13 Month LID

May 20 marked 13 months LID for us. The pace of referrals continues to creep along. We had our homestudy update this month and met our new social worker - she's very nice and told us that she was adopted domestically and that it was a closed adoption, meaning she has no way to search for her birthparents. It was interesting to hear how that did and did not affect her growing up. She coordinates the waiting mom meetings at our homestudy agency that I'm looking forward to attending. So far they've fallen on days I've had other obligations.

One bit of great news for us we received from CCAI today...Starting July 30, USCIS (immigration) will extend one free renewal of our I-600A/I-171H. Since our I-171H doesn't expire until mid-August we can postmark our I-600A refile for August 1 and save nearly $900!

May Stork Alert

Congratulations to all families logged in October 27 through November 1, 2005 - referrals are here! Best wishes to you and your new additions!!!

6 days of referrals means there are now 169 LID days ahead of us to be matched. Current guesstimates are that our referral will come sometime between April and October 2008. There is still no word on us clearing the review room at CCAA. In fact, we're holding our breath - we heard of two families with April LIDs being asked for updated medicals including bloodwork because they were "too old". These people's medicals were completed a month after ours. Our agency hasn't had any such requests for April families so far. Fingers crossed!

Earth Day Every Day!

Welcome to Earth Day 2007! Earth Day is every day, really...ever since the Big Blue Marble, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and the anti-litter commercial with the crying Native American I was hooked. Hooked on a place so incredibly beautiful with never ending things to discover. I wish more people were hooked on nature. We're destroying it...fast. We need to embrace it and preserve it for ourselves and future generations...

We've all heard "if every person just does one thing". I'm calling BS on that one. Why can't each person do more than one thing? Why can we all do lots of things? Environmentally conscious options are nearly mainstream - they're everywhere - they're affordable and often free! So I'm calling out to all my blog readers - don't do "one thing" - do as much as you can starting now so that when we visit the parks and preserves with our children they can experience the wildflowers and trees, the frogs and the fishes and all else that creates that sense of wonder in all of us...

• Recycle paper, cans, glass, plastics - most communities have pick ups or drop off locations to make it easy;
• Change your light bulbs to the new energy efficient kind - and don't forget to recycle them or include them with your household hazardous waste - do not throw them in the trash;
• Shut off the lights when you leave a room;
• Turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth or shaving;
• Use Energy Star appliances;
• Drive a high mileage, low emissions vehicle - doesn't have to be hybrid to make a difference;
• Use organic lawn care and gardening methods and products - they work just and well, and in the long run they work better than hazardous chemical based methods;
• Plant native grasses and flowers - after establishing they are far hardier than other ornamentals because they evolved for your climate - that means they ultimately use less water and work to keep them beautiful;
• Buy organic and locally grown produce as much as possible - buying organic sends a message that we don't want all of those unnecessary chemicals in our food and buying local supports local family farms and reduces the pollution needed to get that food onto your table;
• Don't litter (major pet peeve);
• Collect roof run off in a rain barrel to water plants and gardens;
• Take your kids outside, show them nature, let them explore;
• Ride your bike or walk instead of driving - to work, to the store, to the park.
• Eat less meat and eat naturally, humanely and sustainable raised meat - meat production is very resource intensive.

What are you all doing to reduce your footprint on the Earth?

Jacek and I drive a low emissions vehicle. It even qualifies for conservation parking at work! We're selling our second vehicle. We try to bike to the store to a friend's house when we can. We are almost done replacing all of our light bulbs with high efficiency bulbs - even our outdoor floodlights on the patio. We bought a small dishwasher for our small kitchen so we use less water to wash our dishes. Our neighborhood put a huge recycle dumpster in a nearby park so we started recycling everything - and reduced our trash by about two-thirds! We take our old paints, chemicals and florescent lights to household hazardous waste collection sites. We shut off the water when we brush our teeth. We collect rain from our garage roof to water our plants and gardens. We now have 2 compost bins and are considering adding a third. We have a native prairie garden in the backyard that attracts lots of birds, bees and butterflies. We grow and organic veggie garden every summer. We use organic lawn care methods and products. We buy organic and local produce. We eat far less meat and when we do eat it we buy naturally, humanely and sustainable raised meat and seafood. We spend time outdoors as much as we can.

Here's to Earth Day - Every Day!!!

ONE

One. One year ago today, on April 20, 2006, our adoption dossier that we had taken so many hours, days and months to prepare was officially logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). This is the date we began standing in the growing line that is China adoption. One year. Twelve months. Three hundred sixty five days.

We started the adoption journey in January of 2005. We honed in on China later that summer. Due to the "speed" of our first homestudy agency, it took us twice as long as it should have to have our homestudy complete so our dossier didn't go to China until April 2006, resulting in our Log in Date (LID) of 4/20/06...the start of our "paper pregnancy".

At that time the wait from LID to referral had just started to grow from 6-8 months to 8-10 months. We fully expected to be home with our child by now.

But here we stand. One year into our wait and we may only be half way there...or less. Ahead of us in line there are 175 LID days to be matched. Last month, only 2 LID days were matched. Referrals are sent about once a month. Right now there are far more parent dossiers ready to be matched than baby dossiers. Yes, there are still many many children in Chinese orphanages, but not all are eligible for international adoption. It requires paperwork on the part of orphanage directors and either they are not willing or do not have the resources to do more.

So we wait. We're still guessing we'll be matched this time next year. It's just a guess, of course and it could even be later than that. But we will continue to wait because at the end of this journey is our first child.

Say What?!

It comes with the territory. You choose to adopt you open yourself up to a seemingly endless array of inane remarks. Jacek and I are no exception. Since we first announced our intention to adopt we’ve heard a great variety of negative comments, judgments and directives from friends and family. While we don’t believe any of them had bad intention, we present them in our “Say What?” series as an educational opportunity for those outside of the adoption community.

By far the number one crazy comment we’ve received has been “You’re adopting – now you’ll get pregnant for sure!” (Um, we don't want to get pregnant!) The person then goes on to tell us of a friend of a friend of a coworker who adopts and then magically conceives and births a biological child. If you said this to us, don't feel bad - almost everyone did. Other not-so-innocent related comments we’ve received include “Just have your own!”, “I think you should [have your own]”, and “I was really hoping you’d get pregnant and forget this whole adoption thing.”

Some emotions that ran through my head in particular when I heard the comments included amusement, anger, annoyance, disbelief and sadness that there are people who will be in our child’s life who might think that she is second best because she does not share our genetic material or that we "settled".

We don’t see having a biological child as preferential to adopting. In fact, quite the opposite is true for us. Completing our family through adoption is our first choice. We’re what some call “preferential adopters”. We chose to adopt because we want a child (or two) and honestly don’t see the point of giving birth when there are so many orphans in the world in need of homes. We are not attached to our DNA and I have no desire to experience pregnancy or childbirth. That’s right, none. Never have had the desire, never will.

For others in the adoption community who have struggled with infertility, I’m guessing that the emotions associated with "now you'll get pregant" and related comments sting extra hard.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Say What?! when we'll discuss comments based on misconceptions about adoption...

April Stork Alert

Congratulations to families logged in October 25th and 26th, 2005! Your referrals are here!

Yes, you see that right - only 2 log in dates referred this month. Apparently there were an unusually large number of dossiers logged in at CCAA during these 2 days. The snails pace continues...

Birthday Surprise

Check out what Jacek brought home for my birthday! The flowers took my breath away and swept my frazzled mind back to Hawaii...perfection!

Thank you honey! I love you!

