Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Taking stock

As for clothes, we're actually doing pretty good, I think. We could use more PJs for sure, as we've only got two pairs, and two fleece sleep sacks.

She's set for dresses: we have 4 long-sleeved dresses and 2 jumpers. We have three pants suits (long sleeves), one denim overall, four knit pants, four long-sleeved onsies, three short-sleeve onsies. 

We also have three sets of coordinating separates in 18 month size for warm weather and a swimsuit. We have 7 bibs, a hat, three towels, two baby blankets, two sunglasses, a raincoat, a winter coat, and one pair of fleece booties.

The things we need the most, imo, are grooming/health products, bottles, and diapering supplies.

Oh, and nursery decor is completely done, except more crib sheets.

Planning packing

I went through the baby clothes yesterday and thanks to lucky guessing, I think we already have enough clothes to get us through China. The only thing I still lack are a pair of winter overpants and shoes. Since I don't know her shoe size I'm tempted to get some fleece slippers or something like that and take her shoe shopping in China.

I'm also wondering about travel toys -- I was planning on teething toys but she'll be past that. I'll need something without removable parts, easily portable/packable, interesting, and quiet (for the plane).

And my two big mystery areas: diapers and formula. My wonderful brother, Matthew, recommended Pull-Ups. Will those be available in China or should I pack plenty? As for formula, an American baby would be just about off of it, but I don't know about China. I suppose I'll ask the pediatrician.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Magical Moments

Just to make this time even more beautiful, it just started snowing outside.

Monday, November 28, 2011

The stork has landed!

That wonderful phone call finally came this afternoon. Our beautiful baby girl was born on November 19, 2010.






She is in Gansu Province, which I'm told is in Central/Western China. She has spent part of her time in foster care and part at Wu Wei Social Welfare Institute. Her adorable pictures were taken on September 6th. Her measurement stats are 71 cm tall, 9 kg.
Still waiting for the phone to ring.

Official

The official cutoff in the latest batch of referrals is August 7, 2006! That's our date!

However, there have been no phone calls reported. Either the packages have been mailed late or delayed by the Thanksgiving holiday. Hopefully I'll hear something soon. We've known since Thanksgiving morning that we should be in this group and for once the long holiday weekend was agonizing.

In a worst case scenario our paperwork was misfiled in China and our dossier will have to be relocated. Bad scenario, it was lost in the mail and we'll have to wait for China to resend it. Best case scenario, the folks at Gladney are translating for us and we'll hear from them as soon as they're done.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

I heard a rumor ...

This has been a totally wild week for referral rumors. My hopes and emotions have been up high and down low. I'm sure that will continue. However, since today is a holiday, I'm going to let myself have faith in the dream if only for a little while.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Come on, rumors!

Several days ago a rumor surfaced that CCWA was preparing paperwork which usually signals the arrival of referrals about two weeks later. Today Rumor Queen confirmed we should see cut-off date rumors by the middle or end of next week. This puts matters on pace for a quick referral batch, which can, unfortunately mean a small number of days referred. But, if the batch is the same size as the last (which was punctual) then we should be in!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is short for National November Writing Month. This refers to a challenge for aspiring writers to begin and finish a novel within the month of November. The challenge has been around for quite some time, but this year I figured I'd give it a try. For one reason, I figured the challenge would give me something to focus on besides the adoption.
The other reason is also related to the adoption. My beloved publisher, Storm Constantine has said that we should each write the story that we always wanted to read but couldn't never find. This is excellent advice, but it has taken me years to think of a story that I haven't already read. The inspiration came from discussions on Rumor Queen's blog about how badly adoption and/or being an orphan is so prevalent in children's literature and also so badly handled.  I decided to remedy that. I have undertaken to modernize a traditional fairy tale type story and treat adoption with the dignity it deserves.  I also modified the basic plot of the first novel I imagined writing as an angsty tween.
The challenge dictates that writers pound out 50,000 words in November. Since my story is aimed at young adults, I suspect I can get it told in fewer.  I also don't have any sincere expectation of finishing the project before my real life adoption comes through. But I am dedicated to starting the book and finishing it eventually because for the first time in years, the story is something I feel passionate about.

Referral Predictions

We are now approaching the climax of the roller coaster for waiting adoptive parents. The last batch of referrals arrived earlier than expected and included up to LiD Aug. 2nd. As always, the brilliant Rumor Queen looked at her poll data, statistics, and crunched the numbers. I am going to copy and paste some of the text directly below.

