Is this a "sign"?

This morning, while walking back from running an errand, I discovered a little "pink binkie" (aka: pacifier) in front of the walkway leading to our house. I thought...Is this a "sign" (refering to one my favorite movies, "Fool's Rush In") that our daughter will be with us soon? I hope. Who knows? I thought I'll just note this on my blog just in case it is truly a sign that our baby's coming and not to be so anxious about our wait.

China Adoption Criteria Changes

Our adoption agency sent us a letter informing us about the changes for families wishing to adopt from China. Since "hubbie" & I are already logged in at the CCAA, we think it will not affect us and that we would have qualified with the new guidelines anyways.

For anyone else wishing to know what the new criteria for China adoption is, this is a summary of what was stated:

"We wanted to take a moment to inform you of changes and let you know that we will keep you updated as we receive confirmed information form the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and our China coordinator.

The following guidelines will be in effect (still to be confirmed by CCAA) for dossiers received by CCAA on or after May 1, 2007:

• Married couples only; no singles allowed.
• Married couples must be married for at least 2 years if there are no previous marriages. If there are previous marriages then the present marriage must be over 5 years. However, no more than 2 previous marriages will be allowed (it is unclear if this is per person or per couple).
• Each parent must be 30 to 50 years old. No parent can be outside of this range.
• Healthy parents - no infectious disease, no mental disease (including depression or anxiety), no blindness, and no serious disease or disability. Each adoptive parent must also have a BMI (Body Mass Index) under 40. BMI calculator
• At least one parent must have a stable job. Income requirements is $10,000 per family member including the child to be adopted.
• Family's net worth must be over $80,000.
• Each parent must have a high school education or higher.
• No more than 5 children in the home including the child to be adopted. The youngest child in the home must be over 1 year old.
• No criminal record.

We will be holding an information meeting this winter, on a to be determined Saturday. The meeting will be open to families in the paperwork process as well as families currently waiting for a referral. We encourage ALL CHINA FAMILIES to attend this meeting to familarize yourselves with changes and how they might affect you."

There has been news coverage of these changes and the following is a link from China Daily about the upcoming changes to China adoptions:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/25/content_766420.htm

There has been talk about who would now qualify as "expedited" status in my Yahoo! China expedited referral group. Some couples who normally would be qualified for "expedited" status due to at least one parent being of Chinese descent is now being informed that they are not "expedited." What can we anticipate in the new year? I do not know. Only time will tell.

Christmas 2006

No Christmas tree this year because it is just the two of us. Our Christmas spirit is small but present. The stocking in the middle is for our little one.

We hope that our little one will be with us by Christmas 2007.

Adoption status: waiting. waiting. waiting. I have a feeling that we will be in the review room at the CCAA fairly soon. I'm hoping that our review process will go smoothly.

An update:
Our little girl's room is filling up with so many colorful toys and books. Some of the items will have to go into the play room downstairs later. We added a couple of pieces of furnishings to accent the room.

We will see what the new year will bring us.

News of Expedited Referrals!

Good news! Families in my yahoo group have forwarded news of expedited families with log in dates from January-February 2006 who have received their referrals. CCAA is finally moving on into 2006 log in dates! It's still a wait for our log in date of 07/10/2006 but I'm just happy that they've moved on into 2006.

Quilt for Baby!

Adoption Status: Still Waiting and we do not know exactly how long the wait will be.

The following are a couple of photos of a quilt I've made for "Baby."

I just recently began a scrapbook for baby. My scrapbook will be a "Life Book." However, it starts with an introduction of what we did to prepare for baby's arrival and, subsequently, her joining the family. By definition an adoption "Life Book" is a record of an adoptee’s life that uses words, photos, graphics, the child’s artwork, and memorabilia. An adoption life book provides: (1) A concrete tool for meaningful conversation,(2) An adoption security blanket,(3) Attachment rituals, and (4) Opportunities to create positive identity. I am really enjoying being creative with paper and photos.
“Little Miss Ladybug”, always following her Magical Red Thread, flutters with great excitement to match loving parents to their special baby far away.

-- Karen Acres, Author of Little Miss Lady Bug & Her Magical Red Thread.

Note: Ladybug sighting on Thursday, 10/19/2006. I'm just wondering if "Baby" is born yet...

More on the Baby Room Decor

It's just 2.5 months into the waiting for a referral of our daughter from China. From what I've heard via "rumors," our waiting time for expedited families may be 8-10 months before we'll receive our referrals. I'm "crossing my fingers"that the China Center of Adoptions Affairs (CCAA) will process faster than they have in the past months. Oh well...We can only hope!

The following are the latest updates to the baby's room:

Below is a photo we took the morning after we finished painting:


Lastly, thanks to the family & friends who have contributed in donating the baby necessities, toys, and furniture pieces so far. You know who you all are. Thank you. Xie xie.

Update on the Baby Room

Here's an update to what we've done to the baby's room. It's still "work in progress" status.

This is the "before" shot:
Here is "the latest:"
Please excuse the lighting to the above photos. They were taken in the evening.
Now it's time to work on the little details, "the embellishments." The fun stuff!

Log in Date Confirmed

We've got a log in date (LID)! Maggie called and said CCAA logged us in on 07/10/2006. LID is considered when we are "paper pregnant." Here's our "ultrasound."

Curtains for the Baby's Room

This previous weekend, we started "decorating" the baby's room. My husband began stripping off the wallpapered border. Stripping off the border was harder than we originally thought.

As for me, I began and finished sewing the curtains for the room within a week. At least during the wait for our daughter's arrival, we have the time to slowly get the room decorated.

Another sign of adoption progress

We received a letter from our adoption agency letting us know that our dossier was received in Beijing on Monday, July 3rd. Either Kerry or Maggie from Heartsent will let us know when we have our official log in date (LID) from CCAA. This is another step closer for our daughter in China.

Dossier to China (DTC) Day!

We have our DTC date! Kerry from HAI called at about 3:30pm to let us know our DTC has left the US and is heading to China now. We should be receiving a letter soon to let us know when our dossier arrives in China. A log in date (LID) should be soon following. It's exciting news.

We couldn't walk away...

Awhile ago, we decided to purchase a convertible crib for our daughter's nursery room. Over the last few months, we've read Denise & Alan Field's "Baby Bargains" latest edition, researched online, and went to the stores that sell baby furniture to check out the actual quality and know what's the $$$. Well...today, we walked into the store and decided that this is the crib furniture we want for our daughter. Since the color we wanted wasn't in stock, we placed the order and expect its arrival sometime after we've painted the nursery room.

Certification & Authentication is complete! : )

Good news! We heard from HAI's Social Worker, Maggie, today. She says our dossier has been certified and authenticated. Kerry or Maggie will call us when we'll have the official dossier DTC date, either Monday or Tuesday next week.

Waiting for our Certified & Authenticated Dossier

We received our I-171H last Thursday, June 1st from USCIS. The documents were to be sent to the California Secretary of State to be certified by our adoption agency. Once the document certification is sent back from Sacramento, the adoption agency will then forward the documents to the Chinese Consulate in L.A. for authentication. We're hoping for DTC (Document To China) by end of June and LID (Log In Date) sometime in mid-July. We're patiently waiting for now. It's a good thing that it's been so busy the last 2 months. At least, it makes waiting somewhat bearable. We look forward to getting our DTC. We'll, then, start planning for our house for our daughter's pending arrival.