Here we are at the dawn of 2008.
This time last year, we were in the middle of the mad dash to get our dossier finished. We were keeping busy with it and really made pretty good progress. By Jan. 17, we had everything certified and authenticated but our I-171H, which we still were waiting on from USCIS.
Now, we are coming up in a few days on 9 months since our LID. The pace really has slowed down, obviously. The scramble to get everything for our dossier kept us busy and focused. Now, we count off the days, checking in with various sites, checking RQ to see what the latest rumors are, but the intensity is not there. There's no more paperwork to get done, no more lists to check off, no more FedEx packages to track. How many more months we have of this, who can tell, other than it's going to be a bunch.
We just want to wish everyone a safe, happy and prosperous new year. To all of those who have made the trip to China and are home with their children, enjoy them. Enjoy every moment of it. For those of you like us, hang in there. The wait can't go on forever.
Kevin
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Closer to review
Well, the review part of the adoption is going great guns. October now is officially out of review, according to the CCAA (which stands for China Center of Adoption Affairs, which regulates adoptions in China).
That is October 2006 - yes, something actually happening in 2006! as opposed to referrals, still in 2005.
October 2006 is when we started this wild ride with our first Great Wall China Adoption seminar with Paige. Just think, as all the October 2006 people were logging in, we were just getting started, and now they are finished with review.
Our review will come when they hit April 2007. We kind of hope they ask us a question - just minor, nothing serious - and that way we'll know our dossier isn't just lost in a pile somewhere. :)
Hello all you sick, twisted freaks
Friday night we braved the fog and rain (and forecast of snow) to travel to Tulsa and see the Glenn Beck Christmas show.
For those who don't know who the heck is Beck, he is a radio talk show host who is simply hilarious (and refers to his audience as fellow sick, twisted freaks - hence the title.) His Christmas show was non-political (there was some politics in the intermission clips on the big screen) and it was simply wonderful.
He talked about cookies, snow, presents and the overall magic of Christmas, which was not about the manger but about the sacrifices the baby in the manger grew up to make. It was a story of redemption, the true meaning of Christmas.
We had a blast (and ate dip-and-dots) and it didn't snow until after we got home again.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Strange cat tales
I posted to the right about our cat, RW, getting killed recently. We were coming home from work and saw him in the middle of our country road a couple of miles from our house. We got out and looked and confirmed it was RW. We had a wild cat, named Raccat (that we can't even come close to), that came and beat up RW and ate his food. A few days before RW died, Raccat got a hold of him and he had some big chunks taken out of his fur on the back of his neck, as did the yellow cat that was run over.
So we took him home and buried him and threw an old tire over the grave to keep the coyotes away.
One day before RW came to us, a gray kitten strayed out of the trees near our house. Well, we haven't had good luck with cats out in the country, so we put an ad in the paper and gave her away. It was kind of a pain to get her to town because we are so far out, but we thought it was best.
Then, another kitten came straying out of our trees, so we figured God wanted us to have a cat, and we gave up and named him RW. In the meantime, another wild cat in the area had kittens in our vicinity and they hung around, too.
After RW died, a few days later, we got home late, after dark, and Kevin went out to feed the horse. He came back in and told me RW's back.
I said, yeah, right.
He said, no, really.
So we went out and looked and there was a yellow cat, same size and build and color as RW, with the same squeaky meow. He just wandered out of the trees, Kevin said.
He said he went over and looked at RW's grave, and nothing was disturbed.
The next morning, the ghost cat still was there, so we looked at him closer. Same size, but he looked a little, just a tad, darker yellow than RW, and he didn't have scars on his neck.
Now several weeks later, R2 is part of our family, but we have to admit it's like RW never left.
R2 did act differently around Raccat — not as afraid at first — but he has learned now to back off.
We have the twins, Siam (he's part Siamese) and Oriole (so named because she is orange and black - same colors as the Baltimore Orioles baseball team), as we call them who are just about tame but not quite as tame as were the original kittens that came to our house when RW was there.
Sometimes we wonder about whether we really buried our cat and R2 really is RW, but we know that he isn't.
It just really is weird some days.
So we took him home and buried him and threw an old tire over the grave to keep the coyotes away.
One day before RW came to us, a gray kitten strayed out of the trees near our house. Well, we haven't had good luck with cats out in the country, so we put an ad in the paper and gave her away. It was kind of a pain to get her to town because we are so far out, but we thought it was best.
Then, another kitten came straying out of our trees, so we figured God wanted us to have a cat, and we gave up and named him RW. In the meantime, another wild cat in the area had kittens in our vicinity and they hung around, too.
After RW died, a few days later, we got home late, after dark, and Kevin went out to feed the horse. He came back in and told me RW's back.
I said, yeah, right.
He said, no, really.
So we went out and looked and there was a yellow cat, same size and build and color as RW, with the same squeaky meow. He just wandered out of the trees, Kevin said.
He said he went over and looked at RW's grave, and nothing was disturbed.
The next morning, the ghost cat still was there, so we looked at him closer. Same size, but he looked a little, just a tad, darker yellow than RW, and he didn't have scars on his neck.
Now several weeks later, R2 is part of our family, but we have to admit it's like RW never left.
R2 did act differently around Raccat — not as afraid at first — but he has learned now to back off.
We have the twins, Siam (he's part Siamese) and Oriole (so named because she is orange and black - same colors as the Baltimore Orioles baseball team), as we call them who are just about tame but not quite as tame as were the original kittens that came to our house when RW was there.
Sometimes we wonder about whether we really buried our cat and R2 really is RW, but we know that he isn't.
It just really is weird some days.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
8 months since LID
Today (Dec. 4) marked the 8th month since our LID. Another month in the books, and who really knows how many more to go. December referrals should be coming any day now. We'll have to see how many days they cover.
A lot of people seem to be getting really down about the wait lately. Maybe it has something to do with this being the holiday season, too. We've been down a little, but we plan to see this through. I figure if Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid can become fathers again after age 50, I can handle it, too, although I still should be under 50 when our turn comes. ... Kevin
A lot of people seem to be getting really down about the wait lately. Maybe it has something to do with this being the holiday season, too. We've been down a little, but we plan to see this through. I figure if Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid can become fathers again after age 50, I can handle it, too, although I still should be under 50 when our turn comes. ... Kevin
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