Immigration Miracle

We changed Marie's name from Asnakech to Marie Asnakech after we adopted her. Unfortunately I did this AFTER applying for her citizenship card which was my bad. So, we had one set of documentation that had one name and another that had the other name. Under normal circumstances this would be fine, however since we are crossing many borders soon with our big move to Tanzania, I thought it would make life way simpler to have just one name for the child that looks nothing like her parents (especially travelling in countries where adoption is an unheard of concept). I called immigration and asked how long this would take. I was told that it would be 10 months to a year... not good news since we were leaving in 8. I asked if they could expidite the process and was told that unless someone was dying, there was no way... The trouble is that I had to send back her first immigration card and run the risk of having none. GULP. I wrote a letter and with great treppidition put that and the card in the mail. A month and a half later, I had the new card in my hands with the correct information!!!! The funny part is that two days later I received a letter from CIC stating that they had received my application and would process it in the next ten months! I laughed with tears of relief streaming down my face. I really think they have no idea what they put us through, but am grateful none the less for Marie's paperwork to FINALLY all be in order. :-)

Marie and Marie

Last spring we travelled to Calgary because we knew that my Oma was dying. I wanted to see her one more time and wanted the kids to see her one more time. Marie is named after Oma and Oma cared very much for Marie. I didn't realise how special it was to her that Marie was named after her until after the fact. Oma told me, that she was sad to not be able to see her grow up.

I was so glad that the kids each got to sit on her knee and say goodbye. The boys understood. They hugged her and kissed her and when I told Ryan it was time to say goodbye, he said "It's not goodbye mommy... we'll see eachother in heaven"... So they said their see-you-latters. It was a special easter. Today on face book I came across these pictures that my aunt had taken. I miss Oma, but at least I have little Marie to hold onto.

Canadian Citizenship DONE

Well we FINALLY got Marie's Canadian Citizenship done! Here she is holding her card: Part of what took so long was that she would not sit still to have her picture taken at least not with the standards they had... eyes open, facing forward, mouth closed, no smile etc etc. It took us three hours during 3 different sessions to get this done... I tried everything I could think of...

Some kids were just not made to sit still. Now we have to get her passport done...

A couple more pics

Thanks to our friend S for taking the pics! We were well overdue for having a family photos again.

Update

Well we past the one year mark and had Marie's 2nd birthday this spring. Time is flying by and our little girl is growing up before our very eyes. Not sure if anyone is still reading, but if you are, I thought you might enjoy a photo update of our munchkins.

Marie the computer geek

Well Marie takes after dad I guess. She loves to press the buttons on the keyboard... and sometimes if you aren't paying enough attention, right in the middle of an important document... the power switch.

Ucluelet

We were having difficulty finding time to just be together without having an agenda. So at the last minute we decided to take the kids to Ucluelet for the weekend. For those who don't know Ucluelet is on Vancouver Island's west coast near Tofino. We had an amazing weekend. The weather was fantastic and so were the kids. We rented a cabin on the beach and just enjoyed being a family. The kids were very impressed with giant waves and the vast expanses of beach. Paul and Ryan claimed squatters rights in a driftwood fort and enjoyed playing their morning away making "additions". Marie stomped and splashed in every single puddle she could find including the great puddle called the pacific. I was very glad to have packed the mud pants for all five of us :-). The kids were excellent even on the four + hour drive and we have resolved to do this kind of thing a little more often.