December 2004

My Trip to China

Caitlyn (8) travelled in December with her mother, Sharon Finlay, to see her sister, Christyn. Caitlyn allowed us to peek into her diary.

My name is Caitlyn (a.k.a. trouble No.1), I met a friend named Isabella (trouble No.2). Together we played and had lots of fun. In Chongqing we enjoyed playing with Albert (a.k.a. snowman) he was so much fun. Isabella and I would call for him by looking under his door at the hotel room. We also enjoyed playing with Bob Stevens (a.k.a. Mr. Trouble) we had lots of fun on the bus. Isabella and I also got him in trouble with Yulin. I enjoyed meeting all the nice people and I had fun with all the babies. I tried to make them laugh. I love my sister Cristyn, she is so much fun, I like playing with her.

Here is my journal of my trip:
Dec 10. I am going on a airplane. I am going to Vancouver. I am leaving at 12:15 p.m. with my mom. I did not like it when we were coming down from the air. At lunch time on the airplane I had chicken, potatoes, cheese and melba toast. In Vancouver we went to dinner with Albert, Melinda, Jim & Leslie. I had beef noodle soup. I came to my hotel and brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Dec.11. Today I am going to Beijing. I am on a airplane. It is lots of fun on the airplane.

Dec 12. We are still in the airplane. We will be arriving to Beijing in the afternoon. I am going to a hotel now.

Dec 13. I made a new friend named Isabella. She likes to play with me. We like to play monkey in the middle. We also like to play a game that has lots of toys but they’re animals. She is really fun to play with. I like to play with her because she brought lots of toys to play with in China. Today I am going to Chongqing. I arrived at 10:00. My mom and I went to pick up my baby sister. She is so cute. She is fun to play with. I feed her. I have fun feeding her. I like my baby sister.

Dec.14. Today we stayed in the hotel. My sister had to see the doctor. I played with Isabella.

Dec.15 At breakfast I had watermelon and other kinds of food. I had lots of fun eating in Chongqing. Today I went to the City Hall and a museum. We also saw the shipping boats.

Dec.16. Today I went to the rural area of Chongqing. I fed a peacock. I saw lots of dogs. I also got a painting of my name.

Dec.17. Today I am going back to Beijing. I am going on a airplane. I am going to another hotel. I have a crib in the hotel room for my sister to sleep in. For lunch I had a sandwich and for dinner I had soup.

Dec.18. Today I went to the great wall. I saw a camel and a horse. It was very cold. We also went to the jade factory.

Dec.19. Today we did not go to Summer Palace. We went to the indoor market and the grocery store. I also went to Mcdonald’s and had french fries.

Dec. 20. Today we went to the doctor’s office for Cristyn’s medical.

Dec. 21. Today we went to the Silk factory. We saw how the silk was made. We saw the silk worms. Some were twins. There were lots of pretty things at the silk factory.
We also went to the pearl factory and the indoor market. Mommy was lost when she came out of the mall and I found the bus.

Dec. 22. Today I went to the CCAA with Yulin. We also went to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. It was very cold and snowing. At dinner time we had lots of fun. We saw a magic show and I was up on the stage 4 times. I had lots of fun with Bob. We had really good cake too.

Dec. 23. Today I go home. I can’t wait to see my dad. I said good bye to my friend Isabella.

Caitlyn Finlay

Journey to Faith in Chengdu

Jim & Leslie Muirhead of Hamilton ON offered to talk about their adoption experience

Our journey started last Christmas when our friend Karen in Montreal sent us a special Christmas message. We met Karen in the mid 90’s –on the internet as we waited for our first referral for our daughter Thea, then in the Vancouver airport en route to China. Karen wrote to tell us that she and her husband had adopted again – a special needs boy. She went on to let her friends know about all the SN children waiting for families and how some might never be adopted as so many families wanted healthy children. Jim said ‘We could do that!’ Leslie said ‘Remember how old we are??’

We knew FOI was accepting Waiting Child files so we talked to them about applying for a child who had special needs but who could live independently as an adult. We updated our homestudy and FOI submitted our application for a special needs child with the understanding that we would be considered for any WC files they received. Lo and behold! days after our file went to China, FOI received new Waiting Child files. Bob called to ask if we would consider Yang Chun Chun, a girl born April 2003 with a cleft lip/palate. FOI sent her referral photos and a comprehensive medical report which we had evaluated by our family doctor. We accepted the proposal and immediately started the next round of paperwork.

We had hoped to travel before the end of the year but realistically doubted we would. News flash! – we were using Family Outreach International and they always continue to amaze us by working miracles. We left for Beijing with 11 other families on December 11. The other families travelled to Chongquing, a city just 350 km east of our destination of Chengdu.

Back at our hotel, we gradually got to know our little Faith Alice. She was truly tiny, only 12 pounds at 20 months, but she is determined and a happy eater. We spent the next few days getting to know Faith while exploring her beautiful city. Winter is very foggy in Chengdu – Emily says the local folklore has the dogs barking for the sun. The city is quite large and westernized as it is the gateway to Tibet. Many of the buildings are colourfully painted and there is a beautiful bamboo park with hundreds of varieties of bamboo – very peaceful. It is also home to the Chengdu Panda Preserve which we visited. A trip to the Wenshu Monastery, a large Buddhist temple, resulted in Emily kneeling down and blessing Faith before thousands of golden Buddhas. When we left Emily at the airport to return to Beijing, all of us had tears in our eyes – Emily had changed from a guide to a special friend who explained to many curious Chinese why we were adopting the little girl with the ‘rabbit mouth’. We suddenly realized that we weren’t seeing that cleft lip anymore – just the little one with the beautiful sparkling eyes and determined spirit.

We were warmly received by our fellow parents with their beautiful daughters and began the Beijing tours– Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Great Wall and Summer Palace. And then, Bob quietly asked if we would be willing to accompany he and Yulin on a visit to the Chinese Centre for Adoption Affairs with another family as well as an 8 year old returning to adopt a sister. YES! Family Outreach wanted to express their support of the Waiting Child program as well as show how well the children were adjusting to life in Canada.

So, we took a wild taxi ride in a Beijing snow storm (1’ of snow in a huge city with no snow ploughs or shovels) – it was an event to see residents clearing the snow with wide bamboo brooms. We met with the director of the Tomorrow Fund and then were treated to a tour of the entire facility. We saw the process of how a file enters the Centre and travels from initial intake to final filing after the 12 month follow-up report is received. We met the woman who completed the paperwork to allow us to adopt Yang Chun Chun – she recognized Faith on sight! And while we had the process of follow-up reports explained to us, one of the clerks put up a screen saver featuring adopted children. We could have watched those pictures all day – then we had our final surprise – Maggie McNeil’s picture appeared on screen. Maggie was adopted through FOI in 2000 when we adopted our daughter Miriam. Amazing!

We are home now with our lovely daughter who is delighted to discover she has two older Chinese sisters – Thea, 8 and Miriam, 4 as well as a 25 year old brother, Graeme. We are well aware of the serious health issues Faith faces in the years ahead. However, we have support from family, friends and our family medical team as well as support from contacts made on the Internet and always Yulin and Bob at FOI.

Leslie & Jim