Adoption Journey - We See the Same Moon

Holidays 2009 in Lake Tahoe

2009-12-29T17:36:00.000-08:00

Washington DC

2009-05-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

Pennsylvania

2009-05-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Go Purple Monkey's!

2009-03-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Grand Canyon, Arizona

2009-01-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Florida with the Cousins

2008-12-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

Yulin's first birthday in America!

2008-11-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

Soccer Girl

2008-08-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

The Legend of Firepaw

2008-07-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Meet the latest member of our family...Firepaw!

Big Bear Lake

2008-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Oma and Pop-pop came to visit for the week. We spent a few days up in Big Bear where the kids got to go sailing. Yulin's first time on a boat. She even got to steer with Pop-pop!

Legoland

2008-05-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yup - we brokedown and went to San Diego's Wild Animal Park and Legoland. Yulin had never been to an amusement park, or on any rides. She watched each one carefully do a few rounds, and then would decide whether or not she would give it a try. Overall she is not afraid of very much!

First trip to the Ocean

2008-04-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

We spent Gina's birthday at Santa Monica Beach with some friends. Yu-Lin first time at a beach and at the ocean. She loved it so much we could barely pull her away from the water to cover her in sunblock. She would grab Bob's hand and scream "C'mon Daddy, lets-a go!"

At the baseball game

2008-04-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

Heading home

2008-04-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

How we spend our evenings

2008-04-02T06:12:00.000-07:00

American Institute Taiwan

2008-04-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning at AIT getting Yu-Lin's immigration visa. There were two other St Lucy families. One we had met on the bullet train yesterday, the other another Heartsent family. So we had good company. And we all had no problems at AIT! Tomorrow morning we all go back to pick up the final passports/visa's and we are good to return to the US! Our flight is tomorrow afternoon, the "back to the future flight" as we have been calling it as we leave Taiwan at 5 PM on Thursday and arrive in Los Angeles 3 PM Thursday!

No pictures are allowed at AIT, so here are some other shots around Taipei.

Bullet Train back to Taipei

2008-04-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

We took the bullet train back to Taipei today. The kids mostly played Nintendo. I think in order to avoid battles a second Nintendo is on the top of our "to buy" list.

And now we are 4!

2008-03-31T00:23:00.000-07:00

Not sure if there are even words. It was an intense few hours at St Lucy's. Yu-Lin's foster mom and birth mom were both there to see her off. It was all extremely emotional. We are off to a good start though!

Day 8 - Tainan

2008-03-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Took a car from Kaohsiung to Tainan in the morning. It has been hot and humid here in southern Taiwan. Taipei on the other hand was cool and humid. I tried to hand wash some clothes and 3 days later they were still wet.

We visited a few temples including the Lady Linshui's Temple. Lady Linshui protects children, and there were many families with their babies and children coming and going. On each side of the temple are little glass vaults with "assistant" to help the Lady. 36 in total (3 for each month).

We also came across another celebration/parade. Back at the Landis Hotel we asked what the parade was about. We were told "probably some god's birthday, would have to check the calendar, happens all of the time."

Tomorrow morning we go to St Lucy's and get Yu-Lin! We are all very exited. It's going to be hard sleeping tonight!

Day 7 - Foguangshan (Light of Buddah Mountain)

2008-03-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

We hired a car today to take us outside of Kaohsiung to Foguangshan the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The statues and temples were stunning. There were literally thousands of statues around the grounds.

Day 6 - Part 2 - Lotus Lake and Cijin Island

2008-03-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lotus Lake without water....

Later in the Evening we took a 5 minute ferry boat to Cijin Island. Right as we got off the boat we walk straight into a celebration for Matzu. Matzu is a the goddess of the sea, and as Taiwan is an island, a major diety here.

Just past the temple is "seafood street," full of restaurants. Each restaurant displays their fresh fish. You choose you dinner and its cooked up for you.

Day 6 - Part 1 - Lotus Lake

2008-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

The first part of today we took a local train to Lotus Lake. It is surrounded by 9 temples. The temples were beautiful, but the lake was missing! It had been drained. Kaohsuing is hosting the 2009 World Games, and the city is preparing many areas for the games. Lotus Lake will have dragon boat races and waterskiing. At the Confucius Temple we had a delicious lunch. That said for the past week we have eaten our way thru Taiwan and have yet to hit a bad meal!

