Traveling with children

We have been trying to decide what we should do when we travel to Vietnam to bring our child home. We really cannot imagine leaving our other 2 children (who will be age 7.5 & 5 by then I'm guessing) at home for 3 wks while we travel the world. I think it would be really hard for them, but probably even harder for us. I've left them for up to a week before but my husband was always home to be with them... same with when he goes away - I am there. As much as they are independent little people - having to miss us for 3 wks in a row seems a bit harsh.

So the dilemma is deciding whether they come with us to Vietnam. It would undoubtedly be an amazing experience and a wonderful learning experience too. Anytime a child can see a different part of the world and learn different cultures, geography, etc it is a good thing. More importantly, they will be with us to welcome their new sibling into our family... that is a big deal for them - not just Mom and Daddy. The flight would be very difficult for them - 20 hrs approximately I think. Also, I'm not sure what all there is for them to 'play' in Vietnam. We'd have to get resourceful and research what to do to keep them busy.

My mother has excitedly offered to travel with us and look after Keaton & Chloe for all the times we will be busy at appointments, and enjoying time with our young baby. I wouldn't even consider doing it without my mom. I know that it is going to be a huge adjustment for our child and he/she may be very needy, scared, etc at first. The baby will have to be our number one priority while traveling and so having Mom there would be a big necessity and God send.

So, I guess I'm posing the question to anyone reading that has an opinion or experience with this. Have you travelled with your older children when adopting overseas? If you did not, I'd love to hear your side too. We are finding it hard to decide what to do.

If we do not take K & C with us, my mother has offered to take a leave of absence from work to stay with the kids for 3 wks so they can sleep and live at home. This is a huge blessing and definetly puts my mind at ease should we decide to go without them to VN. Knowing they can go to school from our house and be comfortable at 'home' is great.

Undecided. I guess we have some time to figure it out.

Life at the Lightfoots

I have another blog that I add to all the time. It documents our busy life as the parent of 2 very active children. It documents our love for them. It is a place to let our family and friends in on what we are up to. It is a place for me to throw all the photos I love taking of our life. I thought I'd share it here for any of our family/friends that don't know about it. We've had it for 3 years now (give or take) and it is really fun to look back on life and all the things that lead us to this point in our lives now :)

http://www.leslielightfoot.typepad.com/

Olivia's Video

A month ago (or maybe a bit more) I joined a Waiting Mommies group for the Greater Toronto Area. Yes, I know I am no where near Toronto (unless you count 2+ hours east of it 'close') but luckily they welcomed me with open arms and I am meeting and getting to know so many wonderful adoptive moms. Many are adopting through China and some are adopting with Vietnam. At the latest dinner I attended at the Pickel Barrel I was lucky enough to sit beside Debbie, who had her daughter Olivia along with her. Olivia had been home from China with Deb and her husband for 1+ months at the time of the dinner. She is an adorable little girl and had me enchanted.
Debbie had this video made and has it linked from her blog (see my side bar for her blog information). I thought I'd share it here, because quite frankly - it makes me giddy to watch it every time. It is a great video showing their journey to China to bring home their beautiful girl, Olivia.

Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aN6A9zHRTE

The sights of Vietnam

Here is a wonderful link to amazing photographs (over 700 to be exact) of Vietnam's beautiful and vast landscapes, as well as a glimpse into Vietnamese culture, the warm & friendly people of the county, and what we are looking so forward to visiting when we finally travel to bring our child home. I looked at all these photos with such awe and enthusiam... it will be quite the journey. I am falling in love with this country - the more I read and see about it. I know visiting will be one of the highlights of my life. It will be a blessing to visit a place so far away, so different from here in Canada and yet so universally the same in many ways. I hope we will have a chance to really learn while we are there and really get to know the people.
Until then I'll continue pouring over the internet looking for ways to feel connected to this part of my life and the future it holds.
http://www.terragalleria.com/scripts/dbsearch.php?o=&new=n&s=21&row=4&col=5&d=tiny&q=vietnam&t=allp1&p=&a=1&row=4&col=5&d=tiny&q=vietnam&t=allp1&p=&a1&row=4&col=5&d=tiny&q=vietnam&t=allp1&p=&a=
Again, take a look at the site if you have a chance. If you love photography or world geography & travel, you could spend hours looking over the photos. There are a lot of beautiful photos of China here as well, for my China mom-to-be friends :)

