if the dress fits, wear it

Last night I hauled out the suitcase that stores all the gifts and trinkets we brought home from China, for our Lilah. There are so many memories in that suitcase! Among the trinkets and gifts, I have several little qípáos for our girl to wear. So this morning, when I showed her this black one, she was thrilled. This afternoon I finally got around to ironing it and put it on her, she was so proud of herself! It's the first time she's asked me to take her upstairs to the full length mirror (in our bedroom) so she could see herself better. The photo below is of her rubbing her belly. She was rubbing her belly and saying "Lilah's Chinese dress". So sweet. She will be excited when she gets to wear it again this coming Saturday for the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. And also to Church on Sunday.

decorating for the mid-autumn (moon) festival

Oh how we love to decorate! Today Lilah and had fun hanging up these little Chinese paper lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie), also called the Moon Festival. It's the second most important Chinese festival, after Chinese New Year. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. This year it falls on October 3rd, that's Saturday coming.

The festival is celebrated by gathering with the whole family to enjoy the full moon, the brightest moon of the year. Moon cakes are served and children run around playing with their lanterns. Lilah and I will try our hand at making moon cakes this week. I bought a wooden mold online and it arrived last week; now I just need to choose a recipe. Fun stuff!

[ more pictures here ]

mackenzie king estate

Since it was a beautiful sunny fall day, we decided to check out the Mackenzie King Estate. Once upon a time the estate was owned by William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's longest serving Prime Minister for 22 years. He died in 1950, unmarried, and bequeathed his estate in the Gatineau Hills to all Canadians. How nice is that. We followed up our lovely stroll through the estate with lunch at the Café Soup‘Herbe in Chelsea. Oh and after lunch, lest I forget - not, I got a to-die-for 'Jack Mac's Brownie Attack' at an ice-cream shop called La Cigale. See the evidence here. It's a must try; the homemade brownie, vanilla ice-cream, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and toasted almonds tasted a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! Drool. Lilah on the other hand wasn't particular and much preferred her vanilla ice-cream cone. Our girl loves loves loves vanilla ice-cream. All our pictures from today are here.

you're everything I never knew I always wanted

a beautiful memories quilt

This beautiful memories quilt was given to Lilah by the Christians at our Church, the River Road Gospel Hall, shortly after we came home from China. Each piece of material that makes up the four hearts has a little hand written note of welcome, love, encouragement or a Bible verse from each family, to our little Lilah. I just want to say a special thank you to Janet, Marion, Sue and Ann for the time and work they put into this treasure. It's such a beautiful idea. Some day, all being well, Lilah will read these little notes and will know how much she is loved. Thinking about it makes me teary eyed. The prayers and support we were shown by everyone that signed the quilt was truly a gift in itself. We are so grateful to have such a wonderful extended family in Christ. Here are a few of the verses on the quilt:

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12

Children are an heritage of the LORD
Psalm 127:3

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
ll Peter 3:18

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.
Psalm 28:7

[ more pictures here ]

paperwork galore

Paperwork. I only thought I had a mountain of it to do before little Lilah came along. Not that I'm minimising the 'before' paperwork part, because it was HUGE! I've just forgotten, a little. There's something to be said for time passing and a fading memory! Today was a rainy day, our swimming lesson was cancelled because of a pool fouling incident? Don't know how or why, but it sure sounds gross. Anyway, I like rainy days to a certain extent, I get things done that I wouldn't normally. And those 'things' are not running around with an umbrella jumping in puddles, although we did that too, and it was very fun. I digress. Moving on to paperwork stuff, but first a photo of my sweet girl singing in the rain today. I absolutely adore her, truly.

Six Month Placement Report:
Check. We met with our social worker on July 7th to discuss Lilah's progress and how we were all adjusting. We passed that exam, especially when Lilah fell asleep in her Baba's arms, so sweet. Even though we met with our social worker in July, we didn't have all the required documents we needed to submit our 6 month placement report until last week. That's how long it took the Ophthalmologist to send the paper, showing Lilah's clean bill of eye health, to our GP. I'm thrilled that it's all in our agency's hands now. Phew.

Canadian Citizenship:
Half Check. I can't believe it took me this long, but I finally got Part 1 of Lilah's citizenship papers mailed away today. It's the easy part, just verifying that we (as Lilah's parents) are indeed Canadian. Hopefully it won't take long until we get the letter that says, 'sure you are, now go ahead and file Part 2'. That being said, I need to start working on Part 2, so I'm all set to go when the letter arrives. Currently Lilah has a Chinese passport and a Canadian permanent resident card, so we can't leave Canada without a visa. (Oh how I miss those mini-spur-of-the-moment vacations to the States!) When Lilah becomes a Canadian citizen she will have to give up her Chinese passport, which to me is sad. Colin and I are dual citizens, British and Canadian. I can't imagine giving up my passport, particularly for the country I was born in. Oh well, I guess there are laws for a reason.

Name Change:
When Lilah gets her Canadian citizenship certificate, (they say it takes about 9 months to a year), we will then have to start the process to legally change her name. She is still officially Dong, Xiao Tong. All those first hospital and doctor appointments we had together, we would almost miss our turn because the receptionist would call out Xiao. Believe me, not a lot of people know how to pronounce Xiao (shee'ou), myself included, for a while! And just in case you're wondering, here's a link with an audio on how to pronounce it. It sounds beautiful.

Canadian Passport:
After citizenship and the name change is done, then we get to apply for her passport. I don't think it'll be this year, hopefully next?!

