Sunday, January 31, 2010
You gotta hold on to what you believe
My all time idle, Jon Bon Jovi just sang ‘We Weren't Born To Follow ‘at the Grammy’s. It made me realize that’ I have to hold on to what I believe in’. I believe that we can fight Unicef and to all of us that have adoption dossier approved to adopt to Haiti, we are going to bring our children home. We have to take charge and do what we can to make it happen.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Immigration papers are done and left wiht Express Post.
January 28, 2010 Today we went to mail our immigration papers. It’s so weird how a few simple forms can get me on edge. I got back to work and felt nervous. This should be the last paperwork I need to fill out for awhile. I’m still not all into work yet. I just can’t stop thinking of Haiti and all the children. Last night was the mommy group. It felt good to talk about our adoption and hear everybody else’s stories. I came home and told Victor that we might be struggling with our adoption however there are more couples that are in the same both as us. Some of them have been waiting more that 15 months for a referral in Ethiopia. I guess we all have to stick together and support each other. Our children will be with us someday.
When I got home from work I got a call from Diane in Memramcook. She said she made a few calls for us. I am praying god and all my wonderful angels that Diane’s contact can help us out. I am making an official request to heaven tonight for all the prayers I can get.
Oh and tomorrow, we are meeting with our MP, Honourable Dominique LeBlanc. We’ll see how we’re going to make out. Stay Tuned for more tomorrow.
When I got home from work I got a call from Diane in Memramcook. She said she made a few calls for us. I am praying god and all my wonderful angels that Diane’s contact can help us out. I am making an official request to heaven tonight for all the prayers I can get.
Oh and tomorrow, we are meeting with our MP, Honourable Dominique LeBlanc. We’ll see how we’re going to make out. Stay Tuned for more tomorrow.
Monday, January 25, 2010
First Haitian Children in Canada
The week did not start too good but at least my friends got some good news. One guy that I work with, the one i was talking about who flew to Pittsburgh to get her. She was the first Haitian to come to Canada. I was so happy to hear that she was home.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/930432
On Sunday January 24, 2010,another happy story, my friend Melissa Naugler and her husband came home with their 2 beautiful children from Haiti. Being at the airport last night was so emotional. It seemed so natural for them to great everyone at airport. They were calm and laughing. After seeing their arrival, I know that our turn is going to come. I know that we might have to wait a bit but she is defiantly coming home to us.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/01/25/nb-moncton-haiti-adoption-1057.html
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/930432
On Sunday January 24, 2010,another happy story, my friend Melissa Naugler and her husband came home with their 2 beautiful children from Haiti. Being at the airport last night was so emotional. It seemed so natural for them to great everyone at airport. They were calm and laughing. After seeing their arrival, I know that our turn is going to come. I know that we might have to wait a bit but she is defiantly coming home to us.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/01/25/nb-moncton-haiti-adoption-1057.html
Headache week
January 20th, 2010, I got a call from a reporter at Radio Canada. She asked if I would do an interview for our adoption story. I was so happy that she called back. She was supposed to come meet us at our home last weekend but she did not have time to make it before the broadcast. I am kind of glad because I don’t think I would have been able to talk about Haiti last weekend. I was a complete mess.
Today was a very busy day. Started off with a killer headache but managed to get up and go to my interview. For some odd reason I was not nervous at all. I have never been interviewed in my life. Before the interview I went to get a coffee and read the new updates on FB, Yahoo group. There were a few. Minister Kenney said "We hope and expect the first group will be coming this weekend," Kenney told CTV's Canada AM Thursday. I was so excited when I read that. I know that my friend Melissa‘s children should be in that group.
So off I went for my interview. I arrived there and luckily had to do parallel parking in front of the building. If you live in Moncton and you know where Radio Canada is located… well let me tell you that it’s not a place for Sylvie to be doing parallel parking. I really felt bad for the car in front and back of me LOL but I managed to do it after going up on the bank of snow and spinning tires. The interview went really well. She did not really asked much about my thoughts on what the government is doing but touches more on our personal story. Once I got back to work, I got another call from reporter from CTV News. He asked if he could meet me outside my work place for interview. At 2 o’clock I was being taped by CTV News. I was really comfortable answering his questions. He said he was going to add me on facebook and when he sees that our case would progress, he would meet me for some update later on during this journey. I was not at work for 1 hour that he called me back that the recording was all lost. He asked if I could do this again. So I went from never being interviewed by media to 3 times in one afternoon. I feel confident that if we get our story heard with other adoptive parents, they will have to speed up the process in Haiti to bring those children home.