"My formula spit out August 7th [as the LiD the next batch will include up to] ...., but I came close to .... making it the 4th. That’s the difference between a Friday cut off and a Monday cut off, so not as big as it may sound. Last month I put the formula’s response of the 4th but said I came close to changing it to the 3rd. As it turns out, the cut off was the 2nd.
"The small window this month would have referrals arriving on or between Wednesday, November 23 and Monday, November 28.  The big window is between Friday, November 18 and Friday, December 9."

The more conservative China Adoption Forecast predicts we will get our referral on December 2nd.
Either way my hopes are high for seeing our baby's face (in a photo) before Christmas. I can't wait to post her picture and share her information with everyone.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Preparing

This afternoon Paul and I will be sitting in on a huge conference call about traveling to China to get our baby. I'm a little nervous about being overwhelmed with information and having a hard time understanding (the main presenter is Chinese).
In the meantime unconfirmed rumors report that CCWAA has matched to Aug. 2. Rumors also state that their computers were down for three days. I swear that place needs better IT because that seems to happen a lot! Anyhow, I don't know if this means they've gotten to the 2nd and are still going, or that they've stopped at the 2nd and will send these referrals out soon.
I'd been hoping they'd make it to the 4th or 5th to insure we'd be in the next batch. However, rumors also indicate that Aug.3rd had a lot of dossiers. Regardless, it's surprisingly early to be getting rumors this specific. I still feel confident we'll get our referral this year

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Online Shopping is da Bomb!

Thanks to getting double cash back from Amazon this month, I've racked up some baby products that seem really nifty to me. From the Kai Lan collection, I've got a toddler cup with a straw (preferred by many Chinese kids to sippy) and an adorable board book with a pop out dragon. A chic splat mat for under the high chair, a towel apron (to keep bather drier than bathee), Chinese lullibies CD, and safety latches. Oh, and a compartment plate with a reservoir for hot water to keep the food warm.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday Worship












Today Paul and I took a drive in order to preserve some photographic evidence of the glorious beauty of autumn in the Southern Appalachains. For those of you who've never experienced a truly scenic tour of fall foliage, you really should add it to your bucket list.
When you see the photos keep in mind each shot is not the most beautiful tableau, but the most lovely shot we could procure with relatively little effort and no planning. I think our pictures represent the everyday beauty we take for granted around here. We snapped pictures in an upscale subdivision as well as on the side of Blue Ridge Parkway, and even in a city parking lot.
I can only hope to have the skill to display the peaceful play of light and shadow in the woods, or the graceful twist of nearly black skeletal limbs stretched through luminescent leaves. No matter the sophistication of the hardware or the skill of the photographer, pictures don't convey the smell of the air, the warmth of the sun, or the softness of the moist earth. Perhaps we should have stayed out longer or ventured further, but The experience nearly became overwhelming at times because we were greedy to capture and share the glory of what we saw. Inevitably the most picturesque grouping sprang up in inconvenient places, and I despair of our ability to truly capture what I saw.
Dwelling on this I was inspired with the thought that the very definition of God could be the scope of a being who actually could See and Know all of this. I imagined how sublime it would be to see each leaf with it's tracery of veins and to have watched it from bright tender shoot to crispy dried ghost. To appreciate all the deep ruby reds, glowing orange, and shining yellows as they contrast with the vibrant blue of a cloudless sky and the verdant green of still-fresh grass. To see each frolicking forest creatures and each swooping bird. To watch the trajectory of each spiraling leaf in a shower of foliage. To appreciate each lush berry, each coy little acorn, and each fetching cluster of pine cones. To love the last bright flowers and the lace kiss of the first frost.
Such an entity would be glorious. And I don't see how such a god could want for more besides our love, respect, and gratitude for such gifts. Certainly, a being who beholds the breadth of such wonder doesn't require our petty prayers or shows of worship.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Roller Coaster is speeding up

Many of us in the Chinese adoption community had great expectations for the last batch of referrals. It's a strange joy to NOT be disappointed. Referrals were received around Sept 29 and covered 14 days of LIDs! This was expected because during that time in 2006 the China offices were closed for about a week due to relocation Still, there were more families logged in during that period than the last two. Epic Win!
The next batch of referrals is expected around Halloween. Estimates set the LIDs to get up to August 3 or 4. There is a small chance that they could do more and we'd be included, but we're not getting our hopes up. At this point we're expecting to get our referral after Thanksgiving and travel to get our baby in China in Jan or Feb. We then plan to move to PA in the spring.
That said, there are only TEN MORE DAYS of LIDs before our turn! *squeal* We're so close! We're having a conference call with the case worker and the agency travel coordinator on Friday to begin discussing plans and probabilities.