Yu-Lin's mother and sister

2008-03-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

We received an email this morning from Heartsent letting us know that they have been notified by St Lucy Center that Yu-Lin's mom has asked to meet us on Monday and say goodbye to her daughter. We have always known that it was a possibility she would request this. It also shows us that she loves her daughter and only wants the best for her, painful as it may be. We were going to leave her a letter at the orphanage letting her know that we will be doing everything we can to give Yu-Lin a good life, now it will be in person. Heartsent tells us the meeting with be 15 -20 minutes and there will be someone there to translate.

Later in the day we we went to Lotus Lake in Zuoying a suburb of Kaohsiung, and while walking back to catch a taxi on the main road, we found ourselves standing in front of the Kaohsiung Southern Region Children's Home, where Yu-Lin was originally taken and where her older sister, who asked not to be adopted still lives. Her sister who is turning 10 wants to "wait" for her mother to get her life together and come for her. We have been told that her mother does come visit, but it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking. As we stood there, a car pulled up and a little boy who had been on a day visit stepped out looking sad and wandered into the compound. We knew the orphanage was in the part of town, but it was still startling to come across, and know that Yu-Lin's sister was inside there.

Day 5 - Kaohsiung City

2008-03-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today we took the bullet train from Taipei down to Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. The train ride took 90 minutes and we travelled at 186 mph when at top speed.

Kaohsiung, population around 1.5 million is the city where Yu-Lin has lived her entire life. She is here somewhere in this city with her foster family getting ready to met us. If Taipei is like New York, thenKaohsiung is Los Angeles. More laid back, a little slower, not as "trendy." We are staying at the Ambassador Hotel which is right on the Love River. At night the river is lit with neon lights and "love boats" cruise back and forth.

Day 4 - Yingge

2008-03-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

Travelled by train 30 minutes south of Taipei to the town of Yingge. Yingge is known for it's pottery and ceramics. Doesn't seem like they see an awful lot of westerners cause groups of kids kept coming up giggling asking if they could take our picture with them. Felt like we were celebrities (LOL)! Throughout Taiwan there are people cooking on the sidewalks.

I don't think that anyone bothers to cook at home from the looks of it.
One of the most famous dishes is STINKY TOFU...and the name doesn't do it justice. Think of smelly gym socks times 10. It wafts through the streets and once in your noise it's like bad perfume that you can't stop smelling. Much if Yingge had the smell.

Everyone... and I mean EVERYONE rides scooters to get around Taiwan. There are hundreds of thousands zooming around the island.

Day 3 - Taipei

2008-03-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Staying local today. We took the subway to the Chaing-Kai Shek Memorial. Photos aren’t great as they are in the process of re-roofing and there is scaffolding up everywhere. We then walked to Longshan Temple. On the way we passed what Alex has named “tweety alley.” It was a stretch of road were every store was a pet store selling birds. Parrots to chickens to finchs. If it flys there have it. Every so often mixed into the birds would be a pot bellied pig or a ferret. The sound was deafening!

Longshan Temple was beautiful, and very busy. The temple is buddist and Taoist. QuanYin (goddess of compassion) and Matzu (sea goddess who protects Taiwan) are the main deities. So much activity, incense, candles, people giving offerings of flowers and food.

Later in the evening we went to Tapiei 101, the tallest building in the world. The first 4 floors are a high end mall and food court, where we stopped for some Shabu-Shabu. We went up to the observatory on the 89th floor. Elevator took 45 seconds and you didn’t even fell like you were moving. Apparently there is a balloon type mechanism around the elevator that inflates as you go up to counter the air pressure so your ears don’t pop. On the 88th floor is a massive damper ball which keeps the building balanced during earthquakes and typhoons. It’s weight is equal to 3 747’s.

Day 2 - Wulai

2008-03-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Little less jet lagged. We took the subway to the end of the line, then hopped into a taxi to Wulai. Wulai is an “aboriginal” town in the mountains 45 minutes outside of Taipei. The original Taiwanese aka Hakka came from the South Pacific, not China. Wulai is known for it’s hot springs. The water in the river was really hot. You could make tea in it. We took a small “log car train” to the Wulai Falls (the highest waterfall in Northern Taiwan), then back into the town for an aboriginal meal. We ordered wild boar and rice cooked in bamboo shoots. The fried bees and salted raw pork which sits on the shelves “stewing” was more adventurous then we could manage.

