We are now three

Kiyomi has officially entered our lives, and we are now a family of three. Although, I don't think Kiyomi is at all certain about this new arrangement yet (and rightly so!)

When you're preparing for this little adventure, you read and listen to peoples' accounts of the day that they got their daughters. You think you know what to expect, but nothing can prepare you for the actual experience. The range of emotions is indescribable. You are elated to see this precious little face that you've thought about for months, but you're also sad for the trauma the girls are going through, and at a loss of how to comfort her.

We headed down a little before 6. They had set aside a room on the 2nd floor restaurant for us, and we were ushered in by one of the waitresses. As we got closer, we could hear the babies crying, and were a little shocked to walk into a room already full of nannies and little girls. Some families, in fact, already had their babies in hand. There was much chaos and crying, and it wasn't at all clear how the process was supposed to go. When our turn came, Kohji was video taping for another family, and it wasn't until our guide said to me, "oh she's so beautiful" that I even realized that I was looking right at our daughter.

She seemed pretty unsure of what was going on and looked uncertainly around, although she wasn't crying. Almost as soon as they put her in my arms though, she looked up at my face and started to ball. She was pretty much unconsolable for the next 2 hours.





After significant chaos, we managed to head back to the room, but were a little shaken when we got on the elevator with 3 other families and Kiyomi started to wail at the top of her lungs. During very brief respites of wailing, we managed to get her to take about a 3rd of a bottle, but she wasn't in the mood to be forced, and she was making sure we fully understood that.

After much floor walking, she finally tired herself out (poor little monkey) and fell asleep in my arms.




A few things we've learned from the orphanage director: She weighs about 17 lbs, has 2 naps a day, and 4 meals a day, is fairly outgoing and likes to sleep on her back or side. Things we've found out for ourselves:.. She seems pretty stong - she can push herself over from her stomach to her back, and when really aggravated, she does a yoga bridge pose. She likes new scenes, and can be distracted by taking her to a room she hasn't seen before (unfortunately, not too easy when you're in a hotel room). She makes little snorfling sounds when she's trying to decide whether to wail. She makes little sucking sounds as she's falling asleep and has tiny little snore while sleeping. Oh ya, and that she's this cute when she's sleeping:



A dinner of instant noodles awaits me, so gotta go. More tomorrow.

Waiting in our Nanchang hotel room. One long hour to go...

A little bit more information

We got a little more information this evening from our guide Marui. It seems we finally get to meet our daughters at 6 p.m. Nanchang time. That should be 6 a.m. Ottawa time on Sunday, July 2. So when you wake up on Sunday morning, Kiyomi will officially be part of the Miller-Suzuki clan! Poor kid...

Last slow day

Not too much to report today. It's been a quiet, relaxing day.

Headed down to the Silk Market, where I successfully negotiated for a few souvenirs, including a couple of traditional Chinese dresses for Kiyomi. I've decided that bartering here is part business, part performance art. I found myself saying things, like "Come on, 5 yuan difference, I'm on a budget." My favourite was the woman who I had come to a price with yesterday, but walked away from the deal. I went back today, and said I'd take it for the original 200 yuan we'd agreed on the day before. She said: "Can't do it for that price today. Be nice. I hungry!" So, I offered her 200 yuan and a granola bar. I got my price in the end, although she didn't want the granola bar. Go figure!

Kohji considered a knock-off Ipod for awhile, but eventually decided against it when the vendor refused to put songs on it from her computer to see if it actually worked. It was an interesting conversation with her trying to argue that the one in teh box (which was identitical to the one in Kohji's hand) was in fact, a real Ipod, but the one he was holding was a fake. Man, foreigners must have a reputation for being stupid! In the end, it wasn't worth it, even if he could have walked away having paid $30 Cdn for it.

For those of you who may be heading here in the next little while, I've discovered a few tricks. Know whether you want it before you start bartering and make sure you know how much you're willing to pay for it in yuan before you start the back-and-forth. Trying to do the exchange in your head on the fly is a challenge, and the vendors know that. Once you know what you'd be prepared to pay, offer something well below that. Don't worry about insulting the vendors - they won't sell unless they can make a profit and they are very good at the game. And be ready to walk away if they don't come down low enough - it's almost guranteed that they will grab you, and offer a better price. Oh, of course, they'll be tell you "you killing me", "this is a very special price, just for you", and there will be hand wringing and theatrics, but it's part of the show!

After a couple hours in there, we had had enough. With the bartering, each transaction can take 20 minutes, so you're exhausted afterwards. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at a restaurant for our first real Chinese meal. It was excellent - and cheap. Enough food to feed 4 people easily, and with drinks it cost us less than $10 Cdn.