I don’t know if I have mentioned this yet or not in other post but we are 3 people at work that are adopting from Haiti. 2 of us are in the early stage and 1 that should have his daughter home very soon. Yesterday at lunch, my friend and I were working on our immigration papers to get that going and he got the call that his daughter was on the flight to Pittsburgh in US. We were so excited for him. That same evening he left for Toronto and am assuming that he is now in Pittsburgh. We’ll now have to wait and see how long it will take him to bring him to Canada. I am praying that everything will work out smoothly for them.
Today was a very busy day. Started off with a killer headache but managed to get up and go to my interview. For some odd reason I was not nervous at all. I have never been interviewed in my life. Before the interview I went to get a coffee and read the new updates on FB, Yahoo group. There were a few. Minister Kenney said "We hope and expect the first group will be coming this weekend," Kenney told CTV's Canada AM Thursday. I was so excited when I read that. I know that my friend Melissa‘s children should be in that group.
So off I went for my interview. I arrived there and luckily had to do parallel parking in front of the building. If you live in Moncton and you know where Radio Canada is located… well let me tell you that it’s not a place for Sylvie to be doing parallel parking. I really felt bad for the car in front and back of me LOL but I managed to do it after going up on the bank of snow and spinning tires. The interview went really well. She did not really asked much about my thoughts on what the government is doing but touches more on our personal story. Once I got back to work, I got another call from reporter from CTV News. He asked if he could meet me outside my work place for interview. At 2 o’clock I was being taped by CTV News. I was really comfortable answering his questions. He said he was going to add me on facebook and when he sees that our case would progress, he would meet me for some update later on during this journey. I was not at work for 1 hour that he called me back that the recording was all lost. He asked if I could do this again. So I went from never being interviewed by media to 3 times in one afternoon. I feel confident that if we get our story heard with other adoptive parents, they will have to speed up the process in Haiti to bring those children home.
I don’t know if I have mentioned this yet or not in other post but we are 3 people at work that are adopting from Haiti. 2 of us are in the early stage and 1 that should have his daughter home very soon. Yesterday at lunch, my friend and I were working on our immigration papers to get that going and he got the call that his daughter was on the flight to Pittsburgh in US. We were so excited for him. That same evening he left for Toronto and am assuming that he is now in Pittsburgh. We’ll now have to wait and see how long it will take him to bring him to Canada. I am praying that everything will work out smoothly for them.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A weekend I wouldn’t want to go through again
Saturday, after my friend had me all excite, I started writing emails. I sent letter to GLA director and the adoption coordinator in Haiti. I asked what was the situation for the families that did not receive a referral yet. Not 30 min passed and she had replied back that at this stage, it was still unsure. This is a totally acceptable answer. After being let down with Ghana program, I was just being selfish and thinking about my needs. Sunday morning I woke up to an update on GLA site. This is the post:
******************************************************************************
Why We Aren’t Accepting Applications for Adoptions…..
Posted by Tom Vanderwell. 8 Comments
This was personally a very difficult post to write because I’ve really appreciated all of the people who are interested in helping and adopting the orphaned kids from Haiti. ‘
But here’s what the realities are at the moment:
• We don’t know when the Haitian government will be able to begin processing new adoptions.
• We don’t know when the Haitian government will be reestablished enough to either reaffirm existing rules or set up new ones.
• We don’t know how long and under what situations the orphaned status of the new children being brought to us will be able to be determined.
There are just too many things that we don’t know. So, until we know more, we can’t accept applications for adoptions.
But we do need help in many ways besides for that at the moment.
Stay tuned to this site for more information.
