Our Twins have arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK before you get too excited - they aren't real flesh and blood twins. But they are the next best thing during this looooong wait (I feel like a broken record - I have been saying another 18 months for the last 17 months - I'm starting to get lots of questioning looks now - .

The twin dolls Ming Long and Mei Ling - that I last wrote about in January - arrived on Friday.

It was great fun to go to the post office and get the parcel and then come home rip the wrapping off to reveal them in all their cuddliness.

Zhōngqiūjié - Moon Festival

This festival is known as the Moon Festival and is held each year on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month (in 2007 this is Wednesday 26 September). Because the lunar month starts on a new moon, it is always a full moon on the festival (and the full moon rises at sunset).

On this day people enjoy sitting outdoors admiring the full moon while eating moon cakes (yuèbĭng) and fruits such as pomelo (yòuzi).

The round shape (ie the full moon) to the Chinese symbolises family unity. Therefore the Moon Festival is a holiday for members of the family to get together wherever possible. On that day children will bring their family members back to their parents' home for a reunion.

During Moon Festival all types of lanterns - and especially colourful, animal shaped paper lantern - decorate houses. Moon Festival alters are adorned with five dishes of round fruits, such as apples, peaches, pomegranates, grapes and small melons - the round shape symbolising both the moon and family unity

For adoptive families a great book to read at this time (or anytime) is 'We see the moon' by Carrie A Kitze, EMK Press. A wonderful way to 'connect' with birth family in China and beautifully illustrated with Chinese Peasant Art.

The Legends
During the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule and set out to coordinate a rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Each cake contained a message outlining the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government and the Ming dynasty (AD 1368-1644) was created. Today moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

The Lady - Cháng'é
There is a legend that thousands of years ago there were 10 suns in the sky and it was burning hot on earth. An archer, Hòuyì, bravely shot down nine of the suns and saved the earth from famine. He was beloved among the people and they made him a king. He was also awarded pills of immortality by the goddess Wángmŭ Niángniang. The pills were for both him and his wife Cháng'é, but Cháng'é was curious and could not resist the temptation of immortality. She secretly took all the pills herself, which not only made her immortal but also floated her to the moon to live forever.

The Man - Wu Kang
Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be immortal. Wu Kang then went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal taught him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. The Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days and asked if they could travel to come new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang's impatience the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night the magical tree restored itself with each blow and thus he still up there chopping.

十五月 - Fifteen months

What can I say?

Fifteen down, only ? to go!

What a week - 4 years AND 14 months

What a week it has been - two very significant dates.

Firstly - 14 months since log in for DD2 (sadly I don't think we have hit the halfway point yet).

And then it was the 4th anniversary of Forever Day with DD1 - amazing how 4 years can go by so quickly. Four years since she was put screaming into our arms and there was much crying from the three of us. An amazing four years passed by in a nano-second!!!

Yipee!!!!!!!!! We are out of the Review Room

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I logged onto the CCAA site at lunch time today (something of a ritual since we 'went into' the Review Room 3 weeks ago - a check before going to lunch and another before leaving work or later if I forgot).

I didn't actually look at the 'Documents Processing' box first off - I looked to see if there were any announcements in the central panel - quick browse there, nothing new. Then it hit me - the document processing box said:

"The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before June 30, 2006."

I thought I had started hallucinating, so I shut my eyes and opened them and read them again. It really did say June 30, 2006. My heart and head were pounding fit to burst. I had to tell someone - who'd understand.

So I grabbed my mobile phone (that is Aussie for cell phone) and tried to find fellow June LIDer 'K's number but I managed to fumble around for a while. When I finally managed to dial it, it went through to voicemail and I think I left the most gibberish message imaginable. Undaunted I emailed her and then sent a text message. And yes when she got them she was excited.

