Grayson ... REALLY?!

Okay, look *some* of you have been voting for the name Grayson on our blog.  Stop it.  Seriously.  Why would you vote for the name Grayson... its, like, the boy version of Grace!  And I think we've covered how I feel about that.

Do I look like a Grayson?

My father emailed me - pointing out that Luka would be a great name, because it is Croatian.  However, Luke would be a poor choice since "it is the plural form of Luka."

I still think Beck is a pretty cool name - although only 2 people agree with me on that.  And I think little Bing could look like a Beck.

Thank you EVERYONE for NOT voting for Maddox!  Hopefully there are not enough Maddox parents out there to get angry at me (unlike the Grace parents...) - but Maddox is just a crazy name.  What would it be shortened to?  Mad?  Maddy?  Mad Max?!  Oh!  Mel Gibson when he was cool!

Ooooh, Mel when he was cool!

Which brings me to Kai.  I like Kai.  It is similar to Kaida.  Aaaah, Kaida... the name which should have been.  But my wife didn't really see the point of removing one Chinese name, only to replace it with ANOTHER Chinese name.

So, where are we with our childs name?  I'm not sure yet.  We've narrowed it down to these 5 names, and I think there are only two on the list which are really gonna make it to the end... but let me paint a picture of how this is REALLY going to go down.


... fast forward a few months...


Wife:  Hey baby!
Me:  Hey!  How is China?
Wife:  Horrible!  You should have come!  Oh WHY oh WHY did I come and NOT you!  You would have traveled better than me, you would have slept better than me, you can speak some Mandarin... I should  have stayed home with the other 4 children and YOU should have been here*.
Me:  I know.  I told you that.
Wife:  I'm so sorry.
Me:  I know.  I forgive you.
Wife:  We go pick up Bing tomorrow!
Me:  Awesome!  I'll be praying!  Call me as soon as you can!

... next day...


Wife:  YAY!  He is so beautiful!
Me:  Awesome!  So, which name are we going with?  Luka or Kai?
Wife:  I've decided to name him Horatio.
Me:  WHaaaaaaAAATTT?!??  What wasn't on the list!
Wife:  I know!  But you should see him!  He has the cutest little Horatio eyes!
Me:  You can't name him Horatio!  What, is he from Denmark?!?!
Wife:  No silly.  But you know, once you see your child, then you can name him!  Before you see him, you just don't know what he is...
Me: ... WHAT?!  Then WHY did you keep me up for HOURS each night going over the different names?  And saying them different ways?!  Luka!  LUKA!  Luuuuka!  LU-KA!  Luke.  Luuuuke.  LUKA!
Wife:  Oh you don't understand!  You're not a mother!
Me:  You can't name him Horatio.
Wife:  Oh look, there is the Citizenship paper on my desk... first name... H... O...
Me:  Don't do it!
Wife:  R... I...
Me:  Stop it!  Stop IT!  Go with Kai!  KAI!
Wife:  T...I...
Me:  A!  You're spelling it wrong!  It is HorAtio... you spelled it HorI...
Wife:  There!  DONE!


... some time latter...


Kids:  LOOK!  THERE IS MOMMY AND LITTLE HORATIO!!!  WELCOME HOME LITTLE HORATIO!!!!

... see... THAT is how it is going to do gown.  Don't believe me?  Just go read the last 2 1/2 years worth of blog posts.  *siiiiigh* 

Until then... I'm holding onto Kai.

* = HEY, this is MY fast forwarded future!  I can make it up however I want!

Camels, Fish, Bad Hair Days and Dads

Grandpa and Ping

My father is an interesting person.  Over the 34 odd years of which he has been my father (which also happens to be the number of years I've been his son), he has accomplished many things.

• He has immigrated from a warm European country to Northern Canada
• He started life in Canada working as a mechanic
• He wound up marring my mother 3 weeks (or something crazy like that) after they first met
• He bought a grocery store
• Sold the grocery store
• Started an insurance agency
• Got into real estate
• Had 4 children
• Started a computer store
• Married 40(ish) years (to the same woman)
• Went back to school and got a Masters in Theology
• Served as a Chaplin in at a Prison in Winnipeg
• And the list goes on...

You would *think* that with such a long list of accomplishments in his life, that he would have some treasured nuggets of wisdom to pass onto his children.  Especially when you consider the whole "Masters in Theology" thing.