Beautiful British Columbia

We recently spent a long weekend in the pacific northwest - flying into Seattle then driving up to Vancouver to visit Jacek's dad. Our favorite was the day we spent at Whistler-Blackcomb - wow! Jacek and his brother spent the day skiing and his brother's girlfriend and I went on a dogsledding adventure. A rickety old bus took us down a dirt path, chained tires and all to the meeting spot. The sled trail went along a river. There were no sounds other than people and dogs - no planes, no cars, nothing but the river and trees and snow. It was peaceful and exhilirating at the same time.

We all met at the end of the day on the deck of one of the pubs near the bottom of Whislter mountain - it was great sitting outside under the table umbrella in the drizzle sipping beer and watching the skiers. The next day we ventured to Steveston docks in the rain to choose our fresh catch for dinner. We spent another day in the parks of downtown Vancouver and had a great seafood dinner.

BC is just beautiful with all of the evergreens, mountains, rivers, lakes and ocean harbors. Can't wait to go back for more!

11 Months LID

Our dossier has been logged in with the CCAA for 11 months. Next month perhaps we'll celebrate our one year LIDiversary - can't believe we're that close to a year!

Fur Kid Fiasco

Some of you already have heard...for those who have not, we have had to return our foster dog Zoey to the rescue organization. I came home last Wednesday to 2 terrorized cats and cat urine and feces all over the house. Odette was fine, just very afraid and soaked in her own urine. She is back to her normal self. Cleo did not fare as well. I suspect she tried to defend her sister against Zoey, who may have been trying to play as she did with her previous cat friend.

Cleo suffered a broken mandible (lower jaw bone) and a couple of puncture wounds. The break was right in the middle of the bone and according to the vet is not all that uncommon in cats. I took her to the emergency vet and the next day she had surgery at her regular vet to wire her jaw. The vet was unsure if it would work due to her age and bad teeth but said it was worth trying. She was able to securely wire the jaw and Cleo was up and looking around shortly after surgery. She came home that same day. She is doing well, and is eating. She's resisting her meds which tells me she's feeling as well as can be expected. She's a tough kitty. She will have the wire sugically removed in 6 weeks (well, 5 now). When I returned from my weekend trip to Vancouver (more on that soon) Cleo cuddled up to me and was purring as loud as ever and as usual couldn't get anough petting.

Tuesday suffered a yellow stinky head. Apparently one of the cats peed on her while sitting on top of the crate Tuesday was in. She got a quick head shampoo and is fine. She's being extra gentle with the cats like she knows something major happened to them. Other than that she's her regular happy go lucky self.

As for Zoey - we chose Zoey based on her profile listed with the rescue organization and based on email verification that she met all of our criteria for fostering. The night before this tragedy I received the relinquishment form Zoey's former owner completed when she gave her up. To my surprise and anger I discovered that none of the criteria were true. To make a long story a little shorter, Zoey was not crate trained, was not housebroken, had severe separation anxiety, was fearful of strangers, and although she lived with a cat before, she played rough with him.

Had these things been revealed to us initially we would not have chosen Zoey to foster. We were responsible enough to limit our acceptance and the rescue made a huge mistake by not paying close enough attention to the relinquishment form - perhaps it was because Zoey isn't a bully breed someone assumed they could take a short cut, I don't know. What I do know is that the rescue is waiting for my full explanation and documentation so that they can use this experience to better train their volunteers and avoid something like this from happening again.

As for me, last Wendesday and Thursday were the most traumatic days I've had for a long time. I still feel bad for Zoey and think that had she been evaluated and placed in a correct foster home she could have succeeded - I hope she will have that opportunity soon. The heartache I experienced driving Zoey back to the boarding facility was horrible. The heartache and guilt I experienced taking Cleo to the ER vet was even worse. It took me several days to recover and while I still feel sad for Zoey and Cleo I find strength from my little six pound black cat with the powerful will to survive.

If you are considering fostering or adopting a rescue dog, please do not let this discourage you - there are many wonderful dogs and cats in need of a good home. I truly believe this was an isolated incidence of someone in a rush. Both of my cats are rescues and are wonderful. Tuesday is a rescued pit bull and is the most amazing dog on the planet.

We're Foster Parents!

Today we became foster parents to Zoey. Here she is with Tuesday (Zoey is the one with freckles). She was relinquished to the rescue organization by someone who said she didn't have time for her because she's so high energy. We went to the boarding facility housing her to meet her just today. There we were in a HUGE play room alone with her. She circled us without coming anywhere near us then hopped up on a box in the corner shaking. She wouldn't even take her favorite treats from us.

Her favorite human eventually came in and she started warming up to us with the security of his presence. We took her for a walk and she met Tuesday and one call to the rescue organization and she was in the car with us. We adopted Tuesday from the same rescue 2.5 years ago.

We've been home for an hour and a half and already the girls are loving each other - they're chasing, wrestling, playing tug and giving lots of kisses. She likes us now, too. I'm so happy we were able to get her out of the kennel - kennels are just not good for dogs long-term. She had already been there for 2-3 months.

We'll keep you posted on the new adventures of fostering Zoey!

March Stork Alert

Congratulations to families with LIDs from October 14 through October 24! Your referrals are here! The China adoption community is abuzz with excitement and anticipation to see your babies' sweet faces!

For the rest, the referral pace continues to inch along, slowing like the freight train on the morning commute - you know the one that comes just as you approach the crossing with only minutes to make your first meeting...and after the gates are down it slows, mocking you...and now it's slowing even more and you can almost hear its evil chuckle...it's barely moving...a mile long string of cars inching along the tracks ever. so. slowly. You wonder if you'll even make it to work today...yup, that's what our wait is feeling like right now.

3/7 Update: Dossiers logged in through March 31, 2006 have been reviewed. Looks like we're definitely in the review room! Someone at the CCAA is going over our dossier with a fine toothed comb to judge whether or not we are worthy to adopt from China. This also means they're look at our photos - and several of you family and friends out there are in them! Smile!

QuALTing

I've given in. I'm making a 100 good wishes quilt. What changed my mind? Why, the ALTs of course...talk of funky fabrics and ground rules ruling out babyish, hard core girlie and commercial characters sucked me in. And you know what? So glad I joined the quilt cult...check out some of these fabrics - they are fun, funky and beautiful. They're going to make a fabulous quilt that our child will find use for beyond babyhood. Thank you to all of the ALTs who've sent very creative and loving wishes our way - we will treasure them always. As for family and friends, you all need to get on the ball - we've only received one quilt square and wish from your group. I've never quilted before, don't own a sewing machine and have no idea what I'm in for, so I need these fabric squares and wishes soon so I can start planning. And no worries - I have a sew savy friend willing to help.

10 Months LID

We've made it into the double digits - our dossier has now been logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs for 10 months.

Mardi Gras

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

Tuesday had a great time at our little Mardi Gras shindig last weekend - and so did everyone else. We had vegetarian jambalaya, hurricanes, king cake and lots of great conversation. It was my first try at jambalaya and I must say it rocked. It was so refershing to see everyone come out of hibernation. Bring on Spring!

And yes, Tuesday kept her collar and beads on all night - she's quite the party dog.

Kung Hay Fat Choy!

Wishing you all health and happiness in the year of the Boar!

The year of the Boar: is one of benevolence, one with a lot of 'feel good factor', one of "abundance" and a good year for business. Life in this year will be lived to the fullest and although there will be uncertainty it will be minimal. It is a rich year with impetuous acts, but care is recommended with any matters concerning money. The Boar is the symbol for great courage and integrity.