Then I phoned my DH - who I knew would be pleased but not quite as excited as K would be - and yes he was pleased but then came the boy response 'so when do you think we will get our R...' (can't bring myself to mention the 'r' word here) - which just goes to show that his Y- chromosome linked deafness has been working all these months and he hasn't taken in any of my 'bulletins' about the 'wait' increasing.

We had our 'official' adoption milestone celebration dinner - Chinese take-away (that Aussie for take-out).

And 7 hours after I first read the news on the CCAA site, I'm still EXCITED!!! (or maybe that is the effect of the MSG).

13 months down...

Well we have hit the 13 month post DTC mark.

And trying not to focus on the fact that we waited only 14 months for DD1 - notice how I said only, during that wait I would have ripped someone's head off for daring to saying you are only going to wait 14 months. A 14 month wait, that would be luxury this time!

I realised the other day, when someone at work asked how much longer, that for these entire 13 months my stock answer has been 18 months to 2 years more - time marches on but I sound like a broken record.

Oh for the time when I can say less than 18 months - problem is will I recognise that time when it comes!

Party Animal!

My daughter turned 5 this week. How time flies!

She went through my Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Party Cake book and selected this one - Timothy Tiger. Actually I adapted him - he is supposed to be cut out from cake and then iced all over but I decided to just adapt the design and put it on top of a cake with plain royal icing.

I think he turned out really well (his stripes are licorice cut with pinking shears).

I actually made 2 Timothy Tigers - one for her actual birthday and one for her party today. OK I am that type of perfectionist that always likes to make sure I can pull off the cake before the big day (better to realise I am being too ambitious early than when the party is only a couple of hours away) - I had a back up in case of disaster - a premade Spiderman icing (she loves Spiderman - she is such a tomboy).

The party this morning went really well - we held it at Questacon (hands on science museum here in Canberra) - you have to have somewhere inside out of the cold in a Canberra winter. The kids had a science show in the party room and then had access to the exhibits. They really enjoyed it.

But back to cakes - for those ladybird obsessed adoptive parents the Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Party Cake book has 3 great ladybird cake options - there is a big ladybird cake on the cover, there is a cute little ladybird cupcake and another cake decorated with ladybird chocolates. Despite steering my daughter towards these - she really wanted the tiger.

There are actually over 120 cakes in this book - and some of them are works of art

The secret to eternal youth revealed...

My daughter and I were looking in her mirror this evening and I asked her if she thought I looked old.

Her response - 'No Mummy, I think you look a bit new'

I then asked 'why do you think I look a bit new?'

Her answer and the secret to eternal youth 'I think it is because you wash every day - you wash off the oldness!'

Excuse me while I dash off to have another shower - LOL

Just love the pandas.....

So apt that this panda photo is titled 'Love'. I just love these pandas.

FCC-Australia Greeting Cards

These are the gorgeous new FCC-Australia Greeting Cards - each features a photograph of China and Chinese Calligraphy that defines the theme of each card (the pinyin and translation is also listed on the card). The cards are professional quality but the photographers are all FCC-Australia members (either home with their precious children or 'expectant parents') and talented amateur photographers. If you want to see close ups of the cards there is a link at the right to another site which has the enlargements.

And this is what your file will eventually look like...

This is what your file at the CCAA will eventually look like. This file is in the post placement department at the CCAA. All the papers including your homestudy and post placement reports are placed inside a neat slim cardboard filing box and archived. Your child should be able to access the file when they reach 18 yo.

This photo was taken during a visit to the CCAA's previous premises in September 2005.

(it has taken me ages to upload this photo to the blog - I have been having problems with Blogger photos and had to do a work around - unfortunately I can't seem to get a larger size uploaded - hope you don't need a magnifying glass)

Zhōu Nián Kuài Lè !

Zhōu Nián Kuài Lè ! means Happy Anniversary.

Well the one year anniversary of our LID has passed. It is of course a bitter sweet milestone - one year down, another one or two to go - but at least that is one year we don't have to do again.

So how did we celebrate this milestone?