The rest of the families come in today, so our whole group is scheduled to meet the guide at 5 this afternoon to get our instructions for the trip to Nanchang tomorrow and make sure we have all the needed paperwork. This time tomorrow, we should be with Kiyomi! Send your thoughts to her, she's in for a rough day tomorrow. She has a 3 and a half hour bus ride, and then gets thrust into our hands. Poor little monkey.

Shopping ... Beijing Style

Well, we seem to have moved a little backwards sleepwise, but have managed to find our way to the Silk Market. I found myself awake at 3 am this morning, waiting for dawn. Kohji slept a little better, but still not as well as our first night when we both slept the sleep of the dead for a good 7 hours.

It may have been the anticipation of heading out to the Silk Market - a 6 floor shopping plaza where the name of the game is bartering to the extreme. There are people calling out "hey pretty lady, you want ...?" over miles of aisles. Everything from luggage to pearls to designer clothes can be found in small stalls that line each row. Bartering is a sport here, and your best advantage is to be willing to walk away. If you can do that, you will invariably be chased down with the price dropping with every step. It's mostly women working the stalls, but don't think that means they are less aggressive. They can get a vise grip on your arm and draw you into a web of goods that you simply "must buy" according to them. The bartering is 90% game playing - and Kohji and I seem to be the only ones in our group who came away emtpy handed, although I did successfully negotiate the sale of a polo shirt and a wallet for others in our group.

A few others from our travel group have arrived over the last couple days, so I think we are about 6 or 7 families now. Our guide, Mary, arranged for those of us who were here to take in a Chinese acrobat show. We had to take a taxi to the theatre, and so we got a first hand view of traffic China-style. Crazy weaving in and out of traffic with what appear to be near misses as cars seem to squeeze into what appears to be un-open spaces. And of course, there is a certain level of gridlock. Our driver decided to take advantage of the downtime, and bought himself a paper from a street vendor wandering among the traffic while we were in the car, and proceeded to read it, and work on the crossword puzzle while he drove us to the theater!

The show itself was interesting, although the music did sound like it had been pulled from a Communist propoganda film. Contortionists and tumblers with jelly spines. Definitely the source of any Cirque de Soleil production. Well worth taking out lives into our hands via taxi cab.

Got our first real taste of heat today as temperatures were blistering in the mid-day sun. Thankfully, not really humid yet. It's supposed to be even hotter and more humid in Nanchang. Ah boy...

We haven't been too adventurous with food thus far, sticking mainly to the hotel restaurants. There is a real concern about traveller's sickness, so we're all trying to avoid contact with local water and bugs, and we are all armed with our little bottles of purel. No one wants to risk getting sick just before we get our daughters.

I'm actually falling asleep as I write this, so I'm off to bed now. Only two more sleeps ...

Day one in Beijing

Well, day one in Beijing has been pretty fascinating so far.

Managed to sleep in until 5 a.m, and Kohji until 6! Not bad considering that we went to bed at about 8 am Ottawa time. Woke to fog, grey skies and heavy rain.

The constrution site which is right out our window was one massive puddle. Interesting watching the goings on down there - few hard hats, no steel toe boots to be seen and much of the work seems to be done by hand. Amazing considering that it's a masive pit, the length of a city block at least. There also seem to be only a handful of men working on the site, so we're guessing progress is rather slow.

After an amazing Chinese and American breakfast here at the hotel buffet (we had our first taste of congee, the Chinese breakfast staple), we planned to check out the silk market with two of the other families who are traveling with us. It's about a 30 minute walk away. Luckily, the rain had stopped, but it was still overcast. This turned out to be a blessing because once the sun came out in the afternoon, we fully understood what the word "muggy" means.

En route to the market, we were side tracked by a young student, who is studying English and, according to him, transcultural relations and traditional painting. His English was excellent and he invited us to his teacher's studio which was just nearby so that he could write our daughters names for us in traditional calligraphy. Not exactly sure what we were getting ourselves into, we decided to follow him to the studio, figuring with 6 of us, it'd be ok, even though we did painfully look like your classic group of tourists.

The studio was located in a non-descript building off a main throroughfare. It was a small, and very warm, single room plastered with paintings floor to ceiling. Our student friend, who's name was Han Bing (although he said his English name was Jason), told us the meanings and stories behind some of the paintings. While we were there, Jason's teacher, Sang She, came it, and it was he who did the calligraphy of our girl's names, while Jason gave us a tour of the paintings. We were suitably charmed, and maybe to a certain extent suckered, as we all walked out of there with our calligraphy and other paintings. Kohji and I bought a lovely water colour of a rooster, as Kiyomi's birth year is the year of the rooster, and 4 landscapes showing 4 seasons. All of ours were painted by Jason (at right, is Sang She doing the calligraphy).

