Journey to Our Chinese Princess

Open for business

2006-12-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, our new blog is open for businee. Please click on the following link: http://journeytoourchild.blogspot.com/ to follow our journey. I will no longer be posting here, so make sure you book mark the new site.

Link to New Blog Coming Soon!!!

2006-12-26T16:37:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned!!!

Vietnam!!!

2006-12-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Have no time for anything else, but I will eventually. Life is just hectic right now being the holidays and all. I can't wait to share more, but just don't have the time right now! Patience, please!

Our Decision is...

2006-12-15T04:14:00.000-08:00

Uh, I got to unfortunately, sign off & get ready for work. But I should post this weekend. Sorry to keep you in suspense, but I have a train to catch in 45 minutes!

New Regulations for China adoptions

2006-12-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time to post, but those of you who aren't involved in your own adoption might be interested to know this. The CCAA the governmental agency responsible for adoptions in China had a BIG meeting on December 8th and came up with the following regulations to lower the numbers of dossiers that prospective adoptive parents are sending in. Supposedly they have/are getting twice the number of dossiers than they have paper-ready children. They do have other children, but for some reason they aren't ready to adopt.

The New Regulations

Married couples only. No singles. Agencies may continue to submit singles dossiers within their 8% constraints until May 1, 2007 and then the CCAA will not accept any more single dossiers.
Married couples must be married over 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 two previous marriages will be allowed (it is unclear if this is two per person or two per couple)

Each parent must be 30 to 50 years old. No parent can be outside of this range. Upper limit can be 55 for a family in the waiting child program (and that “can be” kind of looks like it’s going to be on a case by case basis, not an absolute, but it’s hard to tell).

The CCAA wants healthy parents - no infectious disease, no mental disease (including depression or anxiety), no blindness, and no serious disease or disability. There is a note about waiting to see what the CCAA’s formal notice says, which sounds to me like they hope there will be more information in the formal notice about these things. There is another note that cancer was not specifically mentioned.

Both parents must have a BMI under 40.

At least one parent must have a stable job. Income requirement is $10,000 per family member including the child to be adopted. Family’s net assets must be over $80,000.

Each parent must have a high school education or higher.

No more than five children in the home including the child to be adopted. The youngest child in the home must be over 1 year old. Exceptions will be considered for the waiting child program.

No criminal record. There is a note about the CCAA not elaborating so we will again have to wait to see what the formal notice says.

The CCAA fees are also changing - going from $410 to $620

Well, we meet almost all these new requirements, except if there is a previous marriage, one must be married 5 years. Although, Kevin divorced in 92 and did not marry until after 11 years, we still need to meet the 5 year requirement and have only been married since September 2003. Therefore, after speaking to our agency, they recommended that we change countries; although the new rules don't go into effect until May 1, 2007 with all the things that must be done and all the governmental agencies involved, there is a very high chance that we wouln't beat the deadline, especially since our agency wants all dossiers in by April 1st, so they have enough time to check them and get them to China. So, we have decided to switch countries. We will love a child no matter what country. I am suppose to get a call from our agency's adoption consultant from the country we have chosen, but that means you will have to wait until I talk to them, before I let you in on what country it will be. Stay tuned for more information.

Received Finally!

2006-12-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Today, in the mail we finally received the packet from CHI, our adoption agency. I had to look at it briefly, but I'm being good and not going to really read it until after I finish a few things around here, namely finishing the Christmas letter. I've done the rough draft by hand, but I need to type it , edit it and have Kevin approve it. The e-mail that we received on the 29th approving us said the packet would be mailed out that day or the following day. The postmark though is stamped December 4th. Now that makes more sense that it would take 2 days or less to get here from St Louis.

Our 1st Snowstorm of the Season

2006-12-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures from the snowstorm we had last Friday. They were actually taken on Saturday.

Still nothing in the mail. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow, so if we don't receive it in the mail tomorrow, I'll send the woman who e-mailed me that it was on the way; even with the snowstorm, we should have gotten it in the mail by now; it has been a week or will by tomorrow. The main office is only in St. Louis, which is only about 5 or 6 hours from here. Maybe it got lost in the mail or something. Although, it is early, I am going to go to bed and just get up early in the morning; even an hour and a half extra sleep will feel great and then I am going to bed a little bit earlier than I do sometimes.

2006-12-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

We're still waiting for the agency contract & other materials. I guess this is a way to prepare us for the long wait that is just getting longer. We also had a big snowstorm in the midwest. Our part of Chicagoland got over a foot of snow. And now the temperatures have been extremely cold, single digit lows near zero. It's hard to believe, but over Thanksgiving weekend, we hit record highs. It was so unseasonably warm, but a week later and everything is just the opposite almost. I wonder if they are still calling for mild winter. After the past several days, it sure doesn't feel like it. But things can change quickly here in Chicagoland. We could even be wearing shorts over Christmas. OK, maybe not shorts, but we have had some extremely warm Christmases in the 60's even. It would be nice, since Kevin & I are on vacation the week between Christmas and New Years. We will be staying home, unless we go up to the U.P for a few days to visit Kevin's family. When I get home, I'll post a few pictures of our snowstorm on Friday.

New referrals are on their way!

2006-11-30T03:49:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to everyone of you, who are going to finally, see your babies' faces. For those of you without prior knowledge the China adoption world. The CCAA is the governmental gency in China that matches adoptive parents to their child who is waiting in China. Parents who's paperwork was logged in to China between August 26th and September 8th, 2005 will now be seeing their 1st glimpses of their child. They will probably travel in 6-8 weeks or usually, that is how it goes, but with Chinese New Year aroundthat time , it will probably be more like 10-12 weeks.

Now the big question will be, when will those referrals start flying in! Then in a few weeks, there will be the big question as to whether there will be another batch of referrals before the end of the year! There had been a lot of rumours a week or so ago that the CCAA may start rolling out full months and then the wait would begin to stabilize. But since they only covered 19 days, it does not look like the wait will be stabilizing in the near future. At this pace and the fact that we are only at the very beginning of the process, who knows when we may actually have a little one. Ithink the wait is now about 15 months from LID (Log-In-Date - when you are officially in the computer system in China) to Referral.

We're officially approved!!

2006-11-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

We received the following e-mail this afternoon:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
November 29, 2006
Dear Kevin and Kathryn
Congratulations! Your application for adoption has been approved by the Program Director.

We will be mailing out your approval packet today or tomorrow with instructions on how to proceed.

We are very excited for you, and wish you well as you begin your adoption journey!

The Intake Department
Children’s Hope International/St. Louis Home Office
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Louis is about 5-7 hours southwest of us, so there's a good chance we'll get it by Saturday, if not before.! We're definitely on our way!

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR PURSE HAS BEEN?

2006-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their purses on public restroom floors - that go directly to their dining tables? Happens a lot! It's not
always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress. Sometimes "what
you don't know 'will' hurt you"! Read on...

Mom got so upset when a guest came in the door and plopped their purses down
on the counter where she was cooking or setting up the buffet. She always
said that purses are really dirty, because of where they have been. Smart
Momma!!!

It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know
what's inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Shauna
Lake put purses to the test - for bacteria - with surprising results. You
may think twice about where you put your purse.

Women carry purses everywhere; from the office to public restrooms to the
floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their purses, but did
you ever stop to think about where your purse goes during the day?

"I drive a school bus, so my purse has been on the floor of the bus a lot,"
says one woman. "On the floor of my car ... probably in restrooms."

"I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of bathroom stalls while changing a diaper," says another woman and of course in my home
which should be clean." We decided to find out if purses harbor a lot of
bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake ,
then we set out to test the average woman's purse.

Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of
their purse. Most said they usually set their purses on top of kitchen
tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the ladies we talked to
told us they wouldn't be surprised if their purses were at least a little
bit dirty. It turns out purses are so surprisingly dirty, even the
microbiologist who tested them was shocked.

Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the purses tested
were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria.
Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause
serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the purses could
make people very sick. In one sampling, four of five purses tested positive
for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. "There is fecal
contamination on the purses," says Amy. Leather or vinyl purses tended to be
cleaner than cloth purses, and lifestyle seemed to play a role.

People with kids tended to have dirtier purses than those without, with one
exception. The purse of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one
of the worst contaminations of all.

"Some type of feces, or even possibly vomit or something like that," says
Amy. So the moral of this story - your purse won't kill you, but it does
have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you
eat. Use hooks to hang your purse at home and in restrooms, and don't put it
on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop. Experts say
you should think of your purse the same way you would a pair of shoes. "If
you think about putting a pair of shoes onto your countertops, that's the
same thing you're doing when you put your purse on the countertops" - your
purse has gone where every individual before you has spat, coughed,
urinated, emptied bowels, etc! Do you really want to bring that home with you? The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a purse will help.
Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather
purses.

THE AGENCY JUST CALLED!

2006-11-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

She said everything looks good and she will be sending it to St. Louis (the main headquarters) and they will be sending a contract and we'll need to send a check for $300 with the signed contract. Then we'll be in touch soon after regarding the home study. Well gotta run! I'm at work, but had to post this new exciting news. Hopefully the wait times will either lessen or just stop increasing and hold steady at 14 to 16 months, once your dossier is logged in in China. Could we hear the pittaer patter of 2 little feet sometime in 2008? LET"S HOPE SO!

Day from you-know-where!

2006-11-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Today was the most infuriating day in a long time. Since it is Thanksgiving week, I am the only civil litigation paralegal at work. The other 2 took the week off. Mondays are usually bad, but this one was worse than most in quite awhile! We had 5 new cases and since Evelyn was out I had to remember how to do the conflict checks (and we had some weird cases) and then call the clients to give them the name of the attorney assigned to them. Then I had to run to court for routine motions and filing. Well routines are usually held between 8:45 and 9;15 or 9:30, so as long as you get there by 9:15, you are fine. Well, one of the clerks told me that there court held routines 8-8:45 and they were only giving a grace period for the last year for it to last until 9. Well, no where is that posted, so how are we to know if we aren't told. So, that routine motion has to be redone for next week. Of course other things came up. Plus I had to go to the other side of downtown to Federal Court to get some documents from the file copied. While there, I find out I could have done it online, since we have this one kind of account with the Federal Courts. It would have taken only a few minutes to do online but probably close to an hour walking to and from Federal court, plus a good chunk of time there. Now with all the time I spent blowing off steam, I don't have time to type anything more since it is now almost 10:30 and past my bedtime since I want to be on the 6:25 train. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day, at least in getting what need to get done, done.

Check out comments for my replies to your comments

2006-11-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

MORE LADYBUGS!

2006-11-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

Look at the cute ladybug jewelry case I saw while at Kohl's.

Is it just me or does it seem that they are coming out with more and more ladybug-themed things?

2006-11-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

IT'S OFFICIAL; THE APPLICATION IS IN THE MAIL!!

The Ball will start rolling

2006-11-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

Our initial application to the agency will be mailed tomorrow!!!!

2006-11-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

I just was over at e-bay looking around and look at the most adorable diaper bag I found. I just couldn't resist posting it here. Of course, we are not yet at a point where I will be buying anything, but I still can look.

2006-11-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. Just too busy with life, I guess. We are getting close to sending out our initial application for adopting. We have decided on Children's Hope International for the agency, which has their headquarters in St. Louis, MO, but has a local office in nearby Des Plaines, IL. I'll add their website to my links soon as I can. I need to finalize some financial info. for the application & get some pictures made. I'm hoping we can send this off before my birthday on the 19th. I better get going since I want to be at work again early since I'm so extremely busy. Today was a pretty good day though since I got a couple assignments finished and started on another. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish that one up, if not too many other things come up that have to be taken care of right away.

Why China?

2006-10-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

I believe I posted this a while back but this is the best I have found and it mewntions a couple things I think I had not previously mentioned

Why China? China is a country whose culture dates back to the earliest records known to man. At first glance, some of China's beliefs may seem quite different than those we hold in the western world. One example of this is the cultural preference for a male child. There are several reasons why Chinese families might prefer a boy over a girl. In rural provinces, a family's livelihood depends directly on the output of its family members. Because of this, a family with sons would be at a considerable advantage than one with daughters. Historically, it is also the son's honored responsibility to take care of his parents in their old age. A daughter, however, would be expected to care for her husband's parents rather than her own. In this regard, the Chinese believe that having a son is crucial to their livelihood, as well as a form of social security for the parents when they grow older.

Although in recent years, China has done much to change these belief systems, many families, especially in rural areas, still strongly favor the birth of a male child. This situation is further complicated by China's One-Child Policy, which prohibits families from having more than one child. As a result of this policy, there are thousands of abandoned children throughout China, with the vast majority of them being healthy girls.

China, it will be!!!

2006-10-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we had the info meeting at Children's Hope on Thursday night. We just loved the agency! We decided to stay with our original choice of China. Our hearts are really set on that country. We both ove Chinese food and Chicago has a relatively large and active Chinatown. I don't really know much about Vietnam, other than what I've seen and heard in movies and for the most part, I really don't like war movies, so I've only seen a few (Good Morning, Vietnam and Born on Fourth of July; plus in high school, we had to watch The Bridge Over the River Kwai -- was that Vietnam or Korea though?) Yes, the wait time is increasing, but it's also high especially for a girl in Vietnam. Plus, if you are a childless couple, like we are, you need to be open to either a girl or boy, which we would be, but I just really have my heart on a girl and with China over 95% are girls. It's remarkable how quick time goes when you are on the internet. I better go, so I can put away the laundry, figure what to have for dinner (since it's only me tonight), and I want to weatch some of my Netflix DVD of the 4th season of The Dead Zone or else Working Girl. Tomorrow, Kevin will be home in the early afternoon and then my parents will be coming over.

China or Vietnam

2006-10-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Since we have not yet even applied with an adoption agency and the waiting time is drastically increasing for adopting from China, (the current wait is about 13-14 months and is expected to increase possibly to a year and a half or 2 years or more) and also in the past year, Vietnam has reopened after a 2 or 3 year moratorium, so we are considering Vietnam. The agency, we had decided to go with for China has not yet been approved by Vietnam for adoptions there, so we would have to find a different agency, unless they get approved very quickly. Tomorrow night, we are attending an informational meeting at Children's Hope International that has a local office in the suburbs. They also participate in Chinese adoptions and are a much larger agency. So we have a decision to come to soon. I know there are many good agencies that are not necessarily in Illinois and it is not necessary that the agency be located in the same state, but I would prefer working with an agency that can do both our home study and any post-placement studies, as well as the rest of the adoption process. If we do go with Vietnam, I will have to change to a different blog "Chinese" just can't appear in the title if we end up going with Vietnam and "princess" won't work either since a boy is more common in Vietnam, plus childless adoptive parents have to be open to either a boy or girl; kind of like a real pregnancy, you don't know until that 20-week ultrasound and only if he/she is cooperative at that.

Workhas been extremely busy, but also very productive. Kevin will be heading up to visit his dad and brother in the U.P., this weekend. I'll stay home since they are planning o going to H.S. football games, which is not my cup of tea, plus the weather is even colder up there and last week they had 6-12 inches of snow already. I'll be watching movies and DVD's, probably surfing the internet more than I should and just the usual household tasks that you put off during the work week. Also on Friday night, I should be getting together with a friend of mine from elementary and high school. We try to get together every month, but it works out to every 2-3 months, with our schedules and all. Usually, we get together for lunch, but this time, we are going to do dinner so we shouldn't be in such a rush and have to squeeze everything into an hour. Recently, she went to our 20 year high school reunion, so I am looking forward to hearing about that.

