Claire's loot

As usual, our families spoiled us but this time, they also spoiled Claire!

Everyone is so excited about meeting her, which made this Christmas especially wonderful. Thanks, everyone, for sharing in our excitement!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day with Paul's mom, his dad, his brother Dorian, Dorian's wife Sylvie and Paul's Grandma Pauline.

It was absolutely beautiful outside so a few of us went for a long walk along the river.





Sylvie, Dorian and Paul's dad, Wally














Paul by the wier

39 sleeps to go!

Paul and I had a wonderful time in Saskatoon with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family, where Mom outdid herself with an incredible meal. This was our first Christmas without Dad, so Mom made a special effort to create new traditions, such as saying a prayer she composed herself before the meal.

My brother, Lawrence and his wife, Betty-Ann, with their kids, Nikki and Matt.





My sister, Stephanie, with her husband Gerald, and their kids, Sonia and Liam.


Here's Liam, kicking my butt in an arm-wrestling contest.












Stu, nonchalantly indicating that he thinks the scrapbook I made him is okay.

My mom with some of her granchildren: Matt, Liam, Sonia and Nikki.

46 sleeps to go!

Well, it's only 4 sleeps till Christmas but this year we have a different countdown: the countdown to Claire!

We had a really nice visit with Mom and Stu. It was sad to see them go but knowing we'll see them at Christmas gives us another visit to look forward to.

One of the exciting things Mom brought with her when she came to visit us was the receiving blanket that Grandma Pauline gave her before Mom had children. Mom brought all seven of us home from the hospital in the blanket and my sister used it for each of her children as well. Now it's my chance! I can't wait to "receive" Claire with the same pretty white blanket. Considering that it's over 40 years old, it's still in pretty decent shape! Here's the blanket on our rocking chair.










Mom and Stu also brought
gifts from my sister Steph,
her husband Gerald and their kids, Sonia and Liam: a whoozit, a teething ring/toy and a cool book with famous pieces of art.








Stu gave us a Kit Cat Klock (pic to the right) which has eyes and a tail that go back and forth. It's virtually the same design the company has used since the 1930's.

Hopefully Claire doesn't think it's spooky! This picture is maybe a bit spooky but in real life it's really cute.

China bound!

We've just booked our flights to China! We've decided to go a couple of days early so that we can get over our jet lag, etc. before we get Claire.

We'll be leaving on the morning of Thursday, February 1st, arriving in Beijing on February 2nd. We'll then be returning to Canada on February 15th.

My mom and my brother Stu are visiting us right now from Saskatoon and we're getting totally spoiled: my mom is doing lots of cooking, Stu has shovelled snow for us, and Mom is even finishing a craft I began five years ago! Paul and I have really enjoyed their company this week so we'll miss them a lot when they go back to Saskatoon on Tuesday.

Travel plans so far

Our travel arrangements are getting finalized right now. Here's the proposed itinerary so far, assuming we travel on the latest possible date:

Sat, Feb 3 Depart from Canada; Air Canada flight Vancouver to Beijing
Sun, Feb 4 Arrive in Beijing
Mon, Feb 5 Fly to Nanchang; receive the children in the afternoon
Fri, Feb 9 Fly to Beijing
Thu Feb 15 Depart for Canada
Thu Feb 15 Arrive in Canada, Thu evening Feb 15

Paul and I are trying to decide right now whether we'll go a day or two earlier - we're leaning towards doing so.

A wee bit "obstinate"?

Today we received the translation of Claire's referral and found out many wonderful things. For starters, she has been with a foster family from about a week after her birth, which explains how well she appears to be doing developmentally. We know that having been with a foster mother for several months, she'll really grieve her loss; however, it does bode well for attaching with us in due course.

We also learned that she is active and has a ready smile. She can stand straight with the support of her foster mother, and she enjoys listening to music. In two paragraphs, it was noted three times that she cries a lot. It also says she is "obstinate sometimes". Oh - and it lists her favourite activity as crawling. Yikes! Sounds like trouble with a capital "T" but we couldn't be happier!

A great holiday in Jasper

From December 1 - 3, Paul and I stayed at Jasper Park Lodge to celebrate his birthday. Coincidentally, that same weekend we also ended up receiving the adoption news we had been waiting two years for: we had been matched with a little girl!



Here we are, seconds before we saw Claire's face for the first time.

Proud papa

Out for a walk










Our little cabin, #338

Introducing Claire ...

We are thrilled to introduce our daughter, Claire Cai Wen Pauline. Her Chinese name is Yu Cai Wen, so we kept all but her surname as her middle names, and added Pauline as a middle name for our grandmothers (both Paulines!). We chose the name Claire before we even began the paperchase, and as it turns out, we think it suits her perfectly.

She was born on April 11, 2006 and is currently residing in the Xinyu Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi Province.

We got the news about Claire over the phone on our way to Jasper Friday afternoon. We then had to wait a full two hours or so before we got to see her sweet face. It was Paul's birthday that day and he keeps saying it was the best birthday ever!

I'll post more details once the translation of her referral is done (probably on Monday).

We're so happy!