After that little adventure, we set off once again for the Silk Market, only to be side tracked yet again, by a rather well known department store called the Friendship Store. Originally, the Friendship store was the place where foreigners shopped - no locals were aloud to make purchases from the store. It carries a variety of traditional Chinese arts and crafts and souvernirs, and also houses a rather large grocery store of primarily western products. The prices are considerably higher than anything in the markets, so we were mainly window shopping.

So, in the end, we didn't make it near to the Silk Market. One of the families with us has a 4 year old girl, who had been amazingly good and patient while we dragged her to the studio, but she was ready for nap, so we decided to save the Silk Market for another day.

Instead, we went with Linda and Octavio to Wanfuiing Dajie, a pedestrian shopping street about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. The main part of the strip is a mixture of western and modern looking stores, but there is an off-shoot which has food stalls and vendor after vendor selling all sorts of souvenirs.

Down this little alleyway, we came across this little delicacy that would seem to be right at home on Fear Factor (at right). Yup, those are scorpions and seahorses on a stick. Needless to say, no one was brave enough to try any (although we did try, what we think was, squirrel at lunch).

The souvenir vendors are aggressive and call out to you, but it wasn't quite as bad as we feared it would be. Alas, we didn't try our hand at haggling, but expect we'll get a chance in future.

We also stopped in at the English Language Bookstore, where I went looking for a copy of the Little Red Book for Dad. When I pressed someone there for any ideas as to where I could get a copy, she replied "nowhere" and walked away from me. Seems you can get purses with Chairman Mao's face on them, but you can't get your hands on the writings.

Well, we're about the meet Linda and Octavio for dinner, so I must sign out. Tomorrow, hopefully, the Silk Market and a performance of Chinese acrobats!

Made it to Beijing

Well, we've made it safe and sound.

We had an awfully early start, waking up at 5:00 this morning (or was it yesterday morning?), to finish packing up our giant suitcases, and then we were off to the airport.


The flight itself was thankfully uneventful - we watched a bunch of bad movies and ate all the food they kept feeding us!


It's hard to get the sense of the city just yet, as we're wandering in a bit of a jetlag daze, and it all seems a little intimidating at first. The land around Beijing is rather flat, and faintly reminiscent of the Manitoba prairies. However, once we got through the airport gates, we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore! Throngs of people waiting to greet in-coming passengers, dozens of them holding up signs.



Snaking through the crowd, scanning the horizon for any sign of our names or the Children's Bridge logo, was our first real introduction to Beijing.

The traffic is not really decipherable, although we've managed to figure our that typically, cars have the right of way. For no other reason that we can decipher, other than that they are bigger. There are bicycles everywhere, and I was even able to set off a bike alarm while wandering down the street.

The hotel is actually quite nice. It's right in the heart of Beijing, not too far from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.



It also has a Mcdonald's across the street!

We went for a brief walk around the city after we settled in a bit, with our new friends Linda and Octavio who is in our adoption group and was on our flight from Toronto. During our walk we saw Peking duck for the first time...


...and also a Chinese recycling truck:


Kohji, in typical fashion, has had an ice cream and found rice crackers, so is more or less content. I, however, am currently suffering from severe tiredness. It's almost 6 a.m. Ottawa time, and we've been awake since 5 a.m. yesterday! All I really want to do right now is sleep, but am trying hard to make it to a reasonable hour to get my body on Beijing time.

Not much more to go into right now, as my fatigue-addled brain in coming up dry. Will post more soon.

adventures in packing

First off, an update on the stump. You will all be happy to learn that the stump has been vanquished. We're not exactly sure how, but we're sure it involved some intricate sorcery from the netherworld. All we know, is that we came home last Tuesday, to discover it's absence, and obvious evidence of ancient rituals in the backyward. The canoe is parked over the hole that leads to the source of the stump's power, and will hopefully, protect us from any creature of the deep that the stump's removal unleashes.

Now, on to the more intricate packing details. The last day has proven to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kohji is a genius when it comes to spatial relations. I know you've all heard the expression before about packing everything and the kitchen sink. Well, rest assured, that little saying is a full blown reality in our little world right now (right down to the tupperware we're briging to act as a little sink for cleaning dishes and bottle nipples). But, back to the rare occassion where I heap praise onto my husband...

Kohji has somehow - I'm sure as a result of his many years training as an engineer - managed to fit this:




... into this...



I should point out that the middle size suitcase with the rainbow strap, is in fact empty, but for an extra duffle bag (we've been warned that you bring LOTS of stuff back!) To get a good idea of the enormity of the challenge involved, try putting a bag of 60 Pampers in a suitcase and see what it looks like.