September was busy

I've been very remiss in updating this blog lately, but that isn't to say there hasn't been anything to write about. First personal: I'm not working at the doll shop anymore but I suspect they might want me back for the Christmas season. We'll see. Paul and I finally got our NC driver's licenses -- just in time to move again in about half a year. Paul has officially committed to the PA relocation, though we knew that was coming. I finally saw an allergist for my chronic sinus symptoms and headaches. Turns out I'm not allergic to anything! He diagnosed non-allergic rhinitis. Basically my sinuses react to physical irritants like clouds of dust and pressure changes like temperature, elevation, and humidity fluctuations. I'm now using a prescription nasal spray which seems to be helping.
On a fun note, Paul and I enjoyed a good family visit in Florida. It was wonderful to catch up with Janice (a.k.a Mimi, Mom) and Jonn (a.k.a. Papa Jonn, Edy's Parrain). These have been tough times for them as Jonn continues to battle health issues. We're in awe of them both for their bravery and good spirits. Halfway through the trip I teamed up with Mama (a.k.a. Roxanne, MaMere) and Colette (a.k.a. Nenaine) for our annual (usually) girls' weekend. This time it was a thrill to have Janice join us for a full day of outlet shopping in Destin. As expected Edy cleaned up - pictures to follow.
When all was said and done, we never did make it to the beautiful beaches, but a good time was had by all. The best part is knowing that the next time we're in Florida we'll our own little beach bunny seeing the sand and sea for the first time.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Birthday Bounty

Well, I'm pleased to note that little Edythe Cameron has made out like a bandit for my birthday. We got a car seat and base, a high chair, a baby gate, a sewing pattern for baby clothes, a photo brag book, a big fluffy Teddy bear, and four board books. I love you baby girl and I hope somewhere on the other side of the world you feel how much your family loves you, too.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Target Registry

Target recently updated their entire online system which totally jacked up our baby registry there. Fortunately, we don't have any major items listed there. So, I think I'll take down the link for now and suggest getting the print out in-store if Target is your shopping locale of choice.

Also, I'm leaving up the China Sprout link because they are hard to find otherwise. However, their wish list function is often wonky and just about everything listed on there is for when Edy is older.

An Apple a Day ...

Hopefully does not keep referrals away! The latest batch of referrals was a dismal two days. On the bright side, it was exactly what Rumor Queen predicted and July 14 had a lot of families logged in. Apparently, the CCAA (the gov agency in China in charge of all this) moved offices and was closed for at least a week in starting July 15, 2006. This means we may cover a great many days in the next batch of referrals which should arrive in late Sept or early Oct. According to RQ, we should get our referral in late Nov or early Dec. Personally, I'm expecting late Dec or Jan.
In the meantime, the North Carolina Apple Festival begins just yards from our condo in one hour. I'm not scheduled to work in the doll shop until Monday, but I'm "on call" in case the massive crowds overwhelm the others. I'll head out in a few for an apple cidar slushy and other treats. I'm pleased to finally wear my newly made apple jewelry and for the shop to sell some of the apple doll necklaces I made.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Still Waiting

No rumors have surfaced regarding a cut off date for referrals. I'm seeing lots of folks with early August LIDs who are eagerly awaiting news. I'm heartened to know I'm not the only one.
Plenty has been happening to occupy my attention in the meantime: war in Libya, a major earthquake on the East Coast (no I didn't notice it; I must have thought it was a big truck passing), and Hurricane Irene heading for the Outer Banks and then New York City! We were planning to visit the Outer Banks this fall but had since changed our plans. Hopefully they will have recovered well by the time we go. I also hope that folks take the needed safety precautions. We should only get a few wind gusts here, at most. We'd actually be more affected if we were already in Pennsylvania.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Working on matches

Rumor has it the Powers that be in China are organizing paperwork to begin matching families with babies. Let's hope they get through lots of days of dossiers! There are 26 days of dossiers until our turn!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Adoption Training Video Matinee

