Flooding article

Xinhua - English

Flood-stricken Anhui ... And Chuzhou very hard hit!

Please pray for all the folks in the Anhui province. We're so worried about Yongchen and the other kids at the CWI. The CWI flooded a few years ago, and I understand it was in pretty bad repair after the flood. Hopefully the kids and the caretakers are okay ... it's so frustrating not being able to just call and find out!

Our little girl's name ...

Yong
Chen

The tones are important in Chinese, and I think it's fair to say that I suck at them. So I'm hoping that by practicing before I go, Yongchen will actually know that I'm talking to her, instead of saying something like, say, "oh, underwear."

She is SO my kid ...

Another picture ... who can guess WHY it's obvious she's my child?



(Answer .... because she's playing with two ... count 'em, TWO ... phones.

Yupper. She's gonna fit right in!

Tomorrow Plan Project Video - Google Video

I found this video about the Tomorrow Plan, the plan instituted by the CCAA to help out special needs kids. It funded the repair of Yongchen's cleft lip. (The image is a bit too big ... sit back from your screen to get some focus!) Tomorrow Plan Project Video - Google Video

The Brangelina Article ...

I was appalled by the "How To Shop For Kids The Brangelina Way" article that ran in the LA Times a few weeks back. I ran across this response today from Adoptive Families magazine. Kudos to them on the response. And thumbs-down to the Times. What the heck were they thinking??

"Thumbs Down to the LA Times for their article, 'How to Shop for Kids the Brangelina Way'Adoptive Families magazine and our readers speak out against this offensive article."


NEW YORK, NEW YORK, June 28 – Yes, the LA Times actually published an article with this title. Adoptive Families offers information and resources to help parents adopt and support them as they raise their children, and we deplore the fact that our content was used as a "source" for this shabby piece of journalism.

Click here for the full article, including a link to the original Times article

Another picture!

I have to post another picture, of course, now that we have our PA! (Note that I've changed the ladybug ... I couldn't resist!).

Here's Isabella Yongchen seriously contemplating the world from atop her pink pony!

Whoo hoooo!!! PA!!!!

So here I was, typing an "I hate waiting" entry for the blog when my email bings and .... we have PA!!!!!!!!!!

This is so awesome because it means we're really approved to be Yongchen's parents!

Here's her adorable little picture that I've been hesitating posting...now I can shout from the rooftops!



We're still waiting to hear our Log In Date, but I'm guessing it's sometime this week. As soon as I hear, I'll change our ladybug to countdown toward TA!

YAY!

The Gang ... (and one on the way!)

I thought I should post a pic of the family. That's me, Don and Catherine last year at a booksigning. Note the impish grin on Catherine's face. I can't wait until we have two little imps running around!

Thinking along the line of suitcases ...

Our Adoption: "Packing List - Kitchen Sink Intentionally Left Out"

In my tireless effort to read every blog ever about adopting from China, I ran across this one, which is excellent all around.

I'm linking here because I'm already thinking about packing. I mean, surely it's not too early, right??

A pattern emerges ...

Apparently "huo" and "gan" have a very similar character! (I actually don't see it, but folks tell me there's a one stroke difference)

So that means that the description of Yongchen that I was pondering was (leaving out the tonal references b/c I'm lazy): Dui tu'an gan xing qu

Which essentially translates to interested in patterns.

I love having that extra bit of detail, because I can put it to use when picking out books to take with us when we go to bring her home!

A possible career as a UN interpreter?

Since I've been living and breathing Yongchen for weeks now, I want to know EVERYTHING. And what better way than by what better way than by comparing her original SWI report to the translation! (Yes, I'm weird and neurotic. I actually consider that fun). I used a book I have that groups chinese characters together by left, right, top or bottom (it's easier than it sounds) and a dictionary with English/Pinyin and a radical index (I still haven't completely figured out the whole radical thing, but I'm faking my way through it). I used this site a LOT: Learn Chinese Characters

For the most part, I have to say the translators did a bang up job. But some stuff wasn't included that mommy-me wants to hear! Like that she gets on well with others. And that she likes to imitate adults. And help adults.

