More Photos of us receiving the Twins Jan 2002

Christos with Christalina

Yong Yue Marcia with Angelina
Yong Ri

More Referral Photos of the Twins 2001

Yong Ri Passport Photo Received with Referral
To be named Angelina Jasmine Yong Ri

More Referral Photos of the Twins 2001

Yong Yue - Passport Photo Received with Referral
to be named Christalina Jade Yong Yue

Receiving the TWINS!!

We left London, Ontario on Jan.18, 2001 at 6 am. and connected in Vancouver with the rest of Group 109 (Children’s Bridge). My sister, Margo came with us. The trip to China had several flight delays but we arrived safely in Beijing on Sat. Jan.19 around 4pm. & got to our hotel by about 6:45.

The hotel was excellent & we slept well. On Sun.Jan.20 we flew early to Changsha, Hunan & had a couple hours to settle in our rooms there.The babies were brought to our group at the hotel. There were 11 families in our group, 5 babies from Changsha, 5 from Yueyang & our twins fromYongzhou. The ones from Changsha arrived around 3:30pm and we were able to take pictures for them.

It was an incredible feeling to watch these families forming in an instant before our very eyes. None of their babies cried - itwas amazing. An hour later we heard someone say, "The twins are here". TheDirector from their orphanage & another Nanny brought the girls over to us and we were surrounded by all the families in our group with their cameras.

They handed Christalina to my husband & then Angelina to me. Christalina didn'tcry but Angelina sobbed. I couldn't stop crying either - it was just so emotional. We sat down with the Nanny & our travel guide translated a lot of information for us. We had taken with us a list of questions to ask but the nanny had already filled out a complete form of questions for us & brought it with her. They also gave us the disposable camera, which we had sent over ahead of time. We were fortunate that they used it. Some of the others in the group got their cameras returned to them unused.

By this time the girls were both distressed and finally they suggested we take the twins up to our room, which we did. It didn't take them long to settle after that. They were dressed in yellow knitted pants, green knitted sweaters & little shirts & socks. We were pleased to be able to keep their little clothes. We had taken a huge hockey bag full of clothes and blankets for the Orphanage so didn’t feel badly that we kept the clothes.

The first few nights it was difficult to get the girls to sleep because they cried unless we stood up & rocked them. We spent many hours walking the halls so that the crying baby wouldn't wake up the sleeping one. Luckily, my sister had a separate room & we were able to go back & forth to it as well. Thank goodness Margo went with us. She was an incredible help & an absolute lifesaver...

On Mon. Jan.21 in the morning we all went to the official's office to do the paperwork & to deliver the orphanage donations to the orphanage directors. It was very busy but everything went smoothly. That afternoon, back at the hotel I was holding Christalina while Christos held Angelina & I was boiling water to sterilize their bottles & make their formulas (in our makeshift bathroom/kitchen). I managed to catch the cord of the electric kettle with my foot & pulled the kettle off the bathroom counter. The full kettle of freshly boiled water spilled on my left foot & I sustained 2nd degree burns for the remainder of the trip.

There was a clinic in the hotel, where I went every morning to have my foot treated. I didn't leave the hotels except to fly back to Beijing & then home again. My sister & my husband each took in a couple of the pre-planned tours, but mostly we spent the time with the twins in our hotel rooms.

Our travel-guide, Ma Rui, was wonderful & very compassionate. She went with us & did all the necessary translating for everyone in the group. Several of the babies in the group were sick, including Christalina. On theThurs. Jan.24 Christos & Margo had to take her to the hospital in Changsha for I.V. treatment. She had pneumonia & wasn't eating or drinking enough. What an ordeal - Christos had to hold her for 4 1/2 hours while Margo had to hold the IV bag up. They didn’t have a bed for her or an IV pole. Christalina cried hard for the first 1 1/2 hours & then finally fell asleep. They came back to the hotel at 10:30pm exhausted.

They had to repeat the procedure again on the Friday but went earlier in the day. I stayed at the hotel withAngelina both times because I wasn't supposed to be on my foot (although the only time I managed to stay off it was when I slept at night). On Sat.Jan.26 we flew back to Beijing & our travel guide took us, along with several other families, to a hospital to have the babies checked out & to have my foot treated. Thankfully the doctor said Christalina was enough improved that we could just continue her medication ourselves.

On the Monday the babies all had their medicals, at the clinic, which went well. By that time we were counting the days until we could come home. Every one in the group was very supportive & all the people we met were most kind & gracious but we really just wanted to be at home.

My foot was still swollen twice its size & I couldn't wear a shoe at all. (In fact it wasn't until Feb.16 that Iwas finally able to put on a loose boot & a week later that I wore a shoe again.) We definitely saw a different side of China than many, and we treasure the experience. But most of all we were so happy with the girls.
We left Beijing on Thurs.Jan.31 & after another 2 hour delay finally took flight for Vancouver. It was a long 13 hours & by the time we arrived inVancouver our connection time to Toronto was past, which really didn't matter since the flight had been cancelled anyway due to bad weather conditions. So we were put on stand-by and waited a few hours in the airport.

Meanwhile the rest of our group boarded a different plane because their destination was Toronto. But they ended up with a 2-hour delay on the plane before they even took off. Ironically we all landed in Toronto at the same time. Of course by now it was long past the time of our connecting flight to London, Ontario where we live. In fact it was 1:30 in the morning& there were no more flights & it was snowing & raining.

We finally managed to get a RobertQ travel bus to bring us home along with another lady & her baby & a few other people.
We got home around 4:30 a.m. absolutely exhausted but extremely happy & grateful to be home safely at last.

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…