******************************************************************************
At that point and time, I thought I was losing it. I emailed the adoption coordinator or again and she told me exactly what is in the post. I felt so helpless and let down. All I’ve been wanting for the pass 18th months is to bring home my baby girl. I could not imagine the high I had on Saturday and just a few hours passed and I am down. I actually cried. For the pass 18th months, I’ve had ups and downs but I don’t think I hit a wall this hard. I know it’s because I’ve been watching CNN and CBC updates on the tragic quake as well. Even if Dixie, the director of the O said they have enough food and water for the children, my heart still aches for the rest of the population in Haiti. I pray god that it will come better. I actually came home from work on Friday and did not leave to house till Sunday evening to go see the girls play ringuette in Cap-Pelé. That was the highlight of my weekend.
Monday morning came and I was in no shape to go to work. I did not sleep last night. I honestly processed my immigration files in my head all night long. I was doing all kinds of scenarios of what could possibly happen and how it could happen.
I finally woke up and called Dominique LeB. MP office to meet with him. He is in Ottawa till next week so I scheduled to meet with him on Jan 29th at 10. I then called Immigration office with my Client ID that I had for Ghana. The girl on the phone explained to me that I had to cancel that file and file a new one for Haiti. So thank god I process those files during the night in my head. LOL! As the day progressed, I started seeing post on the FB group for Canadians adopting to Haiti about families that did not receive a proposal yet. People like me want to know what’s in store for us next!!! I don’t feel so alone anymore. I finally came back to my senses at supper time. I was able to process in my brain the good news:
HAITIAN PRESIDENT RENE PREVAL HAS GIVEN PERMISSION FOR ALL CHILDRN IN THE ADOPTION PROCESS TO LEAVE HAITI AND JOIN THEIR "FOREVER" FAMILIES IN THEIR ADOPTIVE COUNTRIES!
I am very happy with the news. These wonderful families that have been waiting years and years will finally have their children home. This is a true blessing from god! I know I still have a long way to go to bring home my baby girl, but it will happen.
Let’s just hope that tomorrow will bring good news and some of the children will be on planes to Canada.
******************************************************************************
Why We Aren’t Accepting Applications for Adoptions…..
Posted by Tom Vanderwell. 8 Comments
This was personally a very difficult post to write because I’ve really appreciated all of the people who are interested in helping and adopting the orphaned kids from Haiti. ‘
But here’s what the realities are at the moment:
• We don’t know when the Haitian government will be able to begin processing new adoptions.
• We don’t know when the Haitian government will be reestablished enough to either reaffirm existing rules or set up new ones.
• We don’t know how long and under what situations the orphaned status of the new children being brought to us will be able to be determined.
There are just too many things that we don’t know. So, until we know more, we can’t accept applications for adoptions.
But we do need help in many ways besides for that at the moment.
Stay tuned to this site for more information.
******************************************************************************
At that point and time, I thought I was losing it. I emailed the adoption coordinator or again and she told me exactly what is in the post. I felt so helpless and let down. All I’ve been wanting for the pass 18th months is to bring home my baby girl. I could not imagine the high I had on Saturday and just a few hours passed and I am down. I actually cried. For the pass 18th months, I’ve had ups and downs but I don’t think I hit a wall this hard. I know it’s because I’ve been watching CNN and CBC updates on the tragic quake as well. Even if Dixie, the director of the O said they have enough food and water for the children, my heart still aches for the rest of the population in Haiti. I pray god that it will come better. I actually came home from work on Friday and did not leave to house till Sunday evening to go see the girls play ringuette in Cap-Pelé. That was the highlight of my weekend.
Monday morning came and I was in no shape to go to work. I did not sleep last night. I honestly processed my immigration files in my head all night long. I was doing all kinds of scenarios of what could possibly happen and how it could happen.
