2 Months Since...

It's been 2 months since we've seen Tanje's sweet face for the 1st time. By this time after Savannah's referral, we were in China, hardly able to sleep because of all the excitement. And that felt like forever. This time around, we may be halfway, a third of the way, a quarter of the way, ??? between referral and THE BIG DAY! Anybody know where I can buy a crystal ball out there? Hmm... wonder what the cost would be... Somewhere in the neighbourhood of oh, say, a jillion bucks?  An enterprising inventor could make a mint, no doubt!

Here's the second of the 2 latest photos the agency was kind enough to send us. She's gotta be teething, for sure! Hope she's got some nice chewy things to chomp on over there!

What if? Is Tanje part of the Group of 7?

Another intriguing, verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry, intriguing development today: seems we might have found a photo of Tanje at one month of age. Someone who adopted through the same agency and same orphanage we did said her best friend also did same, in November 2009.  She had many photos of the orphanage, including two her friend shared, of a group of seven newborns. Since Tanje would have been there by the end of October 2009, pretty much since birth (so we're told), it's certainly possible that she's in that photo. And...... we think she is!

Out of respect for this unknown little one, we won't post her (or his?) photo, but the resemblance to Tanje  is remarkable: same lips, philtrum (go look that one up in your dictionary! and nope, you can't cheat by checking on the MS Word thesaurus. Nice try, but y'ain't gonna find it there!), very similar nose and eyebrows. Her eyes are closed, and I had to photoshop and fiddle with the photo a bit to clean it up. But I'm over 90% certain this little bundle, at the end of a row of 3 babes sharing the same blanket, head to head with another row of 3 and a 7th babe at the end, is our little Tanje.  Way cool!

Another Pleasant Surprise!

We just got this photo late last week, unexpectedly!  Tanje is at her health assessment appointment, one of the next necessary steps towards immigration.  She sure looks happy and healthy - hope the lab tests will confirm the same! We're told that piece will take a few weeks.  Guess she must be teething: both photos show her with her fingers in her mouth!  Unfun!

I've started drafting our packing list for the trip, and will gather things like medications and small clothes. Hard to say exactly what size she'll need: it all depends on when we travel. Luckily, we have Sassy's old list, and it was pretty bang-on, so not much to add or delete this time around!

Here's another photo of our beloved little peanut! Wonder what she did today.  We just found out today that Viet Nam is not going to be accepting new families into its program for a bit, as they are ratifying the Hague agreement (international conventions relating to adoption). We will be 'grandfathered' in, but don't know whether or not this will translate into a delay. Time will tell! 
 Meanwhile, I got Tanje a nice Canada T shirt, and we're in the process of kicking (gently, gently!) Savannah out of the nursery (ok, ok, it's much gentler than that!), so Tanje's nest will be ready. And a fine nest it will be, fit for our precious new arrival!

A Feeling of Progress

Yesterday, I got the very strong feeling a few times during the day that something had moved forward with us getting closer to finally meeting our little chickie. I'd gotten a similar feeling for Savannah around the time her Chinese mother might have discovered she was expecting her. Could our paperwork have hopped from one crucial desk to another? Could we have reached an unknown milestone? Don't know! Just know that I felt encouraged and somehow closer.

I got an amazing email a this week, from a very nice Sudbury area family we'd met when we started with Children's Bridge. They'd completed their homestudy, and were about 6 months ahead of us in the process of getting their file to China. They adopted a little one 2 years before we did, and her birthday is the same day as Savannah's, 2 years before to the day! They've since gone to Vietnam in March of this year, adopting an adorable little boy. His birthday is one day before Tanje's, same year! How about that?! He was referred at the age of 1 month, and adopted less than 5 months later. 

CB is telling us the wait time between referral and invitation to travel is now 5 1/2 months, which would mean if things stay the way they are, we might travel 6 months from referral, taking us to January 2011. The kink in this is that Vietnam is currently ratifying The Hague agreement (relating to rules around adoption), so that may slow us down. We'll just see how accurate my positive vibe was!

Our Lovely Tanje

Our lovely little Tanje is 91/2 months already! We sure hope we can get more photos before long, as she's probably already changed so much (the photo above came with her referral information). We sure do think about her a lot, andwhen I do I get a warm feeling in my chest, right where she'll rest her little head when I finally get to rock her and comfort her!

