Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Last night I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I was rather shocked to see that there were young kids – I’d guess about 7 to 10 or 11 years old – in the audience, for two reasons: first, it was the 10:00pm show – meaning we didn’t get out of the theatre until after midnight – and I am astounded that parents would take their kids to a show that late, even in the summer; and second, I personally do not consider this instalment of the series to be a children’s movie. In my opinion, all the books from the Goblet of Fire on – and the movies beginning with the Prisoner of Azkaban – are increasingly dark, sombre, scary, and violent, and not suited to children under about age 12.

But anyhow… about the movie. I found it excellently done; in fact I’d say it’s the best of the lot to date. (And I watched the first five movies at home before going to see this one, so it’s a fresh comparison!)

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students are increasingly mature (although that might not be quite the right word to use for the awkward teenage sexual awakenings – nothing more than a bit of kissing, or “snogging” as they put it, but all quite embarrassingly realistic). Meanwhile, while the other students are engaging in all this teenage behaviour, Draco is holding himself apart, brooding over the task Voldemort has given him.

I found Dumbledore to be at his best – we see more of the humour that comes out so well in the books, yet at the same time get a better sense of the wizard’s muted power. The only thing I found not quite bang-on was his “Severus… please” at that fateful point on the tower – not enough pleading in his tone, combined with not enough debility following on after the journey to the lake to retrieve the horcrux.

For his part, Snape was excellent. I remember reading the book, feeling certain all the way through that somehow he had been fooling Bellatrix and Narcissa, only to be devastated at the end to find out – to all appearances – that he had been working for the Dark Lord after all. (And then, of course, being very happy at his vindication in the final book – not so much for his sake, but because it confirmed Dumbledore’s opinion of him, and at the same time revealed just what a master double-agent he had been.) In this movie we see a few sequences of his private interactions with Dumbledore which lend themselves to the development of his character in all its complexity.

Harry, while still a young wizard, appears increasingly confident in his abilities (perhaps the Half-Blood Prince’s potions book was helpful in that regard!) although we do see him struggling somewhat with getting Slughorn to reveal his true memory of Tom Riddle’s questioning about horcruxes. Hermione is, as always, brilliant and helpful, while Ron is his usual bumbling, somewhat asinine but very funny and loyal self. (I am so happy they included the “you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon” comment in the movie. When I read the book, it had me in stitches for a good five minutes, I’m sure!)

One thing that the movies, including this one, do superbly is bring to life the boarding school atmosphere. While it’s present in the books, it’s muted (at least I find it so), but the little extra visual and atmospheric details the movies bring to the world of Hogwarts make it feel so real: the adolescent behaviour of the students, the bonding with fellow students, the classroom note-passing behind the teacher’s back… all that makes it come to life.

All in all, I highly recommend this movie, particularly for Harry Potter fans. If you haven’t read the books or seen the previous movies, you’ll be missing half (or more!) of the story. But surely there can’t be very many of those people around, can there?

The latest on the Imagine Adoption fiasco...

This article reveals that the owners/chief employees of Imagine Adoption (Kids Link) are now under investigation for fraud.

Fox!

Last Sunday afternoon, the kids, our friend Chuckles, and I were on our way to the playground when we saw the fox that lives in our little urban forest sitting in the meadow. Actually, the kids and Chuckles were the first to spot two foxes, but by the time I came along a few minutes later the larger one – presumably the male – had run into the forest. But the smaller one remained, relaxing in the meadow for a while longer (we think it was the female owing to smaller size). Chuckles biked to the house to get my camera for me, and I got several pretty good shots. We’d approach it, then I’d snap a few pictures; then we’d take a few more steps forward and I’d snap a few more, until it got uncomfortable with how close we were and moved away. This happened twice before it, too, melted into the forest.

This was only the second time I have ever seen the fox, and the first time was just a quick glimpse. It was so neat to get a really good look at it, not to mention some pretty cool pictures. (I particularly like the one of it stretching!)

Aerial experience

Last Saturday the kids, the dog, our friend Chuckles and I went to a spot in the nearby hills for an “Aerial Experience.” Well, Chuckles and the kids had the experience, while Lovely and I stayed put on the ground and I documented it. (Chuckles says her brother would never believe she did this without documented evidence. Well, brother, here you have it!)

Once we got there and signed the waiver saying we understood that acting stupid could kill us (well, not in so many words, but you know how these places have to cover their backs for insurance and liability purposes), the kids and Chuckles put on their safety harnesses. Each harness had two carabiners attached that would be the climbers “life-line” just in case someone took a tumble, and a pulley doodad to go on the zipline.

Then we took a short walk to the trees where the obstacle course was set up. There were two courses, one for kids (or anyone incapable of reaching 1.75m from toe to palm of the hand), and one for adults (or those with the appropriate reach). As neither child had the required reach for the adult course yet (maybe another 4–5 years growth required?) (though Chuckles did – just barely!), they all went on the kids’ course.