Just found out

2006-10-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the company was a Fortune 500 company. I never knew that; kinda neat I guess, but actually it doesn't mean that anything is better about working at a Fortune 500 company, The other day, I had to fill out the online employee survey and was looking forward to providing some feedbackon a couple issues, as we have always been asked to do in the past. Well, this survey was through a different HR company or whatever and they did not ask us for any comments, just asking us a lot of stupid questions. Several of which no one in their right mind would answer honestly. Questions, such as do you ever give the company less than your all? do you think you will look for another job within the next year? are you actively seeking employment elsewhere? I know they say that it is totally anonymous (that they delete anyway for it to track back to you), but who is going to take the chance. Several of us were joking about it today. It's like "hello, we weren't born yesterday, like we would admit that somedays, we just waste time on the internet too much, make personal phone calls or run to the local Starbuck's everyday. And come on, who doesn't have those days, when they hate their job (last week for me)and other times when they love it (this week is turning out to be pretty good.)

BRRR ... IT'S COLD!!!

2006-10-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

Brrr. The temp is showing almost 33 degrees, it is suppose to get down to 29 tonight! We finally turned our heat on!!!

2006-10-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Finally after the past few week of ever colder weather, we got back into the 70s, they are even talking 80s on Monday and Tuesday. We'll see! It sure would be nice to not freeze in the morning taking a shower and all. We just couldn't get ourselves to turn on the heat and now it looks like, we shouldn't have to for at least the rest of the week. Our tomato and cucumber plants are now dead and our petunias are close to it, but the celosia and mums are beautiful. Here are a few pictures that I took the other week thinking that the cold was going to kill everything. But, we have not yet had a frost, so we still have another warm-up (Indian Summer) to look forward to.

Adoption question for those from RQ's site and any other adoptive parents

2006-09-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

Since so many of you come from RQ's adoption website, I thought I'd post a question that I don't think I can in the forum. If you read my posting in the forum there and never have been here before, thanks for coming. by. We have not yet started our adoption, we have planned on using Journeys of the Heart, which has a local office in IL, which is a mediumn or small agency; I have been looking into Children's Hope International, a medium to large agency. I am wondering if any of you have any experience with either or both of them and give me any feedback. I am posting my e-mail at the forum of RQ's website, so you can e-mail me a response or leave a comment in the comments section. Thanks. Sorry for any typos; I am typing without my glasses and doing so rather quickly.

Also, please don't suggest other agencies. I know there are lots of good and great ones. I really appreciate any feedback.

A Chuckle from the Past!

2006-09-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

I loved this video back in the mid-late 80s, it just cracked me up at the time. I think I found a great website at youtube.com

David Lee Roth - Going Crazy

Remember these!

2006-09-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

i want my mtv 1985

2006-09-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post some fun facts about me...

52 years 0 months younger than Walter Cronkite, age 89
47 years 4 months younger than Nancy Reagan, age 85
44 years 5 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 82
37 years 2 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 743
5 years 0 months younger than Larry King, age 72
28 years 9 months younger than Ted Koppel, age 66
25 years 4 months younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 63
22 years 4 months younger than George W. Bush, age 60
17 years 4 months younger than Jesse Ventura, age 55
13 years 1 month younger than Bill Gates, age 50
8 years 3 months younger than Cal Ripken Jr., age 46
2 years 5 months younger than Mike Tyson, age 40
1 year 8 months older than Jennifer Lopez, age 36
7 years 1 month older than Tiger Woods, age 30
13 years 7 months older than Prince William, age 24

and that you were:
32 years old at the time of the 9-11 attack on America
31 years old on the first day of Y2K
28 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
26 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
25 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
24 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
22 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
20 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
17 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
15 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
14 years old during Sally Ride's travel in space
12 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
10 years old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
7 years old on the U.S.'s bicentennial Fourth of July
5 years old when President Nixon left office
3 years old when Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot
Not yet 1 year old at the time the first man stepped on the moon

and when these songs were topping the charts
and these events occurred your age was:
Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin: 2
ABC TV premieres In Concert: 4
Time in a Bottle, Jim Croce: 5
I Shot the Sheriff, Eric Clapton: 5
Silly Love Songs, Wings: 7
Elvis Presley Dies: 8
Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, Rod Stewart: 10
Another Brick in the Wall, Pink Floyd: 11
John Lennon is shot to death: 12
MTV makes its debut: 12
Who Can it be Now, Men at Work: 13
The recording of We Are The World: 16
Walk Like an Egyptian, Bangles: 18
Didn't We Almost have it all, Whitney Houston: 18
Back In The U.S.S.R. is released exclusively in Russia: 20
Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor: 21
Emotions, Mariah Carey: 22
Fleetwood Mac perform at Bill Clinton's inauguration: 24
The Sign, Ace Of Base: 25
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opens: 26

2006-09-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Brrr!! I can't believe how quickly, it has gotten cold. It is already down to about 40 degrees outside. I haven't resorted to turning on the heat. Even though if it gets much colder out, I will. I'm just enjoying that since the weather the month below has been very mild. I have not even had to run the air or the heat and both the electric and gas have been pretty low. They are predicting electricity bills to increase 20-40 percent, because for the past nine years there has been a rates freeze and now that freeze period is almost over and natural gas was ridiculous last year, plus it was the first winter in our own house and before when we were in apartments, we never had to worry about paying for heat. Well, not only is it past my bedtime, I think it will be a lot warmer under the covers then it is in this room. I just hope it warms up; this weather is more typical for October than mid-September.

Pictures That I Promised

2006-09-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

I just realized that back several weeks ago, I promised a couple pics from when we had our work outing. I only have a couple of the grounds; sorry no pictures were taken of the races or thye horses.

This is a pretty bad picture, but here's a picture of me with my co-workers.

Aaarrgghh!

2006-09-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

I reorganized my links, but now things do not line up and I have no idea why or how to fix it! Got me pretty frustrated!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2006-09-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

This is the 3rd day of rain. I'm so sick of it. I'll take cool weather as long as we have sun! Sunny and warmwould be the best, but I'll take anything about as long as there is SUN!Summer just seemed to go bye-bye, so quickly this year. Although, it will be wonderful to have a low electr=ic bill as well as a low gas bill. Not looking forward to those gas bills at all. Much prefer the electric bills; at least those don't climb too as exorbitant prices.

Today at lunch I have to go to Carson Pirie Scott's, also known as Bergner's and a couple other names that I don't remember. They have their goodwill sale, so I brought a suit that no longer fits and is totally out of fashion and I'll get a 20% off certificate for i!. I also have to do something, I haven't done in years. Buy new pants in a size LARGER than what I have been wearing!!! For the past couple years, I have managed to fit into my size 8s, which I have worn since forever, with only an occasional sixe 6 and that was years ago, probably a decade or more give or take. I also have a couple 25^% coupons, so hopefully, I'll get some good deal.

September already?

2006-09-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already September and the weather is getting cool already. Overnight it has been getting into the mid or lower 50s - have to pull up the blanket. It's nice though not having to run the air conditioner. The electric bill for this last month was so much higher than usual with all the heat and humidity we'd been having.

Last Thursday, was our summer outing at work. I'll post a couple photos later, since they are on my home computer. It sure was nice having a 3-day weekend though; of course the weekend was over way too fast. Friday night, Kevin went to the first home football game for our local high school. On Saturday, we went out to breakfastrother and his wife and picked up the extra lawn mower he had that he wanted to get rid of. Our lawn mower has been in the shop more the past month & half than it was at home. They can't get it fixed right and their delivery system to get it where it needs to go to be fixed and then back to where we dropped it off, is just ridiculous. It takes weeks for it to get to 2 different l9ocations, which are not even 50 miles apart. You could walk it between locations quicker. I definitely DO NOT recommend the service warranties at Sears. We had a place in town that we could have taken it to, but since we paid extra for the service warranty, we decided we might as well take it back to where we got it. Not a smart idea. They diod tell us that if we have to bring it back for the same thing, we get it replaced.