Day 1 - Taipei

2008-03-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Arrived at 10 PM last night. Immigration and customs were quick. It’s rainy, but then I think it has been raining since February. Today we ventured to the Weekend Jade Market and Flower Market next door. On the way there my observations of Taipei is that I feel like I’m in New York. It is a much more “western” city than even Hong Kong. And the US influence is everywhere in the stores. Every chain you can imagine from Starbucks to Hooters is within a block of our hotel. Al there must be thousands of 7-11’s. There are 2 on every block, one on each side of the street do you don’t have to cross over. You go down an alley…and there is another 7-11. Signs are in Chinese and English. And everyone tries to speak to us in English. People are very friendly. Even the construction workers shout out “hello.” Very few western foreigners here. This must be the one country were American’s have not overrun/overstayed our welcome.

And we are off.....

2008-03-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Packed..one suitcase with clothes and and one with paperwork (ok maybe just a carry-on full). Taiwan here we come!....14.5 hours to Taipei...We arrive Saturday night local time 10PM.

The End and the Beginning....

2008-03-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Of all of the photos we received earlier this week, this one is the one that I keep going back to. It is a photo of Yu-Lin holding the scrapbook I sent before Christmas with pictures of us as an introduction. I ID'd everyone in the family in English and in Mandarin. Although I'm told she it has been explained to her for months that she will be adopted and going to America, I can only think that when they brought her to Tainan for her checkup a week or so ago, that is when they sat her down and gave her the book and truly explained what was about to take place. I keep looking at the photo, looking at her eyes and can't help but think that after the photo was snapped there were a lot of tears. Our joy is her fear. Five years old and everything and everyone she knows is about to disappear.

New photos..10 days to go!

2008-03-11T15:48:00.001-07:00

So surprised that we received new photos! I think that Yu-Lin must have been visiting St Lucy's for her checkup. I spot one missing bottom tooth! Ten days until we travel!

Final Decree and Travel Call!

2008-02-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

We received the second/travel call this morning. Monday, March 31 we get to pick up our little girl from St Lucys! TAIWAN HERE WE COME!

Just in - new photos of Yu-Lin!

2008-01-28T14:29:00.000-08:00

First Decree!!!!

2008-01-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

JUDGE HAS ISSUES THE FIRST DECREE! It's only been three weeks! THREE WEEKS! Normally it is 4-6 MONTHS. Heartsent can't believe how fast this has been. As Kerry said, this was a very compassionate judge. Yu-Lin has already waited way to long on her life.

Little more paperwork to do. We should be able to travel early March.

2007-12-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

TECO got all of the authenticated paperwork back to Heartsent. All of our papers should be at St. Lucy's by Christmas Eve. I'm thinking they probably are closed on Christmas Day since it is a Catholic orphanage, though Christmas is not a holiday in Taiwan. So while we have a week off, hopefully the papers will go to the judge in Tainan. We are told there are 3 judges in Tainan, the slow, the medium and the fast (sounds like the 3 little pigs).

So what happens next goes something like this - time frame is 4-6 months. Heartsent thinks it will probably be April when we we get first decree:

1- Judge gets papers and asks birthmother to come in and relinquish her rights.

2 - Judge looks over all of the paperwork, and a rep from St. Lucy's petitions on our behalf.

3 - Judge approves and issues a First Decree. There is a 14 day waiting period, just in case some family member wants to contest. The First Decree is the MOST IMPORTANT one.

4 - Judge issues a second/final decree..She is legally our daughter!

5 - St Lucy's gets Yu-Lin's passport and translates paperwork for the American Institute (our version of an embassy).

6 - Travel to Tainan

Xmas presents to Taiwan

2007-12-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Now that we are officially Mommy and Daddy, we were allowed to send Christmas presents straight to Taiwan for Yu-Lin. I found a great doll call Ling who speaks English and Mandarin. Bob thinks we might need the doll more than Yu-Lin!

I also put together a Christmas stocking full of goodies and a scrapbook that I made with photos of us and where we live. Each page is in Mandarin, so that hopefully her foster mom can explain to her. I hope they are preparing her for the adoption. Everytime I look at a little kid, I think about what would be going thru their head if they were taken away from everything they have ever known and handed over to people they can't understand.

A belated reason to give Thanks- pre approval!

2007-11-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

St Lucy's Center has pre-approved us! Everything goes to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which acts like an embassy since the US can't acknowledge Taiwan for fear of pissing off China. There they authenticate all of the notarized paperwork. Small glich, they suddenly decided they want everything 'cross stamped' by a notary in the Los Angeles office. Unfortunately, technically, you are not allowed to cross stamp with a notary seal. Thank goodness our travelling notary just did it and looked the other way. "They love their stamps in Asia," she said.