If referrals stay at their current pace, then it's probable that our child will be born in the year of the Boar or Pig. Here's what one site says about people born in Boar years:

Chivalrous and gallant, people born in the year of the boar are always flying the white banner of purity. Whatever their ambition, they do what they must with all the strength they have, for their strength is an inner strength that no one can overcome. There is neither left nor right nor retreat when a boar person sets out to do something. He has tremendous fortitude and
great honesty.

Boar people don't make many friends, but when they do, they make friends for life, and anyone having a boar-year-born person as a friend is indeed fortunate. Boar people don't talk much, but when they finally say something, they let it all come out at one time, and there is no shutting them up until they have finished. Like monkey people, they have a great thirst for knowledge. They study a great deal and on the surface are generally well informed. However, if their knowledge is probed, it will be discovered that what they knows is limited. The Japanese saying is that such a person is broad in front but has a narrow back.

Boar people are quite short-tempered, yet they have quarreling or arguments. They are affectionate and kind to their loved ones. They are shy and if they encounter any problems, they will not ask for outside help but will seek solutions to their problems by themselves. Boar people are advised not to get into lawsuits, for, being impulsive and hones, they will lose the suit to someone who is unscrupulous.

Mandarin Monday

I'm finding Mandarin class to be a lot of fun, especially the cultural tidbits he adds in here and there. In this week's class we each received a Chinese name - basically the teacher took characters that sound similar to our names - and we used brushes and paint to try our hand at creating our characters a la calligraphy. It was rather meditative after a while and I'm thinking I need a Buddha Board. We also drilled numbers and practiced saying them and translating into English.

So I leave you with 0-10 in pinyin: ling, yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi
And just for fun, 1101: yiqianlingershiyi
And, finally for you lottery players out there 1 million: yiyi

Zai Jian!

Here's a Thought...

If referrals continue at the current rate there's a very good possibility our future child has been conceived.

Early Spring!!!

As I look at the single digit temperature on the thermometer and feel the blow zero wind chills I'm thrilled to announce that the one and only, the authentic Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticating groundhog has finally and for only the 15th time in recorded history predicted an early spring! Happy Groundhog Day to all!

January Stork Alert

Congratulations to all families with LIDs between September 28 and October 13, 2005! Your referrals are here! Let the fun begin!

CCAA has also announced that they've completed review of dossiers logged in through March 22, 2006.

This means there are 6 months and one week of LIDs in line for referral ahead of our LID of April 20, 2006...and it means that our dossier is likely in CCAA's review room - right now they're looking at our homestudy, our photos, our financial statement, our physical forms, etc. Cool, huh?

Mandarin Mondays

Ni hao! I started Mandarin class at the local community college last week on Monday nights. It's a fun class and already the teacher is trying to talk me into his Chinese cooking class so I can prepare good Chinese food for our baby - including congee (rice porridge commonly fed to children in China). I don't think I can swing two class nights a week, so I might have to wait until next session, but I do love to cook!

So far we've learned basic greetings and numbers - he says I have good pronunciation so far - I make a lot of little phonetic notes, which helps.

In China there are hundreds of dialects spoken. Mandarin is one of them and it is the official dialect of the country, therefore everyone learns it (even if they don't use it much in their local town or province). Regardless of dialect, the characters used for writing mean the same thing, so the character for apple in Mandarin is the same as the character for apple in Cantonese.

My goal is to be proficient in basic travel Mandarin and to be able to say some basic things to our baby when we're in China. Even if her orphanage uses a different dialect, Mandarin will sound less strange to her than English and may offer some comfort during her transition to our family. It will take a while to reach that goal. For now I'll be excited to go to Chinatown and have someone understand me when I say "hello" or "thank you" or "where's the bathroom" in Mandarin...speaking of Chinatown, I think it's time for a dim sum brunch soon....mmmmmmm.

Blogger Problems

I switched to the new Blogger and now cannot log in - ah, but I can log in to post comments on other people's Blogger blogs and then can access my blog indirectly that way. I've emailed Blogger for help - I've done everything they suggested in their "can't log in" help section to no avail. Hopefully it will be resolved soon. Stay tuned!

9 Months LID

Yes, our paper pregnancy has reached the point at which we'd be expecting any day now had we chosen the giving birth route. Unfortunately, this gestation period will be closer to that of an elephant with a good possibility of even surpassing that. We've also officially been in the adoption process for 2 years. We attended our first information meeting in January '05. Cheers!

December/January Stork Alert

Congratulations to families with LIDs between 9/9/05 and9/27/05 - your referrals are here!!!

This means there is about 7 months of Log In Dates ahead of ours (4/20/06). If referral rates stay the same - 2-3 months per LID month - then we are at least 14 months out from getting our referral.

Happy ALT Birthday!!!

8 Months LID

As of December 20 our dossier has been logged in in China for 8 months. Still looking like early 2008 for referral at this point in time.

China has issued some new guidelines for potential adoptive parents including BMI limit, income and net assets, health, etc. These apparently will apply to families logged in after May 1, 2007.

Abecederian Meme

I have several blog posts pent up in my brain, but due to just finishing up a class for work, getting rear ended and spending the last two evenings at the chiropractor trying to have the damage undone I just can't spit them out right now...weekend starts tomorrow evening, though so check back soon to hear about the death of my Borns, ChicALTgo, The Perfect Piece and more!

Until then, passed on from SBird:

A is for age: 37
B is for Beer: Yuengling
C is for Career: Safety
D is for my Dog’s Name: Tuesday
E is for Essential Item I Use Everyday: Dental floss. Yes, every day
F is for Favorite T.V. Show: varies, currently Scrubs
G is for Favorite Game: Cranium
H is for Hometown: smallish college town
I is for Instruments I Play: clarinet and took fiddle lessons and would like to again
J is for Favorite Juice: Fresh squeezed orange with lots of pulp
K is for Whose Butt I’d Like To Kick: No one, but would love to tell mean people where to go
L is for the Last Place I Ate: Home
M is for Marriage: 3 years
N is for my Name: Mary
O is for Overnight Hospital Stays: Zero
P is for People I was With Today: Husband, coworkers, chiroprator, massage therapist
Q is for Quote: Currently see title quote
R is for Biggest Regret: None. If I had done anything different I wouldn't be who I am or where I am today and I like the who and where of me, so no regrets.
S is for Sport: Scuba diving
T is for Time I Woke Up Today: 6
U is for Current Underwear: VS Body by Victoria
V is for Vegetable You Love: Onions, mushrooms, kale, yams, tomatoes, etc.
W is for Worst Habit: Procrastination
X is for X-rays I Have Had: Dental
Y is for Yummy Food You Ate Today: Vegan shitake miso veggie soup
Z is for Zodiac: Aries, Rooster

ChicALTgo!

It was a blind date. An art show and a nice dinner. Would we like each other? Would we find things to talk about? Would we laugh?

The answer is YES! A contingent of 9 ALTS converged on Chicago one weekend in December (I'm counting the 3 husbands as ALTs by association). We met at the One of a Kind Show at the Merchandise Mart - one of the group's gals and her husband were showing their beautiful work there. I'll never forget going up to the group and asking "are you all part of an online group meeting here tonight?" It sounded so incredibly stupid, but I felt instantly comfortable with these women hearing their knowing laugh.

After browsing the show we headed to Coco Pazzo for a lovely meal. The conversation flowed so easily...adoption talk, ALT talk, everything talk minus a lot of the fluff the ALT group was created to avoid. There was so much laughter and fun I didn't want it to end. It was hugs all around when we parted ways and I felt like I found some great new friends. It was in instant connection. Can't wait 'til the next get together!