So when Kevin got the old mower home, he cut the grassd, which was badly needed. Late that afternoon, we ended up going to the Walworth County Fair. It was very nice and Kevin got to see lots of his favorite animals, COWS! On Sunday after church, we ended up going to the neighbors for a Labor Day get together. We stayed pretty much all day. Later on Monday afternoon, we ventured down to my parents. Lots of driving over the weekend; thank goodness gas prices are going down. They're in the mid to upper 2.70s or lower 2.80s by us, which is a lot better than the $3 it had been a couple weeks before.

Being such a huge Starbuck's fan, why did I not get this offer?

2006-09-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Caribou jumps on Starbucks snafu

September 2, 2006

BY SHAMUS TOOMEY Staff Reporter

Starbucks' mess has become Caribou Coffee's promotion.

The Minnesota-based Caribou said Friday it will honor e-mail coupons that Starbucks voided this week after someone changed the wording and spread them online.

There's a catch, though. Caribou said it will only honor the coupons from noon until closing time Friday.

Customers can redeem one coupon at Caribou for a free medium iced americano, iced tea or cold press iced coffee, the new product Caribou is trying to promote by seizing on the Starbucks debacle.

Starbucks said it distributed an e-mail coupon for a free iced coffee to a limited number of its employees in the Southeast on Aug. 23. Someone altered it to offer any iced drink, and it quickly took off online. Hundreds of thousands of coupons were printed, and customers around the world -- including as far away as Australia -- have been redeeming the coupons in recent days.

Starbucks killed the promotion late Tuesday.

stoomey@suntimes.com

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

2006-08-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we went to a White Sox game against the Minnesota Twins. Although we were in nosebleed heaven, we were able to see really well. Here are some pictures. The first one is really pretty much the view of the infield from our seats. The others I used the telephoto.

We need to get back on track and start working again on the adoption. The money was a big thing, but we had our home equity upped and Kevin has spoken to several people, who have expressed to him that there is never a perfect time to bring children into the world. Always something will come up and if one waits until they know they positively can afford it all;, it never will happen. Also the wait time between DTC (Dossier to China) is increasing and is now up to between 12-14 months and may go up more. About a year or year and a half ago, wait times were about 6 months from DTC to referral. But the time could go down as quickly as it went up. Actually, I guess with a longer wait time, things would not be as rushed to get ready and one can work on getting more money over a longer time. Once we do finally have a home study completed, we can start applying for grants and then once we do have the adoption completed, there is a tax emtion that can be taken for I think up to 5 years or a somewhat over $10,000, which ever comes first.

Work has been as crazy as ever. More & more work - the workload just never decreases, but I guess that is good job security at least. I also finally got the last disc in the 1st season of The O.C. It is surprisingly a good tv show. A little bit more modern Beverly Hills 90210 (which I also loved. I am going to start watching Home Improvement. I never saw the show back when it was on ABC, I think or even later when in syndication. I don't plan though to do it like Prison Break; I think I'll stretch it out. I was really just trying to catch up before the show got very far into the new season. Now I just have to watch the videotapes of the last few shows.

Torrential Downpour

2006-08-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I was getting off the train a literal torrential downpour had started. I was absolutely soaked. Luckily, a neighbor down the block offered me a ride, but we were drenched before we made it to the car. My shoes, socks, jeans (it was jeans day at work, and top are still somewhere between damp to somewhat wet and it is over 12 hours later. Luckily, I have another pair of gym shoes, since we are going to a Sox game this evening. Hopefully, it won't rain and get me all soaked again. Oh my god would have been priceless; I looked like a drowned rat. But then I wouldn't have wanted to post such an awful picture of me. Well, I better get ready for the day!

Prison Break & Wentworth Miller

2006-08-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else watched this series? I just finished the last disc. 6 discs in 10 days; but boy is it good. I think I'm as addicted to this as 24. And the guy who plays Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is HOT!!! When it came out on TV last year, I didn't think I'd like a show set in prison with criminals as the main characters, but boy was I wrong. Surprisingly, even those who are really nasty guys for the crimes they comitted, you find you like or at least enjoy following their story. I had the 1st show of the second season taped and plan to tape the one on Monday; hopefully, I'll be able to watch the first 2 shows over the holiday weekend and be caught up and able to watch the show every Monday.

Separated by birth, united by chance!

2006-08-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

I found the following article in the Chicago Tribune and found it very interesting.

Separated at birth, united by chance

Thanks to a Web site and DNA tests, two adopted girls named Mia find they have far more in common

By Russell WorkingTribune staff reporterAugust 20, 2006

The Funk family of west suburban Lyons went to China two years ago to adopt a baby girl who had been abandoned on a sidewalk near a textile factory. They named her Mia.

Last year, the Ramirezes of suburban Miami went to China to adopt a girl who had been abandoned on the same spot a week later. As it happened, they also named her Mia.

This May, Diana Ramirez wrote about her daughter's upcoming birthday on an Internet site for parents who had adopted from the orphanage in Yangzhou.

Holly Funk saw it and wrote back, "Diana, I have a Mia as well and she is almost 3."

A flurry of breathless e-mails followed. Then DNA testing provided evidence of what the families had quickly come to suspect: The girls were fraternal twins, separated hours after their birth.

Friday, the girls were reunited, when Diana and Mia Ramirez flew to O'Hare International Airport.

The girls, whose parents had dressed them identically in Chinese-themed outfits, shyly surveyed each other. Urged a little closer, they finally reached for each other's hand."

I'm just awed," Holly Funk said as she looked at the tiny girls, a little island in the flow of travelers crowding the luggage claim area. "Grateful to God. To me, it's a divine thing. It's a miracle. In the sea of humanity, these kids found each other."

If it is a miracle, it is one that is increasingly happening to families nationwide as international adoptions abound, the Internet reunites people and DNA technology establishes evidence of blood ties.

Such discoveries--made possible in part by Web groups centered around orphanages--are pulling back the curtains that separated previous generations of adoptees from their past and their biological kin.

The news can change children's lives, linking lost family members and perhaps even providing a lifelong soul mate.

One Web site geared toward linking adoptees with their biological kin is maintained by Jim and Susan Rittenhouse of Lisle. The site has a membership of 137, with 15 sets of twins and seven sets of siblings who have been confirmed. Members have adopted from Cambodia, Nepal, Guatemala, Russia and China.

The Rittenhouses themselves are on the list. In 2004, they discovered that their daughter, now 6, appeared to have a twin sister in Alabama, a matter strongly indicated by DNA tests. These twins also were independently given the same name: Meredith.

"They're best friends, in the deepest sense imaginable," Jim Rittenhouse said. "I didn't believe in twin bonds until I saw these two together."

The relationships provide a fertile area for observation of child development, said Nancy Segal, director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University at Fullerton.

"This offers us a wonderful window into so many questions about nature and nurture," Segal said, "because we can see the perspective unfolding of development in genetically identical and non-identical kids in their different homes."

Abandoned outside factory

Mia Diamond Funk first became known to the world at 6 a.m. June 14, 2003, when workers found her on a broken sidewalk outside a textile factory in a poor district of Yangzhou, a city near the central coast.

The factory is a shabby building on a narrow street crowded with linen shops, taxis, street vendors and the tricycles that peasants use to haul loads. In China, with its one-child policy, boys are preferred and girls sometimes abandoned.

Officers from the Fuyunmen District central police substation, who picked up the baby, concluded she had been born the night before. They took her to the 200-bed Yangzhou Children's Welfare Institute.

One week later, Mia Hanying Ramirez was found on the same spot. Whoever abandoned the girls may have thought it would be less conspicuous to drop them off separately. Mia Hanying also went to the orphanage.

The girls were made available for adoption. But because Mia Hanying had a correctable heart defect, she went onto a separate special-needs list.

Far away, in a middle-class neighborhood in Lyons, Holly and Douglas Funk were preparing for a baby. They had five biological children, ages 6 to 21, but they had been touched when they saw a TV special on orphans.

Holly Funk recalls her husband telling her, "I feel like we're supposed to adopt a little girl from Asia."