Actually, it seems to say she loves/likes [to] help adults exchange/interflow/interchange.

Now, I'll admit I'm having a little trouble translating that idiomatically. My best guess is that she likes to help adults and interact with them. I could be exceedingly wrong there. Perhaps she is exchanging the adults all together? Hmmm. Perhaps my child is actually in charge of the orphanage, arranging for the coming and going of the adults? (Or not. It's late. Cut me some slack.)

Here's the one that really puzzles me, though: Dui (yes/correct) tu (picture/map) an (table-I think) huo (to be puzzled/confused) xing (start, prosper, excitement) qu (hasten interest in)

From what I can tell, "tuan" translates as pattern or design, and "xingqu" translates as interest

But I can't quite figure out the idiom. Is it saying she's interested in puzzled? Confused by patterns? Excited and interested when confronted with a puzzle?

It's a mystery.

More, it's a mystery that makes me realize that I'll be doing good to tell her "Wo shi nide mama" and that We're going home to America (which I can say, but can't spell, so why embarrass myself? (Oh, and note to self: practice asking where the bathroom is!)

Tune in next week for my continuing adventures in Mandarin. Hopefully I'll have figured those out and moved on to memorizing comforting toddler phrases!

Hug Your Kids (or kiss your referral picture!)

So, as I’m driving home from the airport this evening, an ambulance and a police car pass me, near the turn into my neighborhood. They’ve kept going on the main street, so I think nothing of it.

Then I turn into our subdivision and see a firetruck racing toward me. It turns onto my street (we're on a corner, and it's on the street that runs along our side yard, not on our driveway street). I turn, too, and then I see it — 2 firetrucks, 2 police cars, 1 ambulance and a huge crowd. It’s one house past ours (the next intersection), essentially in front of the “back” portion of our side lot. I turn into our driveway and D says “did you hear all the sirens”. I told him yes, and that I hoped it wasn’t a kid. For some reason, I just had a feeling.

Walked over there, and saw a mangled bike on the street. Sure enough, one of the kids from that street (it ends in a cul-de-sac) was hit by a big red truck. They were putting him on a stretcher/brace. I could hear him crying and moaning. Couldn’t really see him. His brother and sister were frantic (my a/c the street neighbor took them to their house to wait for their mom ... I feel so bad for her!).

Since I couldn’t do anything and didn’t want to gawk, I walked back home and hugged C REALLY tight. Then we heard the chopper. They started to land it in our yard (we're on an acre, but the house is essentially in one corner, so we have an entire side lot that’s basically vacant) but ended up in the street right in front of our house.

It was sooo scary, and I feel so bad for the little boy, who must be hurting no end — and in serious condition if they’re lifeflighting him to Austin or Temple --and for the parents. What a horrible call to get. I feel bad for the truck driver, too. I don't know how the accident happened, but how devastating to have hit a kid on a bike.

I have no idea how the boy is doing. I asked the fireman who’d come to tell us they were landing the helicopter in our yard, but he was actually called in only to direct the helicopter down and hadn’t seen the little boy.

Honestly, it was like watching my worst nightmare. Every time I think about it, I just want to cry. That little boy and his family are in my prayers.

It's the little things ...

So now that we're officially waiting, my mind is officially wandering. (Which is a nice way to say "obsessing.") And, believe me, there are so many things for the mind to wander to! On today's agenda ... camcorders! We have a big old clunky one (well, okay, Hi-8) that worked just fine for C's baby-dom, but it's been 5 years and technology has both improved and shrunk. We're getting a new one! I want one that will easily sync with the mac so that I can not only upload quicktime movies to the blog, but I also want to be able to burn mei mei and jie jie discs for the family.

The trouble is, despite a diploma hanging on my wall (okay, packed up in a box in the attic) that says I have a bachelor's degree in film, I have NO IDEA what camera to get. I know I want to have separate sound and picture tracks (my little Cybershot takes great mpeg movies, but if you edit them in iMovie, there is no sound. Who knew?).

