Expedited Referrals

The process of Chinese international adopting is long and tedious. The first part (the paperchase) consists of getting various documents ranging from medical exams, FBI checks, fingerprinting, to a home study (where a social worker will come to your home to interview the prospective adopting parents - PAP's). All the documents need to be notarized and authenticated, then translated into Chinese, before the entire dossier is forwarded to China. The 'date-to-China' (DTC) is a big deal, but the more important date is the 'log-in-date' (LID). By following the LID's of other PAP's you can determine how far along the CCAA is in matching children to families. You start getting excited once the LID's are approaching your own. Our LID is 3/21/07.

Once your dossier is in China, it follows one of two 'tracks'. The regular track is followed by most PAP's that apply for international adoption. However, if one has Chinese ancestry, then one can be expedited. How can one 'qualify' as Chinese? Having Chinese blood is not sufficient. Only if one can prove that he/she was born in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (China), or Hong Kong, China, then a couple can be expedited. Or if one set of prospective grandparents can provide documentation that they were born in China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, then the PAP's can be expedited. We would qualify for expedited status because Roger's birth certificate states his place of birth was Hong Kong. So when our dossier was submitted to China, we requested expedited status, but... there is really no way of knowing which 'track' we are on.

That is where Roger and I are at. The referrals for the non-expedited families are up to LID of 1/25/06, whereas the referrals for expedited families are up to 12/06. At the rate that the CCAA is matching non-expedited families, it may be 2012 before we get a referral. If that's the case, I think we would give up. As difficult as that might be (especially for Larissa), I think we would prefer to move on with our lives and be able to do things as a family of three. (And I could go ahead and sell all of those clothes and toys I've been saving...). However, if we are expedited, then we may be looking at a referral before the end of 2008! The next few months will be very interesting indeed.

4th of July / Where do babies come from?

At the last minute, Roger & I decided to spend a weekend in San Francisco with Larissa, and catch the fireworks from an amazing vantage point - The Carnelian Room - on the 52nd floor of the Bank of America building. It led to a great weekend.

We don't usually get 2-day weekends like most folks, since Roger works on Saturdays, so we don't usually do weekend getaways. With July 4th falling on a Friday, we were able to leave for the city in the early afternoon, and check-in at the Parc55 Hotel (in Union Square) by 3pm. In the past 5 years, we've only seen 3 movies at the theater - some James Bond flick, Shrek 3, and Enchanted. (We won't discuss our obsession with Jersey Boys...and the fact we saw it 3 times...in 5 months). Anyways, with Larissa interested in martial arts at present, we decided to see Kung Fu Panda. Aside from being very entertaining, it teaches a great lesson...'believe in yourself'...which I hope Larissa gets.

Our wish of seeing fireworks didn't come true, since the only view we got from the restaurant was THICK FOG. But it didn't matter...we had a seen a fun movie, shopped in downtown SF, had great meal, topped with yummy chocolates we had picked out earlier. (Larissa was more excited about the chocolates that the maids at the hotel left us.) The following day was just as fun, as we had brunch at Sears Fine Foods, shopped in Union Square, snacked at Citizen Cake, and then had an amazing sushi dinner with friends.

But the most memorable part of this weekend? While driving to SF, Larissa said to us (out of the blue), "I don't want to have a baby in my tummy!" After reassuring her that big sisters don't have babies, and that mommies have babies...she then asked, " So did I come from your tummy?", which was soon followed by, " How did I get there?" (...and she's only 4 years old). We decided to use the whole "mommy...daddy...it's like magic" answer, but I'm sure we'll have to address the whole adoption issue - biologic child vs. non-biologic child at some point. Here's hoping we'll be able to explain that adequately.

Shopping Trip

So I took a day off from work for my birthday on June 30th. Spent the day at the local mall with my mom and Larissa. We were looking for dresses for ME. I usually go to the mall every 1-2 weeks, but I always emerge with bags and bags of stuff for Larissa. (She looks good in everything...). But this time we were shopping for ME. We're going to a wedding in Oregon in a few weeks, and I need something 'fun'.