Now that the end of our adoption journey is actually in sight, we've been watching our Hauge-mandated adoption training. That's right, we actually have to take classes with tests! It's too bad biological parents cannot be required to do the same. To be fair, the tests are a joke and mainly ensure that, yes, you did watch the whole video.
There was some medical information that cleared up some questions and gave us a firmer plan of action - I really need to start looking for a pediatrician. Same goes for feeding, etc.
We might send some of these videos to close family members who will be helping us when we come home, or who designated guardians. Tough love alert: If you're in this category we do expect you to watch and learn.
One thing that I didn't need to learn was from the Loss & Grief in Adoption lesson. I already knew that the pain of being unable to bear biological children is a grief that never, ever really goes away. Even though it made me cry, I was empowered to be reassured that no one else should be expecting me to get/be "over it." I was also very moved to realize that the loss of my "dream" child is a mirror image of an adopted child's loss of birth parents.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Welcome Baby Elliot!

I'm happy to announce that baby Edy has another second cousin: Elliot Vance Coco, born Aug. 13, 2011 at 6:47; 7 pounds even. This full moon baby arrived a month ahead of schedule, but mother and baby seem to be doing fine. Congratulations to Patrick and Brandi, and Aunt Meg!

Baby Donuts

This exquisite, bittersweet article was posted on China Adopt Talk and I just had to share it.

Little Girl Found

Friday, August 12, 2011

Do They Have Salsa in China?

Last week I took time to reconnect to our favorite China adoptive family blog. Do They Have Salsa in China?. Paul found this adorable family blog several years ago and it's been a major source of inspiration on a variety of topics. We started following them when the twins were about two years old and now they're getting ready for first grade!
In other news I've been working on scrapbooking and jewelry-making this week. After the grueling task of reorganizing photos, I've started three new scrapbooks: Travels, Christmas, and Nieces. This should allow me to split photos by subject so no one album fills up too fast when we start adding family photos.
I've also had a great time picking out fabric and patterns so that I can have some coordinating Mommy/Baby outfits. I found some great fabrics that are similar with one being more cute and the other more sophisticated. I found some great Chinese style patterns for me, which I plan to use rather than putting myself in the same style dress as an 18-month-old.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Five years

Yesterday marked the official five-year anniversary of being logged in with China as a family awaiting an adoption referral. At that time we thought we'd be waiting about 15 months ( up from seven to nine when we began the process). I remember the depth of my depression that December when we were told the wait was predicted to be at least three years. From that time on, things began to get worse and we discovered online communities that could give us a realistic picture of what was to come. The predicted wait had long since expanded past five years, but I held out hope because officials in China had promised the wait wouldn't get past five years. They don't like to break promises but I guess some nuance must have been lost in translation. At least things have begun to get a little better. We're still holding hope for a referral before the end of this year.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

After getting started on the scrapbooking project this week, I've spent time today looking at fabric and patterns online. My mom always made me the most beautiful dresses and I'm so looking forward to getting her help in making (or having made) dresses for little Edy.

One thing I have to keep in mind is that her complextion will determine what colors look good on her. Where I tend to admire earthy and dusty colors, I suspect Edy will need brights. This link has been helpful in planning. Colors

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Revised expectations.

The latest referrals are in and the cutoff is July 13th. That is a disappointment. I am now revising my expectations to getting our referral in late November and traveling to get our baby in January. We were really hoping to get her before the end of the year -- but we're not a Murphy's Law family for nothing! Oh well, maybe we can have a great Chinese New Year/Welcome Home party in February.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Cameron

If memory serves me correctly, today is the five-year anniversary of the day the world lost our dear friend Cameron Phelan. In some ways I find it hard to believe that it's already been five years. In other ways it seems much longer.
Cameron was a wonderful person. He had lots of loyal friends, ranging from childhood classmates to older friends first met online like Paul. Cameron was unfailingly kind and easygoing, even when others were not kind to him. Like myself, I know he wasn't all that happy with things in his life like his career, his weight, or a seeming lack of constancy from the friends he loved. (And that lack of constancy was merely seeming as evidenced from the outpouring at his funeral.) But, one thing I'll always admire about Cameron was that no matter what was going on with himself, he was dedicated to those around him and always brought forth joy and laughter. He was an extremely talented humorist and a fearlessly game performer. He was passionate about things that interested him and laughed in the face of societal conventions which did not.
Loosing Cameron was a tough lesson (not learned well enough, I fear) in not taking friends for granted. It was a supremely bittersweet time -- he died in between the short period of us finally completing our China adoption dossier and it being officially logged in to the waiting list. Because of this it seemed only natural that we honor Cameron's memory through our daughter that he never got to meet. For this reason we plan to name our little girl Edythe Cameron Parker.

