LFP

Links to a couple local news articles about Imagine Adoption.

London Free Press - 1.

London Free Press - 2.

YES WE DID (-:

In the week following the bankruptcy of our adoption agency, after people picked themselves up off the floor from the heartbreak and disappointment, voices started to surface with the words “yes we can”. The families were not ready to accept that a bankruptcy had to mean the end of the road for their adoptions. At that point no one who was involved was committing to helping us, ours was a unique situation and things did not look good.

Keeping this in mind it makes me VERY happy today to finally be typing these words - YES WE DID. Yippi!! After what felt like a long summer there was a creditors' meeting today for the Imagine Adoption families and our vote passed with a majority to allow our adoption agency to be restructured. I want to send a great BIG thank you out to everyone who worked hard to help make this happen (and I mean hard...people have been working around the clock for our families), all of the people who signed the petition etc, etc...

I am proud of the families affected by the bankruptcy and how they did not accept "no" as an option. I am proud of how people rallied as a group and with the support of their communities to get the ear of our government. It is interesting how sometimes valuable life lessons come out of negative situations; maybe that is the Yin/Yang balance of life. From this experience I really think that I have learned the importance of not giving up on something you believe in. Even if things had turned out differently today I would hope that years from now our families could look back and feel proud that they followed their hearts and tried to fight for what they felt was right. We are not “out of the woods” yet, international adoption is uncertain no matter what, but then again so is life. One thing is for sure however, we certainly stand a much better chance now to complete our families, to strengthening international adoption in Canada, and most importantly to bring children home to the loving families they deserve.

So life lesson learned - if you believe in something don't give up!

"I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
Thomas Edison

Fun Kids Board Books

Just some fun board books I found on Amazon online. I love it...a picture of miso in a sippy cup, and tofu in a bowl (hehe). I love books that are fun and original like these. There are a few other books in Amy Sanger's series that I would still like to get - one about eating Chinese Dim Sum, one about eating East Indian snacks, Mexican food etc...

This Summer

Still waiting to hear back on the result of the vote and we have another creditors meeting next Monday (on the 21st), so lets hope good news is on the way!

Here are a few random pictures from our summer.

visiting the steam whistle brewery in Toronto

statue of liberty in NYC

statue that looks a lot like Matthew ?

Half the fun is eating out - Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza)

Soul food in Harlem...I need to go on a diet.

Times Square

Comerica Park Detroit for a Tigers game - look out Matty!

Hey Matty leave those people alone!

Detroit GM building

Ford Museum - the Rosa Parks bus

On the bus sitting where she was when she was asked to move.

-I didn't take any pictures there but another thing we really enjoyed in Detroit was going to the African-American History Museum. It was a great museum and I would recommend checking it out if you are ever in the area, here is the link - Click here.

and a summer without a little music, hey we couldn't do that. We saw Tori Amos in Toronto.

She is a little crazy hehe.

My favourite song below - Northern Lad

Yes, Yes, YES!

So the proposal for the new agency was presented and this week we had our chance to vote on it. I sent in our YES vote on Monday, and so now we just wait to see if they get enough votes to start up the agency again. I feel positive but anxious...will keep you posted on what happens next.

Still Here

Hi there anyone who still checks on this blog! I have to say sorry for not posting in such a long time. It is funny in a way because now more than ever before family/friends have asked for updates about our adoption, so I should be keeping my blog up to date but I just have not felt like writing about what is going on. I think all the talking and thinking about it has worn me down and I just don't have the energy to write about it...so sorry again.

For anyone wondering where things are at check out this website: http://www.familieswithhope.org/
or this blog: http://unitedfamiliesofimagine.blogspot.com/

So I will return to my blog soon with some pictures from the summer. The quick summary of what is going on is that we are waiting to hear a "proposal" for a new agency that may be able to finish our adoptions, but at this time a lot of questions remain unanswered. So we will take one day at a time and are try to stay hopeful.

oh, and I just noticed we are at 13 months waiting for a referral as of yesterday...the last two months flew by. Our "12 months waiting" day fell on the same day as the BDO meeting, I would never have "Imagined" that would be how we would mark 12 months waiting for a referral. ahh, sometimes you can't cry so you just have to laugh.