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.

angeleno summer nights

[updated July 22 - my sister, the teacher, noticed I misspelled the word "two" in the first sentence - Thanks Ms. Freiberg]

Summer combines two of my favorite things about Los Angeles - KCRW (the local NPR and alternative music station) and The Hollywood Bowl (absolutely my favorite place to be in the summer).







Last Sunday, July 15, we went to our first show of the summer at the Bowl. KCRW hosts a "World Festival" series every year and we usually go to a few of the shows. This week, Cafe Tacuba was headlining with Groove Armada. The show was fantastic, one of the best we have been to yet. The crowd was, of course, a Latin majority. Cafe Tacuba, a band based in Mexico City, sang and spoke only in Spanish. There was a lot of laughing and hooting between sets, I WISH I UNDERSTOOD MORE SPANISH! Must LEARN SPANISH. They had an amazing range of music and a brilliant energy. Really Fun. But, my favorite for the night was definitely Groove Armada - they opened the show and really set it on fire.

Aahhh, summer nights at the Bowl. We always sit up high in the bleachers (this is on purpose, by the way). From that height, you can see right over the roof of the Bowl and get a glimpse of the The Hollywood Sign between the mountain peaks. An iconic sight. Oh yeah, and the bleacher seats are cheap - $6 - $15 each - a bargain for the LA market. We bring a picnic and a bottle of wine and settle in for the night.

These are such fun evenings and they attract a wide range of people from the very young (there was a six year old groovester sitting in our row) to the very old. Our little one will definitely be getting a taste of the Bowl at a young age.

Here is the line-up for the rest of our tickets this year:

August 26, 2007
Macy Gray - Artists: Macy Gray; Zap Mama; Brazilian Girls; Chris Douridas, host

September 9, 2007
Underworld - Artists: Underworld; Paul Oakenfold with special guest Carmen Rizzo; Jason Bentley, host
(Hey Mom - remember Paul Oakenfold a few years ago? Wanna join?)

September 20, 2007
Arcade Fire with LCD Soundsystem

the wait, the weight

I have been meaning to post this information about the wait for all our inquiring family and friends, but as you can see, I haven't been the most consistent blogger. I guess I better work harder at this, since I won't be able to get away with such long absences once the baby is here - grandparents will be chomping at the bit for photos and stories. The good news - I've got time!

For all of my adoption buddies - stop right here - you have heard all about this, no need to rehash.

For the rest of you, we have been getting so many questions from everyone about the wait - how long will it be, what is going on, etc. I decided the easiest way to TRY to explain what we do know is to direct you to the place where we get a lot of information.

www.chinaadopttalk.com is a website/blog that was started by a adoptive mother (now with two children from China). She has built quite a community of prospective and adoptive parents that spans the US and also Internationally. Over time, she has developed relationships with all kinds of different sources as well as acted as a filter for any and everyone's rumors or tidbits of information. She scans, filters and analyzes this information and condenses it into daily reports on the status of China adoption.

It is important to understand that most of her information comes in the form of rumors (some of which are proved correct and viceversa) so you can take or leave what she posts at your own risk. However, I have found that having news (good or bad) makes the wait a bit easier in the sense that it gives me a bit (granted a minute bit) of control over the situation. So, I have tagged a couple of the more interesting and informative posts that she has had in the last month or so. These, in particular, go into quite a bit of detailed analysis of the statistics and probable timelines given the current conditions in China adoption.