Happy Birthday Yu-Lin

2007-11-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!!!!

Paperwork to St Lucys and Birthday Girl

2007-10-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

Done! The paperwork is done and will be at St Lucy's Center in Tainan for pre-approval by November 1. Also, Heartsent is letting us send a birthday gift to Yu-Lin for her 5th birthday on November 6. I had asked if we could send something anonymously, since I knew it would be presumptuous to send something from her new family when we didn’t even have pre-approval. Alex and I decided on a playmobil set that opens to a dollhouse. We made sure the princess had dark hair.

Paperwork - Round 2

2007-10-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Bal Jagat was not thrilled. They are still our homestudy agency, so it’s not like they are going to lose money, but the attitude was begrudging. Linda who did our homestudy in January has taken a break, and so we have been assigned to a new social worker for the update (I knew this was not going to be simple). In addition to much of the paperwork needing to be redone for Taiwan (all references to China need to go), much of the paperwork needs to be notarized. We also need to attend classes. Alex wanted to come to some of the classes even though they were boring for him. He wants to be a part of everything...even sitting around for 2 days waiting for criminal clearance from the sherriffs office.

Pasadena Picnic

2007-09-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

It poured on the picnic today. Everyone got drenched. Since we have not seen rain here 10 months, the only umbrella we had in the car was the beach umbrella. Everyone laughed, but it was large enough to fit 5 people under. We let Val know that we indeed want to adopt Yu-Lin, and we brought a stack of paperwork that had originally been sent to Bal Jagat. Homestudy, medicals, financials all need to be redone. It seems daunting. On one of the questionnaires they ask “what stresses you out the most about adoption” and I had to say, the paperwork and having to rely on other people to do their part, the social workers, Immigration, everyone…it’s the control freak part of me.

Through the warm rain, little girls who had been adopted, mostly from China were running around the playground. Alex was looking at them with sad faces, and suddenly we thought “uh oh.” I pulled Alex aside to ask if seeing the little girls made him think maybe he didn’t want a sister. He looked at me and said, “no Mommy, seeing the little girls makes me feel like I want my sister to be home now. I’m sad that she is not here.”

Introducing Yu-Lin

2007-09-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Some people find out they are having a child by peeing on a stick. We went to Heartsent Adoptions in Pasadena. At 2:30 PM we met with Val from the main office and Kerry from the local Pasadena office to find out about the little girl from Taiwan. After talking for an hour about our thoughts on family, children and the realities of adopting and older child, Val handed us photos. There looking back was little girl with a mischievous smile eating Pringles potato chips. I started crying. Her name was Yu-Lin and I just wanted to hug her.

Val asks us to sleep on our decision, to make sure we are absolutely certain before moving forward. There is no room for error in Yu-Lin’s life. She is turning 5 in November and has been at St Lucy’s since she was two.

Did she find us?

2007-09-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

After a brutal weekend at the VMA's, I'm back to reading ChinaAdoptTalk and I come across a message which goes something like this:

****
Anyone in Calif wishing for/requesting an older child?
My agency is trying to find a family for a healthy (and darling) 4 year old little girl. PM me if you would like more info...Ziggy
****

WHAT!!! So I calmly (okay maybe not so calmly) get the agency info from 'Ziggy' and call Val Free at Heartsent Adoptions up in Northern California. The little girl is in Taiwan. Val and I chat for about about about what our family is looking for...and everything clicks. Val is coming to Pasadena in a week for the annual Heartsent adoption picnic and a meeting is set for the 21st. (reminder to self - breathe)

When...

2007-06-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

When seems to be the big question. Friends are family keep asking, and is we wish we knew. The pace of adoptions from China has come to a crawl. In 3 months they have only made their way thru only about 2 weeks worth of logged in families. They are currently up to November 7, 2005...YES 2005! At that rate with a LID of April 9, 2007...we are looking at over 3 years waiting (possibly more, or worst case the program could close down). The CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) is stating that there are more domestic adoption in China and less available children. I don't know of anyone in the adoption community that truly believe that is the cause.

Since we have sent our dossier to China, I've been a number of chat board and realized there were SN kids (special needs). I didn't realize there were different paths that could be taken to adoption and I didn't know what China considered a "special need." Well turns out it can be something as simple as a birthmark. Seems that in China children with minor correctable conditions are not 'desirable,' and a lot of families can't afford even minor surgery, so they wind up as SN kids in the orphanage. 90% of the kids apparently have a cleft lip or cleft palate, which is easily corrected.