Well our dog (he is 9 months old so really still a big puppy) had planned a 'fireworks' display for us - I caught him chewing through the electrical cable to the external hot water heater - one more bite and it would have been BBQ Labrador! Fireworks averted. So I spent the anniversary waiting for the electrician (who assured me that it wasn't as bad as I thought - just needed to be reinsulated and replacement conduit added). Water heater is now barricaded and I am trying to think of new and exciting things to keep the dog occupied.

xū - Chinese word of the month

I was looking through some cards given to me for my birthday in 2006. One of them was from a close friend - it has a Chinese character on a floral background. The character (pictured) is xū. The card says that it is the I Ching character that means 'to wait' - it then says:

'If you have the patience and endurance all your dreams and wishes will be realised. Trying to hurry things along will result in disappointment'.
Now that is something to ponder!

I have checked my Chinese dictionary and the standard (non-I Ching) meaning of the character is:
需 xū - to require / to need / to want / necessity / need
(BTW if you can't see the character in this line - only symbols, you haven't set up your computer to read Chinese characters)

And really that is so apt as well.

If we add another character to the mix we get:
需索 xū suǒ( v. ) look for urgently

I think we are all doing a bit of xū suǒ with the wait - looking urgently for it to end.

By the way according to Wikipedia
"I Ching is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. A symbol system designed to identify order in what seem like chance events, it describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is at the heart of Chinese cultural beliefs. The philosophy centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching

11th month anniversary

Well today marks 11 months since we were logged in.

I think I was travelling well until I got the latest newsletter for our department which listed the wait time as being 12 to 18 months - whatever they are on I want some!

With a current wait time of 19 months (I think the people with a Nov 2 2005 LID have been waiting close to this) then there is no way we are getting our referral next month and I can pretty much guess it isn't going to be 18 months either without some sort of miracle.

So I was travelling well, but now I am just plain annoyed that they are living on another planet and there will be some of their clients who despite everything will believe it.

BTW at 11 months I would be half way through my pregnancy if I were an elephant!

Today a newborn was abandoned...

Today, Mothers' Day, in Melbourne a newborn baby girl was abandoned outside a hospital in Melbourne. The baby girl was found wrapped in towels and placed in a cardboard box.

The story has made national headlines - it happens so infrequently. Police and the nurse who found her have appealed for the mother to come forward to receive medical treatment. It is all very sad.

But what makes me sadder is to think about how many times this has happened today, and every other day, in China and it warrants not a peep, it doesn't cause a ripple. And instead of making instant national headlines, these babies will get a small grainy newspaper advertisement in a couple of months asking their birth parents to come forward.

It is all so sad...

Dragon Boat Festival - fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar

There are six main Chinese festivals - three for the living and three for the dead. Duan Wu Jie or the Dragon Boat Festival is the second festival of the living.

Duan Wu Jie is held on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, or June 19th 2007. The "double fifth" day represents the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival date back at least two thousand years, rooted in fertility rites performed to ensure abundant rainfall in China. Rice is a staple food for people in China, and rain is essential for an abundant harvest.

Later, this changed into a festival to honour the famous Chinese poet, Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the river in 295 BC, in a protest against government corruption.

The people loved him so much that they threw rice and eggs into the water to draw the fish away from his body. They honoured him every year by searching for his soul on the river in dragon boats, brightly coloured and decorated to resemble dragons, with a head at the bow and a tail at the stern.

They also prepared special rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, called Zhongzi, and threw them into the river as offerings to his soul.

The festival has developed to be more elaborate and fun. It is now celebrated with river parades, dragon boat races, rice offerings of Zhongzi, martial arts demonstrations, street theatre and firecrackers.

Festival Food - Zhongzi

Zhongzi can be either savory or sweet. Sweet Zhongzi are considered easier to make.