I love reading other people's adoption blogs

It is like a wonderful reminder that we are not alone... that other families make families the same way we've chosen to expand ours. I get extremely excited when I read news that they are traveling to bring their families home and I love reading how different families prepare for their adoption. I've learned so much from the Internet... thank God for the www.

Lately I've been on this site a lot http://jo-theroad.blogspot.com/- catching up as this couple travels to Vietnam to bring home their child. I'm learning about the experience of traveling to our child's birth country (something I cannot WAIT to do!), the Giving and Recieving Ceremony, the stay in country, etc. I just love reading it all.

Happy mail day...

We finally got our fingerprints back in the mail today. So... we can now finish up our homestudy - that was all we were waiting on. Hoping our social worker can whip it all together quick so we can start our dossier!!!!!!!!

A surprise phone call

Tomorrow is Chloe's 4th birthday... where has the time gone? Anyhow, big pool party tomorrow so I trek off to the grocery store in search of all things junk food (hot dogs, marshmellows, candy for pinata, etc etc etc). As I wheel my cart to the hot dog bun aisle, my cell phone starts ringing. Ok, the fact that I even had my cell phone with me is surprising. The fact that it was not out of battery is beyond surprising. My cell phone NEVER rings so it took me by surprise.
On the other end was our adoption agency, TDH. They were calling us to let us know that we are now off the waiting list and officially on the Primary list. This is BIG. This means we need to hustle and finish up our homestudy (we are still waiting on those stinkin' fingerprints from RCMP) so we can begin preparing our dossier to submit to Vietnam. OMG OMG OMG. I was so happy to hear this news. We weren't expecting to be off the waiting list until late July. YAY!

(Note: Basically - there is a primary list of families and it was full when we got started in mid-April, so we had to go on the waiting list and wait for approx. 10 families with our agency to complete their adoptions before we'd go onto the primary list.)

I am beyond excited. Shaune is beyond happy! I guess because it is the next BIG step for us on this long, unpredictable and extremely amazing journey.

Still waiting...

always waiting, right?
We are still waiting on our fingerprinting to come back form RCMP before we can complete our home study and continue on with our adoption (dossier, etc).
Everything seems to take a long time.
I have a hard time with the fact that so much in our lives will happen between now and when we finally hold our child for the first time. We have a disney cruise and Walt Disney World scheduled and booked for November, we have a summer full of fun at the pool and probably some day trips to Canada's Wonderland, Toronto Zoo, etc. We have our family haywagon ride and a beautiful Ontario Thanksgiving, we had mother's day and probably will have another one before he/she is home with us. Christmas will feel odd as a family of four - now that we are starting to see ourselves as a family of (soon-to-be) five. Life marches on and in my head everyday is a picture and thoughts of a child that may not even be born yet. I try to guess what our child will be like, how old he/she will be, how our other children will love her and welcome her. The waiting is just getting started. There is indeed so much for us to do between now and THEN. A great life to live. But with every day of waiting I think of this child, of this country we've never visited, of a culture I'm just starting to learn about and understand... and the wait gets harder.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will indeed be only a year from start to finish. Even sooner would be a beautiful blessing and surprise. I'm also preparing myself for a longer wait. We can do it. This child will be most certainly be worth it. Until then, I'm going to continue to keep myself very busy in the daily 'stuff' that make life great. And I'll keep the hope that not just our family, but all the families waiting to give a child their love - will be brought good news and less waiting very soon.