With Kohji's packing prowess in full evidence, it would seem that we are more or less ready to go... and a day and a half ahead of time at that. Some wonders never really do cease. Either that, or all those years of leaving on vacations within an hour of finising work have trained us well.

Friday was my last day of work for a full year. My colleagues had a little farewell gathering, with cake and pressies, which was greatly appreciated, and a little unexpected as my work mates had taken me out to lunch earlier in the week. But then again, we always were a crew willing to accept any excuse for cake!

The house is starting to come together as well, with Kiyomi's room actually looking like a baby's room. Furnished, of course, completely by the generosity of family and friends. Even the overflowing toy box was the result of gifts and hand downs of well loved favourites. We're also planning on getting a couple things in China to decorate the walls, so she'll also have some familiar looking things around her.

Despite the addition of new furnishings, in many ways, it feels as if we are just off on yet another vacation. Only this time, we have sippy cups and a snugli, in lieu of a camp stove and trekking poles. But of course, as one friend put it to us on Friday night: "I don't remember you coming back from Alaska with a daughter!" Ah well, as they say, plus ca change, plus c'est pareil.

All and all, we seem to be as ready as you can be for such a momentous change. Even KT the cat is learning to adapt. She's been a little suspicious of all the comings and goings, and the additions to the furnishing, but she's making her peace with things in a way that only an 18 year old cat can...


... we'll just have to wait and she which one of them is the bigger Dora fan!

Stump tales and a right of passage (not necessarily related)

So, while frantic baby preparations are on-going, we also have been trying to get our derriers in gear with respect to some rudimentary landscaping. One would think that this would be a relatively easy task... think again. We are in a battle to the death with a stump and it's not at all clear to me that we have the upper hand. Let me start by introducing you to the stump





He's a stubborn old bugger who sits in the corner of our yard, coincidently in the exact spot where a fence would go. As evidenced by the old rusted gate that the stump seems to be in the process of devouring, this guy is not prepared to go gently into that good night. In fact, thus far, stump (as he is not so affectionately come to be named) has resisted all attempts at removal. Oh sure, you might say that it's because the guy who was supposed to removed the stump didn't show up, or that the company that said they would do it, when confronted with the actual act of removing the stump, decided that they don't actually have the machinery to do it! But, I am convinced that the stump has some special power to foil the slings and arrows (or chainsaws) of mere mortal men. In fact, I think that stump's going to outlive us!

Ah well, enough about the great stump (who I have now decided is a distant relation to the Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame) and on to better, if not bigger, things like Kiyomi preparations.

This last week has marked a number of milestones towards parenthood. Kiyomi's room is coming together and actually looks kinda like a little girl's room, rather than a storage closet. Half of the back seat in the car is consumed by a baby seat and we now clamber over a baby gate at the top of our stairs (both courtesy of our friend Catherine). Yesterday, there was a baby shower hosted by Kohji's lovely and gracious sister-in-law, Aya (who would have made Kenji proud with her picture taking prowess this afternoon). Sushi and a wonderful chocolate cake with strawberry filling were promptly devoured by all. And while that was underway, Kohji and Kenji headed to Future Shop to pick out a video camera, the amazing gift from Kohji's family and, as we have been told repeatedly, a must have for any parent-type. Top that off with a bbq in the evening, where a cake (thanks to Gaby, a baking goddess) is brought in celebration of Kiyomi and a gift is snuck in for her as well (all Renee's doing)! It was indeed a day of milestones.
Now, each of these would be considered a right of passage in their own right. However, there was an even bigger and more profound right of passage that truely marks the beginning of our new lives:


Yes, you guessed it, this house now contains a Dora the Explorer chair (thanks to Kathleen and the ever jubiliant Ella). Now, we're truely ready for parenthood - as soon as someone tells who the heck Dora is and why she hangs around with that little monkey all the time?!

Slaves to the list and much much more

Ok, it has definitely been awhile since we've updated, but it seems that all our predecessors on this journey were absolutely right. Once that referral comes, you get hit with a whirlwind. All of a sudden you have 8 short weeks to prepare for the arrival of a baby and for international travel.

As for us, we've been consumed. It started even before we got the referral. Building in our heads. Consuming our thoughts.

It was given life once the referral came and Kohji sat at the computer. Somewhere between a stream of counsciousness and ramblings, it took it's first breath. Now, we are slaves to it, unable to leave the house without consulting it or carrying it with us. We strike at sections of it, but like some sort of self-healing mutant organism, when you cut off a limb, it grows others. We're now convinced that it has passed the final hurdle to ultimate survival - it is self-replicating, growing on its own. It is... THE LIST ... The list of stores we need to go to, things we need to buy, things we need to organize, people we need to consult, things we need to pack, people we need to pick up things from... It's exhaustive and it has started to rule all our free time. In fact, it's even crept it's way to work, carried out at lunch to run a couple more of its devious errands. The list might expand and shrink, but it never goes away (and frankly probably won't for the next 18 years or so).