She agreed. And she felt she heard the Lord tell her, "You're going to name her Mia."

The Funks are not wealthy. He is a machinist and she occasionally performs as a clown. But an inheritance allowed them to buy the bungalow next door for their older boys, and so there was room for another child at the family compound. With the help of a second mortgage, grants and a 401(k) loan, they came up with the $22,000 for Mia's adoption.

Holly Funk cannot say why, but before she adopted Mia, she found her thoughts focusing on the number "two." They applied to adopt twins, and she bought everything in twos: two cribs, two blankets, a tandem stroller, two fuzzy musical lambs that play "Jesus Loves Me."

After a home screening and months of waiting, they were told they had been approved for one girl. They got rid of the tandem stroller and extra crib. But for some reason, Holly Funk kept the second lamb.

They decided to call their new daughter Mia Diamond, and in July 2004, they traveled to China to pick her up.

They returned to Lyons overjoyed by their new treasure--their diamond--but nagged by the feeling that something was missing.

"I always felt there were twins," Holly Funk said. "Even when we brought her home, I felt led to pray for the little girl that was left behind. I thought, `This is silly, but I'm supposed to do it,' so I prayed."

There was a twin, of course, who stayed in China.

Longing for a girl

In Pembroke Pines, a Miami suburb, Carlos and Diana Ramirez were living happily with two sons, now 13 and 10.

But Diana Ramirez, who had had her tubes tied years ago, found herself longing for a girl. She was the only female in a house where ESPN was constantly playing and boys' basketballs, baseballs and karate outfits were underfoot. A girl would change the mix.

"We had always talked about it," Diana Ramirez said.

Carlos Ramirez's business, Amazing Pavers, was doing well, and in February 2005, they decided to apply to adopt a Chinese girl with special needs.

Last October they brought the family to Yangzhou to pick up Mia Hanying. More than a year after Mia Diamond came to the States, Mia Hanying arrived in Miami. She was 28 months old.

When the two families found each other by e-mail in May, they compared photographs and biographical details. Then they swabbed the girls' mouths and sent the samples off to a lab.

DNA testing established that there is an 85 percent probability that they are at least half-sisters. (To reach greater certainty, they would have had to test a parent, an impossibility in this case.) Given all the parallels and their ages, it is most likely that the girls are fraternal twins.

Diana Ramirez was stunned."I was in shock," she said. "I was like, `OK, well, now, this is for real.'"

In one sense, it should not have been a complete surprise. The Ramirez family lives two blocks from good friends Tony and Carol Requejo, who adopted a Chinese daughter in 2001. Two-and-a-half years later, the Requejos found that the girl also has a sister living in California--apparently a twin, according to DNA and other evidence.

"Wanna play?"

The unlikeliness of such discoveries, even the nature of their relationship, is still beyond the 3-year-old Mias. Mia Diamond calls her twin her "special friend."

The Funks have since adopted a 4-year-old boy from Taiwan. Holly Funk hopes to visit Miami with her Mia in October, and both sets of parents say they are committed to visiting and staying in touch--becoming extended family for the girls.

The mothers often let the twins talk to each other on the phone. A few weeks before they met, they chatted, unaware that a reporter was listening in.

"Wanna play?" said Mia Hanying.

"What do you want to play?" her twin replied.

"Baby doll. Want to play with my baby doll?"

But on Friday, when the girls saw each other at O'Hare, they hung back, suddenly shy.

Mia Hanying brought two baby dolls, one of them for her sister. And Mia Diamond had brought along one of the musical lambs as a gift.

Then, finally, the girls took each other's hands. Mia Diamond fingered her sister's outfit, then her own. Mia Hanying played with her twin's fingers, as if recognizing something.

And they would not let go. For the half hour it took Diana Ramirez to claim her bags, the sisters stood clutching each other.

"Are they twins?" an airline worker asked.

"Yeah," Holly Funk said. "It's their first-time meeting."

"First-time meeting?"

"Yes," the mother said. "They were separated."

----------rworking@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Weird no music

2006-08-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

The music doesn't play today wonder why? Another nice day. It's suppose to rain, so the humidity is really up. The windows will stay closed tonight. It should be eally nice temperature-wise for the rest of the week & the beginning of next. Just found out that both of my attorneys are out until the middle of next week. I have more than enough to do though, but at least I won't be getting any new assignments. Also found out the case that was approaching trial that I had to do trial prep on will be moved out at least 90 days, since the plaintiff is treating with a doctor again, so that gives a little breathing room until I have to prepare for trial and can get some of the other stuff I have done, namely medical records.

Have watched the first 2 discs of Prison Break and I must say I'm hooked. I have the 3rd disc coming tomorrow hopefully, just sent back 2 DVD's so here's hoping they are received tomorrow and the 4th & 5th disc is sent and arrives Saturday.

Another Beautiful Day!

2006-08-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today seems like it will be another gorgeous day. Low 80s during the day and upper 50s or lower 60s at night It was even a little chilly this morning waiting for the train, so glad I grabbed a sweater before I left. Even have a little bit of a sore throat from having the window open last night with the cool breeze. I took Airborne this morning so hopwefully that will knock any sickness out of me. It's hard to believe that about 2 weeks ago we were sweltering in a heatwave with heat indexes in the 100s for almost a week for almos6t the first time this summer.

I've been back to work for the third day since vaction. I've been pretty productive and got quite a bit done, but still have a ton still to do. Had to get a Starbucks this morning since I was up late watching the 1st DVD of Prison Break. 5 more disks to go; I guess the new season starts Monday. It seems pretty early tro me compared to past years. I know I won't get the whole season 1 watched before Monday, but I'll tape it and by the time Netflix has sent me the whole season on DVD's, it should be late next week, as long as they keep sending everything as quickly as one promised and two as they have been doing lately. I'll hopefully get the 2nd disc today and since I sent one back this morning, they should send me the 3rd on Friday and the 4th on Saturday and if Kevin lets me use his selection as mine, then I may get the 5th disc on Saturday also. Which would just leave the last disc for the following week. I better get back to work and continue my productivity.

2006-08-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my vacation is nearly over. Monday, it will be back to work and no more sleeping in until 8:00. Instead, my train will have just got into down Chicago. I'm sure by the end of Monday, it will feel like I never was on vacation. One of my attorneys is suppose to have a trial I think at the end of August or September, so I will be busy with that as well as all the medical records summaries and discovery, I have to answer. I'm feeling tired and stressed already. Tonight, we head over to another couple's house from church for a get-together with a couple others. So that should be relaxing. I should jump in the shower (Okay, I'll step in, we don't have time to go to the ER for a broken leg.), eat some lunch and go thru the food ads, it looks like Jewel has some good sales and today is the last day on some of the specials.

I never considered myself having a green thumb, but...

2006-08-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

You probably all are getting sick of seeing these. The petunias have lots of little buds still and these celosia are doing really good, but the ones I have a little to the right of the petunias are not much bigger than what they were when I planted them. I think next year, I will plant various colors of petunias in more of the flower bed. Watch , they'll be a total dud then!

The Dog Lover in Me

2006-08-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Of course me being the dog lover, I had to snap a few of these canines.

He had just finished a yawn.

Here's a more flattering shot of him.

(More later!)

Some Photos from the Wisconsin State Fair

2006-08-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

Kevin of course had to have a picture taken by a race car.

There weren't tons of cows there that day since they were changing thing over at the barn.

Here's a mama cow and her baby in the birthing barn.

And here's mama piggy and all her piglets.

Even a sheared sheep and her little ones.