Sweet Zhongzi (Glutinous Rice wrapped in bamboo leaves)
Makes 12
Preparation Time about 1 hour, plus 2 hours soaking time
Cooking Time 2 hours

900g glutinous rice 1 tablespoon oil
24 dried bamboo leaves 450g black or red sweet bean paste
12 strings, each 1.5m long sugar to serve

1. Soak the rice for 2 hours, drain, change water and soak for a further 30 minutes.

2. Drain the rice well, mix in the oil.

3. Soak the bamboo leaves in warm water for 2 hours, rinse in fresh water, then drain and wipe dry.

4. Roll sweet bean paste into a sausage about 2.5cm in diameter, cut into 12 sections. Flatten each a little.

5. Place two bamboo leaves side by side together to form a triangular pouch. Add a portion of the rice and place a section of the bean paste on the rice. Cover with more rice and fold the leaves over the top and round the pouch to produce a plump, triangular-shaped bundle. Tie securely with string, but not too tightly as the rice will expand during cooking.

6. Simmer the Zhongzi in boiling water for 2 hours.

7. Open the Zhongzi packages at the table and serve hot with sugar as required. Any leftovers can be reheated unwrapped. Zhongzi taste even better reheated.

Glutinous Rice
While ordinary rice - long or short grain - is the daily staple of the Chinese diet, glutinous rice is regarded as a bit of a luxury in China and is only eaten special occasions. It contains more sugar and fat than ordinary rice, although they are both grown and harvested the same way.

The grains of glutinous rice tend to be whiter and rounder than ordinary rise and is much sweeter to the taste.

Source:
The Chinese Kitchen - a Book of essential ingredients with over 200 authentic recipes by Deh-Ta Hsiung, Kyle Cathie Limited, 1999

What I would take that I couldn’t find in China (easily)?

Here is a list of things that I have on my definitely take next time we go to China - thought I'd share - it is from an Aussie perspective but I'm sure you can adapt it for other countries.

A power board with 3-pin plug – many of the hotels have Aussie style powerpoints BUT they only work if the plug has 3 prongs! Also they might only have one Aussie powerpoint in the room so if you want to charge a number of things the powerboard is the answer (we were able to charge the video recorder, the mobile phone and have the portable DVD player running at the same time - godsend!).

Adaptor plugs – a full set just in case there is no Aussie style powerpoint – you can then plug in your powerboard.

Portable DVD player and DVDs - absolutely fantastic if you are travelling with an older child as it keeps them entertained (they get very bored at watching CNN and so will you); throw in some of your own DVDs for when they have gone to sleep but you aren't ready to; we took our DVDs in a single CD case (hard backed with sleeves for each disk) and they took up hardly any room.

Aussie disposable nappies (they have the resealable tabs and are more leak proof) – definitely for the flights if nothing else

Aussie baby wipes for sensitive skin – as it turns our Emily is allergic to most brands except the ones I happened to take with us

Milton’s tablets, a 3.5 L container and a bottlebrush – I chose to sterilise the bottles (some people don’t) and this kit was my travelling steriliser

Nappy sacks (perfumed) –didn’t see any over there; and they are a god send when you are in your hotel room with a bathroom tidy full of dirty nappies

Thermos – 500ml Kathmandu brand – has this nifty top which means you don't have to fully unscrew the top to get water out- just right for a couple of bottles on the run plus we used it at night as putting the kettle was too much hassle; yes you can find them if you look but it might take some time.

Tinned baby food – I took baby pears (helps prevent constipation; note stewed apple will make baby more constipated.) and other fruit and some meat ones

Snacks and quick eats for yourself – if you are trapped in the hotel room with a sick baby you appreciate not starving to death (the bonus is with food is as you eat it you make room in the bag for your shopping!); if you are travelling with an older child take tins of stuff for them as well (because chances are they will turn there nose up at some point at what is offered at the restaurant - our daughter like Heinz Little Kids variety 1-3 yo - take an enamel mug big enough to hold the tin and pour boiling water in and let sit for 10 minutes - warms the food sufficiently to make it palatable) - I also recommend a travel tube of Vegemite - most supermarkets sold mini-loaves of bread (sometimes only 4 slices), buy these and slap some Vegemite on - great on the road for kids and big kids alike.