Rumors

We're approaching time for the next batch of referrals from China. This is what's known as "Stork Watch" over on the site of our primary source of adoption information/rumors. The current prediction is that referrals will go through July 14. This is kind of a bummer as I was really hoping for something closer to the 21st. However, a week of LIDs is still better than average, so ... Fingers crossed! Anyhow, I expect to know something for sure by this time next week.
For anyone wanting to follow the rumors for herself, here is a link to Rumor Queen blog/forum. She provides a valuable wealth of information to our rather desperate virtual community.
. WWW.chinaadopttalk.com

I also see from her latest post another reason to feel anxious and depressed. There have, in fact, been a few instances of people being delayed and skipped and now I know why. Since we've been the Murphy's Law family of our agency, I feeling a little worried. If our dossier did, in fact, get lost, rest assured that I will fight like a Mama Grizzly to get our situation fixed.

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Wait

I always point to this article as a great summary of all the reasons why we've had to wait so long to get our baby. Keep in mind that this was written in 2008, so the numbers aren't current. However, it still paints the correct picture of why things slowed down so much and why switching to anothery agency wouldn't have helped.

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20080507_77776_77776

Baby Clothes

In a flash of manic optimism yesterday, I took phone photos of most of the clothes we have for the baby so far. Half are hand-me-downs from our adorable niece, Madeleine who is a big 9-year-old now. The rest are clearence items that I "had to have." In the 1% chance we're referred a boy instead of a girl, I'll trade these with other China families for other items. Ditto if the sizing is wrong, but I'm not too worried about that. These items are all 12 or 18 months. From what I'm told, the 18 month China babies are usually small enough to still be in size 12. If anything most of this will be too big and need to be saved for later.








Thursday, July 21, 2011

China adoption rumor mill states that the powers that be in China are starting the paperwork for matching the next batch of referrals to their new families.
Families are sorted by the date their dossiers are logged in with China (LID). Our LID is August 7, 2006 (8/7/6). The officials have exactly 31 days of dossiers to match before they get to ours. Of course not all of those days have many or any families, but lately the rate of referral is about six days per month. I'm hoping they'll go a little faster because rumor has it that fewer families than average were logged in for July 2006.
Anyhow I'm on pins and needles waiting to see how many days of referrals they do in this next batch. We're really, really hoping we get to see our baby's face before the end of the year.

Hello Cruel World

This is my official introductory post. First of all, Not Quite Amish? Paul didn't want a generic sounding blog - enough said. Well I should also explain that shortly after we finally bring home our baby, we'll be moving again. This time we're relocating to the Cumberland Valley section of Pennsylvania. With all of the changes in our lives, the distance from friends and family and our extreme quirkiness - I feel as unique and isolated as the famously austere religious group common to our future home.
In case you don't already know us and you're still reading, here is my personal synopsis.
I am blessed with being married to my very best friend and an astoundingly good, patient, and understanding husband, Paul. We also Have a cat, Publius, who I treat like my baby.  
As I begin this blog, we're in the process of adopting a baby from China.  We are anticipating a baby girl between 10 & 18 months old. 
It's been a ridiculously long process and wait.  I am fighting Depression -- well not so much fighting as coping. I have the Fragile X genetic pre-mutation and had a hysterectomy in 2005. 
In the summer of 2010 we moved from the Dallas area to the East coast so my husband could take a fabulous job. We don't plan to really put down roots until after we're settled with the baby. In the meantime, I get very lonely because I don't know anyone out here except my husband's work friends. 
I have a wonderful, loving family that I miss very much. I am a Libertarian.  I am a non-practicing Unitarian Universalist. My cultural heritage is Catholic, Louisiana Creole (Cajun to most people).

Friday, July 15, 2011

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

This is our baby registry at Babies R Us. We're going to update all three registries once we get our referral. Right now our best guess is that we'll be referred a baby girl between 10 and 14 months this winter.