Monday, March 26, 2007
GWCA Culture Club Meeting
We attended a regional culture club meeting for our agency. We had dinner at a Chinese buffet in southern NJ and got to meet many families from NJ who were adopting/have adopted through our agency. We met a great family who live only a short-distance away and are LID in May 2006. Hopefully we will keep in touch and be able to meet up again.
I also got to meet Christine, who is adopting through our agency and lives in NJ. I have met Christine on-line in our GWCA Yahoo! group and have exchanged quilt squares with her. It was nice to put a face with a name and meet others who are on the same timeline.
It was good going to the event and listening to others talk about how difficult the wait has been so far. Our agency's regional director said that the CCAA is well aware of the frustration of many families regarding the lengthening wait times and that they want to do something about it. That news is cold comfort in light of recent referrals and the gloomy forecast we have on when we will get our referral.
On a side note, I did learn that our agency places about 16% of all children adopted from China. Wow!
I do want to add that Chloe had a great time at the event. She played almost the entire time with the other children there. She did take a small break to eat something and ran around the rest of the time holding an ice cream cone. She did not want to leave. We are so looking forward to Emma Claire's arrival and watching our two daughters play together.
| posted by Shannon at 12:12 PM
Friday, March 16, 2007
Time Keeps Ticking...
Well it's our 5 month anniversary today! Whether we believe it or not, time is not standing still, it is moving along.
| posted by Shannon at 6:52 AM
Friday, March 09, 2007
Brown Envelope Arrived
My Dad called Wednesday to tell me we received a "strange" envelope from the U.S. Consulate in China at their house and was it something to be concerned about? I asked if it was brown and he told me yes. Aha! The much anticipated brown envelope has arrived! Despite being told that we would not receive our "brown envelope" because we moved, we got it on Wednesday (at our old address).The brown envelope is simply confirmation that the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China has received the information from your local USCIS that you will be adopting in China. There are various papers inside that will be filed with the U.S. Consulate after you have received your child in China. The brown envelope is supposed to travel with you to China and the documents completed in China.
Due to the nonsensical fear that I will lose a document, I will tuck the envelope, unopened, into our handy, dandy notebook set aside expecially for the necessary documents that will be traveling with us to China. Now, I just have to put aside the nonsensical fear that this brown envelope will bio-degrade by the time we get our referral and travel to China!
| posted by Shannon at 11:16 AM
Monday, March 05, 2007
Ugh!
The rumor that referrals go through October 24 LID's appears to be true as a few agencies have confirmed. This is such a disappointment as there was hope that the CCAA would refer all of the month of October and indicate a "speed-up" in referrals.This news confirms that we have a long, long wait ahead and that the 2+ year wait for our referral appears to be accurate. If you assume that the CCAA will continue to refer children at the same rate then we are looking at a 2.5 year wait. Now, the one glimmer of hope is that the CCAA has said that they do not want the wait to exceed beyond 2 years.
| posted by Shannon at 6:05 AM
Friday, March 02, 2007
September DTC "Princess" Exchange
Thanks to Nancy Ann, my September Yahoo! DTC exchange pal for this month's exchange. The theme was "Prince/Princess". Nancy Ann sent a book, sunglasses and stickers. Chloe promptly snatched all 3 items. After some wrangling and distraction techniques I was able to acquire the items from her. I told Chloe that the gifts belonged to Emma Claire. Her response was that she would take them to Claire at pre-school (a friend of Chloe's). Hmmm...I don't think Chloe is grasping that she is getting a little sister named Emma Claire.
Things are very quiet right now and there is not much out there on the way of rumors/information on the next batch of referrals. Of course, there are the rumors of a "speed up" but as soon as that comes out someone else sends out a rumor that things will remain the same. I think if this batch shows that there will be NO speed up in referrals then I will put that belief to rest and settle in for our 2 year wait.
| posted by Shannon at 11:24 AM