So I've harassed all our friends, and this is the one I think we're going to buy. If anyone has other suggestions, comments, input or just general meanderings on the subject, please let me know! Sony - MiniDV Handycam Camcorder w/2.5" SwivelScreen Color LCD Monitor - DCR-HC36

We're DTC! We're DTC!

Our dossier is off, off, off to China, with a cover letter explaining that we *just* submitted our Letter of Intent, but that our dossier should be treated as expedited under the waiting child program.

So now we wait!

Next milestone: receipt of our Log In Date (which I'm guessing we'll get in about 2 or 3 weeks, and will probably come faster than PA or "pre approval")

Anhui Province Chuzhou Children Welfare Institution

Anhui Province Chuzhou Children Welfare Institution The Chuzhou orphanage has a website! I'm so excited to get to see more information from the CWI (apparently the pictures I posted earlier were from 2001, two years before a VERY bad flood that devastated the building. I know Half The Sky really rallied to help raise funds to rebuild. That would have been just before Yongchen was born in November.

I've really just glanced at the site, but the CWI really does seem like a cheerful place. I'm so glad it was able to get "on its feet" after the flood!.










What I've read about the Director and the staff/caretakers on various email loops sounds wonderful. I wish we could hop on a plane and go get Isabella TODAY, but since we can't, it's nice to know that she's being well taken care of until we can get there ...

Pictures!

This is a test of Blogger's photo upload system. I'm hoping it works! (The picture is one we considered, but didn't use for our homestudy. I was wearing shorts, and with the pillow over my legs, it just looked too risque, LOL!)

Yes, yes, I'm planning a bit far in advance, but I want to be able to have the uploading of pictures (and possibly quicktime videos) down before we travel to China. In, um, months. Not that I've started counting or anything!

The mysterious matching room ...

In my earlier post, I didn't talk about what happens to your dossier once it gets to China. We're going under the Waiting Child program, and I'm not entirely clear if our dossier follows the same path, but here's a quick breakdown of what happens to the dossiers that go to the CCAA for a non special needs adoption, including a peek into the CCAA

1. First, your agency's staff (most likely in Beijing)f translates your dossier and takes it to the CCAA. The date it leaves your agency for china is the DTC ("Dossier to China" date)


2. But it's not the DTC date that matters, it's the LID ("Log In Date"). That's the date that your dossier officially gets "into" the CCAA system. From what I can glean, that can take about a month.

3. Your dossier waits in queue (could be several months) and at some point proceeds to the "translation room" where the agency translation is verified.

4. Your dossier goes to the review room. And it stays there for a while!

5. Your dossier goes to the matching room! how long it stays there depends on a lot of things, the most important of which is the number of "paper ready" kids v. the number of dossiers.

This is what I've found a picture of on the site for Adoption Advocates International
Here's the pic: Click the link to see and read more.


Continuing on ...

6. Your dossier goes to the referral room and a formal referral is signed and gets sent back to your agency.

7. You get it, stare at your baby's picture, dance around the room, and sign it and return it!

8. You wait for your travel approval and then ... off you go!

From what I can tell, if you're adopting a waiting child, as we are, you don't do the matching room (we're already matched!) and the process moves a bit faster. In the grand scheme of things, how our paper gets through the system isn't important so long as in the end we bring our little girl home!

Argh! My links disappeared! (update! They're back!)

Well, I hope this is a glitch, but all the links I had on the sidebar were organized through blogrolling.com ... which has apparently disappeared.

Doubly frustrating b/c I hadn't bookmarked all of them.

Lesson learned: If you find a good website, write it down!

(Morning update! They're back ... but since the link through blogrolling.com isn't working right, I'm not 100% sure they're back for good. So like a good little girl I've copied them. I hope the service isn't shutting down. It's a great system. Click one button to add a link to your sidebar rather than having to go in and edit your blog template. I would give a link and recommend the site, but at the moment, the link doesn't go where it should, so .....)