Hooray for Kate

Here's a 360 degree view of the room.

OK, so here they are... pics of Kate's room. We're quite happy with how it turned out. We started with plans of making it quite gender neutral, but as we continued, it definately took on more of a girly look. It was done on an unbeleivably low budget and we're quite happy with the results.
















This shot is looking left at the dresser and the corner shelf. Both are yard sale finds. Some elbow grease and some paint sure make a difference. I'm sure the lanterns will not stay there as the dresser top will soon be covered with wipes and diapers and everything else Kate will need.
















Another shot of the crib with her name and the painting above the bed. Let's see how long it takes for her to rip that off of the wall.
Some beautiful artwork from a local artist. If you've ever been to the Moncton Market, you would've seen these prints before as that's where she sells them.
This shadow box was given to Kate 2 Christmases ago from Jennifer's Aunt Eleanor. She had it made personally for Kate (or "Gertrude" as she was called in those days).
Jen saw this artwork at a local store perfect for Kate's room. It says "in all the world... there's only one you... one very special you."

I confess. I am a packrat. But to my defence, it's mostly all practical stuff. Nothing that I couldn't use if it sat long enough and I had a use for it. How do I know that I'm a packrat? We'll, by spending about 3 hours in the basement doing some tidying; I managed to round up 6 large
garbage bags of "stuff".

The old tent that Mom and Dad's neighbours gave me in the late 80's when they moved... gone! It worked great as long as it didn't rain, then it always seemed to drop right on my head. I have another (2 actually) so I'm still ok for camping next summer.

The gigantic Shop Vac that was perfectly fine (if it just had a new motor) and someone was throwing out... gone! After over a year of sitting there waiting for me to get a price on getting the motor fixed... it's off to the scrap pile.

The grocery bag full of sand... I don't know where that came from. How does a bag of sand make it into the basement of our house?

Here's my system.... everything gets categorized into 4 areas... keep, eBay, yard sale or trash. I pick it up and ask myself "Do I need this?", then if I don't, I ask myself "Can I sell this for anything on eBay?" If not, it goes to the yard sale pile for next summer and if it's not even
yard sale worthy, then it just goes to the trash. It's actually quite freeing to de-clutter.

Why am I purging? Have you seen the size of those kids' toys??? We thought we had a big house until strollers started being wheeled in, massive Little Tykes toys took root, and stuffed animals started their quiet march to Kate's room. Wow, does this stuff pile up quickly. Lets hope she enjoys books... they take a lot less space!

Just a teaser from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/adoptees.asp). It doesn’t tell us a whole lot as to when or what will be involved, or how to go about doing this.

In December 2007, Canada’s citizenship law will be amended to allow Canadian citizens who adopt a child from a foreign country the option of applying for Canadian citizenship for their adopted child without first having to apply for permanent residence. Adopted persons who are adults may apply for themselves. This amendment will only apply to persons adopted after February 14, 1977. More information on this change will soon become available.

In the mail yesterday was the letter from the provincial government to the Canadian government approving the adoption. HOORAY.

As part of the trip leaves time for sightseeing, I am hoping to experience Walmart, China style. I found these pics while touring the world on Google earth tonight and thought I'd share them with you.
The first thing I notice is how different and how BIG they look from the outside. I'm also fascinated by the contrast of colors in China. It seems that most things are either very drab and bland in colors or exploding with colors. Colors don't stand out here in Canada, but everything seems so extreme in China. Look at all the colors in the 1st picture, with the courtyard and all the colors surrounding it. Maybe it's just me.


Anyway, it looks like quite an adventure. I cant wait!

Everything is booked. Things are moving very fast.

We leave Moncton on December 5 @ 5:55 and get into Beijing on Dec 6 @ 13:05.
We leave Beijing on December 20 @ 15:00 and get into Moncton @ 20:45. So thats early enough that we hope to see ALL of you at the airport.

It looks like we'll be on Air Canada's 777 between Beijing and Toronto. It appears to be huge and quite nice from what I understand.

The Visa application, passports and other bits and pieces have been sent back to Children's Bridge for them to do whatever they do to it. The next thing is to get confirmed travel dates.

Our todo list is 3 pages long and growing by the day. We're able to check things off of it each day so I think we should be able to get everything done before we go.

I'm off to begin the final touches on Kate's room. Pics of that will be up in the next day or so.

The travel dates have already been set. We'll be leaving December 5 (have to leave a day early to catch the early morning flight to Beijing from Toronto) and returning December 20 (not sure if we get home on the 20th or 21st).

We'll frist fly to Beijing then fly to Chongqing on day 2 or so.

Here's some info on Chongqing and international adoption (from Research China dot Org)

Chongqing Municipality
Prior to 1997 Chongqing Municipality was part of Sichuan Province, and many adoptive families still refer to Chongqing in that way. In 1997, Chongqing City was merged with Fuling, Wanxian and Qianjiang to form Chongqing Municipality in a desire by China's central government to increase development in the western regions of China.

*In 2003, the CCAA began opening orphanages in the various districts around Chongqing, including Qianjiang, Hechuan, Liangping, Wanzhou, and others.*The number of orphanages in Chongqing Municipality tripled in 2003 to nine.

An additional three orphanages were opened in 2004, one in 2005, and two more in 2006 (although these two have not yet adopted internationally). By the end of 2006, 14 orphanages were adopting, or in the process of adopting, children internationally in Chongqing.

Prior to 2003, the largest adopting orphanage was Fuling District, which submitted 569 files to the CCAA. Chongqing City was the next largest, with 173 submissions in 2003. The rest of the top five were Dianjiang, Qianjiang, and Liangping, each of which submitted over 100 files to the CCAA. In all, 1,367 children were submitted for adoption in 2003.

Like most Provinces, Chongqing Municipality-area orphanages as a whole saw its numbers decrease. In 2006, the total number of files submitted for international adoption had decreased 33% to 910. The change was sporadic and inconsistent: Fuling's adoptions dropped 76% (to 135), while Xiushan increased over 600% (to 153). In 2006, the top five orphanages were Xiushan, Fuling, Qianjiang, Dianjiang, and Banan, with two of that group submitting less than 100 dossiers to the CCAA. On average, Chongqing's orphanages submitted 136 files in 2003, an average that dropped to 60 in 2006.

Hi everyone!

Post # 1 on the new blog and what a better way to start than to introduce you to our little Kate Fu Qing Fillmore (pronounced TSing).

In one day, we got the pics and the documentation, met and reviewed it with the social worker, had our doctor OK everything, signed off on the paperwork, met with our Mandarin instructor to decipher parts of the document for us, had a party and are now posting a big YEEHAW to everyone! We just need to do the CB paperwork this weekend and we’re good to go!

So, here she is...