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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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