Vacation Recap

2006-08-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

We got home on Tuesday, but I haven't had much chance to update. We left for Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. Didn't do anything, but go out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was all right, but nothing special. But I would guess they don't have as big of a Mexican population as we do in Chicagoland. On Sunday, we headed over to the Wisconsin State Fair and spent the entire day walking around. Unfortunately, the cow barn was being changed over and there were very few cows there that day. One of our reasons for going to the fair was to see the Michael J. Smith concert, a contemporary Christian singer. It was pretty good; but I have to say I prefer Steven Curtis Chapman's music anyday. It was a free concert or at least sitting in the grandstand was. Actually, I'd rather be sitting in the grandstand than on the chairs in front of the stage, which you had to pay to be seated there. On Tuesday, we headed over to the Milwaukee Zoo for more walking around. I think we saw just as many or more cows there on the farm. After a few hours. we headed torwards home.

By the time we got home, Kevin decided to call and check on our lawn mower that was in for repairs. It had been taken in on July 29th, sent to the place where it is fixed in another suburb, maybe 40 miles away on Wednesday the 2nd and fixed there the following day, but they didn't expect it back to our store until the middle of the week. Good lord, what were they doing, was someone walking it all the way from Melrose Park to Crystal Lake? It shouldn't take that long. Well when he initially called on Tuesday the 8th; they told him they didn't know where it was. Good thing Kevin called; I'd have probably freaked "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON"T KNOW WHERE IT IS?" They told him they would check and give him a call back . After several hours they did not call back, but Kevin called again and someone else told him to call in the morning that it was probably on the truck being delivered. On Thursday morning, he went over to Sears to check onb it and sure enough, they got it in. Boy, I bet the neighbors are glad we were finally able to cut our grass. It needed it, when the mower was 1st taken in for repairs. Kevin said it still wasn't running that great, but I reminded him how long the grass was. He'll probably mow again over the weekend and hopefully, it will be running normal since the grass won't be so overgrown.

Today, we saw the movie, "Barrnyard". Yes, there were cows in it! I found this theatre a little west of us charges only $3 for the matinee shows and $5 for the evening shows. So both of us saw the movie in the afternoon for less than it would have cost even one of us to see it in the evening and possibly even a matinee anywhere else near here. I'm sure in a few years from now with more and more of this county being built up, the movie prices will be about the same as any other 1st run movie theatre in the Chicago burbs, but right now it is not really considered the suburbs, although Metra (the passenger trains to Chicago) stop in this town.

I have lots of pictures to post, but I'll get some up tomorrow. I just want to watch some of "The O.C." disc I have and then go to bed.

Won't have a chance to update

2006-08-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not getting an update. My mom stayed over last night & we have a bridal shower this afternoon & she'll probably stay overnight tonight. We also are going on a mini-vacation Sunday through Tuesday. I'd guess I won't get a chance until the middle of the week.

2006-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Going to try to get here tonight & post some pics and do a mini-update. Have to upload the pics from the camera 1st, though.

2006-07-27T04:02:00.000-07:00

Ugh! Another, but longer heat wave is on its way! We had upper 90s for a few days about 2 weeks ago. But it is suppose to be in the mid to low90s for about a week. With the humidity, we had heat indexes in the 100s.

Zoo Pictures

2006-07-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

This was probably the saddest of everything we saw. This poor polar bear just constantly walked backwards and forward continuously.

This young kangaroo (joey) was so cute. The zookeeper fed him and told us about kangaroos. It was quite interesting. The female kangaroo is only pregnant for 30 days. Then the fetus or whatever they call it goes into the pouch and stays there for I forget how long.

Another interesting thing we learned was about the baboons. You know the monkey like creatures with the ugly behinds. Well one of the baboons had this really disgusting black and lumpy behind. It turns out that this is a sign that the female baboon is fertile. Guess this is a real turn-on for the male baboon. Gross!

This aardvark just wanted to play hide and seek.

Too bad the peacock didn't open his tail feathers. He still was very pretty or should I say handsome since he is a peacock, not a peahen.

Weekend Doings!

2006-07-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

I was off Friday from work. I was going to take Thursday off too, but I have so much darn work that I decided to just work Thursday and take a day off in the future. After all, I'm taking a full week in early August when Kevin is off for 2 and a half weeks. I was also off earlt last month for a week and on July 3rd also. Maybe just a few days off to make a couple long weekends.

I slept in Friday to almost 8:30. It was great especially since the past couple days, I went in early to work and had to be up even earlier than usual to catch the 6:25 train. Kevin actually woke me to see if I wanted to go to Brookfield Zoo. As I was getting ready, it dawned on me that we had an appointment to get our taxes done, since back in April, we had to file an extension. So we got that done; owed Uncle Sam, but got it back and then a little from the State, so at least that's done. Just have to write out the check and mail it. We were told the direct deposit should come early in August, so will look forward to that of course. Unfortunately, it would be nice if it was more, but we haven't had a full year of mortgage interest and the previous owners paid the property taxes for the previous year, so next year, we will have property taxes too. Also, got ideas for a couple other things to keep track of.

So we ended up heading down to the zoo and picked up my mother along the way. All morning the weather was sunny and gorgeous. Sure enough, we get to the zoo and it starts drizzling. It had though been looking cloudy and overcast, but when I checked the hourly weather reports on the 'net, it showed no rain until 6, a good 4 hours away or more. But it was just a light on and off drizzle, so it didn't really ruin our day. I'll post some pics later; I better get the laundry out of the dryer and start dinner.

Look at them now!!

2006-07-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how well these are doing! As I have said, this is my first year of planting flowers since we moved here last May from apartment living. Next year, I plan on having more flowers. I wasn't sure how well they would do. Sadly, our hanging baskets in the front aren't doing anywhere as well. They have either bit the dust are will shortly. Next time, we go to Home Depot, I think I will check out there nursery and see what hanging baskets they have on clearance or at least greatly reduced. After all unfortunately, summer is almost half over.
Does anyone know what this plant is? The upper left has some lambs ears & to the right are some of my petunias, but even my mother who is quite the gardener, does not know what this big maroonish green plant is, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Summer Flowers

2006-07-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

Since we have officially been here a year, we planted some flowers this year. Here is how one of our celosia looked when I planted it.

And here is how it looked a few weeks ago.

When I first planted the petunias. There was one flower on each stem and a week ago, I took this picture!

OPnce I get the pictures I took today off my camera, I'll post more.

Divorce Decree

2006-07-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how spotty I have been in keeping up this blog. There just is not enough time to get everything done that I want to. Since Kevin & I were both off work and we needed 2 certified copies of his divorce decree, which was at the Winnebago County courthouse about an hour west of us. Earlier in the week , I had called them & was told they didn't know how much all the copying would cost, but to send $25 for each complete copy and they would send a check back to us refunding what they didn't need. Since I am a paralegal, this didn't sound right that it should be this expensive. When we went today to get 2 certified copies, it came out to $8; now that is a lot more like what I thought it would be. After all, it was only the decree (judgment), not the entire file. So we left with 2 certified copies and a lot more money than if I had mailed in the request with a check. Also, who knows how long it would have taken to get it in the mail. Our marriafge certificates came back within a matter of days. But his birth certificate took 2 weeks for certified copies and 4 weeks for a certified copy along with a state seal and then there was my birth certificate that I went to get in person & got right away.

When Love Takes You In

2006-06-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited I found a website where I can link the video. "When Love Takes You In" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Stephen is a contemporary Christian singer, who is very active with international adoption, particularly Chinese adoption. His family has adopted 2 or 3 girls from China, in addition to 3 or 4 biological children he already has. His song, "I Will Be Here" was the song we used for our 1st dance at our wedding reception. Isn't it funny, we started our lives together with one of his songs and now we are starting a new journey to become a family of 3 with another one of his songs.

Finally, we received Kevin's birth certificate, which had the state seal attached to it. The state of MI calls it authenticated opr apostilled ; this will be one of the documents that will go into our dossier & be sent to China. I was planning to work on a couple things: a letter to one of the state courts for 2 certified copies of Kevin's divorce decree, my autobiography, & the actual autobiography. We went out for pizza & then ran to Jewel for a couple things. Of course, the one we went to was out of the main things I wanted which were a BOGO (Buy One Get One FREE), so we went to another one and of course they only had one of the items. Come on, it's a BOGO you need to have 2; well I ended up getting a raincheck, but that wasted a good part of the evening. Then I got home & soon after received a call from my mother, who I had not talked to all week & had tried to call on my way home from the train after work. So here it is nearly 10:15 and I didn't get a darn thing accomplished, other than to add the video to my blog and update it with my latest entry. Luckily, it will be a long weekend, Saturday - Tuesday, so hopefully, I can get some stuff done and let's hear it for Friday, which is payday! But then that also means a new set of bills need to be paid.