November Stork Alert!

Congratulations to families with LIDs between August 26, 2005, and September 8, 2005 - your referrals are on the way!

Another small batch means we're still looking at early 2008 for our referral. And no, that's not a typo, that's an "8".

7 Months LID

I almost missed it - we are now 7 months into our official wait for our child. Just today there are some positive rumours, but they are just rumours so I don't put much stock in them. Time will tell. As of right now if things stay on the same schedule as far as referrals we are looking at early 2008 for our match.

Travel Training

We got our travel training video from our agency this week. At first I thought it kind of odd considering we won't be traveling to China anytime soon, but after watching realized it did give us some things to think about and plan for. The best part is that the video was a little reminder that we are still in this process. With the wait so long sometimes it seems like receiving our referral is too far away to even think about...

Dim Sum, Moon Cakes and Wolves, Oh My!

My family came to visit last weekend. They usually come in the summertime and while I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t show them our beautiful prairie garden and organic veggie abundance we had a great time.

We visited Brookfield Zoo – the best zoo in the country. If you are ever in the Chicagoland area, it’s definitely worth the visit and they are open every day of the year. Bring comfortable shoes…the zoo spans over 200 acres.

We did fondue for dinner – I love a good fondue meal and the social aspect it promotes. There’s no wolfing it down or hurry. It was very relaxing.

Saturday it was on to Chinatown for Dim Sum at the Phoenix and a stop at the Chinese bakery. I purchased 2 mini moon cakes to try – one with lotus paste and one with bean paste – both were awesome! We tried a variety of other goodies as well and everything was superb.

Of course the weekend was too short and we look forward to seeing everyone around the holidays. And hopefully they’ll visit in the summer next time and enjoy our little backyard urban oasis.

Autumn Thoughts...

Hey! Where'd all the green stuff go? Where'd my shade spot go? Will someone please tell me what's going on here???

Ahhhh...that's more like it...a little berry patch of green and some sunshine...um, except it's a little chilly...can someone bring me my fleece?

October/November Stork Alert!

Congratulations to families with LIDs from August 10 through August 25th - your referrals are on the way!!!

Update November 3: CCAA website is now showing reviews completed through January 31, 2005.

6 Months LID

Here we are - 6 months past our LID. When we started pursuing China adoption this is the month in which we would start counting the days until our referral. Instead we find ourselves counting the months. Maybe years. Yes China referrals continue to slow. Right now my guess is next fall at the earliest for our referral...maybe later...maybe even 2008. So please don't be hurt or take it personally if over the holidays you ask us about our baby and we cringe. or roll our eyes. or sigh. Not that we're in a big hurry now (see past LID months re: my new job/FMLA), it's just that it seems so far away...

Tuesday In Action

We shot this film at dog beach last summer shortly after our pit bull Tuesday started agility classes. We can't get enough of her trying to incorporate her new skills into her beach play. Enjoy!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been three years since we stood in the sand of Lumahai beach on Kauai and said our vows. I'll never forget a moment of it. What a beautiful day and what a wonderful three years! I'm so in love with my husband...Happy Anniversary Honey!!!

It was back to Roy's, a Hawaiian fusion restaurant, for our celebration dinner. It was amazingly good as usual. And for the fourth time we celebrated our union with molten chocolate souffle - top that as an official wedding cake! For those on Kauai, it's known as warm chocolate cake at the Hukilau Lanai restaurant at the Kauai Coast Resort.

We stayed at the Marriott downtown and did a little shopping the next morning. Picked up some new wine glasses to replace the ones we've broken over the years and stopped at our favorite chocolate shop - Vosges Haut Chocolat. It's a Chicago original and oh so good. Very unique flavors inspired by places around the world.

Chit Chat

Assigment from AtomicMama by way of Pomegranate:

1. Your child's Chinese name (assuming s/he has or will have one)... are you a) using it as a middle name, b) using it as a first name or c) not using it at all? Why?
We wouldn’t even consider taking away the name she is given – it’s the only thing that’ll be all her own when she comes to us. It will be either her first or middle name. We are fairly set on Hana for the "American" name, but lately Jacek has had some pretty cool ideas - both American and Chinese so stay tuned! If we are referred a boy we like the name Alexander but are still working on finding more options to choose from.

2. Red threads - yes or no? Discuss.
No red threads. A fellow AltDTCer says it perfectly here.

3. What are you most looking forward to experiencing with your child/what do you most enjoy doing with your child?
Everything! I can’t wait to watch our child discover the world, grow and find joy in the simple things. I can't wait to hear her giggle and I especially can't wait to see her interact with nature.

4. What's your favourite book about adoption?
So far it’s Real Parents Real Children – it's a great reference for child development stages and how adoption and non-adoption issues come into play. I haven't read many yet, but I have a pretty extensive Amazon wish list and plan to dive into the rest pretty soon.

5. What will/do you miss most about your life pre-parenthood?
Alone time. I'm a quiet person most of the time and really enjoy a few minutes of me time each day, even if it's reading or meditating right before bed.

6. What's your favourite children's book (any age group)?
Gotta love Dr. Suess books!

7. Lifebook - excited to start or terrified of screwing it up? Top tip?
I’m very excited about it. I love to create stuff like that but I'm not into paper scrapbooking - too many pieces and parts. I plan to learn digital scrapbooking where all the pieces and parts are electronic. That way it can easily evolve as our child grows (of course I'll keep archived versions of each stage).

8. What hobby do you secretly hope your child will take up and love?
Anything related to nature, animals and the outdoors – and of course scuba diving when he/she is old enough. We love diving and how cool will it be to share the beauty of the underwater world with our child?! I also hope she loves to read - reading makes life richer.

9. Co-sleeping - "well of course" or "maybe but I just don't see how any of us would sleep"?
No co-sleeping here. At first if we need to hold and cuddle for her to go to sleep we will but will put her in the crib for the night. We have enough room to have the crib in our room and right next to the bed for touching and comforting. In bed with us would be a disaster and probably not safe for a baby - we have enough trouble with just us in bed – we both tend to sleep sprawled out a bit.

10. If you'd had sole choice of your child's name (assuming you didn't), would it have been different? Wanna tell us what?
I like that she will come with a Chinese name. Their naming conventions are wonderful and Jacek has already picked out a few meanings/names he likes. American names we like are Hana and Maija (said like Maya, Polish spelling). I also like the name Claire.

11. In the movie of your life, who plays you?
Clare Danes.

12. Sleeping. Light on, light off? No, YOU silly.
Off.

13. China - experiment with food or not?
Of course! We can't wait to try authentic Chinese. We can't imagine going to China and living on rice, KFC and MickeyD's - ugh! Now I'm craving Dim Sum - thanks A-Mama!

14. What's your favourite China adoption blog (after this one of course..ahem...)?
The ALT DTC posse (links on the right) and also ChicagoMama, Mimi Smartypants, Do They have Salsa in China, Waiting for Sophie…

Blog Updates

In case you didn't notice, I tought I'd point out some changes I made recently...

First, if you look up in the title box you'll see a new quote by Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. I love this quote - it really reflects one of the biggest wishes I have for my future child. I also hope to instill a deep appreciation for the natural world, so it's a bonus that this quote is from such a person.

Next, I've updated the links on the right side of the blog. I added a couple new China and adoption links and links to the blogs of fellow AltDTCers - short for alternative. It's a group of super down to earth open-minded parents with 2006 LIDs who get together on a message board for discussion, support and a lot of fun - without all of the religiosity, ladybug, redthread fluff that seems to creep into other DTC boards.

