Day 2 - first encounter with the "papparazzi"

April 25, 2011



It turns out that Seneca is a celebrity here in China. Who knew? The very first place we visited on the morning of our arrival, the Temple of Heaven, we encountered our first mob of curious Chinese people. They are utterly fascinated by her. We haven't really seen many other western kids her age here, but I think her hair is attracting the most attention. They are all nice, but maybe a bit intrusive. Everyone asks for a photo with her and wants to touch and hold her. She has been handling it as well as she can - but clearly gets nervous when people get too close. Now we know what it is like to be followed by the papparazzi.

Day 2 - the park at the Temple of Heaven

April 25, 2011

The Temple of Heaven is surrounded by some beautiful grounds that are open to the public. During the week, this area is heavily used by retired locals. In China, people are required to retire at age 50. With the huge population in china, this ensures that the younger people have some opportunities at jobs as well. Obviously, this means that there are a lot of retired Chinese people that still have a lot time and energy.

Most retired Chinese help raise their grandchildren. However, with the one child policy, there are definitely fewer children to care for. Many people spend their days in the parks participating in activities such as Tai Chi, badminton, dance and other forms of exercise. There are also groups that meet regularly to play cards and mah jongg and these games can get very animated! We were impressed by the number of people in the park and how many were participating in activities, especially the physical activities. This is something we don't see as often in the US.

In this photo: I think they are doing some form of Tai Chi

In this photo: between each pillar, there is a vigorous card or mah jongg game going on!

In this photo: Seneca joins the ladies during their "scarf" dancing. She was a big hit and had several of the ladies giggling (and then getting distracted and missing their steps)

Day 2 - the Temple of Heaven

April 25, 2011

Our first stop on the Beijing tour was the Temple of Heaven, built by one of the chinese emperors whose name and dynasty escape me right now. We did not bring a guidebook and I did not take notes, so please forgive my lack of facts and information on occasion... (I will come back and fill in some gaps when I get back to the US).

You will see a photo below of Seneca with our guide, Christina.

Day 1 - fly to Beijing

April 24, 2011






Our flight to Beijing left LAX at 1:40am early Sunday morning. We had been keeping Seneca awake late for the last three nights in the hopes that it would help her with the transition to china time (15 hr difference). She did well staying up until 1am the first night, midnight the second, and @1:30am on the night of the flight. She was a trooper.

The flight was good. It arrived early. Everyone got a chance to sleep on the 12+ hour flight - Seneca probably slept 8-9 hrs of the flight.





We had arranged for a guide in Beijing, and she met us at the airport @ 5:30am. Her name is Christina - she picked this name herself because she likes christina aguilera. It is common in china for people to adopt a western style name. Christina is wonderful, full of information, and extremely helpful and friendly. Seneca took to her very quickly and they walked hand in hand several times during the day.

We were able to check into our hotel immediately. We had a chance to freshen up after the long flight and eat some breakfast before meeting up with Christina and our driver, Mr. Huang for a visit to the Temple of Heaven.

Leaving on a jet plane...

And on our way to CHINA!!

Referral Day

24 February, 2011

If I think back, I am pretty sure we started this journey on November 5, 2005. I would have to check the date, but this is the one that sticks out in my brain. That is the day we went to our first adoption conference to pick an agency and get things underway. (I am really going to check - I would be thrilled if my memory serves me that well!)

That was 5 years and almost 4 months ago.

Today, made it all worth the wait.

check it out!

We have a new project and a new blog. Go to http://redfryadventures.blogspot.com/ and check it out!

Happy MARCH 2006!

My sister has been complaining (and complaining) that I need to update the blog so that her blogroll doesn't show "Happy 2006!" anymore.

I wish I had better news, but since March 9, 2008 (which is the last time I posted here - YIKES!) the CCAA has only gotten through referrals for January and February of 2006. As of right now, they are at March 2, 2006.