First you had to climb a rope and board ladder to get to the first platform. Even for that you had a life-line system whereby you hook the first carabiner onto a red cable attached to the ladder, then climb a step or two, hook up the second carabiner and unhook the first, climb a step or two, etc.

The obstacles consisted of a series of different kinds of “passages” from one tree platform to another. Each had an elevated “life-line” cable to which you would hook your carabiners as you negotiated the obstacle. First there was a “horizontal ladder” – two parallel ropes with boards every 40cm or so for you to step on. The kids zoomed across that one – especially Button! Then came series of rectangular suspended platforms, then a series of tubes to crawl through. (That was the one everyone said was scariest, as it tended to swing a fair bit.)

Following the tunnels came first a single rope to balance on combined with an overhead rope to hold onto, then two parallel ropes for the feet, again with an overhead rope to hand onto.

The final two “obstacles” in the first course were two zip lines, the second of which brought the participant back to the ground.

Then there was a second course. I didn’t get pictures of that one, as Lovely and I sat on a log to rest up a bit. But by all reports it was fairly similar to the first course.

The kids had a blast, and Chuckles said it was fun too! (She figured the kids’ course was probably enough of a challenge for her – the adult one looked a fair bit tougher, not to mention a lot higher off the ground!)

Oh, and when we first arrived and were getted suited up, we saw a pretty good sized bear loitering around the building. The employees said it came to visit fairly frequently, so no one was very alarmed though we were being cautious. At one point it scuttled up a tree; later it came back down and was lingering near the picnic tables a mere 6m from the doorway to the building.

All in all, a pretty fun day!

Thoughts and info on the Imagine Adoption fiasco

Random info gleaned from various other blogs
An on-line petition is “circulating” (or whatever things do on-line) to ask the government(s) to step in and assist families affected by the bankruptcy to complete their adoptions. Apparently, the government is promising to help for families who have received referrals, to complete the court process for those still waiting for court, and to speedily process immigration visas or citizenship for those whose children are already legally theirs (see this article). However, that still leaves in limbo anywhere up to 300 families who were at the beginning of the wait, either waiting for a referral or with files still awaiting approval by the Ontario Ministry. The petition asks the government to “facilitate and complete ALL of Imagine Adoption’s active files affected by this bankruptcy filing” (emphasis added). If you are at all interested in signing the petition, you can access it here.

A family in Addis reports that a lawyer from BDO, the Canadian agency handling the bankruptcy investigation (from a bookkeeping and money point of view), met in Addis with the families who have gone there to claim their children. He reported that an anonymous corporate donor has stepped in and promised funding to support the Transition House (the facility where the children live in Ethiopia while waiting to be referred to their new parents and while the adoption process is completed) until all children waiting for court or for visas are united with their parents. This is excellent news; some people had started fundraising to support the TH, but that is no longer necessary. The family reports that children who have not yet been referred are being sent back to their orphanages of origin, and the baby house has been shut down to save on costs (I think that refers to the second house at a different location – presumably all babies there would have been taken to the TH is Addis if already referred). Additionally, the lawyer met with the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, which has promised to rush through the visas for the children at that stage of the process.

This particular family was fortunate to have successfully completed the court process just days before the bankruptcy (after an extremely lengthy process – about 9 months from referral to successful court – not sure what the issues were, but that’s far far longer than the usual 1-3 months). The mother has gone to Ethiopia to claim the children and look after them until they receive their visas. They are hoping it will be relatively quick, what with extra effort on the part of Nairobi to process these visas, although they need first to obtain the final court documents and get their daughters’ Ethiopian passports to send to Nairobi, which could take a few weeks. The father has remained at home, so he missed the initial meeting with their twin girls, but is getting regular reports. He plans to go to Ethiopia after the August long weekend to spend time with his wife and daughters. They hope the visas will arrive while he is there so they can all return as a family of four. If not, he will return while his wife and daughters stay there to wait out the immigration process.

Another family I know (single Mom) has gone to Ethiopia to check things out. Her daughter’s case was to go to court on the Wednesday after the bankruptcy; she did not know if that would still happen or how she might find out, as Imagine’s Canadian offices are now closed. So she left on Friday to spend one week there to assess the situation, find out if court was successful, determine how her daughter will be cared for during the next few months of the process, and generally try to find some clarity in this mess.

Meanwhile, the families here in Canada affected by this bankruptcy have started united blog called the United Families of Imagine Adoption to stay informed and elicit support (emotional and “active”). I expect that, as the majority of the families were still at the early stages of the process, they may focus their efforts on trying to find a solution for the families who were still waiting for referral, as the other families have already been sort of taken care of, or at least have already had support promised as well as extra government action. It’s the families waiting for referral who stand to lose everything.

Random thoughts on the situation
One of the things about this that I find hardest to swallow is that this agency billed itself as a Christian adoption agency. To my mind, an agency or business that plays the Christian card had better make sure that its actions live up to its words. It should have exemplary behaviour as a business (and on the part of the staff) and if business failure is looming, the owners or directors should do everything possible to avoid it.

