the further adventures of tub

. . . now featured in our dining room.

cb's new toy

happy birthday papa fry

a little older now,
but here he is at 5!

Have a great day
Dad!

welcome home emme lu!

You can follow their trip in china here.

mother's day

my second mother's day since we started the adoption process and we fully expect to be waiting through another one . . .

This year, I decided to do something that would make me feel a bit more "motherly" on Mother's Day. Last month, I read an article in Vanity Fair magazine's "The Green Issue". The article, "The Rise of Big Water," by Charles Mann profiled the plight of the Chinese water system and the rise of the big water companies. I think most people are aware of issues with drinking water in foreign countries like China, but this article really opened my eyes to the SERIOUS lack of availability of clean water throughout this entire country.

An excerpt from the article. . .
"The Rise of Big Water," by Charles Mann

"China is in particular trouble. The country's State Environmental
Protection Administration grades water on a scale from one to five, with three
being minimally acceptable and five a direct health hazard. According to
SEPA, for much of their length, five of China's seven main river basins are
rated at four or five - poisoned by rampant industrialization. Almost half
of China's municipalities - and most of its rural areas - have no systems in
place for treating waste at all. Between a quarter and a third of China's
population still do not have piped water."

Within the last few years, large, foreign, private water companies have been contracted by China's government to turn this crisis around. Surprisingly, even though hundreds of miles of new piping have been laid and new treatment and sewage plants have been constructed, Chinese residents must still boil their water. In fact, the Chinese are so used to the bad water, they do not expect to drink it straight from the tap.

Then, I heard about "A Child's Right", a non-profit humanitarian organization that focuses on providing clean water to children around the world.

"A Child's Right is committed to providing the very best in water purification technologies and clean water systems to desperate children in orphanages, street shelters, children's hospitals and schools in impoverished nations throughout the world."

This May, A Child's Right is working in China, assisting orphanages in Jiangxi and Sichuan Provinces as well as Chongqing municipality to install about (5) new water systems to help provide clean water to over 3000 Chinese orphans.

So, I made two donations - (1) on behalf of my cousin, friend and fellow adopter, Angie, and (1) for myself. We may not have our kids yet, but at least I can sleep better at night knowing that I hopefully have given them the opportunity to get some clean water. That is just about the best thing I could think of to do right now and the closest I have felt to being a mother yet.

Happy Mother's Day!

bowling

(5) tacos, chips & salsa, (2) sodas at Tito's - $13.50
(6) pairs of bowling shoes - $24.00

(1) game of bowling for six - $18.00

bowling with my nieces . . . PRICELESS!

eleven

eleven month LIDversary

Just for fun, here are some pics of us at age eleven.
Introducing:
The "Mork & Mindy" Fan and The Soccer Player
ahhhh, those were the days . . .

Check 'em out quick!
I don't know how long I am going to leave these up.

chinese national holiday - Youth Day *updated*

also known as the May Fourth Movement

[photo & quote courtesy of Wikipedia]

". . . an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement in early modern China. Beginning on May 4, 1919, it marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, and a re-evaluation of Chinese cultural institutions, such as Confucianism. The movement grew out of dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles settlement, termed the Shandong Problem, and the effect of the New Cultural Movement."

This movement was significant for many reasons. It was a large scale movement involving 20 provinces and over 100 cities in the country. Young chinese students were the driving force of this shift in the political philosophy of China and it spread the ideas of Marxism as well as ultimately building the foundation of the Communist party in China.

*updated: I have been thinking more about this holiday and the whole thing just seems ironic to me. The day is a commemoration of an uprising, a student call-to-action, a very DEMOCRATIC way to put a public voice on an idea. And yet, the roots of this movement ended up creating the Communist political system in China. . .

referrals and a little perspective

Referrals arrived today. Babies have been referred to families who were logged in through November 1, 2005. That means they completed a total of (6) days. April showers bring May flowers? uh, sort of. . . at least better than last month.

They still haven't released any files from the review room passed March 31, 2006. But, they have been at holding at that date for a couple of months now, so we hope that they will announce some progress soon.

So, for the perspective. We have been getting a ton of questions lately about the wait, how long it is taking, how long it will take, why, etc. etc. etc. I think it is very important for everyone to understand what we are dealing with - so, I give you "The Numbers":

There are two things to count:

"days"
We were logged in on June 6, 2006.
The CCAA has referred children to families through November 1, 2005.
That means they still have to finish (217) days of dossiers in order to get to ours.
Last month they finished (2) days.
This month they finished (6) days.
It took (4) months just to finish all of the days in October.

and then there are the

"dossiers and babies"
We are told that there are currently around 25,000 dossiers on file at the CCAA.
We are told they usually refer approximately 400-600 babies per month.
We are told the CCAA can only refer 10,000 children for International Adoption per year.

Lots of days, lots of files, lots of c-a-l-c-u-l-a-t-i-o-n-s . . . I think I need a drink!

When will we get our referral? anyone care to guess, anyone?

chinese national holiday - International Labor Day or "May Day"

Today is Labor Day in China (as it is also celebrated in many other countries around the world - What's up with the US having Labor Day in September?). Labor Day in China has become one of the so-called "Golden Weeks"* in China. The holiday has grown from (1) paid day off to (3) paid days off in the early 1990's and now has become a full week off for most people in China. Most working people in China worked over the last weekend and then put those days together with today's holiday and next weekend to give them a full week off. During the "Golden Week" thousands of chinese workers (usually living far from home) travel back to visit with loved ones.

This holiday is also especially busy as it falls directly after the spring China Import and Export Fair held every year in Guangzhou, China (the last two weeks in April). As you can imagine, adoption travel is fairly difficult during these three weeks and highly discouraged - especially during the last two weeks of April since all Americans must go through Guangzhou to complete their adoption paperwork before leaving China with their children.

Happy Labor Day!

*Updated: I thought I should explain that there are (3) "Golden Weeks" in the Chinese year. The first is during the New Year celebration or "Spring Festival", the second is in celebration of Labor Day and the third is to commemorate "National Day" starting the first of October.