Finally, if you scroll past the blog links you'll see the new FAQ section. Here you can link directly to the answers to all of those burning questions you have about our adoption. There are only 2 links now, but this section will keep growing so check back often.

September Stork Alert!

The CCAA has announced that they have completed matching for July 23 to August 9 LIDs! If average days referred each month stays around 18 days as this batch, we are looking at early 2008 for our referral. I'm hoping things speed up enough to get us a fall 2007 referral and China trip - of course you don't always get what you wish for - time will tell!

Congratulations to everyone getting their referrals this week!

5 Months LID

We've just passed our 5 month mark! We've been officially waiting in line for 5 months - doesn't seem that long! We've been so busy with summer, our garden, the fence, events and my new job that time has just flown by.

Wait times continue to grow and we're ok with that. For me a big part of it is the new job - I can't take FMLA for a year anyway. We have more to do with the house and the time will enable us to save more money prior to China. We also value our couple time and are cherishing our time together sans child.

I feel bad for the many parents feeling despair and frustration with the long wait. Many have experienced years of infertility, which must make this so hard for them. I wish I could wave a magic wand of zen over the China adoption community so all could feel a sense of peace in knowing they will have their child at the end of this rocky road.

Beauty and the Beast

You've seen the beauty in my last post, now let me introduce you to the beast...

A few weeks ago I was clearing spent veggie plants in the garden when all of a sudden a prick and searing burning sensation overtook my lower arm. Not a bee in sight. It happened right after brushing up against a little weed and I ended up with 5 welts. I asked friends native to the area to see if they had any idea what plant had stung me...and got some pretty strange looks. It appeared as if I was a complete nut case.

Alas I am sane. Today I was once again the victim of this beasty little plant - once again I have welts and lo and behold there was the same little weed poking up at me. Angry over my relaxing garden time being so rudely interrupted, I stormed into the house and consulted the great Google to see what attacked me.

Stinging Nettle. It's an herb. You can boil it and eat it in soup. It has little hairs all over it that act like mini hypodermic needles and inject poison into your skin. Apparently it has tropical relations that can do real damage. In my world it will be henceforth called beastweed. Ouch.

Plumeria!

Fence Me In

After two years in our house we finally got our privacy fence! It looks amazing and it makes the yard look so much bigger - not sure how that works - I figured it would make it look smaller because it boxes it in. The fence also gives a great background to our gardens.

I did totally lose my fledgling woodland native garden - I guess the installers thought they were weeds - they trampled every last plant - you can't even see remnants of them. The good news it gives me an excuse to hit my favorite native nursery in the spring.

So why the privacy fence when we have awesome neighbors? Well, we sometimes like our privacy and don't want to be social every time we sit outside. We also got the fence for our dog. While I'm heartbroken for her that she can't sit at the front gate anymore and look out, I feel better knowing she is safe from rowdy rock throwing teenagers, hoods who might steel her to train their fighting dogs or anti-pit bull wackos who might slip her a little yummy antifreeze.

I felt bad when she first ventured outside after the fence was set. She loves to greet the neighbors and watch the dogs 2 yards down. She had a look of utter confusion on her face. It really was sad. So I showed her that if she puts her paws on the ledge of the porch she can still see - you can't imagine the relief I felt to see that tail wagging!

Almost There...

Aloha! You see that little flower in my profile? That's a plumeria, the heavenly scented tropical flower used to make Hawaiian leis. On our first visit to Hawaii I quickly fell in love with the flower's simplicity and smell. Ahhhhhhh....

Anyway, we brought home a plumeria tree. It was basically a stick in a bag, we planted it and amazingly it grew. It lives outside in the summer and comes inside when the temperature goes below 55. It drops its leaves in the winter in our climate. We got 2 leaves the first year and a few more each year since. Earlier this summer it started growing a strange top. We thought it was branching off. We were wrong...after four years it's FLOWERING!!!

My very own plumeria right in my very own back yard! Here's the first bloom beginning to open - and the smell!...sigh! I'll post a full bloom soon!

Goodnight all, I'm off to dream of Hawaii...

Why China?

The simple answer is because that is where our child is. But such choices are hardly that simple.

When we decided to pursue international adoption we initially chose Poland. Jacek's family is Polish and my family is of Eastern European descent so it seemed the logical choice. We moved forward with the intial interviews for our home study and then attended the first required class. That's when it hit us. Poland just was not the right choice for us. I'll never forget the moment on the way to lunch that day when Jacek asked "what do you think about adopting from China?" We took a step back, reviewed the pros and cons of each program and looked a bit deeper. The result was that we realized that China really is where our future child is.

The irony is that when I was young I used to tell people that if I ever decided to have a child that I would adopt one from China...and now I am!

CCAA Update

Congratulations to all LIDs from July 14 through July 22 who who are now seeing their referrals!!! A great place to find links to current referrals is on this blog - Mary-Mia has been keeping the China adoption community up to date on referrals and travels and now she'll be seeing her very own referral today!

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before July 22, 2005.

4 Months LID

We've passed the 4 month mark in our wait for our child. Currently the time from LID to referral is 13-14 months and I think most are expecting it to grow more. The past month flew with the new job, vacation prep and of course our time in Honduras. The coming months will speed along, too, I'm sure - we have a friend's big 40th birthday party, another friend's wedding and two of Jacek's friends visiting for a weekend - oh and my parents are due for a visit as well...keeping busy really is the key.

Relaxin' on Roatan

Posts have been slim recently - but for very good reason. We were getting ready for our diving vacation to Roatan, one of the bay islands of Honduras. It was an amazing trip.

We arrived at CoCo View Resort and were instantly relaxed. It's a quaint island resort dedicated to making your dive trip as easy and effortless as possible. Service, food, accomodations were perfect. The hammocks were so comfy we bought one in West End to bring home with us. The diving was incredible - vertical reef walls covered in an array of corals and sponges hosting all kinds of sea life...seahorse, squid, barracuda, parrotfish, jawfish, scorpionfish, filefish, spotted drums, squirrelfish, lobster, crabs, lizardfish, moray eels, and so much more. We also did a dolphin encounter at the marine science center and a shark dive. The shark dive was phenomenal - about 15 sharks, the biggest was 9 feet, swimming among us, under us, at us, next to us, on top of us...they were so close we could see every detail - it was a wonder they didn't hit us - they are truly graceful fish. Diving all day turned into relaxing on the deck at the bar all evening sipping monkey la las and watching the moon shine on the ocean...

Corteo

I've been dying to see Cirque du Soleil and finally had an opportunity - we saw Corteo live a few nights ago and it was amazing! We were 5th row center and had a perfect view - although there really are no bad seats in the tent. So was it good enough to satisfy my craving? Uh, no - now I want to see all the Cirque shows...wow!

Butterflies!

The native prairie garden is now blooming like crazy. When I purchased the plants I was told it would attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Well, look what visited us recently? It's a Tiger Swallowtail. Unfortunately I wasn't home but Jacek was able to get this great photo. We've seen at least 3 other kinds of butterflies several kinds of bees in the garden in the past week, too. One butterfly even let me get nose to nose with it. It's so relaxing to sit on the patio and just watch.

3 Months LID

As of today we are officially 3 months into our wait for referral. The current rumor mill says the wait from LID to referral is going to climb to 18 months. Thankfully I have my new job to keep me busy and distracted and like I mentioned before, it's a good thing for us if we don't travel to China until I've been there more than a year due to FMLA rules - and summer is the busy season at my company, so if it goes into fall, like it will if the 18 month wait pans out, then even better - only in terms of work of course. Ahhh, see how easily I can make the number 18 look better in my brain?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, you can see for yourself and the season's not quite half over...fresh organic veggies anyone? We have tomatos, hot peppers, banana pepper, snap peas, green beans, onions, chinese kale, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, raspberries, strawberries, sunflowers, rosemary, parsley, dill, basil, cilantro, oregano and thyme. On the bottom right of the picture is our native prairie garden - still in it's baby stage, but already giving beautiful flowers.