I have no knowledge of the details of why this bankruptcy occurred. I just know that there are many other Canadian adoption agencies, and none of them has gone bankrupt despite challenging times in international adoption. Mayhap there were other factors. Yet the rumours abound about unethical, even criminal behaviour on the part of the owners of Imagine (and certainly there are a few things on the balance sheet filed by the bankruptcy trustees that do not look so good), as well as unethical behaviour (from a Christian standpoint at least) in their private lives.

Apparently the agency’s license was renewed in October. One wonders how things could have changed so drastically in the last nine months. Yes, yes, the world economy has gone into a tailspin in that same period, and thousands of workers even here in Canada have lost jobs. But the adoption agency has received fees from prospective parents, and I can’t see that costs in Canada at least would have risen so drastically (though I do hear, via completely unrelated sources, that costs in Ethiopia of basic commodities have been increasing at alarming rates – but if that were the sole cause I would think the agency would have been able to justifiably increase rates so as to cover costs), so one would think that the agency’s bottom line would not have been unduly affected.

In my opinion, one of the best outcomes would be for the agency’s outstanding files to be transferred to another international adoption agency to handle. But that is much easier said than done, particularly as the transfer of files would have to be accompanied by a transfer of financial resources, of which there are apparently not enough.

On a more personal level, I can only compare what families must be experiencing to when I almost lost Mustang – before I even got her. It was December 2004; I had received the preliminary approval from China and was starting to relax. Children’s Bridge (CB) said the final approval usually followed within a few weeks. Then China wanted clarification as to my health status. Not to worry, CB said, this was not uncommon and should be easily resolved via another letter from my doctor. But I was uneasy, and with good cause: a few days later China came back with a negative response. They were not going to approve me – though if I could get political support they might change their minds.

This was a week before Christmas. It was hell. I felt like I was dealing with a death in the family – or on the verge of a death. For the next two weeks I prayed like never before, and put all my efforts into contacting my MP, getting letters of support from everyone I could think of in a position of influence, whether political or not. Not easy when offices everywhere were closing down over the Christmas break. What really made the difference, to my mind, was that we had two old family friends who were sitting Members of Parliament at the time and who both agreed to write letters of support for me, as did my own MP. In the end I had about twelve support letters, ranging from the three MPs to my cousin, herself adopted from China, who wanted to help out. And it paid off. The Chinese government relented and agreed to let me adopt Mustang. Two months later I was in China to pick her up. (And the rest is history…!)

So, God can accomplish mighty things. Let us hope and pray that He will respond and see that the efforts of affected families bear fruit, that children are united with parents, and that new families are formed – even those still at the beginning stages of the process.

DragonRam Doodles

As previously mentioned, our newly acquired Labradoodle, Lovely, is expecting puppies. She was bred prior to coming to us, and the due date is approaching in little over three weeks! We are all getting a bit excited...

We're going the whole nine yards - registration as a breeder with the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (pending), getting all the health testing done (well, it was actually done before we bought her, but I plan to keep it up as we may want to breed her again)... I have developed a website for this breeding operation (term used loosely...) at DragonRam Doodles, to help promote sales of the puppies.

(Here you see Lovely practicing her mothering skills on our guinea pig!)

I chose the name DragonRam as our "kennel name" to honour my kids: Mustang was born in the year of the Dragon, and Button in the year of the Ram. (As for Lovely, she's a Rat and I'm a Tiger!).

Let me know what you think of the website... (and, hey, if you want to buy a puppy, let me know that too!)

Shock in the Canadian international adoption world

Imagine Adoption, the agency I used to adopt Button (then known as Kids Link) filed for bankruptcy yesterday, amidst speculation and rumours of fraud and embezzlement. Around 500 families are in limbo. Many of those who have successfully gone through the court process (making the children referred to them legally theirs) have gone or are going to Ethiopia to take custody of their children and handle the immigration paperwork themselves. The other families - those who have received a referral but were still waiting to pass through the Ethiopian court system, and those still waiting for a referral - are not so fortunate. Those with referrals have no idea what will happen to their children. Those still waiting for a referral have no idea whether they will get any of their money back (as much as $15,000 paid to the agency - supposedly "in trust" - for necessary expenses) or what will happen with their dream of becoming parents via international adoption. Programs for adoption from Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, and Ecuador are all affected, with the former having the largest number of prospective parents.

Another Ontario agency, Children's Bridge (which has its own Ethiopia adoption program, run in partnership with CAFAC out of Winnipeg). has reportedly requested a meeting with the Ontario Ministry of Community and Youth Services. The intent of the meeting is not known (to me) - whether to advocate for the families, to discuss possibilities of taking over Imagine's operations or case files, to advocate for international adoption in general...

Please pray for all the famlies that are affected, for the children in Ethiopia whose care is in jeopardy (lack of money for operations), for the Ethiopian staff who are responsible for their care, and for the Canadian staff who are affected by something they may have had no control over or part in or knowledge of until it hit them too.

Today's edition of the Globe and Mail has a short article about the bankruptcy.

We would all like answers and more information about what has really happened. Unfortunately, that my take months, if not years, to uncover.