I finally woke up and called Dominique LeB. MP office to meet with him. He is in Ottawa till next week so I scheduled to meet with him on Jan 29th at 10. I then called Immigration office with my Client ID that I had for Ghana. The girl on the phone explained to me that I had to cancel that file and file a new one for Haiti. So thank god I process those files during the night in my head. LOL! As the day progressed, I started seeing post on the FB group for Canadians adopting to Haiti about families that did not receive a proposal yet. People like me want to know what’s in store for us next!!! I don’t feel so alone anymore. I finally came back to my senses at supper time. I was able to process in my brain the good news:
HAITIAN PRESIDENT RENE PREVAL HAS GIVEN PERMISSION FOR ALL CHILDRN IN THE ADOPTION PROCESS TO LEAVE HAITI AND JOIN THEIR "FOREVER" FAMILIES IN THEIR ADOPTIVE COUNTRIES!
I am very happy with the news. These wonderful families that have been waiting years and years will finally have their children home. This is a true blessing from god! I know I still have a long way to go to bring home my baby girl, but it will happen.
Let’s just hope that tomorrow will bring good news and some of the children will be on planes to Canada.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Not going to let my obsession stand in the way
Let the battle begin! Since January 12, 2010, I’ve been glued to CNN and CBC news watching Haiti Footages. I’ve been emotionally affected by this tragedy. I’ve been praying hard for those children in the O to come home to their parents in Canada and other Countries around the word. One thing that I hadn’t done was putting myself in the same bucket of people. I’ve been just telling myself that when the Search and Rescue is over with and things start to come together in Haiti, our dossier will make its way there. Time fram??? Don’t know.
How can one morning FB inbox change my whole perspective on my thoughts! This morning, January 16, 2010, I was not able to get out of bed. My husband went to work and I was lying in bed with my 2 boxers, Sam&George. These wonderful dogs will not leave my sight. They will stay in bed with me until I decide to get up. They are always by my side giving me comfort. Well finally at 10:17 am, I forced myself out of bed. Like usual, I open my laptop and check my FB. I had 2 new inbox messages. It was from a friend of mine that I meat through adoption. Her emailed said, ‘call me ASAP ‘and the other email, said ‘call me call me call me’. I did not know what on earth she wanted. I know it had to do with Haiti but just didn’t know what had happend. She was talking really fast, telling me that we too were part of these families. She said she heard a report from DFAIT that they had 100 files on their desk from families that are in the process of adopting. My friend kept on repeating to me that we were one of those families. She said you told me that your file has already passed DEFAIT and it’s currently sitting at the Haitian Embassy in Ottawa. She said you have to believe and start acting on this. I was so emotional that I could not even talk. I was crying like a baby and my stomach was hurting so bad. I called my husband right away to let him know that we can do something to bring our baby girl home quicker than we thought.
An hour passed and my friend called me back when a CBC reporter waiting to talk to me. She took down our contact info and said she will be calling us for an interview. I then called CTV and they said that someone will be in touch with us as well for an interview. I am overwhelmed by everything that is going on this morning. Since this morning, I’ve been hearing reportage from Minister of Immigrations on CBC saying that they will allow Canadian families to bring home their children. They will make the process quicker and a priority.
I guess I will have to wait for Monday morning to start knocking on my MP’s door and try to push the situation.
How can one morning FB inbox change my whole perspective on my thoughts! This morning, January 16, 2010, I was not able to get out of bed. My husband went to work and I was lying in bed with my 2 boxers, Sam&George. These wonderful dogs will not leave my sight. They will stay in bed with me until I decide to get up. They are always by my side giving me comfort. Well finally at 10:17 am, I forced myself out of bed. Like usual, I open my laptop and check my FB. I had 2 new inbox messages. It was from a friend of mine that I meat through adoption. Her emailed said, ‘call me ASAP ‘and the other email, said ‘call me call me call me’. I did not know what on earth she wanted. I know it had to do with Haiti but just didn’t know what had happend. She was talking really fast, telling me that we too were part of these families. She said she heard a report from DFAIT that they had 100 files on their desk from families that are in the process of adopting. My friend kept on repeating to me that we were one of those families. She said you told me that your file has already passed DEFAIT and it’s currently sitting at the Haitian Embassy in Ottawa. She said you have to believe and start acting on this. I was so emotional that I could not even talk. I was crying like a baby and my stomach was hurting so bad. I called my husband right away to let him know that we can do something to bring our baby girl home quicker than we thought.