Yesterday, Savannah jumped onto her new trampoline, and immediately said "partager avec Tanje!". She's planning to share it with her little sister! We're preparing Savannah a new room so she can leave her crib for her petite soeur. And she picked out a 'tat' (blanket) especially for her (prob'ly so Tanje doesn't steal hers...).  Wonder if she has one now, or another little comfort object...

What do Nguyen Thi Tiep's Names Mean?

Our little Tanje's Vietnamese name is Nguyen (pronounced something like n'WIN) Thi Tiep. We're told she goes by the name Tiep, which is a little different than the Chinese convention of having surname written first, given 'everyday use' name second and middle name' last.

Here's what Tanje's names mean:

Nguyen: Revert to the original state (by the way, Nguyen is by far the most common surname in Vietnam, kind of like Tremblay in French Canada, or Smith in English

Thi: poetry, or, to compete, to race to take an examination

Tiep: to procede to receive to transfuse to help, to lend a hand

Stay tuned for a future instalment on the meaning of the name Tanje...

Meanwhile, happy 9 month birthday, little Tanje!

Wondering...

We often wonder what little Tanje is doing as we wait for her and think of her. Savannah talks about her often, and is pretty excited about becoming a big sister. She's even conceded (once, and once only!) that she'd share her maman and papa, as well as her toys. That's progress! She still always adds that she'll share her books. Here's a link to a map of Hai Duong http://www.maplandia.com/vietnam/hai-hung/hai-duong/ - neat to think we can see where Tanje lives from a bird's eye perspective. And here's another interesting link about Hai Duong Orphanage http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vol/1831538680.html/ .

We received a package from immigration Canada - part 2 of a slew of forms. I can't even understand whether we're supposed to complete these now, or once we're in Vietnam (or, as Savannah calls it, "Vee-eetnam"). I can't imagine how an aspiring immigrant, whose first language may not be French or English, can make heads or tails of this stuff, which makes me feel like a dunce every time I look at it. Hmm! Not to welcoming, that's for sure!

Little Chicklet

Every day we think of our little chickie. We wonder what new things she's doing, who's holding her when she cries, what she likes and doesn't like, how often she smiles, where she sleeps, what her voice sounds like, what makes her giggle, and who she's becoming. Twelve hours and half a world away. But we're already just a little bit closer...

Here's some neat information: Ha Noi weather on October 19 2009 (the day on or before the day Tanje was found)

Temperature:

Mean Temperature 28 °C -

Max Temperature 32 °C 25 °C 33 °C (2002)

Min Temperature 24 °C 19 °C 17 °C (1999)

Cooling Degree Days 18

Growing Degree Days 33 (Base 50)

Moisture:

Dew Point 23 °C

Average Humidity 74

Maximum Humidity 94

Minimum Humidity 44

Precipitation:

Precipitation 0.0 cm - - ()

Sea Level Pressure:

Sea Level Pressure 1008.95 hPa

Wind:

Wind Speed 3 km/h ()

Max Wind Speed 15 km/h

Max Gust Speed -

Visibility 6.3 kilometers

Events

One Step Closer...

We had a very pleasant meeting with our Adoption Practitioner tonight. She helped us complete the acceptance of referral paperwork. Rick spent hours completing other paperwork tonight. What a papery week!

Wonder what Tanje's doing now? We're gladly spreading our good news, and still can't believe we've already seen her cute little face! One day less to wait!

Jump Around... Some More!

rgh! Today, I thought I'd better take another look at what I sent for immigration (and what I didn't), because it just felt suspiciously too easy. And right I was! &$^#% paperwork! What a genius am I to have discovered this surprising find! : )  Ouh! Filled out a bunch more forms, and photocopied tons more. Now we have to chase a notice of assessment (tied to last year's income tax return) for Rick. Doesn't really make sense: we're asking for a paper from the federal government to give back to the federal government. Ya'd think they know everything about us by now (and I've no doubt they do!). Viva bureaucracy - NOT! Is it just me who feels a little like I'm running in circles, chasing my tail? Woof! Good think it'll be all worth it in the end!

We'll meet with Valerie, our Adoption Practitioner, tomorrow. She's always so pleasant, and such a joy. We're so fortunate to have her 'on our case'! Also told my 2 VPs this week about our exciting news. They were so super in sharing our happiness! Yahoo!