British Citizenship & Passport:
This will be more paperwork for another rainy day, once all of the above is complete.

never a dull moment, at the farm

It sure didn't feel like it with the humidy, but today was the first day of Fall and we celebrated by going to the farm, again! You might think to yourself, are you gals not bored of going to the farm. Believe me, having a toddler is never boring and going to the farm isn't either. We had a whole new level of conversation today; as to why animals, say a horse for instance, doesn't wear a diaper. Now you're really thinking, never a dull moment!

Lilah learned the art of 'rock climbing' this summer. See pictures below. When she gets to the top, she turns to me and shouts "Hooray", all the while applauding herself. She's as proud as a peacock. She then rewards herself by coming down the slide. This game is played over and over again, especially if she's the only one around = no distractions!

The tally-ho wagon ride is over for the summer season, however the wagon is still outside in the paddock. So Lilah wanted to climb on and sit on the seat, well maybe 'sit' isn't the right word to use. Here's the scenario: She's sitting on the seat, then stands up (on the seat), puts her hands on her chest and says, "Lilah no seat belt". Oh the things she comes out with! She's an endless source of entertainment to the easily amused. Yeah, that would be me!

Working the fake smile!

a special thanks to Alex & Glenda for the sweet little dress Lilah is wearing
[ all our pictures from today are here ]

sunday cuteness

[ more pictures here ]

baba & mama

Lilah is such a social girl now, in playgroup she runs off to play with the other children and she generally copies everything they do! She is totally at the stage of monkey see, monkey do! Which is sometimes a little scary, I might add! This past summer has made some vast changes on her, she isn't the shy clingy girl we once knew. One of the things that totally thrills us and sometimes brings a tear, is when she stops what she's doing, points back to us and tells whomever she's with (friend and stranger alike) that we're her Baba & Mama.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres
{ love never fails }
l corinthians 13:7,8

colouring

This is Lilah's first major colouring job. She did it at Chapters today, after listening to the, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" story. It will definitely be gracing our fridge. Lilah's first piece of art. As a side note, I coloured the green shrubs, I couldn't resist, she said "Mama help".

It would have been nice if the lady telling the story today was as animated as this guy, the author, Michael Rosen! Lilah might actually have sat up and listened. Maybe. Maybe not.

chapters

Chapters is one of my top ten favourite stores. Lilah and I used to love hanging out there in the winter when the weather wasn't that great. Today we spent two hours in the children's area; playing with the train tracks, building puzzles and reading books. A lot of books!

On the way out I saw a notice on their message board for storytelling sessions. They happen every Tuesday at 10:30am for ages 2-4 years. I guess we'll be back again tomorrow, and every Tuesday from here on in.

my first sunday school class

Well today was Lilah's first day at Sunday School, her first three quarters of an hour without us, with possibly the sweetest teacher she'll ever have, Janet. I hung around outside the classroom door for a while to make sure she was okay, but I didn't need to, she was confident enough on her own. I think building Lilah up for situations like this really helps. We've been chatting more recently about what she'll be doing and who'll be in her class. Janet said she was a very good girl, we're just not too sure if she would say otherwise! On the way home Lilah was allowed to eat her prize, a whole packet of fun size smarties. Now tell me, what is there to not like about Sunday School!

Early this morning she was saying hi to her Na on the phone and we told her to tell Na she was starting Sunday School today. She said "Lilah Sunday School" and then followed up that statement with "Good Fun". Colin and I thought that was so funny! Looking back, we can hardly believe how much she has progressed in 9 months, we are so proud of our daughter.

It's sweet, in all the pictures her little pink Bible is either in her hand or by her side!
[ all pictures here ]

porch sale and church bbq

Our neighbourhood has a porch sale on this same Saturday every year. We live quite close to the universities, so it is really great for the students that need some deals on odds and ends to furnish their apartments. There are usually lots of toys for sale too, so this morning we took a walk around and came across a Playskool Mr. Potato Head Spud Buds set. It was as good as new and all in its original carrying case for a hefty price tag of $2. I tell you, it was a steal, and our little Miss Lilah has gotten a lot of play out of it already! She also (very eagerly) got her face painted again, she skipped on the butterfly this time and just got some cute 'fairy eyes'!

Today was also the annual BBQ and open house at our Church. It was a really great day, the weather was simply perfect and there were lots of fun crafts and activities for the children. Lilah especially loved the abundance of balloons and of course, running around after the other little ones. She is such a social girl now! Here's a photo of her with her 'pinkt' balloon. I don't think I've mentioned this on her blog before, she knows most of her colours now, including; black, white, red, green, yellow, blue, pink and purple. I love it when she says a colour, her face lights up as she says the colour and then 'yeahhhhhhhh' right after, all the while clapping her hands like a mad woman! I really must get that captured on video soon.

thankful thursday

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2

My trust should be in the Lord at all times and in every circumstance.
I am thankful for His promise, to become my strength, my song and my salvation.
That is enough. It is all that I need.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is another reason for 'Thankful Thursday'. Congratulations to John & Monika on the adoption of their beautiful son, Alexey Daniel. We met this sweet couple at the waiting families dinners, while we were waiting for our Lilah. We are so thrilled for them. God is good.

first swim lesson

We started swim lessons this morning - the *swim* term is used very loosely - with the 'mom and tot' group at the local swimming pool, and Lilah LOVED it. Even more fun than the outdoor pool and the lake, because in this case, the water is actually warm! She was so thrilled she was squealing with delight. She blew bubbles in the water and we all sang songs while splashing hands and kicking feet, Lilah also came down the little slide a couple of times into my arms/the water. She definitely has a lot of love for the water and believe me, she was not amused when the half hour was over! Half an hour though, you must admit that is kinda short! Well, it's what we'll be doing every Wednesday morning for the next three months, and I know I'll have a very thrilled little girl each Wednesday morning when I remind her!