We have managed to fight off the list long enough for a couple of more interesting outings and activities - like visiting our friends Heather and Steve, and their beautiful daughters AJ and Charlotte (http://ying-er2006.blogspot.com/). Charlotte is from Guangdong province, and Heather, Steve and AJ were gracious enough to pass along helpful hints for our upcoming trip, as well as a bag of supplies and the biggest suitcase I've ever seen (I think Kohji can actually fit in it) . Very much appreciated.

We also had the opportunity to get together with a few people from our travel group -those of us here in Ottawa. It was nice to meet the people behind the email addresses and share some collective anxieties, questions and giggles. They're a lovely bunch of people, and there is something reassuring knowing that we've embarking on this journey together (especially for we first time parents who are still trying to figure out the difference between a soother and a teething ring!)

We also now have some pretty exciting stuff in hand - like the itinerary. We finally received the in-country itinerary yesterday, and it looks like we pick Kiyomi up on Sunday, July 2nd. A day earlier than we had initally thought. Here's how our time will be spent

Jun.28: Suzuki Family (that's us!) arrive in Beijing, guide will meet them at airport and transfer to International Hotel.

Jun.29 - July 1st - amuse ourselves in Beijing and get over jet-lag. Meet others in our travel group as they arrive.

Jul.02: Beijing to Nanchang (13:40-15:45), transfer to Gloria Plaza Hotel. Go to the Civil Affairs in the afternoon to meet the babies and sign the adoption agreement.

Jul.03: Go to Civil Affairs again for registration, notarization and applying passport.

Jul.04: Guide will bring the families to the local department store to buy some daily necessities for their children.

Jul.05: Visit the Temple of Teng Wang Ge.

Jul.06: Visit the resort for Ba Da ShanRen.

Jul.07: Pick up passport. Nanchang to Beijing on Flight(17:50-19:55), transfer to International Hotel.

Jul.08: Medical exam and take photo for babies.

Jul.09: Sightsee the Great Wall with lunch.

Jul.10: Go to Canadian Embassy for visa appointment.

Jul.11: Visit Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City.

Jul.12: Rest.

Jul.13: Hutong Tour. Pick up visa. Beijing Duck Dinner in the evening.

Jul.14: Fly home a family of 3!

Children's Bridge is also trying to - somewhere in that packed agenda - a day trip to the city of Wanzai, where the orphanage is actually located. It's an 8 hour round trip from Nanchang, so it's not likely that we'll take Kiyomi on the trip, but if it's at all possible, one of us will go to take pictures of the city and get a feel for the town where she spent the first year of her life. Unfortunately, it's not likely we'll be able to visit the orphanage itself. However, a trip to the city is better than nothing.

Kohji and Papa also spent some time this past weekend researching Kiyomi's name, including figuring out what the characters of her name mean in Mandarin. They even found a cool website that gives you a recording of the sound. We've still working on Jin - it's a tough one.

KIYOMI
清美

Japanese:
清 – Kiyoi – clear, pure
美 – Mi – beautiful

Mandarin:
qing mei (“chiung mei”)
清 – qing – same meaning - http://www.chinalanguage.com/CCDICT/Sounds/Mandarin/qing1.wav
美 – mei – same meaning
http://www.chinalanguage.com/CCDICT/Sounds/Mandarin/mei3.wav

JIN DIAN
錦淀

Mandarin:
錦 - Jin (exquisite tapestry, or brilliant and beautiful)
http://www.chinalanguage.com/CCDICT/Sounds/Mandarin/jin3.wav
淀 - Dian (“Dien”small pool of still water in a stream)
http://www.chinalanguage.com/CCDICT/Sounds/Mandarin/dian4.wav

Alas, there is no Chinese or Japanese version of Miller - go figure. Guess we'll just have to go with the literal meaning - person who operates a mill! Not very romantic or poetic I'm afraid.

Well, that's all the news I can think to bring you up to date on. I'll try to post a little more in the next couple of weeks. Two weeks today and we're on that plane (knock on wood)!

Surviving Toys R' Us

Our first real foray into the world of parenthood was a shopping excursion to the mecca of all things bobbled and brightly coloured - Toys R' Us.

