So update time again. We have learned that our wait will be much longer than we originally anticipated. Current predictions put us at 2012--yes that is another 4 years! JR just sticks his fingers in his ears when I try to tell him that it is going to be a long wait but I know he is just trying to keep from thinking about it. So we have plenty of time to prepare. We've been doing lots of reading about post adoption experiences (attachment issues, grieving, etc). Each child is differen in how they respond to the trauma of being taken away from all things familiar and we want to be as prepared as we can be.

Otherwise we have both been keeping busy--distraction is a beautiful thing. We got a Buddy 125 scooter recently (it's orange--not my first choice but it was cheaper). I've been riding it back and forth to the school garden where I teach and loving the gas milage (75mpg approx). My students also think it is very cool. They have unending questions about my "motorcycle."

JR and I have also started reworking the back yard as the neighbors' trees are shading out the veggie beds--dang trees! We are shifting to fruit and native plants. Our goal is to have fresh fruit ready in our yard year round--we're almost there. With the addition of bananas we may just be there. I will post some pictures of our project as it progresses. In addition to the fruit we hope to add a patio and a pergola with hooks for the hammock that we brougt back from Brazil.

So that is what we are up to--still waiting and keeping busy.

Through the Review room

Ok so we have finally made it throuh the review room! No we are waiting to be matched. Right now 12/05 has been matched and we are 9/06 so we have atleast a year of waiting baring some kind of miracle. So we continue to wait but now we feel the tiniest glimmer of hope that we may someday bring home our little girl.

One Year

Today it has been exactly one year since we sent our documents to China. And yes we are still waiting. China's processing has slowed way down. There are still many months worth of applications ahead of us inline. The most recent families that have been matched with children put their sent their applications in November 2005. So we are guessing we'll be waiting for another year at the very least.
For now we are working on making the house safe for baby and getting a few things for ourselves too (new couch and entertainment center--with lots of shelves for books:). I'm going to be traveling to Baltimore soon to help my Grandpa recover from surgery and when I get back I'll be back in the school garden. I went yesterday to take a look at the school garden and there is a lot of work to do there. I may find myself there in the mornings just to get things back to a manageable level.
Well, that's it for now, I will post again when we have some new info to share. We should be updating fingerprints and homestudy soon. I am sure that will be another fun adventure.

Still Waiting

We've been waiting for almost a year now and the time has really flown by for me--not so much for JR. We've learned that the process of document review and matching children with parents in China has slowed down considerably since we started this process. At last check CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) has review the papers of families that were submitted as of May 31 2006. So we are inching forward in line. Families who were in line as of November 14 2005 have been matched with children. So let's do a little math, well, maybe not. While we are waiting we've been collecting things that baby will need and traveling and today I am going to make pickles for the first time and if I am feeling really ambitious I will can some carrots as well. JR is off to St. Louis this week and then China for two weeks--just a work trip:(
that is about it for now. Let me know if you have any questions about where we are in the process.

From June
Well we have gotten over another hurdle in the adoption process. We've had our first and second home study visits with the social worker who will be writing our home study report. She seems to have a very positive attitude about our adoption and we are feeling pretty good about that. So now we have a few more documents to gather and send to our dossier consultant and then we just need to wait for our home study report to be finalized. Then we get to start having some real fun as we will be working with the federal government (immigration and FBI) for fingerprinting and an application for approval of an international adoption. Ah, I can hardly wait. Hopefully we won't have any hiccups along the way. While we are waiting I am still working on figuring out what we will need for baby, what to do with her room and that sort of thing. We are also trying to learn some Chinese (for while we are there) and a bit about China (culture and history).

From May
We FINALLY got our background check back from the FBI so now we can get started with our homestudy. Of course since JR is going to be out of town for two weeks we're going to be keeping our social worker on her toes trying to schedule around his trip. We'll be working on completing our homestudy for the next few weeks as well as collecting all of the documentation that is required (birth certificates, marriage liscense etc).

To answer the name question that we got after the last email. We haven't chosen a name for our daughter yet. We want to keep her Chinese name as her middle name and she will also have my last name as well as JR's last name. We plan on giving her an American first name-(we are taking suggestions). We won't make a final decision about her first name until we know her Chinese name.

About two weeks ago we were also excited to find out that our daughter will have a cousing close in age. Luke and Morgan are expecting. It is really an exciting time for us (becoming an Aunt and Uncle and Parents in the same 12 month period!) .

So it is the middle of the night and I am wide awake so I thought I would update this. We are officially DTC as of last Friday. JR has been going around telling people that we are now officially pregnant but it confuses some people for a moment. We got a copy of our dossier in the mail last Saturday and found out that the wait has greatly increased since we started this process. We are now looking at 14 months from our log-in date (The day they log our dossier in in China--basically the day our papers get in line). So we will be waiting and waiting and waiting for the next year plus a bit. It seems like such a long time right now and we can't even plan any vacation for 2007 because JR might need his vacation days to go to China to pick up baby. Well, that's about it for now. I thinking about Luke and Morgan and how close they are to being parents--just another week or so. Good Luck you two, hope everything goes smoothly.

This is the last bit of our paper chase. We've got to assemble our family life photos, including a picture of me and JR. Hopefully this will make a good impression on those who are choosing our daughter for us.