CCAA Update

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before September 30, 2005.

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 6, 2005.

Since we are in the official wait, I'll be posting periodic CCAA updates tracking review and referral progress. The first item means that all dossiers with an LID up to 9/30 have been reviewed and are waiting to be matched. The review period is where CCAA takes a close look at dossier information and decides whether or not they will approve you for adoption. The second item is the fun one - it says that referrals are done for dossiers with LID from May 31 - June 6. This means that families with an LID in this date span will be receiving referrals soon - a very exciting time in the China adoption community!

LID - We're Expecting!!!

We are happy to announce that we are officially "paper pregnant"!

Dear Jacek & Mary,

Great News! Your dossier has been
logged in by the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

Your official dossier log-in date (LID) is: 4/20/2006.

Our Log In Date or LID is our official date with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) - this date starts our countdown to child match or referral. Currently the wait between LID and referral is right at 11 months. The wait could get shorter, but most are expecting it to get longer. Our agency is estimating a 10-14 month wait - some agencies in Canada and Europe are telling clients the wait could extend to 18 months. It'll be a long 'pregnancy' that's for sure!

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!!!

In celebration of Earth Day, Jacek an I purchased and Earth Machine to compost our backyard and veggie waste. It'll turn out awesome compost that we can use in our gardens. We also started a worm composter in the basement for our kitchen scraps - we eat a lot of fruits and veggies. We can't wait until we get some finished product!

Learn more:

Backyard Composting

Worm Composting

From a comment to this post I decided to add this: we also have a rain barrel that collects water we use on our lawn and gardens. Our city had a special promotion. The barrel collects water off off 1/2 of our 1-car garage roof - 55 gallons fills up after only one rainstorm! It's amazing! Imagine if we had one or two more collecting water from the house roof! The barrel has a net to prevent mosquitos from getting into it and a spout at the bottom we hook a hose to. It's a great way to conserve water.

And for the commenter whose husband doesn't want to look like a "hick" - we are doing this in our very urban backyard. There are rain barrels out there that are made to look nice next to a house. Good luck! ;)

Tagged

I've been tagged by Beth. This time I have to share 6 weird things about me with the blog world.

1. I am adamant about keeping hidden things orderly. The food in my fridge and cabinets is sorted by type and I get annoyed if something isn't put back in its place. I sort my clothes by color and type - my closet is super organized - despite this, my clean laundry will sit in a laundry basket for days before I put it away and I'm not good at keeping up with vacuuming - you know, the things people actually see.

2. I think snakes and frogs are cool.

3. Not many sights gross me out...blood, guts, gore, creepy things...but certain smells do.

4. I have major problems peeing in nature whether in the woods or in the water even if no one is around - I just can't do it - it's like the plumbing just shuts down. No idea why this happens.

5. I went deer hunting with my dad when I was 12 even though I knew I could never ever shoot anything...and I never did.

6. I order my pizza with no cheese (but lots of veggie toppings).

It looks like most everyone else I "know" has been tagged, so I won't officially tag anyone - but if you are reading this and you have a blog and haven't been tagged yet, then tag, you're it!

DTC

DTC = Dossier to China

We are happy to announce our dossier is finally on a plane to China! It was sent on Wednesday, April 12 and should arrive at CCAA - China Center for Adoption Affairs - by the 19th.

I'll update this post with more information when we get confirmation it was recieved. Stay tuned!

4/17 Update from CCAI:

Congratulations! Your dossier has arrived in China!...we received confirmation that your dossier has arrived at CCAI’s Beijing Office and was delivered to the China Center of Adoption Affairs...

Translation

Got a call from the Dossier Department at CCAI letting us know our dossier has made it through critical review - she said we did a "great job" - and is now on its way to translation. She said translation should take about a week and then they'll send us an email letting us know when the dossier is on its way to China. Woo hoo!

Proud Puppy Parents

It is with great honor that I present to you her royal highness, the pretty pittie princess, Tuesday Ruby...America's newest Canine Good Citizen!

Yes, our pit bull (the mean vicious maneater that she is) passed her AKC Canine Good Citizen Test yesterday to make us the proudest pup parents on the planet. The CGC is a ten step test that evaluates dog behavior. It is open to any dog and is often the precourser to therapy work. Unfortunately Tuesday is still young and too exhuberant to do therapy work...but earning this award helps us to further chip away at the horrible stereotype imparted on these wonderful dogs by media misinformation.

Have you hugged a pit bull today?

PS: No, that is not Tuesday's bed - it's the cats' bed. This is her way of reminding us we forgot to bring her bed downstairs in the morning. Pretty smart doggie, dontcha think?