Let me be absotutely clear, this is not a store, it is an ADD inducement chamber (thanks to Daniel for that literary reference). There are entire walls of plastic gizmos and cotton doodads. Shelves overflowing with everything from playdoe to diapers. Children running wild with sensory overload, while in the distance, the faint echoes of 'It's a Small World After All' induces parents into comatose stuppors as a means of escaping the sensory bombardment (or at least as a means of escaping their children who are latched onto their legs pleading for the giant Dora pillow or the Thomas the Train poster thanks to the full package of Nerds, conveniently placed at the right height for 4 year old hands, that they downed almost as soon as they set foot in the store). Ok, I'm taking a little poetic liscence here, but I've had sugar highs that were less intense.

There were entire walls in that place that we, as complete novices, were unable to decipher. All we could figure out from the packaging was that if we did not buy this product for our child, she would obviously wind up sick, uncared for and unloved... or a used car salesperson. It was never really that clear. Luckily, we had a cell phone! Unluckily, all the people we could think to call had lives, and so weren't home. We were on our own...

Our first hurdle, diapers. There was an entire wall of them. Now it's hard enough picking out diapers when you're pretty much guessing at the approximately weight of your child, since the info you have on her is about 5 months old. But, the diaper companies make it that much harder by absolutely guaranteeing if you don't use their product, you will ruin your child for life. After a futile 10 minutes trying to figure out just what the heck was different between huggies, pampers and the other guys, we finally picked the package that seemed to have the greatest weight range (16-32 pds.)

After that rousing success, we moved on to the bottles, where we were totally out of our league. You can't just pick-up a couple bottles. Nope. You have to commit to an entire bottle feeding system. And woes for your baby if you pick the wrong one, because you will be condemning your angel to either starvation - whilst they try to draw liquid from a tiny-itty bitty hole in the nipple - or chronic gas - from the inappropriate bottle that you chose. This is the point where we dove for the cell phone. After that failed, we retreated to the same strategy we use for picking bottles of wine - we went for the ones with the pretty pictures on them.

At the end of the day, we came home with a couple bags of stuff, and muttled through with our own unique version. The picture kinda explains it all:

Yup, that's a bag of rice in a Snugli.

Despite our shopping ineptitude, we do have confirmed travel plans. We leave Ottawa on Tuesday, June 27th, and arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, June 28th. In-country travel details are still forthcoming, but we expect to travel to Nanchang on July 2nd, and finally get to pick-up Kiyomi on July 3rd (if I remember right, that's also Geno's birthday).

Excitement is definitely starting to build... only 31 days until we leave!

On the paper trail...

So, a little more on the adoption process. When you finally get word that your child is there, waiting for you, the first thing you need to do is... paper work! Not quite mountains of it yet, but you fill out a bunch of forms and trundle them off to the adoption agency.

We met with our social worker last week and filled out all the requisite forms, signed them, copied them, sealed them and delivered them. As a result, we have now FORMALLY accepted the referral and promised to love and cherish Kiyomi for ever and ever (of course, that was the easy part). Poor Kiyomi doesn't quite have the same luxury - it seems she's stuck with us.

On a more interesting note, we now have confirmed travel dates - June 30 to July 14. We're hoping to get there a couple days early to get over jetlag and get our bearings, but for all intents and purposes, we must aim to be in Beijing by Saturday, July 1. No itinerary yet. That should come in early June. However, we have been told that we will be travelling to Nanchang, the provincial capital of Jiangxi.

As you can tell from the maps, Nanchang is in the southeast of the country, and sits on the banks of the Gan River, about 60 kms south of the more well known Yangtze River. It is also located near China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake. The city is small by Chinese standards with only approximately 2 million people. Historically, it is the site of the Nanchang Uprising - the first major conflict between the Communists and the Kuomintang on August 1, 1927.


This area of Jiangxi is known for porcelain and has been a bit of a grain basket, as the fertile soil in the area makes it China's leading grain producer. Weather-wise, we can expect it to be pretty darn steamy with an average July high of 33 degrees celsius. Sun hats, sun screen and tank tops are already on the list...

Through the paperwork, we also had to come to a final decision on Kiyomi's full name. We've decided her full name will be Kiyomi Jin-Dian Miller. Hope she likes it!

Thanks to all of you you have sent congratulations and such a warm welcome to Kiyomi. We'll be saving all your emails and posts to show her when she gets older, and let her know how much excitement and happiness her arrival caused.

Let the Kiyomi tales begin...

The last week has been one hell of a whirlwind, but we have now come down from the clouds -literally and figuratively. I got back from Whistler on Tuesday afternoon (and for the record, despite efforts to the contrary, Lauren and I experienced smooth sailing with not a single navigational crisis at 4:30 in the morning), and Kohji arrived early on Wednesday morning, after taking the redeye in order to get one more precious day of skiing in (I don't know how the boy does it). We've now unpacked, done laundry and Kohji is presently re-packing for a conference in Toronto which starts tomorrow and runs until Wednesday.