Cough medicine, throat lozenges, cold/flu medication, headache tablets (actually the whole medical kit) for self and baby – yes you can go to the doctor there but it is a little like home, if you have a virus they tell you to take some OTC medicine and go to bed; problem is you can’t always get what you would take at home; the local stuff can taste foul. If you baby comes with a cold you are sure to end up with it.

Baby panadol and baby nurofen – take both with you – if the baby has a high sustained fever you can alternate these meds (each one can be taken only a max of 3-4 times a day);

Thermometer – digital or in your ear are best (glass ones break and take a long time to register); the little strip things for the forehead are OK; but you want to know if you or bub have a fever.

Anti-inflammatory tablets/cream – I thought I had prepared at the gym but nothing prepared me for lifting 8.5kg of wriggling baby constantly; I developed RSI in both wrists – I lived on my husband’s anti-inflammatories. When we got home I switched to cream on advice of the GP, fortunately as my arms strengthened I got over it but I was to the point of crying when I was in China.

Zip lock bags (various sizes) – great for storing lots of things; great for protecting documents; great for putting your passport and money in, if carrying in your money belt under your clothes (no one wants sweating money or a passport), great for carrying snacks - just great full stop!

Mobile phone (don’t forget your charger)– we had ours set to international roam but barred to incoming calls (we could phone out though). We used them to text family in Australia and they could text us – we used this to let them know when we would be in the room so they could call us. Also handy because there were a couple of occasions when we lost each other (temporarily) and we were able to text each other and meet up again.

Memory cards for your digital camera – take more than you think you will need, don’t go for one really big memory cards – take a series of smaller ones – cards do fail (even new ones) and if everything is on one card you will regret it … You can buy cards over there but they are the same price or more than you pay here (depending on type – our friend played heaps more for one compatible with his Olympus)

Sorry for the break in transmission, we will now attempt to resume normal programming...

OK sorry it has been a long hiatus. A number of things collided.

Firstly, I had to go away for work and when I got back I was overwhelmed with things to do on the work and home front.

Then we had a family trip away and that compounded the things to do on the home and work front (you just don't realise how far behind you get on the washing and ironing - aghhh! And the work emails and home emails - I actually came home from the short holiday to find my personal email account maxed out).

And then amongst all this we had the dreaded '2 day' and '6 day' referral months - which despite all my attempts to stay sunshine sally has had me feeling a bit 'bummed out' (and I know for sure I'm not the only one).

Anyway I'm now trying to pick up the pieces and get things rolling again. Stay tuned!

What's important?

The other day in my desk calendar (the font of all wisdom) I came across a quote (by that famous philospher, Anonymous) and I thought it pretty much wrapped up what is really important in life, so I thought I would share it with you.

One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in my bank account, or what my clothes looked like. But one hundred years from now, the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child - Anonymous

8 Months down!

Well, January and the lead up to 'eight months' fairly zipped along. Mind you so much has been going on with Chinese New Year, it's hardly surprising.

So eight months it is, today!

Oh and the perennial question - how much longer? I'm hoping we are at least a third of the way through, pretty much resigned that we aren't half way through (although I am thinking of getting myself a grey caftan and calling myself an elephant - not that I'm large framed - it is just that elephant's only have 22 month pregnancies).

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 恭喜发财! Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
恭喜发财!
Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year!

We have had a wonderful Chinese New Year.

It started last weekend when we travelled to Sydney and marched in the Chinese New Year parade, with a group families who have adopted from China. And about 2,500 other people. Our daughter had a great time - she rode on her dad's shoulders the whole way and waved and smiled at the large crowds like she was a 'homecoming queen'. Amongst that she was chatting up the police guarding the route.

