Travel Group

Nanny framed Mercy!!!!

Got an email from Nanny Allen and she told us that she had Mercy "framed". She found this cute little frame and put her in it. I think Nanny is excited about meeting her new little granddaughter. The only one in the Allen family. Mercy will be a great new addition to the grandsons already!!!! Big cousin Jason and Ben will have to get used to having a little girl cousin in Canada!!!!

Got a great pile of clothes from Auntie Kathleen from Mercy's little cousin Katie. Thanks Katie. Mercy will be sure to show them all off!!! Auntie Kathleen has great taste in clothes!!!! Mercy is getting quite a wardrobe already!!! Just like her mom!!!!

Travel Meeting

Well it's been a while since I entered on my blog. So much to do lately and things to look after before we go.


We had a great visit with our travel group today in Toronto for our travel meeting. It was a very informative couple of hours. We had special guests who brought their son "Justin" who was just a little cutie and very smart. Quite the little boy. He was a Fuling kid. I see why they say that Fuling Kids are Great!!! So impressive. Lisa his mom gave us a good insight into the trip and some tips on things to take and see when we are in China. We had a lot of information given to us about the trip and also were surprised to learn that we fly to Chongqing in the morning on Sunday, July 8 and get our babies that afternoon. So soon!! We get to stay in Chongqing and do things and we are hoping to get a visit to the orphanage, which has to be confirmed yet. We are even going to be staying at a Holiday Inn!!!



We will be privileged to see places in Beijing like the Summer Palace, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City, and of course the Great Wall. We will get to go shopping at different jewellry factories and see other places of interest along the way. Sounds like a great trip overall. We are praying that all the adults and children stay healthy and are able to stay cool through this trip. I heard about some UV umbrellas that you can buy when there to keep the heat off!! Count me in!!!! Don't like to get too much sun. Gotta take sun screen for us and little one while we are there. Don't want little Mercy suffering either.


Our travel date is July 3 to July 20. We will be home on the Friday night. We are going a couple days early to Beijing to get over jet lag etc. and scout out the area. Maybe we will even see an Acrobats show there.


Hope to post a pic of our travel group later on my blog.

My 2 Cents Worth (by Mercy's Dad)

Well, I am new to this blog thing but I just wanted to put a few words down. As you can well imagine, I am very anxious to bring our little one home and start our new life together. I have never travelled overseas before, so this whole trip is going to be an adventure for me. Being in a foreign country, seeing my daughter for the first time as she's being handed to her mommy, it's all just overwhelming to think about sometimes. I hope I can keep the video camera steady when the big day comes.

It's been so long since this whole process started that it's hard to believe that it's actually happening in only a few weeks time. All the times we've enjoyed spending with other people's children and now to think that we have one of our very own to bring up and enjoy. Very exciting!!

That's my 2 cents worth from a soon-to-be dad's point of view. All I know is that I am going to try my hardest to be the best dad she could ever imagine. I already love her to pieces!

Mother's Day

So it was a great Mother's Day for me. We celebrated with my brother and his wife and her sister and husband and kids and an aunt and the grandmas. There were 4 children all keeping us busy and entertained. My mother was given a nice framed picture of the "Grankids" and my brother had even managed to get our daughter Mercy in the picture frame. More pics to come Nana!!! It was such a great gesture and it made things so real!!! I even got a Mommy-to-be Mother's Day card!!! Thanks Chris and Kathleen for thinking of me!!! These are special keepsakes I will treasure. Children are such fun at this age. Liam was the big boy of the group and kept the little ones entertained. Even little Jake was in on the screaming with joy.

It was a wonderful day I will remember always!!! Thanks to my family for making it special for me.

MIW Dinner

Well what a wonderful night it was meeting all my mommy friends again for our MIW dinner. We met at the Pickle Barrel in Yorkdale. It was a perfect spot and the restaurant even had enough room for the whole 23 + 3 kids lot of us. We had a chance to meet some of the new babies like Olivia, Ava and Samara. They were all so cute and had so much fun together running around the table. Mommy Jill was kind enough to even give them some little toys to play with. She even brought the mommy's a great little treat of Chinese tea. Jill is so thoughtful!!! Thanks again Jill.

We had some mommy's as far as New York come to our dinner this time. I got to meet Nicole for the first time and she shared with us about her little Vietnamese baby boy she will soon get to meet. She had a great little album of pics to show us. He will be much younger than our babies probably will be. She is very brave!!!!

I was able to pick the brain of both Debbie and Karen about their trip and adventure and they offered some very helpful info. Thanks ladies!!! I hope I remember some of it when I finally get to China!!!

All in all the evening was a huge success and we made more friends. They're a great bunch of ladies!! Thank too Catherine for organizing it all. You are such a social convener!!!

Well there has been so much to do these days!!! Duplicating our China Pearl's picture a million times and passing it to anyone interested!!! We met with Deborah at Open Arms on Sunday night and got the first sight of little Mercy. We fell in love right away. She is about 17 lbs. or so already and no doubt will be at least 20 by the time we get her. The report on her was great and I noted on her medical for ears and blood pressure that they stated "no cooperative". I assume she doesn't like the fussing and just wants to play!!!! That's ok there will be lots of time down the road to see a doctor and I am sure she will be given a good going over then!

We got our final paperwork done and it's going back for the Ministry to approve etc. The next thing will be our travel meeting with our group. We are all so pumped now. The children are all so cute. Can't wait to meet them all. We have had so many people congratulating us about our daughter Mercy and asking about a baby shower etc. It is a bit overwhelming. It is just starting to sink in now. The first few days were a big foggy!! It will be a very special Mother's Day for me, as technically I am a mom right now. Yippee!!!

I appreciate everyone's well wishes and support and trust that I can share in other's moments as well when you all get your referrals. You just can't imagine how you will feel.

Looking forward to our MIW dinner this Sat. This time I won't be "mystery mom" as the word is out now. Can't wait to take and be in the pictures this time. I'm so looking forward to meeting some new MIW and some old friends from previous. We are getting to be quite the group now. We may have to reserve a whole restaurant next time!!! It's amazing how many people are in the same boat as us. Who would have thought that there would be so many other people interested in receiving these precious little ones from China!!!