Referral pictures arrive!

On Monday, December 3rd our Referral Package was delivered by UPS.
I waited “calmly” all morning – it felt so surreal…
sitting in our living room,

waiting to see pictures of our babies for the first time..
As soon as the package arrived I called Chris at work
and he came home as quickly as he could.
We decided that the girl whose picture we saw first
would be given the name, “Angelina”.
We had chosen this name months earlier
as we wanted a name

that reflected the importance of Angels in our life.
The other twin would be named “Christalina”.
We choose this name over the course of the weekend
after finding out we were getting twins.
I wanted a name that was connected to “Christos”
so we chose “Christalina”.
Together we opened the parcel.
The first picture we saw was of “Yong Ri”
so she became “Angelina Jasmine Yong Ri”.
Next we saw the picture of “Yong Yue”
So she became “Christalina Jade Yong Yue”.
Then there was a picture of the two girls together.
We just stared & stared at the pictures –

we could not believe how beautiful they were.

After reading through all of their information I

took their photos and made copies
to give to family & friends and to put in their lifebooks.
Then we started the process
of preparing the baby room for twins.
We put up a second crib
and I hung the felt Moon at the head of Christalina’s crib
and the felt sun at the head of Angelina’s bed.
A few days later I was sharing the referral information with
a Chinese friend and she said,
“do you know what their Chinese names mean?”…
“Yong Ri” means “Eternal Sun” and
“Yong Yue” means “Eternal Moon”
We loved their Chinese names so decided to keep them
in full along with the names we were giving to them.
(The twins called each other “Baby Sun” & “Baby Moon”
for a couple years after they started talking.)…….
Then I remembered that there was a sun

hanging above one of the cribs
and a moon above the other!
So that was how I decided which baby would sleep in which crib!

Remember all those duplicate baby clothes

that my sister had bought & returned?
Well now she went back and bought them again –

there were only a few she couldn’t find
Luckily she LOVES to shop!

Now we moved into high gear getting everything ready for the trip.
We packed & unpacked & packed again – finally getting everything to fit.
The days just flew by and in just 6 short weeks we were ready to leave…

The excitement was building

October 2001 came & went but still no referral.
One other family had been added to Group 109
so we now had 11 families in our group
The excitement was building
I purchased several calendars featuring photos of children adopted internationally
and spent hours looking through them wondering what our daughter would be like.
Mid November 2001 I was looking at a new calendar
and there were several photos of twins.
Every time I looked at these pictures something inside of me
jumped – as if I were pregnant and the baby was moving.
Then on Sunday, November 25th, I was helping Christos
at the Market and I had a sudden wave of joy come over me…
I looked up at him and said,
“Honey, we are getting twins!”
He looked at me, smiled gently and said,
“Honey, keep working”…
Then on Monday morning while I was in the shower
I had an image go through my mind—
It was like a forward flash of what was coming…
This is what I saw- all in just a few seconds…
“I saw my first Tuesday afternoon student, Katie,
at her lesson and the phone ringing.
I answered & heard Martha from Children’s Bridge saying,
‘Marcia, are you sitting down?”
I said, ‘Yes, why?’
She said, ‘You are getting twins’”
In a flash the image was gone but it left me with a very strong impression.

On Tuesday, Katie cancelled her lesson because she was sick.
I thought, Oh well, I must have been wrong.
We rescheduled her lesson for Thursday, November 29th.
Early in the afternoon of November 29th
I was at my parent’s place visiting with my Mom
and a Chinese girlfriend along with her one year old daughter.
After I while I thought, “I’d better go home soon to get
ready to teach and to be there in case “the CALL” comes…
So I came home & Katie came for her lesson at 3:45.
We spent the first few minutes of her lesson
looking through the calendars at all the beautiful pictures
and I told her of my “image” experience.
She was a teenager who loved children
and had been with our Music Academy for many years.
She had been following our journey with great excitement too.
At 4:11 the phone rang – I looked at Katie and then jumped up to answer the phone.
I answered it in the kitchen –
it was Martha from Children’s Bridge!
She said, “ Hello Marcia, its Martha.”
Breathlessly, I said, “Hi Martha. Just a second while I put my bird back in her cage.”
(We have a Quaker Parrot, named ‘Serena”
and she was sitting on my hand when I answered the phone)
Quickly I ran back to the phone and said “Ok, I’m here.”
She said, “Are you sitting down?”
I sat down & said, “Yes”
She said, “Well I have good news for you – You are getting twins.”
I started to cry and said “Oh my goodness – that is incredible- how is it possible?”
Her response was, “It is a miracle.”
Of that I was certain and I quickly wrote down all the information

as she told me about our soon to be daughters.
While I was on the phone with her, Christos walked in the front door.
He had decided to come home early from work that day.
As soon as I hung up the phone I took his hand & said,
“Honey, come here, I have to tell you something.”
I was crying and he thought that someone must have died.
Then I told him, “Chris, we are getting twins!”
He was so excited & gave me a big hug.
I quickly tried to tell him everything Martha had told me about the girls
then I phoned my parents to tell them.
Next I phoned my sister and left a message on her answering machine at work.
She was frantic when she heard my message

because I was crying so hard she couldn’t tell what I was saying
and thought something was terribly wrong.
She called right back and I was finally able to tell her.
Well, by this point I figured I had better go explain to Katie
what was happening. She was still upstairs at the piano practicing
while she waited for me to come back from the phone.
I went in and told her and she was so excited
we spent the whole lesson talking about the twins.
Needless to say I had to rebook her lesson again!
After I finished teaching we called the rest of our family members
to tell them the happy news.
That night we ordered Chinese Food for supper to celebrate our referral.

All evening was spent on the phone

talking to friends and calling back & forth

with our other Group members to share in their good news too….

So began the wait....

Our agency, Children’s Bridge, in Ottawa, provided tremendous support
and we attended several meetings, while we were waiting,
which helped to better prepare us for our trip & experience.

Our file had been logged in on October 20th, 2000 with the CCAA in China.
Our Group # was 109
and we expected to receive our referral within one year.
Several times during the year the whole group of 10 families got together.
It was a wonderful time of forming friendships and it really helped to pass the time.
No one in our group had adopted before so this was a new experience for all of us.
(although several families had bio children)

…both Christos & I were busy with our jobs.
He had his full-time business at the London Covent Garden Market
& I was teaching music full time from our home.
I enjoyed walking with the other Moms & Moms-to-be in the local Walking group.
Everybody shared any information or questions they had
and it really helped to make the whole experience seem more “real”.
As much as I believed all would be well there was always that tiny question
in the back of my mind-“what if it never happens – just like all the failed pregnancies?”

Anyway we went ahead and painted & papered the baby’s room
and put up a crib and hung decorative, felt Sun, Moon & Rainbows up on the wall.
My sister started shopping for the baby/babies, often buying 2 of everything.
After a while I told her to stop buying doubles of everything as we had been told that the chances of our getting twins was about “zero”.
So she returned the duplicates & we just kept one of each outfit.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith but I guess I just preferred not to get my hopes up.
Over the course of the year many of our friends received their referrals
and we watched with great joy as they returned from China with their babies –
often meeting them at the Airport to welcome them home.
We have met so many amazing people on this “journey”and have made lasting friendships that we so appreciate…