While we had expected that the translated file would be ready on Monday or Tuesday of next week, we actually got word on Wednesday that we could pick it up that afternoon. We happily sauntered down to the CB office to pick it up (ok, well, actually, we got caught in a traffic jam on the Queensway and nearly jumped out of the car to run along the shoulder, knowing that we had to get there before 4:30 when the office closed, but who's recording details here).

So, we now have a few more details on our little monkey, including some medical information. We're happy to report that there doesn't appear to be any medical or development issues. This has been confirmed by Aunty Aya, who took time out of her exam prep to go through the report with us (thanks Aunty Aya), our family doc and grandpa Barry (sorry Dad, but you haven't given me anything else to go by, so you get to sound like a fruit). Everybody reading this, send good vibes Aya's way as she heads into her last set of exams as a medical resident!

We're expecting more travel details early next week, and have been informed for the moment that we should expect to travel around June 30. For the record, that is only 57 days away!

Thought we'd also post a few pictures to give you a sense of what's been happening around here.

What Kohji was doing when the call came in (those are his boots)...

What Tamara was doing when the call came in (with Lauren, my intrepid ski partner at the exact spot we were standing when the call came in)...

Proof that this poor child is in real trouble with us as parents (yes, it says Whistler ski bum)...

The stork has landed!!!!! Yipee!!!!!

I was on the top of Whistler Mountain, skis strapped to my feet enjoying breathtaking views on a blue sky day when the call came in. The phone sitting in my breast pocket started to go, the phone that only Kohji or Jenna from the adoption agency had the number for. It was Jenna at the end of the line. The conversation went a little like this:

Jenna: "Hello, this is Jenna Ryan from Children's Bridge. How are you?"
Tamara: "I'm on top of a mountain at the moment Jenna! How are you?"
Jenna: "Well, you should be on top of the world!"

At which point the conversation disintegrated to a lot of "oh my gods!"and "wows!" on my part, as Jenna proceeded to tell me that our referral had arrived. I blathered on a fair bit, cursing myself for not having a pen/paper and thinking to myself what exactly do you say to a woman who is telling you that you're a mommy while you're standing on a mountain top. Luckily for me, Lauren (my interpid ski parter and human recorder) told me to say it out loud, and was able to remember what I shouted out to her. If not for her, I probably wouldn't have even remembered our daughter's name! We owe you big time Lauren.

Of course, after getting off the phone with Jenna, I promptly called Kohji who was actually unreachable as he was at that very moment hurtling through the bush on a dogsled. My god, this poor child has to suffer with us as parents for how long?

Once we finally touched base, we met at the hotel and logged in to get the first photos of our adorable little girl and get the first little dribs of information.

So, we are overjoyed, over the moon and overwhelmed to introduce our daughter, Kiyomi(Chinese name: Wan Jin Dian), currently in Jianxi Province in southern China. There aren't a lot of details yet, but we do know that she was born on July 18, 2005 (also Brahm's birthday). She's 6 kg and 61 cms long with the chubbiest little cheeks ever.



We expect to get the translated file in 5-7 days, at which point we will have more information on our little girl. At the moment, we expect to be travelling in late June or early July to bring her home.

The stork is in the air!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got an email from the adoption agency confirming that the CCAA has matched to, and including, June 6, and that they expect our referral is in the up-coming batch. Here is the verbatim report from CB:

"Well the time has come we can confirm the CCAA has matched files up to and including June 6, 2005. We are expecting your referrals to arrive late this week to early next week. Please remember we will require a minimum of 6 hours to review copy and scan the referral before we can call families. We try and call families as soon as we can, so please rest assured we are working hard to get them done."

So, barring any unforseen fiascos, this time next week, we should have a photo and some information on the new addition to the Miller-Suzuki clan. KT's gonna be soooo jealous...

We'll post a photo as soon as we can!

Possible good news - JUNE 6!!!!!!

I really hope I'm not spreading rumours prematurely, but as of this morning, the CCAA (China Adoption Agency) says that they have matched files registered in their office before June 6!!! To quote it precisely, the CCAA website reads:

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 6, 2005."

If that is the case, then we are in. Our referral should be on its way here.

Our agency, however, isn't committing to anything just yet, which makes me a little uncomfortable. They are saying that they expect the information on the website is reliable, but that they themselves haven't heard anything from the CCAA directly.

I don't think we'll be 100% sure until the referral is actually here and CB confirms its receipt. However, we'll be watching the phone rather obsessively for the next few days (ok, well Tamara will)!

Cross your fingers everybody that they haven't made a typo or made premature changes to the website! In the meantime, I'll be sitting here trying desperately to sit still (good thing I brought my shoes for a lunch time run or there is no way I'd make it through today!)

