The CCAA is Back from Vacation

The CCAA has finally returned from vacation and updated their website.


The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 31, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 1, 2005.

Unfortunately we are still not out of the review room. Maybe by next months referrals that hurdle will be over and we will see that wonderful information.

13-Month LID Anniversary

Today is our 13-month LID anniversary. I am hoping that we will not have to wait for 13 more months to meet our daughter.

Today is also Katie's and Reese's, my niece and nephew, 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday Katie girl and Reese cup! I love you both and can't wait until you get to meet your cousin Olivia. She is going to be so lucky to have wonderful cousins like you both and Cole.

Referrals Have Arrived!

According to the Rumor Queen and other message boards, referrals have arrived through November 1, 2005 . This is better than last month's 2 days of referrals, but there are still 156 days left before they get to us (April 7, 2006).

We still haven't heard if we have made it through the review room yet. According to some of the message boards, people who have LID's in April have been asked questions by the CCAA, but no one seems to know if April has made it through review.

Congratulations to all of the lucky families who received their referrals for their children today.

Predictions for Referrals

The Rumor Queen posted this possible prediction chart today and I wanted to share it with all of you. As you can see, the predictions for our log in date (4/7/06) range from as early as March 2008 to November 2008. Of course, this all depends on the CCAA referring a minimum of 9 days a month to a maximum of 15 days of month. To me, the predictions do not mean much because the CCAA only referred a couple of days the last time. Everyone, please pray for a speed up so Olivia can come home soon.

The Cost of Raising a Child

I am not sure where I first read this, but I wanted to share it. I cannot wait to begin to experience the wonders of being a parent.

The Cost of Raising a Child

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 to be $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice..... But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

• $8,896.66 a year, or
• $741.38 a month, or
• $171.08 a week.
• That's a mere $24.24 a day!

Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is "if you want to be 'rich', don't have children. Actually, it is just the opposite! What do you get for your $160,140?

• Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
• Glimpses of God every day.
• Giggles under the covers every night.
• More love than your heart can hold.
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
• A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day

For $16 0,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

• finger-paint,
• carve pumpkins,
• play hide-and-seek,
• catch lightning bugs, and
• never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

• keep reading "The Adventures of Piglet and Pooh" , watch Saturday morning cartoons,
• go to Disney movies,
• and wish upon a star.
  

You also get to:

• frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets,

and collect:

• spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
• hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and
• cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no bigger bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

• retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof.
• taking the training wheels off a bike.
• removing a splinter,
• filling a wading pool.
• coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs
• coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
  

You get a front row seat to history to witness history:

• her first step,
• her first word,
• her first bra,
• her first date, and
• her first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs called grandchildren and great grandchildren in your obituary. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have the power to:

• heal a boo-boo,
• scare away the monsters under the bed,
• patch a broken heart,
• police a slumber party,
• ground them forever, and
• love them without limits...so that one day they, like you, will love without counting the cost.

The CCAA Site has been Updated

It was true, the CCAA only completed referrals for two days of LID's and we are still not through the review room.

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 31, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 26, 2005.

The Newest Addition to the Family

Yes, we have a new baby in the family...the four legged variety and no, she is not ours. My mom and dad thought it would be fun to take the grandchildren to look at the puppies at the pet store in the mall and they left with the cutest little bundle of fur. Her name is Lily (yes, it was Maggie but now has been changed) and she is only 8 weeks old.

LID 1-Year Anniversary

Today we have been officially waiting for one year. Yep, one year ago today the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) logged in our dossier. I had hoped that by this date they would have finished reviewing all of our paperwork and we could finally look forward to being somewhat closer to the matching room, however that is not the case. The wait is getting more difficult, especially since everything seems to be slowing down more and more. I am trying to stay positive and know that one day our daughter will be home, but is so difficult. I know that God is watching over us and Olivia and she will be home when the time is right. Hopefully by next Easter Olivia will be home in our arms where she belongs.

On another note, some referrals began arriving on April 6, but I am still not sure when the cut-off date was for this batch. Some rumors say that this batch only covered two days of log-in-dates (LID), but I really hope that is not even close to being true. As soon as the CCAA updates their site, if they do this time, I will make sure I update the blog.