Tanje's 8 months old by now, having achieved that milestone 4 days ago. She looks like a little character. Wonder what she's like, and what little things will make her unique. We have photos of her everywhere, and talk about her every day - her little ears must be ringing! I'm sure we'll have tons of fun together!

Heatwave!

Poor little Tanje must be roasting in this heat. Check out this website article: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/photogal/201006/Hanoians-prove-to-be-creative-in-fighting-heat-wave-917454/ Whew! Well, by next summer (OMG!!!), she'll be here (!!!still can't believe it!!!), and you can bet we'll do all we can to keep her cool and comfy!

We sent our immigration paperwork yesterday (hoop jumping hoop jumping) and chased Purolator for the package of info that was supposed to come to our door yesterday. Got a bit more information on Tanje, including a letter from the security guard who found her, as well as some scant medical information (healthy!).

Four less days to wait. Six months sure seems like a long time, and I feel so sad that Tanje Tiep is over there while we wait for the wheels of bureaucracy to grind forward (can'tcha just hear them creaking?). We'll get there, and meanwhile, we'll stay as busy as we can to help the time fly faster. Can't wait to see our little peanut in person!!!

A Huge Surprise! Unbelievably so!

After well over a year of hoop jumping, chasing changing government rules, paperwork and so on and so on, our file finally got to Vietnam 3 weeks ago. Phew! A couple of days later, we got a call telling us our little one would hail from Hai Duong orphanage, Hai Duong city, Hai Duong province, in northern Vietnam. Amazingly, she's almost directly south from where big sister Savannah lived. And only about 1000 km at that! So different a process from China's.

Today, we got a voicemail message from Children's Bridge (actually, it was from YESTERDAY, and we only picked it up today, both at home and at work - d'oh!). The message was tantalizing: "I have great news for you". Hmmmmm! could it be? no way, not possible, but yet.....  

I called immediately, and got a voicemail. Oh!  Left my pager number, and was driving from one hospital site to the other and the pager vibed. Hurried up, pulled over, and and and and and........YES!!!!! A referral! A little girl (Savannah got her wish - yay!), born in October 2009 (oh my! so young!), healthy (cool!) and not much more information.  Called Rick, caught him (he's working days, how will we wait that long to see the photos that are already burning up my email box?!?!?!?), I think the news blew him away. He told everybody at work, and I mean everybody, including a few whom he didn't tell but dropped some pretty huge hints, with his ear to ear smile (Joanne, Cindy). Guess he's pretty excited.

Drove home, asked Savannah again if she would prefer a brother or sister (same answer as always: "soeur" - no hesitation, no debate), checked the internet, didn't work! Luckily, Elaine was kind enough to download the pix to a jump drive which Rick picked up on the way home. It was a sight to see when he showed the photos to Savannah - she grinned ear to ear! And she's already warned us that she's not sharing the following: her 'tat' (security blanket), her bed, her high chair, her Maman and her Papa. What a girl!

So yes, we will be parents to a positively adorable little girl! Welcome dearest little Tanje Nguyen Thi Tiep LeBeau! Born October 19 2009, lives in Hai Duong, Viet Nam. CAN'T WAIT TO HOLD HER IN OUR ARMS! We'll travel in 5-6 months. Hurry hurry time, fly by!!! : )  We love you, Tanje!

Here We Go Again

It is with excitement and trepidation that we start yet another journey towards adoption. Excitement, as our first experience, despite being sooooo long, was sooooo rewarding. Trepidation, as in the 5 years since we've started on this route, the world of international adoption has gotten so much more difficult and uncertain...

On February 20th, 2009, Rick's birthday, we started making the calls and organizing the paperwork to adopt a 2nd little one. Same hoops as last time, but easier as we knew what to expect. Got our homestudy and all associated paperwork out of the way by July. Then, the ridiculousness began: the wait from the ministry of child and youth services took UNTIL NOVEMBER to approve our request. So much for making adoption easier for Canadian families!  NOT!  By then, the Ethiopia program in which we'd started had seen its timelines increase exponentially, and the increase was continuing. So we opted to switch to Vietnam. Now, we're not so sure that wasn't a mistake, as although the ministry itself recommended Vietnam, now they're saying that to 'rubber stamp' our change is going to take a minimum of 4 weeks, instead of the originally predicted two or less.  Here we go again!!!