Neglected!

2006-06-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

I've kind of neglected our blog this week, but I stayed at my brothers Sunday night since we were to be at the funeral home earlier than planned and it would have been almost impossible to get from home downtown & then to my parents over to my brothers & then on to the funeral home. Since my brother lived the closest, I just stayed over night and thank goodness, my SIL is about my size, so I borrowed some clothes. Then also this week, I've been dealing with an ingrown toe nail. I went to my family doctor, who in turn referred me to a podiatrist. They removed part of the nail yesterday, so I should be starting to feel better soon. Actually, it is not bad compared to how it was when I had a bad ingrown toenail back in the 80s.

On the paperchase front, on June 14th, we got 2 copies of Kevin's birth certificates from MI. Geez, it took them over 2 weeks and that is with paying $10 for RUSH service in Vital Recordsa office! Who knows how long it would take if I didn't pay a rush fee. It's crazy that I got my IL birth certificate in less than 1/2 an hour and it cost over half what the MI ones did! I requested one other one that is going to have the great state seal applied to it. That will be the one that ends up going to China. On the website for getting the birth certificate, it says it takes 3 to 4 more weeks to get this done after it is received in theVital Records Office, so who knows when we will get the thing. We really need to start moving on this. This whole adoption process is a long enough process without me dragging my butt and procrastinating. I gues it's just kind of scary and the cost is scary also. But right now, once we are DTC (Dossier to China), the wait is then about 12 months to get a referral which is when you are given a couple pictures of your child along with information about her. After the getting the referral, it may take as long as 2 months until one travels.

A small part done

2006-06-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I ran over on my lunch hour to the Bureau of Vital Statistic and not only requested mt birth certificates, I received them too! According to the instructions, you could pay by check, but once I was there the clerk told me no, you need cash or you can pay by credit card at this one machine they have set up. But there was a service charge for using a credit card of course, so I thought forget that the ATM is only in the next building, so I went to get cash. By the time I returned, the clerk had my birth certificates, so I paid for them and went on my merry way to eat lunch. The whole process took only about 10 minutes give or take. I expected a long line and to be waiting quite awhile. The only line that I encountered was for the ATM and that probably was because the other ATM was not working, so there was only one instead of 2.

Today, when we got home from some morning errands and meeting my brother and sister-in-law for breakfast, in the mail was our certified copies of our marriage certificate. I mailed it on Thursday and here it is Saturday and we already have them. Why can't everything be done as quickly. Now, we are still waiting for Kevin's birth certificates. Now at least, we know the check from that have cleared, but MI isn't that far, so it shouldn't be taking this long, but I guess we should start preparing for long waits. Too bad , Kevin wasn't born here in IL, we'd probably have it already. I even ordered Kevin's birth certificate a week and a half before and put a rush on it since I had heard Michigan is slow and since I had to request 2 certain types and the one which has what they call the state seal can 2-4 weeks longer than the othe more basic certified birth certificate. Well, I guess this is good practice waiting since most of the other paperwork & especially the referral has long & unknown length of waiting.

Going to go help Kevin with something in the yard and then make dinner (chicken drumsticks and then watch some Survivor 7 that I have from Netflix. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Church in the morning and then we have to drive an hour or so to the wake and then before we know it it will be time for bed since we have work on Monday. I'll probably go in for a little bit, since I have to go to my parents anyhow, since I would like to go to the funeral. Kevin will most likely have to work, but since he has only met them once I believe that is understandable. Which reminds me I better check the train schedule for getting from the city to my parents on Monday.

Great Shock & Sorrow

2006-06-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just found out my 15 year old cousin was found dead by his father! This is just awful and I'm in shock! I can't imagine what the parents are going through! Though not a parent YET, I can't imagine anything worse than that. Every parent expects that their children will outlive them! Needless to say, the post I planned to put here tonight will have to wait for another time.

Cleared Check!

2006-06-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

I just checked our bank website and the checks I sent for Kevin's birth certificates, have cleared as of Monday. So Yeah!! I ordered them expedited, but the one then goes to geta state seal. I sent 2 separate requests, so I expect the ones that are just being certified will come back first. We'll see how long they all take though!

Why China?

2006-06-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

When I told you I am in the process of adopting a child from China, did you notice I was a little delirious with joy? Did my eyes shine brighter? Did my step seem lighter?

Did it raise questions in your mind? Those questions are natural.

For example, you might wonder why we and 20,000 other US families per yearwould travel to China and other countries to adopt a child. After all,aren't there kids here in the US who need a home?

The good news is some families have success stories of domestic adoption.The bad news is for every success story there are too many horror stories.The US public system of foster care and adoption often resembles a trainwreck that traps many kids and traumatizes them just when they need loving care the most.

The US Dept. of Health & Human Services reports around 550,000 kids are inthe foster care system, average age 10.6 years, and about 126,000 await adoption. Kids are placed in foster care when they are abused or the parentsare unable or judged unfit to care for them. Substance abuse is a factor in75% of cases according to HHS.

Abusive and frequently addicted parents are given "one more last chance"again and again, with the child torn to and fro in their very own nightmare.In a few cases they are abused in the foster home intended to protect them.Legal decisions to terminate parental rights and place the child foradoption come only after a long and torturous struggle. By then theunfortunate child is likely to have serious behavioral problems of theirown.

Like most who seek adoption, we just want children, and we aren't preparedto bring difficulties into our family.

What about private adoption of a newborn from a willing birth mother? Thatworks for some but has its own challenges. Because we are older, our wait would be uncertain and could be, well, forever. Couples must compete for thebirth mother to select them and pay as much as $30,000 or more.

Furthermore, state laws treat children a bit like property, protecting therights of biological parents at the expense of adoptive parents and the child. The birth mother can reverse her decision to give up the child, andlong after the adoption a birth father can surface to claim parental rights in a legal battle he just might win. We've all seen high profile cases on TVwith families torn apart.

While the US systems tend to discourage adoption, things are different inChina. Population control measures and cultural practices fill Chinese orphanages with infants, mostly girls, birth parents unknown. The Chineseadoption system works very well for their citizens and foreigners alike. The entire process spans just over a year, has a clean record without thecorruption in some other countries and the children are healthy and well cared for in the orphanages. Adoption procedures are well established and expenses compare favorably to other countries. The adoption is legallycomplete and irrevocable during our two weeks in China; the chance of birthparent challenge is virtually zero. Finally, it doesn't hurt that Chinese children are beautiful.

As part of a China adoption we must obtain BCIS (INS) approval to bring aforeign adopted child into the country. Many others who preceded us reportthat during their China adoption our own BCIS gave them the same shabbytreatment and poor service they give to immigrants. By contrast, theofficials they dealt with in China treated them with efficiency and courtesyand respect at every juncture.

What is wrong with this picture? Our US system discourages adoption whileother "less developed" countries break down barriers and streamline theprocess. Is there any wonder so many travel to other countries to adopt

Some believe adoption is "easier" than childbirth, and that genetics makeyou love a biological child differently than an adopted child. They arewrong on both counts. Just like pregnancy, the adoption process has its'very own emotional roller coaster ride into and out of the clouds, so pleaseunderstand if I am a little tense as I wait. And I promise you, just as thousands have discovered before me, I will love my child more than my ownlife. "Adoption" will not define her, it will merely be the way she joined the family. As one friend puts it "Some of my children are adopted, but Iforget which ones."

I am thankful for all the families who have and will adopt from China.Nevertheless, I wish we would break down the barriers in our own country.