Shopping with a child is a wonderous experience. This was the first time I actually spent a few hours with Larissa (in her talking phase) at the mall. She NEVER stopped talking the entire 4.5 hours! She became my 'fashion consultant', finding the right sizes, constantly picking out clothes for me...running from one display to the next saying, "THIS one is very FASHIONABLE...", "THIS one would be PERFECT for Abby's wedding...". "THIS is a size ____!" (Thanks Larissa...I always wanted everyone at Nordstrom to know my size...). Not only was she helping me, but then when it was time to pick out clothes and items for grandma, she started yelling out the bra size everytime she eyed the proper size! (I'm sure Grandma Elise always wanted her bra size announced by a 4 year old in the middle of Macy's.)

The most hilarious part was when I was trying on the clothes in the dressing room. I was looking for something that would both 1. cover my knees, and 2. camouflage my tummy. At one point, when I put a dress on that showed too much 'lumpy-ness', Larissa blurted out: "...but mommy...your boobs and your tummy ARE lumpy!"

Rumor

The CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) is rumored to have started the next round of referrals. Let's hope that the expedited families with LID's in Dec. 2006 are all matched this time. That would hopefully put us on track to receive our referral in October this year... and Daisy could be here before the end of the year! What a wonderful Christmas present that would be...

I just hope that our dossier makes it out of review without any issues, and that we ARE indeed considered an expedited family. (If not, the wait may be until 2010(!) and I'm not sure we want to wait that long).

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for some matches before July 4th!

SHE'S A STAR!

We're so thrilled! Larissa was incredibly brave, and was able to dance on stage for her first recital on Sunday! Not only that, she said it was FUN! We're so proud of her...

(Larissa is the 4th from the right - the one that's posing with her right knee bent in...If you look closely, you can see the hair extension/ponytail sticking up in the back...)

If only you could have heard all the conversations over the past 8 months.

We tried bribes:

"If you dance...I'll take you to Disneyworld",

"If you dance...I'll buy you a Power Wheels car",

"If you dance...I'll get you this _____________(toy, candy, game, etc)".

None of those worked.

We tried threats:

"If you don't dance, we'll put you into swim lessons..." (She HATES the water).

"If you don't dance, we'll wash your hair every night..." (Once again, that fear of water)

Those didn't work.

We're not sure what convinced her to perform, but we're certainly glad she did. Kids have a mind of their own, and once they've made up their minds about something, it's incredibly difficult to change their opinion. (Even at the age of 4!)

Makes one wonder what life will be like when Larissa's 13...

So here's our little dancer. This was taken in our dining room a few weeks ago, when I was trying to figure out how to style Larissa's hair for the upcoming recital. After struggling with a curling iron for over 30 minutes, and getting absolutely NOTHING. I went to the local mall the following day and bought a ponytail extension. I'll post that picture when I get a chance.

Busy week

These past few weeks have been so busy! Even though we only have Larissa at this time, our schedules are always packed. Last week, Larissa graduated from her preschool. There was a little graduation "ceremony" at a local park, where she was given a certificate/diploma. Grandma Elise and Grandpa Richard were able to attend. and Larissa had such a nice time with her friends!

Larissa also has weekly dance lessons, where she is learning ballet and tap. Her first show is next week, and there was a dress rehearsal this morning. For the past few months, she has adamantly refused to dance for the show, but I think she is slowly overcoming her stage fright. We'll see how it goes next Sunday!

Twice a week, Larissa has taekwondo lessons. She just started 4 weeks ago, so she's currently a white belt. She seems determined to become a black belt, and we think she'll succeed! It's one of those activities that seem to come naturally for her.

It's so nice to be able to let Larissa enjoy all these activities, since her days as an 'only' may be coming to an end soon. The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has recently started matching Chinese Expedited Referrals again, after about a 5 month break. The November 2006 waiting families were matched with children this past week. With a March 2007 LID, we may only be another 4 months away from getting our referral!