Monday, January 30, 2006

Dossier is on it's way to Holt!



Woohoo! We are done for now with our portion of the paperwork! Our dossier is on it's way right this moment to Holt, our adoption agency. Now it will wait in line to get reviewed before going to China. Here's a picture of the certified and authenticated documents and required pictures that are included. The pages from the Chinese consulate, with the red seals, are actually very pretty in person. We've worked on getting this stack of papers since the end of September so it's a little weird to be sending it off and know we'll never see it again.

Our agency sends dossiers to China every Friday so if all goes well and there are no errors or revisions needed, then our dossier could be on it's way to China on February 10th. That's the earliest it could go. It's much more likely that it will be the 17th, or even the 24th. We'll have to wait and see. The day it goes to China (or DTC date) is significant because that's when the wait for referral officially begins in the eyes of our agency. In China's eyes the wait begins with the log in date (or LID), which occurs anywhere from 4 days to 6 weeks after DTC. It doesn't matter really as long as you know what date you are looking at in reference to what. For example The China Center for Adoption Affairs posts information about referrals based on LID. On Jan 25th all the people with a LID of April 26, 05-May 13, 05 received their referrals.

It's very exciting each month to see where the CCAA is at as far as processing but how many LIDs they match at a time totally varies. The people who received their referrals on the 25th should be traveling to pick up their daughters in 6-8 weeks (hopefully.) It's very exciting and we can't wait until it's our turn!
Thanks for continuing to follow this journey with us!!

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Happy New Year!










Chinese New Year begins tomorrow.
I "borrowed" the following information from this website:
www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle 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. 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, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, 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 generations.

Tomorrow the Year of the Dog begins.

This is what I found out about the year of the dog:

1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006
People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.


We are pretty sure our daughter was born in the year of the rooster since we have requested a 12-18 month old child and we hope to have her join our family in about 10-12 months.
This is what I found out about the year of the rooster:

1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005
People born in the Year of the Rooster are deep thinkers, capable, and talented. They like to be busy and are devoted beyond their capabilities and are deeply disappointed if they fail. People born in the Rooster Year are often a bit eccentric, and often have rather difficult relationship with others. They always think they are right and usually are! They frequently are loners and though they give the outward impression of being adventurous, they are timid. Rooster people¡¦s emotions like their fortunes, swing very high to very low. They can be selfish and too outspoken, but are always interesting and can be extremely brave. They are most compatible with Ox, Snake, and Dragon.

Be sure to check out the New Year's superstitions on the website linked above. It is very interesting and I plan to abide by the no housecleaning or sweeping one!

I hope you all find this interesting and informative. I am thoroughly enjoying gathering all kinds of information about our future daughter's homeland, traditions and customs to share with her as she grows.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A Quote

"They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken." ~Author Unknown

This has nothing to do with adoption but I came across it and thought it was funny. No wonder the author is "unknown." What man is going to own up to saying that! :-)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

An interesting link

I don't have a progress report today, just waiting for documents to return from the New York Chinese Consulate.
I just wanted to point people to a website that has a great timeline on the history of adoption in the United States. Be sure to check out the link in the 1955 block about Bertha and Harry Holt. They are the original founders of the adoption agency we are using. They were pioneers in Korean adoptions and continue to be highly respected in international adoption.
Some interesting stuff!
Here's the link:
http://www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/timeline.html

Monday, January 23, 2006

A step closer



Ok, it's a baby step (no pun intended) but it's a step.
I got our I-171H county and state certified today and sent 11 documents via fedex to the courier in New York. They will take them to the Chinese Consulate tomorrow for authentication. They should be able to pick them up on Friday and fedex them back.

Friday, January 20, 2006

It's here!!

The coveted I-171H arrived today! This is a very exciting milestone. The headline on the letter says "NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION" (It actually is in all caps on the letter, I'm not just screaming it.) Then it says "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an oprhan or orphans as defined by section 101bF of the immigration and nationality act." Isn't that sweet? You won't find that sentence on a pregnancy test box!! We now have proof that the US government thinks we can be parents! It does clarify at the bottom that we are approved for ONE ORPHAN (not orphanS). I just think it's so funny how the government writes stuff. I may be joking about it but really it's the best news. We are another step closer to our daughter!
I went and got a photocopy of it notarized this afternoon so now I get to go on Monday to the county clerk and the secretary of state before fedexing it to the Chinese Consulate in NY. If it gets there by 10:30 Tuesday morning our courier should be able to get our documents authenticated before the New York consulate closes for a few days to celebrate the Chinese New Year which, by the way, starts January 29th. I'll keep updating with the steps that come after that.
We're almost done with the paperwork Mei Mei! Hang in there!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Update

The weirdest thing happened. The mail came twice today. I saw him pull up and deliver mail about noon then another guy came and delivered some more mail about 3:00. I'm not sure I've ever gotten mail twice in one day. Not suprisingly, the I-171H was not in either batch. But wait, there's good news! After 4 attempts this afternoon, I actually spoke to a human being at the Cincinnati USCIS office and she said we were approved on January 11th and she thinks the I-171H was mailed out yesterday. Woohoo! So maybe just a day or two more of stalking the mailman...for now.

Bailey will take care of it



I've decided to let our dog Bailey get the mail from now on since it's just junk these days.


(Just kidding-she just really likes cardboard to tear apart so this was a treat for her.)

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Still no 171H

The mail was just as disappointing today. That's all I have to report.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

No I-171H today

The mail just came, no 171H in it. I quickly thumbed through the mail and saw a return address with "Approval Department" above it. I got all excited then saw it was just a credit card offer. Like the USCIS is going to have "Approval Department" in their return address. I'm starting to lose it. When I called on Jan 5th to inquire about the status of our approval the lady said it would be here in "2 weeks, maybe one." Hasn't it been that long? Sigh.

Quote of the day...

"There's a skinny women inside of me screaming to get out, but I can usually shut her up with a cupcake."

Ok, I'm off to the gym.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Mei Mei



Mei Mei? Who's, what's Mei Mei? It's little sister in Chinese.
In September 2005 we began our official journey towards expanding our family. We have chosen to adopt from China and are almost done with the bulk of our paperwork. Once our paperwork is done and officially "logged-in" then we are still looking at a 8-12 month wait for a referral. We have requested a healthy girl aged 12-18 months old, so in all likelihood she has already been born! She is out there somewhere in China waiting for us.

The final piece of the paperwork puzzle (or the long pole in the tent, as Michael calls it) is a document called I-171H. It is approval from the US Government for us bring an orphan into the US. It should be here any day now, then I have to make a copy of it, get the copy notarized, go to Columbus to have the secretary of state of Ohio put an official seal on it, then send it to the Chinese Consulate in NY to have it "authenticated" (basically put their fancy seal on it too :-). Whew! Sound like a lot? Well I've already done it for 12 other documents so it's under control.

Once the whole pile of paper is done it goes to our agency, Holt International in Oregon, for review. They can take up to two weeks to review our dossier before sending it to China where it will be logged in and reviewed by people at the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs. 8-12 months later, our dossier will hit the matching room where a child's file will be matched up with ours. Once we accept our referral we should be traveling to China 6-8 weeks later to be united with our daughter!

Thanks for joining us on this journey!
Check back often for updates.