Mind you one of the other little girls had a better idea - she had two toy dragons on a stick and was running up to the barriers and showing the crowd - and coming away with lots of coins.

Then on Friday night we went to the Chinese New Year celebration at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra - again with about 2,500 of their 'closest' friends. As usual it was a great night. As usual they set up market stalls and sold Chinese crafts and books - this year the proceeds went to Project Hope. And I always come away with a bag of fantastic and cheap books. This year they also had tea making demonstrations and tastings of a variety Chinese teas.

Then there is always the great food. And the great entertainment. This year the Embassy had brought out an Inner Mongolian performance troupe and they were gorgeous. Our daughter spent the pre-performance 'chatting' up the dancers and having her photo taken with them.

Then today being Sunday our daughter had Chinese school - and her teacher and the school gave her 'hong bao' (lucky red envelopes with money). And we got to eat homemade 'nian gao' (Chinese New year cake) and sweets.

Then after class we went to our daughter's Chinese godparents house to celebrate with them and other friends. We had a great time including having spring roll making lesson.

Today is the first day of the Year of the Pig (and the first day of Spring Festival or as we in the West refer to it - Chinese New Year). This year is said to be a 'Golden Pig' Year - because it is the last year in a 60 year cycle.

There is some conjecture that this year will see a surge in births in China because it is considered to be a good year to be born in. People born in the year of the Pig are said to be steady and honest with a kind and simple heart - they seek universal peace and get along well with everyone. They do not bear grudges and place great importance on friendship - they tend to believe in others. They like parties of all kinds. Girls born in the year of the pig are neat and tidy.

I think given the length in wait times, there is a strong probability that our second child will be born in the Year of the Pig.

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy New Year!

Something for those waiting to 'while away' the months...

Recently I was asked what I 'did' to keep occupied during the wait for our first daughter. Well one of the things was my husband and I had an 'injection of the month' club (we were the only members).

It sounds a bizarre thing to do but we really wanted to know that we were going to be in tip top condition before and after we met our daughter. The last thing we wanted was a vaccine preventable illness - and so called 'childhood illnesses' are no fun in adults and can in some circumstances be quite serious.

Having known several parents who returned home with a nasty cough and feeling dreadful, only to be diagnosed later with whooping cough, which they had caught from their child, and also hearing about children being handed over on 'family day' with active chickenpox, we weren't taking any chances.

Even if you were vaccinated during childhood the immunity does not last a life-time - you often need a 'booster' in adulthood. A few years ago the Australian Government provided free whooping cough boosters for young adults because of this (unfortunately we were a touch too old for these).

Anyway we sat down with our doctor and mapped out what injections we thought we needed and when they needed to be given. Some require a single shot, others a series of shots so you have to plan ahead. So we made a plan for a visit every month to get these done - hence the 'injection of the month' club, as we called it.

If you are considering doing the same, please speak to your doctor but this is what we had:
Hepatitis B and A (combined vaccine - offers long term immunity to HepB and 5 years for HepA) - series of shots over a number of month
Whooping Cough (comes in a combined vaccine called Booterix with tetanus and diphtheria) - single shot
Measles/Mumps/Rubella
Chicken Pox
Polio (high incidence in China still)
Influenza shots

Then after we received our referral we went to a specialist 'travel doctor' and gots shots and medication for 'conditions' that were common in the area we were travelling (I think we had cholera and typhoid injections and medication for malaria - cause we were going outside the city) .

Announcing....

Daughter no 1, together with Magnolia and Nikki, (that is the three of them in the photo on the blog page) are pleased to announce the referral of twin dolls - Ming Long and Mei Ling.

They received their referral this week for Mei Ling and Ming Long - receiving number 21 of the 500 hand numbered dolls.

No kidding, it was just like a real referral - attached are the referral papers (below) and the allocation photos for the dolls - very cute and just the thing to lift our spirits during the LONG wait for the real thing.

