Our Big Announcement

It seems so obvious and it seems so simple, but suddenly it became apparent that we actually need a way of announcing our news to our family and friends.  But when? And who? And how?  When we started the adoption process, we kept it fairly quiet; just close family and people that helped with character references.  We were under no illusions that the process could well take a long time and we decided that it was best not to tell the world when in reality we didn’t have a lot to tell!

Sentenced to a lifetime of parenthood!

So when we received the “sentence” from the judge (it still cracks me up that it’s called a sentence; “I sentence you to a life or parenthood…”) which marked our addition to the waiting list, it seemed like the obvious point to make the announcement.  So what answers the “when question”, but how about the “who” and “how”?  The most important thing was to get the news out to our family and friends; after all, it would come as somewhat of a surprise if one day, we suddenly had children and no one had seen a pregnancy bump!  What we wanted to avoid was telling groups of people and expecting the news to spread.  Not only would this lead to the inevitable Chinese whispers, but under no circumstances do we want to appear as though adoption is something to be ashamed of, or kept quiet.

We spent Carnaval (a holiday in Brazil, not just a samba parade!) at a beach called Capri, a peninsula on the island of São Francisco do Sul.  This is a place that has been very important to Sheila since childhood and I am developing a real affection for the place too.  After walking to the tip of the peninsula, we thought that that would be a great setting for our announcement video, so I set up the camera and we gave it a go.  Not the best idea we’ve ever had!  While the sounds of the waves gently lapping against the shore added a certain ambience, the roar of wind into the camera’s microphone ruined the affect.  Then there the boats going past, sounding their horns while we recorded – the point we had chosen was somewhat remote although right by the move of the harbour for the island’s yacht club, and it seemed they all decided to leave at the same time!  And this was without mentioning how scruffy we looked, with our wet hair and swimming clothes!

Capri - before the serenity was disturbed by a succession of boats!

Plan B…

We waited until we arrived home and could set up a recording without wind, boats, birds or any other distraction!  And so recording our video went perfectly smoothly.  Well, smooth-ish…  You know the saying “never work with children or animals”?  Well, there’s a reason!  We tried having our cat, Kiwi, on Sheila’s lap, but of course this was the time he decided to wriggle and escape.  Take two!  Then one of the other cats came in and started intimidating Kiwi.  Take three.  Then Sheila started talking and I cracked up.  Take four.  Seriously, how difficult is it to record a simple, bilingual announcement?

Then some of the more unexpected issues.  I decided to wear contact lenses, rather than my glasses, to make the video when made my eyes a bit red (rather than waiting for them to settle.)  People watching the video took my red eyes to mean I had been crying, that the whole thing was too emotional for me!  So to set the record straight, while I am overjoyed to now be on the list for adoption, am happy to be able to share the news with my family and friends and the whole thing is clearly very emotional, it hasn’t reduced me to tears!!

The reception to the video was amazing!  We expected that people would be happy for us and our friends would congratulate us, but we’ve had so many messages of support and congratulations, people have come over to congratulate us on the street (I should add that Pato Branco is a small town where it easy to regularly bump into people you know, by no means am I implying some kind of celebrity status!) and people have told us about their stories of adoption; themselves, relatives and friends.  We’re very grateful for all the messages and glad that so many people share our happiness.  A lot of people have also told us that they want to follow out story, which is part of the reason for starting this blog.  We hope that people enjoy reading this blog (either in Portuguese or in English, or bilinguals reading both and seeing the story through both Sheila’s and my eyes!), that we can help others going through the process and that our sons/daughters can read this one day!

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Há algumas semanas recebemos a notícia de que tínhamos entrado na fila de adoção! Uhuu! Queríamos encontrar uma maneira prática e fofa de contar pra todo mundo sobre nossa habilitação, então tivemos a ideia de gravar um vídeo! 
Nossa primeira tentativa foi gravar em Capri, que é um lugar muito especial pra mim. Todos na família tem um carinho muito especial por Capri. 
Foi com essa ideia romântica, aproveitando o fato de estarmos lá, que fizemos um videozinho. Caminhamos até a "pontinha" do Capri e começamos a gravar. Mas ao chegar em casa a decepção, o barulho ensurdecedor do vento somado ao barulho dos Iates e lanchas passando (A pontinha fica na entrada para o Iate Clube de Capri) deixaram o som do vídeo muito ruim. Pra dizer a verdade, o fato de estarmos com roupas de banho e descabelados pelo vento, não ajudou em nada também! Eu fiquei imaginando a Juíza da vara de família assistindo o vídeo e pensando: "Jesus Cristo!" 

O vídeo ficou salvo só para que no futuro a gente pudesse dar algumas risadas lembrando de nossa tentativa frustrada. 
Quando voltamos para casa, desenterramos as luzes de estúdio do Dan e então, bem arrumadinhos, com "cara de pais", conseguimos gravar o vídeo!
Foram várias tentativas e muitas risadas, a noite estava quente e a sala tinha ficado alguns graus mais quente por causa das luzes de estúdio. 

O Dan colocou a lente de contato e ela começou a incomodar, o olho dele ficou muito vermelho, agora todo mundo que assistiu o vídeo acha que ele estava chorando. (ele estava emocionado, mas o olho vermelho não era de choro não!)
O motivo principal para fazer o vídeo (e deste blog) foi mesmo registrar para a posteridade, para que no futuro, as crianças que vierem a fazer parte de nossa família, possam ver o quanto realmente foram esperadas. Pois o são! E talvez como lembrança para nos mesmos desses anos de espera (não tenho ilusões, sei que pode demorar). Estamos no momento certo para receber novos serzinhos em nossas vidas. No plural! Pois colocamos em nosso perfil duas crianças! (Todo mundo merece ter um irmão/irmã).


O recebimento do vídeo foi lindo! É claro que esperávamos que  as pessoas ficassem felizes por nós, mas não esperava que fossem tantas! Agradeço muito aos dividiram conosco suas histórias de adoção! Aos que estão nos enviando todo esse amor... minha mais sincera gratidão! Amor, desejos de felicidade (e chocolate) nunca são demais!