Well with this knowledge, we contacted our adoption agency and our China facilitator, and we are now on the wait list for a SN child. There are about 25 families in front of us, but this path should have us at a 15 month wait for our mei mei. When our turn comes to look at the list we will be able to review the medical records with our pediatrician and make a determination from there as to whether or not we think we can handle the need. I personally think this process may go faster since most folks want a baby AYAP (as you as possible) and we are looking for a toddler or pre-schooler.

Stay tuned....

Group 132

2007-03-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we received our letter from U.S. Asian Affairs letting us know we are officially DTC and in Group 132. Group 114 who were DTC in September 2005...and they just got word...so that was a wait of 16 months...16 months would put us at July 2008 which would mean travel around the Olympic's (Yike$$$). I'm thinking the wait will start getting longer and we will have our little girl home around Christmas 2008.

DTC

2007-02-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

Five weeks to the day and I got an email from USCIS that our approved form 171H was ready to be picked up! The LAST OF THE PAPERWORK. This mean we should be DTC (Dossier to China) March 5! That will give us a LID (log in date) in March...well ahead of the May 1 changes.

171-H...week 2

2007-02-03T21:45:00.001-08:00

Everything is at US Asian Affairs, except the 171-H from from Immigration. They used to be able to send everything to China without that form,but I guess it has changed. It was 2 weeks ago that I walked the form into Immigration in downtown LA. Helen and Juanita work in the special Orphan Petition Unit. Helen told me 4-6 weeks, but I've been down their twice and each time it was not crowded at all. In fact I only waited 15 minutes the first time, 5 the second. How amazing is that! I keep hoping that they may process the form faster. We did our FBI fingerprints before Christmas, so all they really need to do is read thru the homestudy.

I'll start bugging them in a week. I'm told that if you call them, and get them at the right time, they will let you know when your papers are ready and you can go and pick them up...saving a few days in the outgoing mail bin.

Aiming for the March 5 cut off!

2007-02-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

I've been taking Mandarin Chinese classes every Sunday. Since our daughter will be a toddler, I figure if I start now, by the time we get the call I will know enough words to communicate the basics and comfort her. In addition to my language classes at the Language Door in LA, I came across ChinesePod.com. They are based in Shanghai and teach everyday "real" phases, not just the ones from a textbook. They also have special lessons on "baby talk" to teach phrases like "baby don't cry" and " mommy and daddy are here." You can upload the audio lesson to your ipod. How cool is that!

	菜鸟71 Adoption – Comforting Words

	Visit ChinesePod.com

Ni Hao, Kai-lan

2007-01-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

The NY Times ran a piece about Nickelodeon's new cartoon "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" a pre-school show about a little Chinese Girl. I need to start call my friends over at Nick and have them collect swag for me. I'm sure they will make up some cute things for the launch. Might also ask why Kai-lan (which means Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale), has an Australian Koala as a pal and not a Chinese PandaNi Hao" by the way means "Hello." It is pronounced 'knee how.'

Patience

2007-01-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't have stressed. Linda came by tonight with the homestudy. She rocks!

Off the immigration first thing in the morning.

Waiting for Homestudy Paperwork

2007-01-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

All of the homestudy interviews are done. All of the paperwork is in. We reviewed our homestudy, and with a few minor corrections, approved it last Tuesday. Our SW (Social Worker) needs to get it notorized and then deliver it to us, and I'm beginning to stress.

Once I have the homestudy I can run down to Immigration, and everything will be in for the 171-H. Then I dash to the USAA in Monterey Park. USAA translates everything into Chinese and send's it to CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) in Beijing. Then we are officially "logged in" (aka LID). But I just found out the USAA ships all of their paperwork once a month to China on the 5th!. Feb 5 is right around the corner! If we don't make the cut off, then we get in March 5, which still gets us logged before the new rules, but throws us a bit behind since a slowdown usually occurs around Chinese New Year (Feb 18 for 2007). During Chinese New Year, government offices close for a week. Some folks take even more time off. Everyone leaves the cities and goes home to visit family. Also, the closer we get to April, the more frantic USAA and CCAA will become with people trying to log in before May 1. I expect they will be sitting in a tidalwave of paperwork.

If I get the homestudy by Thurdsay...and I run everywhere Friday morning...we might just make the cut off for Feb 5.