One Year Ago

I remember the elation I felt one year ago today when I received the news from our agency that our dossier was on its way to China. After they told me this, my next question to them was...how long until we receive our referral for our daughter? Since at that time the China Center for Adoption Affairs was moving pretty quickly, they told me it would be approximately six to nine months.

So, here we are one year later and we are still waiting to meet our daughter. Since that conversation with our agency, the adoption process in China has really slowed down. As of today, people who had their dossiers logged in beginning on October 25, 2005 are still waiting to receive referrals for their children. The wait, instead of becoming shorter is now growing longer.

One year ago I thought Olivia would be home and in our arms by now. I thought that we would have celebrated our first Christmas, our first New Year, our first Chinese New Year and maybe even Olivia's first birthday. One year ago I would have never thought that we would not have our daughter in our arms by this time.

Wherever Olivia is, whether she is a thought in her birth mother's mind or living in an orphanage or foster care in China, she is a part of me, she has a piece of my heart, she is loved and she is my daughter, somewhere in China.

Floor Play Quilt

On Friday, my supervisor, Helen, suprised me with a beautiful floor play quilt for Olivia. I wanted to share pictures of the quilt with everyone and I can't wait for Olivia to come home so she can use it.

Welcome and Please Sign our New Guestbook!

J has been very busy lately sharing our blog site with many people in the medical profession. I am planning on printing out the pages of the blog and guestbook to share with Olivia when she gets older.

So please, if you are reading this blog, sign in on our guestbook. I am sure Olivia will love to see who looked at our site while we were waiting for her to come home.

One final thought for this evening...

I spoke to our agency yesterday about the wait and the review room. Pretty much, they told me that they do not see the wait time decreasing and as for the review room, no news is good news.

11 month LID Anniversary and the CCAA Website is Updated

Imagine my surprise this morning when I found out the CCAA had updated their website. I expected to add a blog post this morning for our 11 month LID Anniversary, but I never expected the CCAA to update their site. This is mainly because of some rumors stating that the CCAA would no longer update their site with this information, but that agencies would need to pay for the info. I am glad that the rumors were wrong.


The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 31, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 24, 2005.

Finally, March is out of the review room, so we are next! I will be relieved to get past that room and into the matching room. Referrals began arriving on Monday and Tuesday, but the cut-off date was up in the air, so it is nice to see the date in writing. I just wish they would get through 2005.

Mean Mom

I read this online and just couldn't resist posting it. I can only hope that I am a "mean mom" and Olivia will appreciate and love me as much as I love my mom.

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . .to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home. I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep. I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes. I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect. I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart. But most of all, I loved you enough . . to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them. Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too. Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16. Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year....The Year of the Pig
Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon（新月）on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon（满月）15 days later. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle（月运周期）is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year （闰年）. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth（万物）, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals（仪式）, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family. The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generation.

Cole, Katie and Reese

Olivia' cousin's, Cole, Katie and Reese visited this weekend and loved Olivia's tree. They can't wait for Olivia to finally come home.

Another Trip for Fingerprinting

We made another trip to Columbus this afternoon so S could have her fingerprints done. Once again, I never knew that fingerprints expired or that they could cost so much money. According to our government, our fingerprints are only good for 15 months and then we have to have them retaken. Of course, this is not free, but costs $70 for each person. However, everyone in the house is not current and we have another 15 months. Hopefully it will not take that long for Olivia to come home.

Waiting 10 Months and Counting

Today is our 10-month Log in Date (LID) anniversary of our dossier being in China. The good news is that if the wait does not go past 18 months, we are over half-way there. I do not want to even think about the bad news.

Anyway, we are 10 months closer to meeting our daughter.

Why Olivia has a Tree

My mom and Olivia's, waiting not so patiently, Nana, decided this year that she would not take her Christmas tree down until Olivia came home. Being the creative and crafty person she is, she made the Christmas tree into a "Waiting for Olivia to Come Home Tree". If you can see the pigs in the tree, that is in honor of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Pig, which is this year.

The CCAA has Updated their Website!

My mom called me this evening to share the news that the CCAA had finally updated their website. Of course, I checked the site about a half an hour before she called me and there had not been any changes. Not only have they updated the referrals...but they also updated the review room. Here is what the website says:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before March 22, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before October 13, 2005.

We are so close to being out of the review room!

Olivia's Bedroom