BTW - Please do not ask me to interpret all of her spreadsheets! I hope she has some kind of insane software that is doing all that number crunching for her.

an analysis of possible timelines based on LID

speculation on the backlog

information from the CCAA visits - (the China Center for Adoption Affairs regularly makes visits internationally to many of the countries that participate in their adoption program)

analysis of the numbers based on the CCAA visits

So, what's the verdict? Very Helpful - Thanks! or TMI? (Too Much Information)

creating a space for kidlet - part 1: tear it up

This is the corridor leading to the "private" section of our condo. From this corridor you can get to the guest bathroom, the kidlet room and the master bedroom/bathroom. I have three words for you - We. Need. Storage. We also needed to get rid of some extremely confining ceiling heights in the corridor. So, we decided to tear out the low ceiling and tear up the wall between the corridor and the kidlet room. We are now enjoying a little more breathing room above our heads in the corridor and we installed built-in doublesided shelving in place of the wall between the corridor and kidlet space. . . stay tuned for progress photos in the next installment.

left - looking toward master bedroom

right - looking into kidlet space

left - looking toward living room

right - looking into kidlet space

"unlucky" thirteen and other superstitions

Thirteen months since our Log In Date. When we first started, counting up the months meant we were counting down to the adoption. Now, with the constant delays, I feel like we are just counting up.

Here are some fun facts I found at Wikipedia.

13 (number) is:

The atomic number aluminium
The number of dimensions in some theories of relativity

The point when a person officially becomes a teenager.
The number of guns in a gun salute to U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps Major Generals, and Navy and Coast Guard Rear Admirals Upper Half.
The number of steps, according to Egyptian lore, between life and death.
Unreasoned fear of the number 13 is termed triskaidekaphobia.
In Tarot decks, the #13th card of the Major Arcana is Death. While Death is rarely interpreted literally, it is possible that this furthered the perception of 13 as an unlucky number.

Hey, today is July 6 (7-6-07) ---> 7 + 6 = 13. I know, I am a dork.

In China, numbers definitely hold significance. Many chinese superstitions have been born from the fact that many words in chinese can hold multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings. Often, two words may sound alike, yet mean something different (a homonym). This has created a taboo among certain words and of course, numbers.

For instance, the number (8) in chinese means "prosperity," "fortune" or "wealth." Eight is considered the most auspicious number and the chinese try to include it in as many parts of their lives as possible including their address, their phone number, etc. In fact, the Beijing Olympics will begin next year on August 8, 2008 (08-08-08), at 8pm in the evening. The more times a lucky number can be strung together, the more potent the luck becomes.

The number six, "liù", is considered to be a very auspicious number because it is a homonym of the word for "flowing" or "smooth." In western culture, 666, is considered the "devil's number". However, it is a particularly lucky one in the Chinese language, as it sounds close to the words meaning "things are going smoothly."

WOO HOO! Our LID is 06-06-06 - "things are going smoothly". That will be my mantra.

It is *SLIGHTLY* possible, however a long shot, that we could possibly travel next summer. [Don't worry, I am not holding my breath]. How lucky would we be if we ended up traveling on 08-08-08 with our 06-06-06 LID?

OK - time to go to bed, I am getting slap happy.

and then there were 204 days . . .

babies, babies, babies

Referrals were announced today for families with LID dates through November 14, 2005. This is a total of (7) days of LID's since the last round. But again, (2) of these were weekend days and don't really count. We now have a total of (204) days of LID's before they get to our file.

WE ARE NEXT!

[in the review room that is]

WOO HOO!

I just saw on www.chinaadopttalk.com that the May 2006 dossiers have been completed and are officially out of the Review Room at the CCAA. This is a very important step in the process because until you are through the Review Room, you have not officially been accepted by China to adopt one of their children.

First, to all my friends in the May group - Congratulations!

With a June 6, 2006 dossier Log-In-Date (LID), this means that are files are now in the Review Room. EVERYONE - THINK. GOOD. THOUGHTS!

If you want to follow the progress of the files at the CCAA, you can check their website at http://www.china-ccaa.org/frames/index_unlogin_en.jsp (don't worry about the message about installing the language). The "Documents Processing" Banner is in the middle of the right hand sidebar.

our fingerprints

. . . have expired (as of June 21, 2007).

(does this sound strange to anyone else??)

And so it starts all over again . . .

[long post for another day]