!

A couple weeks ago the hospital where I work was putting on a fundraiser breakfast and the speaker was L. Gen Romeo Dallaire. You may remember the movie "Hotel Rwanda" about the genocide there. He was the Canadian there during that time who commanded the United Nations Assistance Mission that tried to keep peace between the two sides at war. He shared with us his story of struggling with mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return. If you have not yet seen the movie below I would highly recommend it. He wrote a book called "Shake hands with the devil" and this is the movie based on that book.

Please Read/Sign/Email - Thanks!!

Please support Bill C-397, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act by signing this online petition.

-Currently if adopted children (who gained their Canadian Citizenship while in their birth country) decided to have children someday and were not living in Canada at the time, their children would NOT be able to become Canadian Citizens. It concerns me that our Canadian government is trying to create a two-tiered citizenship process and that they don't believe internationally adopted children should have the same rights as other Canadians. Click below to sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/C397/petition.html


Also please support Bill C-413, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act & Can. Labo .

-MP Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster) has introduced a Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons. The bill would amend the law to give adoptive parents the same number of weeks of leave from work as the biological parent of a new-born child. Please support Peter Julian's bill. Having this time together to help build strong attachments is so important to adoptive families.
For more info on the bill click here
You can thank Peter Julian here: juliap1@parl.gc.ca
Or email your MP asking them to support the bill: http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

Multiple Transitions

I came across this video yesterday. It is the same one we were shown as part of our PRIDE training for this adoption. It made me cry then and again when I watched it yesterday...I think it is a good one to share with family and friends as well. It tries to explore a number of the different feelings kids may have when they have been adopted or are in foster care. It is made up of written text put to music.
-Click on the link below-

Multiple Transitions: A Young Child's Point of View about Foster Care and Adoption

The Agenda - Broadcast - Ontario Adopts

A friend shared this with me. It is a recent interview about adoption (domestic and international) and Sue from IA (our agency) is on the discussion panel. Click on the link below to check it out.

- interview link here -

You will have to click on the tab that says "Ontario adopts" at the top next to the one that says "Jason Kenny" to open the correct video.

10 Months

So we have reached the 10 month mark in terms of our wait for a referral (and 12 mo+ from the time we started the process). Deep breath...and continue on.

Not much new to report. The City and Colour concert last week was a lot of fun. Dallas Green wears skinny jeans which made us laugh a little. I guess I am not up to date on what is cool for men's fashion because I just don't get the skinny jean look. I am trying to picture what Matthew would look like in a pair...hehe. Matthew said some of the boys at the school where he teaches wear girls jeans to achieve the desired look, and here I thought the banana clips of my past were funny.

Julie Doiron opened the show and was great...this is a clip someone else took the same night that I found posted on you tube.



Also had a chance to stop at my fav Toronto book shop and picked up a super fun book. I love the idea of exposing kids to different cultures and the "Another Story Bookshop" rocks for this kind of stuff.



Bee-Bim Bop is a traditional Korean dish. I remember in University I lived near a place where they sold this dish and I had a roommate who was hooked...I used to tease her about eating too much "beep and bop", can't wait to show her this book.



Also went to see Craig Kielburger do a talk with my mother in law. He is the guy who at 12 years old founded "Free the Children". He gave a really good speech. I read his book "Me to We" a few months back and enjoyed it. If you ever get a chance to see him speak it is worth while. He is all about finding happiness in your life by helping others and being less self focused (the 'me'), and more focused on service and community (the 'we').