The fence keeps the dog out and the photo doesn't do the size of it justice - the raised beds are 16'x4' each and there's another 6-8 feet on the far end for the overflow and berry patch. Not bad for city dwellers, huh?

Little Angel

We visited family over the holiday weekend and we got to meet Sandy, who comments on our blog occasionally- she's married to my father's cousin. It was so fun to finally meet in person! She gave us a gift for our baby - it's the cutest little stuffed Precious Moments angel boy. When you press his belly he says the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer. It is just adorable. Thank you so much Sandy - we will treasure this little guy and we can't wait to give him to our child.

2 Months LID

We are now 2 months into the wait for our referral. We do have some goods news:

I got my 'dream' job! Starting next month I'll be practicing my profession with a new company in a very different environment. It's a slight promotion and a larger salary, but it's the setting and company mission so close to my interests that pulled me in. It's going to be challenging and wonderful at the same time. To maintain privacy I won't say more than that, but trust me - I could not be happier.

What does this mean for the adoption? First we will have to eventually do a homestudy update to take with us to China. Our agency indicated to me that they think we will probably have to do this anyway to renew our I-171H (USCIS approval) because it will be very close to expiring by the time we are close to referral.

Second, it means I'm no longer rooting for referrals to speed up - sorry everyone! I'm not eligible for FMLA until working at the new company for a year. If we have to travel before then, we will have to get very creative with our leave. However, our agency seems to think that it is more likely our referral will come after next June (4/20 LID). They also pointed out that in the event our referral comes in next May or June then our travel dates will still be over the year threshold.

CCAA Update

Congratulations to all LIDs from June 16 through June 28 who will be seeing their referrals very soon!!!

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 28, 2005.

Why Adoption?

One of the first questions asked of us on this journey was "why adoption?" Many families choose to adopt because they are unable to conceive a child. Others are strong believers in zero population growth. Still others simply want a child and decide that their child is one of the millions of orphans in the world who want or need a family.

We are in the latter group. To us, genetic material is not a prerequisite for familial love and frankly, I've never had the desire to experience pregnancy. Jacek and I were both touched by adoption thoughout our lives - friends and acquaintances who were adoptees, birthmothers, or adoptive parents.

Perhaps it's these experiences that make adoption seem like the natural and obvious choice for us. We can't imagine completing our family in any other way.

City Wildlife

If you think living in a big city removes you from wildlife you're wrong. We live in a large city - actually IN the city, not the 'burbs. Our yard is filled with grey squirrels, fox squirrels, grackles, cardinals, mourning doves, sparrows, other songbirds and butterflies. We've spotted a hawk or falcon (flying too fast toward a rabbit to see which), a racoon and opossum and a woman a few blocks away swears a red fox family took up residence in her backyard. Of course there are tons of rabbits, but we have them blocked from our yard after the devastation they caused in our native woodland and prairie gardens last year. Coyotes and deer live in nearby forest preserves.

Now we can add a new species to the list - the Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata). I found this little guy in our native woodland garden this morning. Probably one of the neighborhood kids brought it home from camp - it is native to our area and after work we'll take it to a wetland area where there are others of its kind.

I can't wait to share my love of wildlife with our child - if I can't foster a similar passion in her, I hope to at least foster a respect that she will carry throughout life and that will encourage her to make choices that help wildlife and the environment.

Visit these links to learn more about the advantages of Native Gardening and creating your own Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

Odette

Here's kitty #2, Odette. I adopted Odette after moving from a very small town to the big city. You see, Cleo was a bully and hated outside, so naturally I took her with me and left the rest of the entourage with a friend in animal disneyland (and no, that's not code for animal shelter, he really does live in animal disney - woods, pond, hills, fur brothers & sisters, etc.). Well, despite her hatred for other animals Cleo became quite neurotic and it was suggested that she missed having company while I was at work. So I called a local shelter and explained what I was looking for - bully cat who beats all other 4-legged creatures is lonely and needs a punching bag - fully expecting the woman to laugh, sneer and hang up on me. Surprise! She actually told me she had the perfect cat for my situation. Odette was living in the shelter in a room with a bully cat and was holding her own very well. The girls get along - well, they tolerate each other - and they don't even fight anymore. Occasionally Odette will body slam Cleo in "play", which Cleo so does not appreciate, but it remains peaceful.

Odette is shy but very sweet once she gets to know you. She loves scratchings and shoulder massages and goes nuts for wine corks and grass. She despises Tuesday and has a very uncanny ability to know whether or not the dog is actually sleeping or merely relaxing. We get her clipped every summer - and she loves it - the groomers can't get over how much she enjoys the clippers. Nutty cat! She's a doll.

Cleopatra

It's time to meet the rest of the family - Tuesday's had plenty of blog time to date. Introducing Cleopatra - Cleo for short. This is my first furry pet not including a hamster and mice from kidhood. I adopted her from a shelter - rather she adopted me. I was just entering grad school at the time and I had my sister's old very light colored furniture so naturally I was looking for a light colored cat. Well, I walked into the trailer (small town) and there were cats everywhere. My eye immediately went to a small black beauty draped over a small tower with her tongue sticking out. Too bad I was looking for a light colored cat. I met several wonderful kitties and as I walked around to see them that little black munchkin of a cat followed me around. She also beat any other cat who tried to get too affectionate with me. You can see she's the one who came home with me. She was 4 years old at the time - she's been to an eye and a respiratory specialist and has cost me a bundle - she's about 16ish now 6 pounds and going strong. As I type this she's leaning over the desk swatting our pit bull in the face. She is very sweet and loves children. She's very demanding of attention but at least she doesn't jump on guest's laps in the bathroom anymore. Gotta love her!

CCAA Update

Congratulations to those with those June 7 to June 15 LID's! Your referral is on the way! Enjoy your celebration!

Hugs to everyone else still waiting. Here's hoping this continuing slowdown ends soon. Hang in there!

For the non-adopting readers, if CCAA continues referring only about a week's worth of referrals at a time, we won't see referral until early 2010 - a 45-46 month wait. Of course, if the slow down continues I expect some families to change countries or move to the waiting child program which could speed things up a bit. It may also mean fewer families choosing China and opting for countries with a shorter timeframe - so in the end I expect it won't be nearly that long for our referral.

One Month LID

We've passed our one month LID anniversary! How many months to go?

For family and friends anxious to meet our new addition, be warned - it will likely be a while. The adoption process in China has slowed considerably since we started. When we first began our paperwork for China back in August, the wait from LID to referral was 6-8 months and we expected to travel to pick up our child later this year.

Now the wait is 11-12 months and our agency is currently saying to expect a 10-14 month wait, and that the time could change at any time, as that is just an estimate based on recent activity. Now we are expecting to travel sometime in 2007. Other agencies around the world are telling clients just entering the process that waits could stretch to 18-22 months from LID.

There is so much speculation and so little official information or certainty that one adoptive parent set up a rumours blog just for China adoptions. While it's a little frustrating not knowing when we will recieve our child, we know that our child is in China and will make it home to us and we will be very happy when that happens.