An hour passed and my friend called me back when a CBC reporter waiting to talk to me. She took down our contact info and said she will be calling us for an interview. I then called CTV and they said that someone will be in touch with us as well for an interview. I am overwhelmed by everything that is going on this morning. Since this morning, I’ve been hearing reportage from Minister of Immigrations on CBC saying that they will allow Canadian families to bring home their children. They will make the process quicker and a priority.
I guess I will have to wait for Monday morning to start knocking on my MP’s door and try to push the situation.
OBSESSED?
January 15th, 2010. 3 days has passed since the earthquake in Haiti. I’ve hypnotized by all the reports on TV, Internet and Radio. That’s all I’ve been thinking of. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. With all of this going on and again, we are impacted on our adoption journey. 18 months, 2 weeks and 3 days that we’ve been actively trying to bring home our baby girl. First it was child trafficking in Ghana, then Imagine Adoption Agency going bankrupt and now destructive earthquake in Haiti. I cannot imagine that something else could happen. I’ve started to believe that someone is trying to give us a sigh that it’s not our destiny. But being the stubborn girl I am, I am not letting any negativity destroy me. We have our mind set that we want to bring home another family member in our lives and that’s what we are going to do. I just haven’t figured out how and when I’m going to do it but someone will guide me. I just know it.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
HAITI needs our help!
Yesterday, I went for a coffee with a friend of mine who is ready to go to the lawyer to have her dossier notarized. She has everything ready. We were all excited talking how 2010 was going to be an excellent year for our Haitian Adoption!!! We were more than confident that things were going to go faster. The Haitian Embassy left me a voice mail Monday, Jan 11th, 2010 to let confirm they have our dossier and it should be ready to leave in a few weeks for Haiti. I came home like usual, complaining about my winter blues and how hard it is to be in the cold. Instead of staying home yesterday evening and doing nothing but watching TV and refreshing my Facebook, I decided to go see Janie, my little niece that is 2 years old. I had fun with her. She is just a cutie pie!!! When I got home, first thing I did is login to Facebook and I was seeing some posting saying, so sad for the people in Haiti! I did not have a clue what was going on and then turned on to CNN to see the disaster.
January 12, 2010 - Magnitude 7.0 quake struck near capital Port-au-Prince shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/2010/01/12/earthquake-update-what-do-we-do/
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/ - Post from Jan 13
I felt so helpless and guilty last night. Not knowing what to do. This morning, checked out the GAL website. I saw that some of the adoption parents from GAL (Gods Littlest Angels) setup a PayPal account to help Haiti. I did not hesitate one bit to make my donation. I’ve been refreshing the ChipIn tool and the contributions just keeps on growing!!! It feels so good knowing that I am home praying for them and that I have been able to make a contribution.
**************************************************************************
Haiti needs your help. You have a real connection. You can make a difference.
While God's Littlest Angels has been spared the worst of it, many other people in Haiti are not so fortunate (some being GLA family members.) GLA is still in need of water, fuel, food and materials to repair the building, and the staff is also very concerned about the logistics and continued ability to support their operating requirements. They also anticipate a great need to reach out to the community and help those around them by giving them food, supplies, building materials - and even being ready to take in babies who are in need of medical attention.
GLA is in the unique position to help. Right now. Given they have registered nurses, medical supplies, a generator and links to the outside world, they can have an immediate impact in Haiti and aid those in need. However, there is great responsibility with these actions and also the need for funds to support them.
GLA is launching what they are calling the 1000 x 1000 campaign (1000 people who get 10 friends to donate $100… we can all make a big difference together.) I am one of those 1000 people who is being asked to help raise $1000 for GLA/Haiti. I want to do this. I have a child in Haiti. This is a way I can make a difference. Would you help?
If you are willing to give $100, it will go a long way in helping GLA meet its goal.
Your money:
• Will allow them to care for the babies (my baby)
• Will help treat those in need in the community
• Will help GLA take in children who need urgent care.
• Is also TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Please DONATE TODAY: Earthquake PayPal Fund
This is not a time to be shy or remain anonymous. If you donate, let me know. Share with others and help get the word out!