As you can see from the photo at right our daughter is going to have her hands full caring for the 'twins' and Magnolia and Nikki.

The twins are due in late Autumn/early Winter (or late Spring/early Summer in the northern hemisphere). We can't wait - it will give us all something to cuddle until the referral of daughter number 2.

Mei Ling and Ming Long are the creation of our friend Marcia Havaris, who also created Magnolia.

The Twins can be preordered through
http://www.magnolia-wo-ai-ni.com/
(link at right)- a minimum of 5% of sales will go towards projects benefiting children in China, including in Fuling SWI - additionally Marcia donates CAD$1.11 from each sale of Twin Dolls to Children's Bridge Charitable Foundation and also CAD$1.11 from each sale of Twin Dolls to Love Without Boundaries.

7 months down!

Well, while December seemed to drag on forever, in the lead up to the six month mark; January and the lead up to 'seven months' fairly seemed to whiz by. I mean it only seems like yesterday since I last posted but when I checked it has been a week (mind you during the week, at work, things seemed to drag but then that is the strange thing about work).

So seven months it is, today!

Oh and the perennial question - how much longer? I'm hoping we are more than a quarter of the way through (anything longer than that I refuse to think about), wishfully thinking that we are more than a third of the way through, but pretty much resigned that we aren't half way through.

To think when we adopted our first daughter that at this 'point' (7 months) we would have been half-way through - and at that time I was a complete nervous wreck, thinking how we would ever survive the stress to the end. Not to mention falling to pieces when the 'rumours' at that time suggested the wait might go to 18 months (which it never did). Oh, the luxury - 18 months! - this time round I'd happily take 18 months, if you could promise it is a certainty!

Giving a gift that lasts a lifetime

Over Christmas and during our clean up after the New Year's Eve 'Great Flood' I contemplated the amount of 'stuff' you accumulate in your life- stuff that you don't fully utilise or even need and end up having to simply throw out (not to mention those consumer items with inbuilt obsolescence that are designed to be replaced regularly).

I truly appreciate the sentiment behind the gifts we were given over Christmas but there is only so many material items we need in our lives. I had suggested instead of presents that money to a charity in China could be donated but no one took us up on the suggestion (and I guess I am guilty of it to a degree also because I didn't give the such a gift to them- although most everyone got a present where the profits went to a China charity). I guess it is almost like people feel that it isn't a real present and what would people think.

Last November I wrote about sponsoring children in China to go to school (http://journey-with-magnolia.blogspot.com/2006/11/diary-of-ma-yan-life-of-chinese.html and http://journey-with-magnolia.blogspot.com/2006/11/it-is-when-you-hear-from-girls.html).

For Christmas my husband and I gave each other sponsorships for 3 years for a further girl and two boys from our daughters hometown. We had originally intended just to sponsor girls because we feel strongly that through education the girls may be able to break out of the poverty cycle and also demonstrate to others the value of having daughters, particularly educated ones. But when we realised that there were boys needing education in our daugther's hometown, we realised that it was probably just as important to show our daughter that not just girls who were encountering difficulties (a sort of equal opportunity).

I'm also happy to report that at the same time two other Australian families who have adopted from Fuling also sponsored a further 6 children between them. The organisation in Fuling that coordinates the sponsorships continues to be so pleased that foreigners take such an interest in the children.

My husband and I are now sponsoring 6 girls and 2 boys - and it will be something to remember long after the tinsel is a distant memory - and for those kids it will last a lifetime.

So if you are stuck for a gift suggestion or idea for a birthday, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day or Christmas etc - forget the extra pairs of socks or the box of chocolates - maybe you would like to consider sponsoring a child in China, or elsewhere, or maybe helping meet medical costs for a child with special needs.

but on a positive note (for the superstitious)

A ladybird landed on me this morning, while I was at dog training...