Big Brother

2007-01-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

First HomeStudy Meeting

2007-01-03T12:03:00.002-08:00

We meet Linda, the social worker assigned to us through Bal Jagat. The Homestudy consists for 4 meetings. One with Bob and Gina together, one each individually, and one to go thru our home and make sure it is suitable. Linda thinks she can get the homestudy completed by the end of January, which is great because the home study needs to be given to Immigration to go along with the I-600A which we filed in December. Once the I-600A, the FBI Livescan fingerprints and the Homestudy are all there, the paperwork is process and we are given a I-171 form which basically grants us permission to bring a child into the U.S. With the I-171 in hand, we then send everything to U.S. Asian Affairs in Monterey Park to be validated and translated into Chinese.

Linda tells us she is busy as there are a number of people trying to make the May 1 deadline.

2006-12-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

Letter from Citibank comes...and it is WRONG! Another hour on the phone requesting a corrected letter. (note to self...change banks, it is HELL every time we need something from them).

2006-12-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

Citibank leaves a message that they need more information for the Consulate letter. They have a phone number with an extension that the folks at Citibank claims doesn't actually exist! Grrr. I beg and plead with a supervisor who tells me he will put in a new request and have it expedited.

While Everyone Else Is Xmas Shopping

2006-12-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

We are jumping through paper hoops. The days leading up to Christmas looked something like this:

Monday 12/18 - Find an agency called FingerPrintTech in Santa Monica and get Livescan fingerprints done from California DOJ

Tuesday 12/19 - arrive at Immigration Dept in downtown LA at 9 AM to file I-600A - while there I meet 2 couples who are going on year 2 of waiting (!). They are both there to refile paperwork as it expires after 18 months...all of the fees ahve to be paid a second time; Bob's passport is expiring 1/07 - drop off paperwork for renewel passport office; head to get livescan fingerprints done for FBI (wait 3 hours while they fix the computer); order consulate letters from the bank; so to Santa Monica police dept for clearance letter, and are told that we have to go to LA Sherriff's office.

Wednesday 12/20 - Go to LA Sherriff's office in West Hollywood and meet an officer who is very helpful. Turns out she was adopted! Paperwork will take 24 hours.

Thursday 12/21 - We go for physicals (both China and the agency needs different reports); we pick up paperwork fro the Sheriff's office...and we take a red eye to St. Augustine for the holidays.

Bal Jagat Holiday Party

2006-12-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

We decided to go to the Bal Jagat Holiday Party in Lakewood to meet with other adoptive families. Alex wanted to see all of the little kids. He is very sxcited about having a MeiMei (little sister in Chinese). When we arrive Hemlata pulls us aside. She received a call from U.S. Asian Affairs telling her that new restrictions on Chinese adoption would be going into effect May 1, 2007. Among the new rules, no one over age 50. She says that if we have our paperwork in Beijing by April, we will be fine.

We meet a couple at the party who are there for the second year without a child. They are hoping to get a referral soon...2 years!

We get home and I immediately go into overdrive on the paperwork. Now the clock is ticking.

Rumours...

2006-12-15T15:14:00.000-08:00

There is a rumour going around the the cyber world of blogs that China is about to change their eligibility rules so that no one over 50 can adopt. Bob is 52. Apparently there was a meeting on Dec 8 in China were new ' proposed" restrictions were announced becuase of the backlog in applications, and because the Chinese government is hoping that people will beging to adopt domestically. Nothing shows up on the official Chinese government site though.

Paper...

2006-12-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Our application is officially accepted. It comes back to us with a booklet of everything we need to do for the agency, for China and for U.S. Immigration. Wow, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done and collected! Birth and marriage certificate in triplicate have already been ordered.

Step One

2006-12-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Bob and I drove down to Long Beach with meet with Hemlata from Bal Jagat. After researching on the internet, Bal Jagat is the agency we chose. We could only find glowing comments about Hemlata. Plus she was one of only a handful of agencies directly authorized by China, and in addition to being an adoption agency, Hemlata helps support foster care facitilies and schools in various countries.

Our interview went well and we left an application (which was filled out and mailed later that day). The paperchase begins.

We See The Same Moon

2006-11-30T14:13:00.000-08:00

We may be miles apart,
but we see the same moon.
Good night, sleep tight,
and I'll see you soon.

Red Threads

2006-11-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

According to an old Chinese proverb there "an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."

Somewhere in China there is a little girl who was born in 2005 or 2006, whose parents could no longer care for her due to poverty or the pressures of government quotas. She was left somewhere safe; a market, the stairs of a police station, a park bench. Somewhere where people would find her quickly and take her to to a orphanage or foster home. And there she waits for us as the red thread (or in our case red tape) that links us together gets shorter.

November 24, 2006