finally received the photos of my little boy....

a long night of waiting for photos...woke up at 5:00 to check email and still no photos...they appeared later and then I couldn't access them and had to ask D. to resend to another email address and finally at 9:30 I saw the face of my little boy...and of course he is beautiful....he looks both big and small...received 3 photos, when he was 3 weeks old...one photo a close up of his face and his beautiful eyes look like he is looking right at me...another photo of a somewhat relaxed little boy about to fall asleep and another of a crying little boy...yes, so many emotions.....so so so glad to have these photos....as most know, we are asked not to post any photos publicly on websites etc. until after the G & R ceremony in Vietnam.....so I will sadly not be posting those photos here or on my facebook account....I will get them printed up and will have them with me to be able to bring and share. I will of course share with family and friends via email so that you can share in my joy!!.......

....still waiting on photos of Matteo...

I am still waiting for photos....had some dinner plans with two of my cousins, a birthday dinner for one of my cousins and then my sister joined us...had to leave but when we got back from dinner, and up until a few seconds ago...still no photos....for those who have asked, he is from Vung Tau #1.......and other than his date of birth, and his Vietnamese name which I will post soon, I don't know very much yet!!...still feeling like it is a bit unreal without at least a photo!!....

It's a boy!!!!!....

I am just awaiting a photo and some information from Dorinda; however, she has told me that I have a son, born May 30, 2010.... I will give him the name Matteo (gift from God)....

...more nibbles.....

....well some more tidbits of news to report...during one of our breaks today I decided to call home to check messagesl....I don't usually do that but as you can appreciate you know where my mind and heart are at...and there was a message from E. at TDH, asking me to call her....nothing wrong she said but if I could call....of course I was about to call but my cell battery was low and I knew it wouldn't last but I also didn't want to get any news at school....so as you can appreciate the last 80 minutes were hard to endure....anyhow called and spoke to M. who put me on hold and then came back and told me that they have some children from Vung Tau #1 whose medicals aren't in yet but wanted to find out if I was ready to proceed to accept a child referral without a medical. Of course my answer was "yes". She did not say any more and said they would be in touch; however, told me if I had said "no" that they would move to the next person!!.......so nibbles coming often these days.....will keep you all posted!!...

A peep or a nibble of news!!

...well tonight as I was trying to cool off after a very hot teaching day, I got a phone call from M. It took me a few seconds to register who she was and then when I did realize who it was, I think I held my breath for our short conversation. I was asked to get my employee letter renewed; however, as I have multiple employers, I was then asked to update the single financial form and that I should do this asap...this evening asap, and send off an email scanned copy to M. and D. and a hardcopy to them asap...that it was "urgent"....that "urgent" was repeated a few times.....though nothing more was said and no other news given....I do know another family was asked to do that same a few weeks ago and they were also told it was "urgent", yet sadly they still don't have a referral.....so after hanging up I went up to print up a copy of the form that was sent and then my hands started to shake....and I couldn't concentrate....it took me longer to fill out the form than was really necessary as I was really excited and scared all at once.....anyhow after trying to fill out the form, with my shaking hand, I dashed off to my neighbourhood post-office in order to send the hardcopy off after sending a scanned copy by email......the soonest the hard copy will arrive at the agency's office will be before noon on Thursday...I sent it with Canada Post courier and paid whatever they said in order to get it there as soon as possible. It would probably have been cheaper for me to drive it over there myself....anyhow as you can imagine I had a set of essays to grade tonight but don't thnk I'll get much work done on them!!....just trying to stay calm.....

2009 Asian Festival Parade

..just posting some photos of last year's festival....















.....

The day after Canada day....

...jus sitting here on my deck thinking of nothing in particular.....yesterday was a reflective day....sat and read on my deck for part of the morning....it was cool but the sun did come out....then had to do a bit of work as I will be teaching summer school for July so wanted to get some of my prep organized for photocopying today....then instead of going up to Parliament hill for a walk, which is what I did last year (photos posted above) I ended up taking a walk through Chinatown (part of my neighbourhood)....as you can see where my heart was....most of the shops were open and they are bustling with change...a new very dramatic archway is being built to signal that you are entering Chinatown...it is going to be magnificent....I didn't have my camera but will head up on the weekend and take some in progress photos....additionally the Kowloon market is getting a facelift...with a new bakery on the side....and lots of special produce...it was rather busy for a Canada day, as it isn't far from the hill....anyhow felt happy to wander the street and then the shops and the rows of produce but also sad as there has been no news on the adoption and wish I could fully believe that soon I'll be in another part of the world where most of these products come from.....but again no news but I do know that our director is now back from Vietnam and will post some news soon, and/or in the July 15 newsletter....

.....so after my walk, I was settling in for the evening and then was planning a walk to the War Museum (also my neighbourhood) to watch the fireworks...the war museum has a great view of the parliament buildings and in the last few years the neighbourhood has become a big parking lot with those celebrating, both just to see the fireworks from the war museum or parking here and walking a short distance to the parliament buildings...they close off the centre core so cars stay on the outside...it prevents bottleneck traffic after the day's events...but has congested my neighbourhood....I don't mind as it is great to have so many descend...but very hard to get parking if you happen to live in the area and don't have a parking spot....anyhow plans changed as I was invited for dinner at my sister's and spent the evening talking of their plans for their trip to Geneva and Italy later this summer....after supper and when it was dark I had some sparklers that we lit and enjoyed on their back deck with my niece and nephew (definitely reminded me of when I was a kid)......then home to circle the block a few times as cars and occupants were slowly leaving.....went to bed with the thought and hope that by next Canada day there will be one more Canadian child celebrating with me.....