'Say it isn't so'

Recently I have seen quite a few people, usually recently DTC, posting to various groups that they have either just ‘crunched some numbers’ on their likely referral date or have seen or run someone else’s predictor and come up with dates of 2009 or 2010 or whatever– the post usually ends with a ‘please tell me it isn’t so!!!’.

As much as we’d all like to comfort these people (and ourselves), the thing is that none of us know – but wish I did.

While I am a rabid number cruncher myself, I always remind myself of the little disclaimer at the bottom of a financial prospectus 'past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance'. So while I do fill in time during the wait crunching numbers and coming up with new averages to apply, what the CCAA has done in the past is not necessarily indicative of their performance in the future.

What we do know is that for more than 12 months now the CCAA has not allocated full months of LIDs and some times very few LIDs per referral month. We have the official statement from the CCAA, in their change to eligibility criteria notification, to the effect that the number of applicants has been in excess of available children.

Until we see full months of LIDs being referred per referral month (cycle), the wait will not stabilise and it will continue to increase. For the wait to decline, more than one month of LIDs per referral months needs to be referred, each referral cycle.

What does the future hold in the short and medium term – well there is no way of predicting because we are not privy to all the factors that may 'drive' the number of referrals in the future. We don’t know:

• the number of files already logged in;
• how many people may be dissuaded by the possible length of wait and may withdraw their files and explore alternatives;
• how many children the CCAA might make available for Intercountry adoptions (and what impact such initiatives as the Blue Sky project – aimed at assisting medically frail abandoned children - may have); and
• any other number of factors.

There are indications that the number of files logged in during 2006 was down from the 'heady' months of 2005 but there is no way of knowing if this truly correct, until perhaps those months are referred (even then we don’t know what other factors might be at play).

There is likely to be a significant spike in files logged in prior to May 2007, as files are sent prior to the rule change – this was seen in the months prior to the introduction of the singles quota and US quota at the end of 2001.

Because unfortunately the new criteria may rule out a significant number of applicants and this may bring the number of applicants more in line with the number of children available for Intercountry adoption. As the number of applicants and available children approaches equilibrium, the wait should start to stabilise. So once the CCAA has processed the pre 1 May applications there should hopefully be an impact on wait time. However, there are by all accounts a lot of files to be processed before they can get to this point – like the implementation of the quotas in 2001, it will be many, many, MANY months before we see the 1 May 2007 rules having an impact on wait times.

In know that it is really difficult during the wait not to obsess on when the referral is going to happen (or in your darkest hours, if it is going to happen at all) – I know I did this first time round (and do still occasionally do). But no amount of stress from any of us is going to make it happen any sooner – if anything the only thing that it is going to do is negatively affect our health. Trust me, when you get that referral you need to be healthy.

As much as I want a referral sooner rather than later I am preparing myself for a long wait (even a long, long wait) – if it happens sooner ‘bonus’. It does mean that to some extent our lives are in a ‘holding pattern’ because of the uncertainty.

Trying to look at the glass half full, rather than a glass half empty – at least we are in the ‘queue’ (sorry for using a commercial term but you know what I mean) – which unfortunately many will not be able to join after 1 May 2007 - and each day that passes is one day closer.

Sorry for the short break in transmissions...

Things have been so hectic between my last post and now that I haven't had time to get to the blog.

New Year's Eve was eventful with a huge storm hitting our area - lightening, heavy rain and hail - which caused water up to my ankles to course through our backyard and through our garage. The street was a brown churning 'river'. Fortunately our roof and guttering held, so no leaks inside but the hail trashed the garden (that night my husband was in the vegetable garden with a torch assessing his losses - most of it).

Our 4.5 yo thought it was great after it was over because it looked like snow and was throwing snowballs - the hail was so deep that it lasted nearly 24 hours (and it is summertime here).

So New Year's day as spent cleaning up the garage and getting rid of the mud. And a large part of the time since has been spent putting the mess into a skip.

Then back to work this last week...

Will try to post more frequently in future...