Sweet Slumber

Babcia (that's 'grandma' in Polish) made these for Hana - aren't they beautiful? The pillows are fleece and so soft - the big one has a very soft curly type fabric in matching stripes on the back. I think she's going to make a matching blanket, too. I just love the colors and the dragonfly print. I'm thinking of saving them for the toddler/junior bed stage. Thank you Babcia from Hana!

Ouch!

Here's a shot of what was smacking my car for the longest 3 commuting minutes of my life. I haven't the heart to look to see if my baby Element suffered any dents - it's a tough little thing, so I'm guessing it fared well. How my windshield isn't cracked is beyond me. Our trees and plants didn't do so well - the yard and streets are smothered with green debris - that glorious bright green of spring shredded by nature's weedwacker.

First Books

Look what we received in the mail from our baby's Gram and Pap Pap! It's an adorable trio of stuffed animal books, each with a cute little story - and if you pull the string the animal vibrates. We think it is critical to do everything we can to encourage our child to enjoy reading - looks like we'll be off to a great start. Too cute! Now which one should we take to China with us? Sheep? Bunny? Ladybug?

Thank you Gram and Pap Pap from your future grandbaby!

The Oregon Trail

Just got back from a fabulous trip to Portland! What a great little city – and so close to nature. One day we were playing in the snow on Mt. Hood and the next we were walking on the beach in shorts. There is green everywhere. I saw waterfalls that rival those in Hawaii - of course my shot here of Bridal Veil Falls does not do it justice.

The city itself is so clean and all cities should adopt the same livability initiatives that Portland has (mostly free transit, building height and signage restrictions, urban sprawl controls, requirements for public art being part of a building’s budget, etc.). If you go start with the downtown walking tour that leaves from the Visitor Center in Pioneer Square – not your typical “this is where to spend your money” city tour. Instead, it focuses on the history of Portland and all those livability initiatives. Very interesting. I also saw the Japanese Gardens and we had a date night on the riverfront – wine, cheese, seafood, and fireworks courtesy of the Cinco de Mayo festival.

I think the funniest thing we saw was on the ride back to the city from the coast. The drive is through National Forest and is very pretty – and desolate – not much civilization. We stopped at a little mom and pop gas station out of the 70’s. While the attendant pumped our gas we browsed the store. One entire side of a revolving rack was dedicated to very serious books about Big Foot (a.k.a. Sasquatch)…and behind the counter the entire wall was covered in guns for sale…hand guns, hunting rifles and even an AK-47. Why oh why didn’t I think to take Jacek’s picture holding a Big Foot book with the guns in the background!?

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?

Critical Review

I just got word our I-171H has reached CCAI. Tomorrow is day 1 of our critical review, which can take up to 15 business days. After critical review - assuming no issues - our dossier goes to translation.

The Golden Ticket!

From the US Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services:

"It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan or orphans as defined by section 101(B)(1)(F) of the immigration and nationality act."

We got it! Our I-171H was waiting in the mailbox when I got home from work today! Now we have all the pieces we need to proceed with our adoption. We need to get a copy of it notarized, certified and authenticated and sent off to CCAI so that our dossier can go into critical review. I can go right downtown to get it done in one day - I'm going to shoot for taking off Friday. OK, gotta go celebrate!

Video: Adoption1

Adoption1
Video sent by ludo

Turn up your speakers, grab the tissues and prepare to fall in love with these beautiful children!

Collecting Dust

The lastest news/rumour is that our local CIS person has resigned and there is currently no one in our state working on adoption cases. It's been 8 weeks since fingerprinting for us. There's no telling how long it will take for them to hire a replacement and get things going again. So our file sits collecting dust. Not good news, but at least we have an answer as to why the wait.

Update 3/22: OK, our SW said that there is a replacement in place and that they are 8-9 weeks behind. She said that when the former officer left they were working on home studies recieved in early January - uh, that should include us! Hopefully we'll have a very cheery post soon!

Still Waiting for I-171H

We are still waiting for our immigration approval letter. I saw another person in our area who already received theirs and their timeline was similar, so hopefully it will be soon. Our SW is going to call CIS for an update on Tuesday. I'm trying hard to be patient, but as each month is seeing the matching process slow down further, I'm really anxious to get our dossier to China soon.

Update 3/12: still no news. SW's call to our local CIS has not yet been returned.

Update 3/17: SW called again Thursday and still no return call. She said she did find out they are in the midst of a staff change. Hopefully the end result will be faster processing. Jacksonville has been processing within days of fingerprinting - send some of that efficiency this way!

D.T.CCAI

That's Dossier to CCAI - one step closer to DTC or Dossier to China! I can't even describe the knots in my stomach as I dropped the package into the UPS box. I don't think I'll ever forget that 'klunk' as the package hit the bottom. It was SCARY and exciting at the same time. I checked everything several times as I collected everything and again about 10 times after receiving it back and a few times again today. I can't believe my little "hobby" is now totally out of my control!

Here's a shot of our dossier package I sent to CCAI today. We only need one more piece - our immigration approval letter or I-171H. I wish I would have kept track of how many hours went in to collecting all of this stuff. How much stuff? Here's the list:

• Home Study Report
• Adoption Petition (also known as letter of intent)
• Financial Statement
• Birth Certificate
• Marriage Certificate
• Police Clearance Letters
• Physical Forms
• Employment Verification Letters
• 3 Passport Photos each
• 11 Photos
• Copies of our Passports

Now we wait for the I-171H. It's been 3 weeks so far...

2/16 Update from our agency: Congratulations! Your dossier has arrived at our office! :)

Rednecks and Child Safety

Our good friend got free tickets to see Jeff Foxworthy last night - you know "If...you might be a redneck". He was hilarious. He did a little talk about how we raise children differently these days compared to when he was growing up and a few things hit so close to home I almost hyperventilated laughing:

Today a 5 year old gets a computer - we got wooden paddles with a red rubber ball attached with a rubber band. When the ball snapped off, the paddle went to mom for future use...

Today kids playgrounds are so much more interesting and safe - we had the metal swing sets that were never properly cemented in the groud so when anyone swung more than 4 feet off the groud the entire frame would tip...

He also mentions lawn darts - remember Jarts? We had them! The real ones - the heavy metal ones!

What a difference 2-3 decades make!

Outsmarted

Our neighbor stopped over last night to invite us for Cuban dinner on Saturday (YUM). Unfortunately we have other plans, but as he chatted with Jacek over a beer we learned something interesting. Our little girl is sneaking out!

Tuesday has been jumping over our fence to say hello to neighbor! Why didn't we know this? Because when she's done she jumps back into the yard. Her agility trainer would be proud.

Looks like we'll have to budget for that tall privacy fence much sooner than planned.

Super Bowl Champs!

What a game! The Steelers are the Super Bowl champions! Woo HOoo!

We spent the game with about 1400 (no, that's not a typo) fellow Steeler fans at a (huge) Chicago sports bar. It was an incredible night! I don't think I'll have a voice tomorrow from all the cheering.

Here's a shot of Jerome Bettis with the trophy. We are so happy he finally made it to the big game and won - he deserves it more than anyone.

GO STEELERS!

Almost There

Our documents came back from the Chicago Consulate today. All that's left to complete our dossier is our I-171H - immigration approval letter. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

Happy New Year!

Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year celebration in China. It is a 15 day celebration ending with the Lantern Festival.

Here's a great summary of the traditions and meaning surrounding this important holiday from the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco.

It is the Year of the Dog. Click to learn more about the Chinese Zodiac and to find your 'sign'.

Wishing you all good luck and prosperity in the Year of the Dog!

Tagged

There's a sort of tag game going around the adoption blogs - something fun to do to pass the time while everyone waits. Diana tagged me so here we go...