As a reminder, our Log-in-Date is June 6, 2006. At this rate, I think we will still be at least a year away or more. But, we are working on some new exciting projects in the meantime, so we will update you on those later.

For now, we are still partying it up in 2006 - sorry Sara!

Happy 2006!

Hi. It's been awhile. Almost five months. And, that is how long it took to get through all of the Log-In Dates for the month of December 2005.

As of March 3, 2008, the CCAA is officially working on files that were logged in during the year 2006.

Currently, the CCAA has completed files through January 4, 2006. Our LID is June 6, 2006.

That leaves ONLY 154 LID days to go!!!

Now, the rumor mill will say that they don't expect the CCAA to get through more than early March of 2006 this year. That means we are looking at another two years before we can go to China. But, we are hanging in there. Thank you all for your continued support!

imafry2

Or should it be 30?

Happy Birthday to my little sister - can't let this one slip by unnoticed!

May your next decade be as exciting as the first three!

love, jo

now, where were we?

Ok, so I've missed a few updates/ milestones/ holidays, etc, etc. The adoption news has been dismal (at best), and we have been really busy (a good thing). The combination of those has kept me from checking in with bloggy world and quite possibly has preserved my sanity.

So, here is a whirlwind update with bullet points and everything:

• SEPTEMBER 1 = Chinese National Holiday for Teachers Day - I am actually really sorry I missed this one. A national holiday celebrating Teachers? OK, they got this one right. Go Teachers!
• SEPTEMBER 4 = REFERRAL DAY - CCAA made it to November 25 . . . ONLY FOUR DAYS . . . and 193 LID days to go . . .
• SEPTEMBER 6 = 15 month LIDversary - no comment
• SEPTEMBER 25 = Chinese Traditional Holiday - Moon Festival - since I missed explaining this, you'll have to wait until next year . . .
• OCTOBER 1 = Chinese National Holiday - National Day - the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949
• OCTOBER 2 = REFERRAL DAY - CCAA made it to November 30. All I can say is . . . FINALLY. Goodbye to November. (it only took 6 months - yikes!) 188 LID days to go
• OCTOBER 6 = 16 month LIDversary - yes, another one bites the dust

I almost forgot that somewhere in the middle of this we had to redo our paperwork and reapply for our I-171H, get new fingerprints, etc. since our original application will expire as of October 21, 2007. I am silently hoping that we won't have to go through this a third time.

Other than that, we have been going gangbusters on the condo - so I will have some updates on that later. As for the rest of the adoption stuff, we will just go back to sticking our heads in the sand.

a birthday wish for Auntie Mimi

Today is the birthday of my sister, Amy. In honor of her love for Country music, I have done my best to find something fitting (if you know me at all, you realize this was not an easy task). It would have been really cool if I could figure out how to insert the actual song to play on the blog, so, if anyone knows how to do this - please fill me in.



So, without further ado, I present the refrain from the Rascal Flatt's song, "My Wish",

My Wish

by

Rascal Flatts

"My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish."

TA DA! Happy Birthday!

do something for my child

Go see "The 11th Hour". And, then, take some action.

http://www.11thhourfilm.com/

http://www.11thhouraction.com/

The film opened this weekend in LA and NYC, but it will be opening nationwide very soon.

creating a space for kidlet - part 3: drumroll, please! STORAGE!

STORAGE!!!!

We need storage. For kidlet toys and games and books and diapers and dohickeys and thingamobobs, etc. etc. etc. We also need a linen closet and other shelving for odds and ends that take over our life sometimes. So, VOILA! We tore out part of the one (1) wall between the hall and the kidlet room and created two (2) sided shelving/ cabinets.

Can I just say that these shelves are WORTH EVERY BIT OF DRYWALL DUST IT TOOK TO GET THEM THERE.

Yes, my husband is AWESOME. Yes, he built all of this himself. Yes, I am LUCKY. YES.