Alas, growing up, I was left with such nuggets as :

• Son, even a fish would stay out of trouble if only he kept his mouth shut.  or,
• Son, trust in God, but tie up your camel.  or,
• Son, normally honesty is the best policy.  But only a fool tells his wife when she gets a bad hair cut.

Now, I'm not saying ALL advice bestowed upon me was bad.  In fact, although lacking in the poetry of Plato, Aristotle, or even Douglas Hofstadter - the advice normally given was correct, and quite useful (had I followed it in my youth).

I should also add that over the years, his advice has gotten better... or maybe I've gotten better at listening to it.  But anyway...

Recently, something happened at work which was down right ugly and unpleasant.  After suffering though what was probably my worst week professionally, I gave my Dad a call.  It was so wonderful to hear his sympathetic voice on the end of the line and to be able to say "I understand.  It will be OK" took away so much of the anxiety and worry I was feeling.  It was so freeing to be able to say "Dad, this sucks" and have someone you love and trust be a soft landing place - without judgement or anything like that.

How often do I take that for granted?

See, my father has taken the last 34 odd years of my life building that trust and love.  And I'm sure at times it wasn't easy.

That is what we are doing now with our children.  Now.  Every day just building that trust and love.  Biological or adopted.  So that one day... my child can call me up and say "Dad, this sucks".  

When that day comes, I will know that I have done my job as a father well.

More Random

YAY ME!

So my co-worker today was stuck standing talking to someone else while I sat comfy in a chair. Once I got up and realised that she was standing there waiting, I appologized in Chinese, and passed her the chair, saying "here, this is for you". She answered me in Chinese and thanked me, which I also answered in Chinese. She then said in English "You speak very good Chinese". I thanked her in Chinese then walked away.

While I was walking away, I thought to myself, "now wait a second, she told me in ENGLISH that I speak Good Chinese!"

IF she REALLY thought I spoke GOOD Chinese, she would have told me in CHINESE that I speak good Chinese.

It's like speaking slowly and loudly to a child because you don't think they can understand you...
"I. SAID. PLEASE. STOP. EATING. THE. TOILET, PAPER. ... BLINK TWICE IF YOU UN-DER-STAND ME!"

So I turned around, went back to where she was sitting and answered her in Chinese "I speak very good". TO which she laughed an answered me in Chinese "Yes, you speak very good Chinese".

Is it sad that I'm proud I could have a 4 sentence conversation in Chinese about a chair?
I suppose so. And really, this whole post if just kind of RANDOM anyway.

So, to that end, I'm just going to add ANOTHER random picture of SOME KID in a Foster Home in China... :-)

More Random Cuteness!

China Approval (conditional)!

March 03,2011 (ADOPTION AGENCY NAME): The application of (APPLICANT 1) and (APPLICANT 2) for adoption of Baby BING from (ORPHANAGE  INSTITUTION) province that you submitted was received. It is hereby advised that with a review of the Rehabilitation and Nurture Plan for the Child made by the family, the China Centre of Adoption Affairs agrees to move this application file into the procedure for adoption of special-need children. China Centre of Adoption Affairs Now Ontario just has to say yes...

So there we go... one step closer.  Now we just need the Ontario government to say yes.

uuuuuuh, you know IF this were OUR file.  Which I'm still not saying it IS or ISN'T.   ;-)
I mean, I'm just posting a random email, from a random InBox about an absolutely RANDOM topic.

My wife is still reallly bad at keeping secrets though...

I Can Neither Confirm...

... nor deny the the face that this here may and or may not be the child which we may and or may not be able to or not to adopt from China into our family.  All I can say, is that this here is a super duper cute little guy, who just HAPPENS to be from China.  And who HAPPENS to be in our allowable age range.  And who HAPPENS to match ALL our requirements to adopt.

Baby Bing

... you know... IF we could adopt him.  I'm just saying.  He is a cute little guy.

Oh, and his file is locked.  ;-)  But I can't say by WHO.

And I CANT neither confirm nor deny the fact that WE happen to have a file locked... OR, maybe not.  I'm not at liberty to say.  ;-)

There.  Glad we got that out in the open.  So... we have NO NEWs.

... nothing.

Nope.

Nothing to see here... move along citizen.

Now... back to waiting...