My hope is that some day our foster care train wreck and imperfect laws will be cleaned up so families who want a child and children who need a home have a better chance of finding one another, right here in the US. Until that happens, a growing number of American families will reach across national boundaries to adopt because they don't want problems, they just want a child.

It is natural to wonder why we would adopt from China, and we wanted to help you understand. While I am waiting for my turn to travel to China I might be a little crazy with nerves on edge. When I return I will be crazy in love with my child.

Copied with the writer's permission.

Back to work

2006-06-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well my week of vacation is officially over. It was good to have time off, but I did not get done nearly the things I had hoped to. I was incredibly lazy. I guess that's good sometimes and I even needed it, but still I wish I got more done. I did plant flowers in the garden; my first try since buying the house, so we'll see how they do. Kev had to work all week, so nothing too much was done during the week. Friday night, we were going to go see the movie, RV, but after we ate at Sweet Tomatoes and got to the mall, we decided we really did not want to wait over an hour more for the movie, so we just watched "Over The Hedge". It was cute, but not quite worth the $15 it cost; at least we had just eaten a big meal so we did not want popcorn or soda. Saturday, we headed over to the Milk Days parade in Harvard, went to church on Sunday, and then I watched Brother Bear that I got from Netflix, while Kevin watched his DVD of M*A*S*H. Then it was back to work today. I really didn't sleep that well, probably because I was afraid I would not be able to get up, so darn early. At least, it was a beautiful night for sleeping, with the temps going down to the mid-50's. I had a extremely productive day at work getting a bunch of tasks completed, but it already feels like I was not gone all week. Except for the fact that I did feel more rested and happier. Better get too bed; it's later than it should be for someone who has to be up before 5:30. Let's hope for another productive day, as well as a Starbuck's-free day.

Stats and Info about China Adoption

2006-05-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

The China adoption program is one of the most reliable and stable ofthe international adoption programs, and China is the country from which more U.S. citizens have elected to adopt from than any othercountry since the year 2000. According to the USCIS immigration statistics, U.S. citizens adopted 6,859 children from China in 2003,7,033 in 2004, and 7,906 in 2005. Children available for adoption are mostly girls, infants to 6 years of age. About 5% of the children adopted from China are boys - some people request "only a boy" and some people request "a child of either sex" and let China surprise them. If you ask for a girl, however, you will almost certainly get agirl. Older and special needs children are also available. The children typically reside in orphanages, although some may have been in foster care.

Travel required: At least one parent (if married) must travel to China. Only one trip is required, lasting approximately two weeks. The parent(s) go to their child's province of origin to pick her/him up,and remain there for 5-6 days to complete China's paperwork requirements to finalize the adoption. The new family then proceeds toGuangzhou (formerly Canton) to complete all USA immigration paperwork.If only one parent (of a couple) travels, the child enters the USA under an IR-4 visa, and a "readoption" is required with the second parent present to complete the adoption process.

The Non-Special Needs (NSN) adoption process is often likened to pregnancy. The time will vary considerably, depending on the couple's ability to complete therequisite paperwork and the USCIS's ability to approve the coveted I-171H or I-797C form (permission to adopt a foreign-born child). The process can be broken into three parts:

1. Most people take 3-6 months to complete the "first trimester" or"paperchase"... this involves a home-study as required by the State of residence, plus the assembly, notarization, certification,translatation, and authentication of all paperwork into an adoption dossier.

2. Once the dossier is mailed to China and logged in at the CCAA, the family enters the DTC (Dossier To China) or "second trimester" phase (also known as The Wait, The Long Wait, The Interminable Wait). During this currently about 12 month period (two years ago The Wait was 14months, 1 year ago it was 6 months, so clearly, this time frame varies considerably), CCAA reviews the dossier in The Review Room, and if all paperwork is in order, the dossier progresses to The Matching Room where the parent(s) are matched with their child through what many new parents feel is a mystical, magical, heaven-inspired process.China adoptive parents often refer to The Red Thread legend to explain the miracle that results in exactly the right child being matched with exactly the right Forever Family: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."--An ancient Chinese belief.

3. The Referral is then sent to the adoption agency - the parent(s) receive the long awaited Call, and then the translated medical and developmental information about the child -- along with (typically) three photographs are presented (via Fedex or an in-office visit). The parent(s) are given several days to review the Referral package and decide whether to accept or decline the child they were matched with. Most parents (95% or better) accept their Referral, which is then sent back to China to generate the next two critical steps: TA or TravelApproval, and CA or Consulate Appointment. This "third trimester" is a frenetic time of activity, as the new parents await approval fromChina to come get their child, obtain visas, make flight arrangements,and pack pack pack!! Travel is generally 6-8 weeks after Referral,and the in-country stay is generally about 12 days (not including any tours arranged for before or after the adoption process).

Adoption costs: China is one of the least expensive international adoption programs (altho Africa and Haiti are MUCH less expensive than China). Typically a couple adopting from China will spend $16-$19,000for ALL costs including agency fees, orphanage donation (~$3000), US and China government fees, plus travel. As a comparison, typical costs for Russia, FSU countries, and Guatemala run $23-30,000. Domesticadoption can run $5-50,000. The US federal government provides a$10,000.00 tax credit for the year in which the adoption is completed(there is a bill in the House which will hopefully increase this amount). Some States also provide a tax credit and/or allowances, as do some companies. Note that China adoption expenses are generally spread over a 12 month period (or longer).

Age of children referred: China considers children under two to be"infants". It is extremely rare for a child to be referred who is under six months of age (the orphanage makes a nominal attempt to locate the birth parents and posts a Finding Ad in the local paper,and then must assemble and send in the child's dossier). Most children referred are between 10-14 months at time of "handover" to the new parents. Many parents ask for AYAP - As Young As Possible. In general, younger parents can be expected to be referred younger children. Agencies will usually tell a couple in their late 40's to expect theirreferral to be between 12-24 months old, however, the CCAA often assigns children differently from the expected way. That's where the Matching Room magic comes into play.

The Beginning of Our Journey

2006-05-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm excited to say that I'm finally starting this blog to track our lives along our journey to adopt a daughter from china. I'm not quite sure when it all started, but I remember as a child one of my favorite books was called the "Ready-Made Family" or something like that. It was about 3 or 4 brothers or sisters who were adopted by one family. No, we aren't planning to do the same; one child at a time or even just one child, period, is how we want our future family to be.

Back last August and September, we went to informational meetings for a few local adoption agencies. Due to the cost of international adoption, the fact that we had just bought a home several months before, as well as that our 18-year old furnace needed to be replaced, we decided to temporarily put an adoption on hold.

In the meantime, I continued to visit adoption sites, blogs and forums. This spring, we decided that there is no perfect time and that we are going to go ahead with our dreams to start a family. On Mother's Day, we told my parents, brother, and sister-in-law that we were going to begin the paperwork to adopt. We had mentioned earlier that we were hoping to do this, but we were now ready to announce to them we were going further than just thinking about it. My mother of course was thrilled; the only thing better would have been to tell her we were pregnant!

So now the long journey begins. We still have to send the formal application, but we are working on getting the documents that we need. Today, I finally sent off the forms for Kevin's birth certificate to the Michigan Vital Records Office. Next week, when I'm back at work, I will go to the Vital Records Office of Cook County to order my birth certificates. This week, I also need to write to the correct governmental agencies for our marriage certificate and for Kevin's divorce decree. Also, I hope to start writing my autobiography that we'll need to have before the home study, but actually filling out all of the application, should be a priority since that can be sent in while we are waiting for all of our other documents. Of course, I should also schedule physicals for both of us with our doctor since their our several medical forms that need to be filled out. 3 actually - one for the agency, one for DCFS (Dept. of Children & Family Services) & one for China.

My first blog post

2006-05-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying trying to figure out how to create my blog. I guess I'm officially on my way! If it wasn't getting late I'd actually create some meaningful posts, but since it is, I'll wait until tomorrow or soon after to start. Good night all!!