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was working full time and going to grad school full time - talk about burn out!

What were you doing one year ago?
Filling out our application to our first homestudy agency.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate
2. Fruit
3. Nuts
4. Soy Moon Gouda
5. Chips & mild salsa

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off the mortgage
2. Travel
3. Invest more
4. Donate more
5. Visit the spa regularly :)

Five bad habits:
1. Procrastinating
2. Not putting my laundry away
3. Chocolate :)
4. Unbending and twisting paperclips
5. Forgetting to do the litter box

Five things I like doing:
1. Spending time with Jacek
2. Playing with my dog (agility, training, ball)
3. Scuba diving (wish I could do it more)
4. Exploring natural places (woods, canyons, beaches, etc.)
5. Experimenting in the kitchen

Five things I would never wear, buy or get new again:
1. Shoes that aren't comfy in the store - no breaking in for me
2. Neon colors
3. Leg warmers
4. Really short skirts
5. Anything itchy

Five favorite toys/games:
1. Cranium
2. Tiger Woods Golf
3. Tennis
4. Slinky
5. Play-doh

I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 more bloggers but I think everyone has already received it. So if you haven't - you are hereby Tagged!

Off to the Consulate

Our last set of documents is off to the China Consulate...thanks to Jacek. I had a last minute crisis at work so my plan to make the copies, get a money order and send it off was squashed - but Jacek saved the day. He drove to my office and picked everything up and was able to process it and get it to UPS before the truck pulled away. They will receive it before Friday.

The other consulates have been quick about getting our documents back to us, however the Chinese New Year is the 29th so I'm sure the Consulate - or at least parts of it - will close. No one seems to know exactly when or for how long.

Here We Go!!!

Heeere we go! Steelers..here we go...Pittsburgh's goin' to the Su-uper Bowl! Woo Hoo! Our annual Superbowl party will be extra fun this year! Go Steelers!!! Look's like Tuesday's Wish came true!

Fingerprints Done

We went to the local application support center for CIS (immigration) today and got our fingerprints done. It was quick - well my prints and the machine didn't really get along too well, but they were quality approved so all should be good. One thing I will say is the people that work there must really hate their jobs and every customer who enters. Not one hello. Not one smile. And I venture to say they were just plain unfriendly. Every single one of them.

But - we were happy to have this milestone completed! Now we wait for our immigration approval letter. Reports from the message boards on time from prints to letter from the Chicago office are ranging from 3 to 6 to 12 weeks (just one 12 weeker and there was no explanation as to whether or not anything unusual caused it to be 12 weeks). So fingers crossed for a quick turn around!

Must Love Dogs

...even when they buy movies from Blockbuster without your permission. Kind of ironic, isn't it? I think as we prepare Tuesday for a child in the house by tugging her tail, pulling her ears and stealing her toys she has taken on the task of preparing us for a child and all of the unexpected undesirable things that come with it by playing doggie-toddler. Seriously, she even has the defiant "NO!" down pat. Too cute. Wonder how much Blockbuster's going to charge for this?

A Year of Change

I just realized it was a year ago that we attended an information meeting at our former home study agency. We chose the agency because we originally planned to adopt from Poland and they were one of the few local agencies that provided adoption services for Poland. We initially chose Poland because that is where Jacek is from and it seemed like the natural choice. Since then we changed to China, changed home study agencies, and even changed our bathroom in our quest for Hana.

In some ways the past year flew and in some ways it dragged (thanks, former home study agency). I'll talk about all of that in future posts, after we have our LID date and I no longer have to worry what document to send where and when - we'll have plenty of wait time to fill the blog with the who's-what's-why's-where's and how's of China adoption...stay tuned!

Rolling Right Along

The remainder of our documents (minus the I-171H) are on their way to the Secretary of State's office. I decided to just mail them rather than go downtown. I'll save the downtown trip for the I-171H certification and authentication since we'll be expediting it. I figure we have time to send the documents through UPS since it'll likely be at least 6 weeks from when we get fingerprinted to the time we get immigration approval.

Disappointment

So we get up bright and early and head to the currency exchange to get the rest of our documents notarized and then it was off to the CIS Application Support Center for fingerprints. What's this? There's a sign on the door apologizing for the schedule mix up, but they are closed today for MLK day. Of course I wasn't happy. There is a small chance we can go first thing in the morning later next week - if not we'll be there next Saturday again to I'm sure longer lines 'cause it'll be us, everyone else and all the others who couldn't go today. Sigh.

Fingerprint Letter Here!

I just got home from work to find our fingerprint letter from immigration in the mailbox! We'll likely go on Saturday to get our prints done - I'm so excited!!! This is the last set of prints we'll need to do then we wait for CIS approval.

Home Study Officially Done

We received 3 notarized copies of our home study today. Another copy is on its way to CIS (immigration). When they get it they will send us an invitation to get fingerprinted. When they get our prints they will review our file and send us an approval letter I-171. We really have no idea how long this will take - I've seen others online who got them within 6 weeks, some 12.

Meanwhile I'm preparing the rest of our documents to be notarized, certified at the Secretary of State's office and then authenticated at the Chinese Consulate. After that's done we'll send them on to CCAI for critical review. Then when we do receive our I-171 we can expedite it throught the authentication process and send it to CCAI - who will then send our dossier to China.

The light at the end of the paperchase tunnel is getting a little bigger! :)

Homestudy Status

Got an email from CCAI yesterday - they have reviewed our homestudy report. Also heard back from SW - homestudy report will be notarized and mailed to us for our dossier next week and we should have it by next Friday. It will be sent to immigration at the same time.

Meanwhile, I need to get the rest of our documents ready to be notarized - there is very specific wording that must be used for those items we will be notarizing as copies.

Homestudy Draft

We got an email from our SW today with our draft homestudy report to review - exactly when she said we would get it! We had to clarify and correct a couple of things and send it back. SW says that it is on its way to her supervisor to review and should be sent to immigration the week after Christmas. Meanwhile she is also going to send the report to CCAI for review to be sure everything required to be included by China is there for our dossier. It looks like Santa has given me my top wish - for our homestudy report to go to immigration by the end of the year! Now for my second wish - a super speedy processing and approval by immigration - I hear they are running slow, so I'll have to wish really really hard...Dear Santa...

Authentication #2 Complete

I received my authenticated birth certificate today - that's 2 Consulates down, one to go. Our paperchase is in the end phase. We expect to receive our homestudy report before Christmas to send to immigration. Meanwhile we will notarize the remainder of our documents and take them to the Secretary of State and Chinese Consulate for authetication either right before or right after the holidays. After that we wait for the I-171 (immigration approval) - we've seen reports of this taking up to 4 months out of the Chicago office. Only after we receive and authenticate the I-171 can our dossier be sent to China.

Rockettes Are Rockin'

We went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show on Saturday. It was a great show - lots of fun - live animals for the nativity and snow inside the theater. I can't wait until we can take Hana and watch the excitement on her face! As I decorate and get ready for the holidays I'm constantly thinking of how we can make this a magical time of year for her - it's going to be so much fun...

Shaoey and Dot

I ventured to Target a couple of weeks ago with a friend. As we were hunting for gel pens the office supply section I came upon a small stand with several adoption related books (strange place to put it, don't ya think?). This one immediately caught my eye - Shaoey and Dot - the illustrations are very good. As I flipped through it I realized that it is specific to China adoption and it'll be a great story to read to Hana and to help all of us talk about her own adoption story. Even though I promised myself that I wouldn't buy anything for her until after our paperwork is in China, I just couldn't pass it up - it's too perfect.