PS. On the hallway side, we have sliding wood doors that cover the shelving, but they are not yet installed in this photo (notice the track on the ceiling?)

creating a space for kidlet - part 2: frame, drywall, sand, repeat.

It's been awhile, so just as a reminder, you can see [part 1] of this series, "tear it up" here.

The next step, and BY FAR, my favorite (read: sarcasm) is the framing, drywalling and SANDING. This step (or steps) is neverending and far reaching. When we renovated our house in Atlanta, we had a lot more room to escape the renovation shrapnel, but with the condo we seem to be in it 24/7 - "all for one and one for all".

are we really still counting?

I guess so, nothing better to do.

14

[months]

7 more down, 197 to go

Referrals came in today for families that were logged in through November 21, 2007.

We still have a long way to go, but we fell under the 200 mark.

197 logged days of files to go.

yippee?

OUT OF REVIEW!

I just saw a flurry of posts on the internet about June 2006 files getting through the Review Room. I raced over to the CCAA website and it is true (check it out for yourself right here):

YIPPPPEEEE!
WOOOO HOOOOO!
SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!

This is a really big step for us. Making it through the Review Room means that we have OFFICIALLY been accepted by the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs to adopt a child from China. Now our file will be sent to the Matching Room to wait for our turn to be matched with our child.






It could still be a long time before we get our child. Right now, we do not expect to get our referral at least until next summer or even later. But, today, we are happy. WHEW!

shameless plugs

Today, I went down to the LA Convention Center to visit a good friend of mine. She was exhibiting her new fantastic business, Fish Lips Paper Design, at the LA Gift Show. This wrapping paper is brilliant - not only does she have some super cool designs, but the paper, inks, packaging, etc. are all 100% environmentally friendly incorporating 100% post-consumer recycled paper and soy based inks. Believe it or not, there are only a few companies that make "green" wrapping paper, and Fish Lips does it best. (I am not biased or anything). By the way, big news - Fish Lips paper will be showing up at a couple of big name stores near you. . . to be continued.

For my adoption buddies, she even made a Chinese inspired paper design, just for us - check out "Dis-Orient".

_________________________________________________

We also have some other fabulously talented friends that have launched their own organic kid's t-shirt business called Biome 5 - Animal Alphabet Project. I love these t-shirts! I hope they are going to make some for adults very soon. With an animal for every letter, combined with the eccentric color combinations - it is really hard to choose my fave. I love the fact that the kids are constantly looking down at their shirts - reading the words that are printed upside down just for them. You have to check out the website for this one - it is a real treat with sound effects, etc. Made of 100% organic cotton in sweatshop free factories, these T's are fun, fun, fun. They recently got a nod from www.coolmompicks.com - check it out.

Please take a minute to check these new ventures out - I am really excited for my friends and wish them all the best!

rock climbing

Finally, I think I found a sport I am good at besides walking (well, I guess walking isn't really a sport).

Yesterday, we went to the rock climbing center, Rockreation, with my sister-in-law and her fiance. I was not feeling particularly excited about the adventure, but decided to give it a try. As it turns out, I happen to be quite a natural at it - Go figure. It was fun to try to navigate your way to the top of a maze of man-made crevices and outcroppings. If you do things correctly, you should be following the color coding on the outcroppings, but that was a little above my level at this point. Besides, making it to the top is the fun part. And, there aren't any color coded outcroppings out in the real world, now are there? (By the way, I did not do any of those fancy advanced moves shown at the left. . . photo courtesy of the Rockreation website.)

There were quite a few little kids there and they were just little spitfires clamoring up those walls like there was nothing to it. I seriously think my nieces (at least the little one) would love to try this. Maybe the next time they come out to visit we will have to talk "Uncle Ed" (my sister-in-law's fiance) to take us climbing again. And, how fun would it be to have a kid's birthday party here?

I am not ready to take this new found skill on the road to the real thing yet, but it sure was a fun Saturday afternoon.