Visa

I checked on the Canadian Immigration website last Tuesday and it said that Rafael's Visa was being processed. I'm guessing this is a good sign although I don't really know what it means time wise. It said that they started processing his Visa on December 29th and that they had received his medical. They update this website every Tuesday so hopefully there will be some new news tomorrow or maybe it will still say "Visa being processed".
I got great news this morning from Agnes who finally received her invite to travel to the Philippines!!!! I am so excited for her and her husband. They finally get to meet their daughter!! I was really hoping that we would travel at the same time as them but we just have to wait a little longer. I asked Agnes to bring Rafael back in her suitcase. We will have to wait and see if she will..............

Happy 15 month birthday!!!

Today Rafael turns 15 months old. What a big boy!! We hope that he had a wonderful day with all his friends at Dorcas House. We hope to be with him to celebrate his 16 month birthday!! Keep your fingers crossed that we are travelling by February 25th!!

It's a small miracle!!!

Well I was so thrilled this morning when I awoke to an e-mail from Tina in Australia announcing that she had been matched with Peter from Dorcas House. Peter is Rafael's roommate in Dorcas House and there are only the two of them in the infant room. From what I can tell, they spend alot of time together. Tina and I have been e-mailing over the past several months as we had both been waiting so long for a referral so to me it seems like a miracle that Peter was actually matched with someone who I was in contact with!!!! Therefore, Peter and Rafael can stay in touch through e-mails and skype and hopefully one day they can meet up in person again. We are beyond thrilled that the boys can keep in touch. What a special connection that we both share!!

what's new since last time

Since I posted last week, we received the medical condition statement that we had to sign saying that we had reviewed all of Rafael's medical information and we still would like to adopt him. This was just faxed off to the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines on Thursday. Our social worker said we most likely won't hear anything else now until we get the call to travel. They also sent us the results of his eye exam which stated that his eyes were fine, they just sometimes appear crossed but they really aren't. There is some big long name for this but spelling it may be difficult!! We were so happy to hear that all is fine.
I'm guessing now that we'll travel anywhere between 4-8 weeks. Hopefully sooner rather than later although I must say that this part of the wait is so much easier than the wait to be matched. At least now we know that we should for sure be travelling by March at the latest. We just have to hang in there for a few more weeks!!!!! Then we'll finally be on our way to our son in the Philippines!!!

Opthamology appointment

Rafael had an eye appointment today to check on his left eye which appears to have a slight turn in it. Hopefully all goes well because we are soooo anxious to bring him home!!! We are now settling in for a longer wait to bring him home. Initially we had hoped it would only be 3-4 weeks from his medical until we got the call to travel but now we are anticipating 7-8 weeks. Very disappointing but there isn't anything that we can do to change it so there's no use in dwelling on it.
We have finally started Rafael's room and it is getting closer to being completed. We are getting his toddler bed this week. A friend of a friend was looking to get rid of her son's toddler bed and she is giving it to us. I had initially thought that we would transition Rafael right from his crib to a twin bed but since we now have a toddler bed, I thought we'd use it. To all of you who already have children, did you use a toddler bed? Everyone I talk to seems to have different opinions. We have a jungle theme for Rafael's room. There are lots of monkeys, giraffe's and elephants and tigers. I hope he likes it! The next job is to start his playroom. We're painting it a bright orange colour because I thought it should be bright and fun.
My friends and family are having a few baby showers for us. Very exciting!! I just love all the little kid stuff especially the books. He has soooo many already. Rafael is very lucky that there are already so many people who love him and we are so lucky that he was chosen to be our son!!

Our boy is in Manila!!!

Rafael's medical is taking place right now as I type this. I'm praying that all goes well!! His Visa appointment is on Friday. We were really hoping to travel by mid February but several Canadian families in the Philippines adoption Yahoo group said that they waited 7 -8 weeks to receive their travel call after their childs medical. So based on that, we may not travel until March. I'm still praying that we will travel in February but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Getting closer......

Rafael's medical is just under 6 days away. Not that I'm counting or anything! We got a call from our social worker today to say that she's been in contact with the Canadian Embassy in Manila and they have our notification of acceptance. Our social worker feels that things should go quickly from here. I hope and pray that she's right!!

We still haven't finished Rafael's bedroom. A year ago Brian started finishing our basement but it is still far from completed! We are adding in a bathroom, a spare bedroom, laundry room and a big storage room. We can't move all the spare bedroom furniture out of Rafael's room and down into the new spare bedroom until that bedroom is close to being finished. Right now there are no walls so we are a long ways from moving down the spare bedroom furniture! Therefore, we haven't done much to Rafael's room. We aren't painting the room so I don't think that it will take too long to finish when we finally get started!! I'm getting anxious to get it all done so Brian's brother is coming in next week to help him finish off the basment. FINALLY!! I'll post some photos when the room is finally completed!

I've been busy buying lots of clothes and toys for Rafael. I'm trying not to buy too much since I don't know exactly how big he is but it's hard not too! I've been buying all 18 m to 2 year clothing so hopefully that will fit. He looks chubby in his photos so I'm starting to think that the 18 m clothes may not even fit!! My mom is having a shower for me in two weeks so I'm sure that I'll get lots of more kiddy things then.

2 months ago......

It was two months ago today that we first learned about Rafael. What an amazing day that was!!! I hate not to be with him already as he is changing so much everyday and we are missing it. I learned that over Christmas he started walking but he is still wobbly. I would have loved to see him take his first steps but there will be so many other firsts we will get to share in. We can't wait!!

His medical is only 11 days away. The countdown is on. We're just hoping and praying that all goes well and things move along quickly. I've heard a huge range of timeframes from the medical appointment to the call to travel. As quickly as one week and as long as eight weeks or even longer!! I'm really hoping that we can travel in February so everyone please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Happy New Year's to everyone and hopefully this is the year many of you are matched with your children and bring them home. I know that this year is going to be a busy, fun filled and totally amazing year for us and I'm so glad that it's finally starting!!!! We'll soon be packing our bags!!!