January 12, 2010 - Magnitude 7.0 quake struck near capital Port-au-Prince shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/2010/01/12/earthquake-update-what-do-we-do/
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/ - Post from Jan 13
I felt so helpless and guilty last night. Not knowing what to do. This morning, checked out the GAL website. I saw that some of the adoption parents from GAL (Gods Littlest Angels) setup a PayPal account to help Haiti. I did not hesitate one bit to make my donation. I’ve been refreshing the ChipIn tool and the contributions just keeps on growing!!! It feels so good knowing that I am home praying for them and that I have been able to make a contribution.
**************************************************************************
Haiti needs your help. You have a real connection. You can make a difference.
While God's Littlest Angels has been spared the worst of it, many other people in Haiti are not so fortunate (some being GLA family members.) GLA is still in need of water, fuel, food and materials to repair the building, and the staff is also very concerned about the logistics and continued ability to support their operating requirements. They also anticipate a great need to reach out to the community and help those around them by giving them food, supplies, building materials - and even being ready to take in babies who are in need of medical attention.
GLA is in the unique position to help. Right now. Given they have registered nurses, medical supplies, a generator and links to the outside world, they can have an immediate impact in Haiti and aid those in need. However, there is great responsibility with these actions and also the need for funds to support them.
GLA is launching what they are calling the 1000 x 1000 campaign (1000 people who get 10 friends to donate $100… we can all make a big difference together.) I am one of those 1000 people who is being asked to help raise $1000 for GLA/Haiti. I want to do this. I have a child in Haiti. This is a way I can make a difference. Would you help?
If you are willing to give $100, it will go a long way in helping GLA meet its goal.
Your money:
• Will allow them to care for the babies (my baby)
• Will help treat those in need in the community
• Will help GLA take in children who need urgent care.
• Is also TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Please DONATE TODAY: Earthquake PayPal Fund
This is not a time to be shy or remain anonymous. If you donate, let me know. Share with others and help get the word out!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Tattoo
Oh and I almost forgot... While we were on our vacation in Haiti, Victor said out of the blue that he was going to get a tattoo done when we get back home. He said he wanted a tattoo that represents our family. This is so wonderful.
The tattoo represents:
• Anchor – representing his Dad that has passed away.
• 5 logs – representing all of us, his 2 daughters Nicole and Renée, him and myself. We even have a 5th one for our adoptive child. The rope is keeping us all together.
• Butterfly – represents his daughter’s mother that has passed away. We know she is watching over us so that’s why we put her on top of the anchor.
He wanted to add a heart or sun to represent his mother that passed away as well but the tattoo artist said it would be too much. He’s in the process of doing something else for that.
In the pass years, we’ve been traveling down south and have always had bad news just before or during our vacation. We could never enjoy our time away and say we really did enjoy our vacation. We just broke the ice at the end of 2009. We had nothing but good things and good memories. The curse has been broken! All will be good from now on. I know this is still going to be a bumpy ride but the good energy has finally found us.
2010 here we go!
More than a month has passed with absolutely no adoption news. I have been checking my tracking numbers to see when our dossier would leave DFAIT and go to Haitian Embassy. One of my friends told me to call them up and see where our dossier was at. I did and DFAIT said they received the package on Nov 27th and they sent it to Embassy on Dec 1, 2009. So much for my tracking numbers LOL! I am really not good with numbers so I probably wrote the tracking numbers incorrectly. I just left a voice mail with the Haitian Embassy to see what they are doing with our dossier...
Christmas passed and I’m still alive. This was supposed to be the Christmas that we would have our little girl with us. I guess live is not far. It was actually a very good Christmas. We had family, food and drinks. What else could we have asked for? I am very fortunate to have a wonderful family.
I am hoping that 2010 will bring nothing but good news. I really need things to get moving.
Christmas passed and I’m still alive. This was supposed to be the Christmas that we would have our little girl with us. I guess live is not far. It was actually a very good Christmas. We had family, food and drinks. What else could we have asked for? I am very fortunate to have a wonderful family.
I am hoping that 2010 will bring nothing but good news. I really need things to get moving.
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