Yes folks, there was snow!

The parking lot was brown, and until the base of the first run, there wasn't a stitch of snow to be seen. However, Killington claimed to have 40 runs open and it sure felt like snow when I face-planted!

Yes, as a means of calming Tamara's irritating adoption rumour obsession (and give her index finger a rest from all the incessant clicking), we headed down to Killington, Vt., over the Easter weekend for a little ski vacation. Which in this case, meant occassionally picking our way across boulders and grass with skis on, but generally heading in a downward trajectory with snow under foot. We agreed we were probably a little nuts, when we heard another guess exclaim to one of the hotel employees - "Skiing? Who would be crazy enough to try skiing at this time of year?!" - while we sat sheepishly in the corner with ski pants and long underwear on!

Of course, tales of our skiing adventure are not what you checked in here for, so I will spare you the details and get straight to the goods: rumours.

'Double, double toil and trouble, rumours burn and heresay bubble' ...

... to paraphrase an oldy, but a goody. (Extra points to the person who can tell me who wrote the original and in what work. Dad, you're excluded for obvious reasons).

There is a building level of speculation and the rumours seem to run the gamut. The prevailing one seems to be that the CCAA will match the first week of June (but does not specify to which date). However, there is also a nice juicy one saying that the CCAA will only match May 31st. What that means for us (with a registration date of June 3) is anyone’s guess. What it confirms is that no one has any idea. So, we are all confimed in our not knowing... (ah, my bureaucratic skills are coming through brilliantly).

Children's Bridge has told us that the referrals are expected at the end of April or the first week of May. As luck would have it, we will be in Whistler from April 27 to May 2. Fear not, we will be bringing the laptop with us and posting updates if we happen to get them.

So, check in soon, and check in often all you cool cats, cause there may be something in the next couple of weeks... unless of course, there's nothing...

Further on the delays

We've had a couple days to recover and are now feeling better, but I don't mind saying, there was a whole heap o' dissapointment in our house this past weekend.

We attended part of an adoption seminar on the weekend, where we learned that the biggest reason for these delays is simply the volume of applications. When we started this process more than a year ago, China was very attractive because there seemed to be a predictable, and relatively short, wait of 6 months from registration with China to date of referral. Not suprisingly, this was not only attractive to us, but also thousands of others around the globe. As a result, word is that the CCAA has been flooded with applications. So, while they may be processing the same number of individual applications on a monthly basis, the applications all flooded in over very few days, so the timelines march forward slower than expected. Those people who are only now sending their files to China are being told to expect a wait of approximately 14 months from registration to referral.

It's worth keeping in mind that these timelines are comparable to the waits back in 2001 and 2002. So, this is not any sort of precedent, and there is every indication that we'll get there, it's just going to take a little longer than we originally expected. Right now, we remain hopeful that we'll make the next batch of referrals, expected in late April. However, we've been a little chastened this month, so we'll try to also be prepared for not hearing anything until the end of May.

In the meantime, diversion is the word of the day. We're plotting a trip for the Easter long weekend - perhaps Killington, Vermont, for a little spring skiing or Washington, D.C., for a little sightseeing.

We also have a trip to Whistler planned for the end of April, so there are indeed diversions to be had! Nothing like a road trip and watching Tamara negotiate her way down a double black diamond (after a wrong turn of course!) to take one's mind off of things.

We'll be sure to post the pictures of Tamara battling spring moguls on her butt!

Bad News

Well, if there is one thing this process teaches you it's to temper any and all expectations.

It seems there has been yet another slow down. CCAA this month is only matching 5 days worth of applications. This means matches this month are only to May 30. With an LID of June 3rd, we didn't make the cut.

So, we're going to stop speculating on the timelines. Maybe we'll be in the next batch in early May, maybe we won't.

Sorry, we don't have better news.

Nothing new

It's been a couple of weeks, and there is a wee bit o' impatience developing on the discussion lists as eager and anxious parents-to-be start watching the rumour mills. While I'm indeed guilty of dabbling in the rumour hunt myself, for the most part, we are trying to stay away from the fray in order to keep relatively cool heads. When I say "we", what I really mean is that Kohji keeps telling Tamara to stop making herself crazy by trying to decipher rumours and translate them into viable timelines. There is a certain restlessness developing though as the 'referral' day starts to seem at least within reach. Thankfully, the streets are getting dryer, which lets me burn off some of the restlessness through jogging (if nothing else, maybe I'll be in better shape for Ultimate season!)

While there is no good news, there is also no bad news (i.e., further slow-downs), which in this process is actually a positive thing. As a result, we've made the requisite phone calls to our social worker and doctor to make sure they are 'on-deck' starting at the end of this month. We're also starting to turn our minds to a few more concrete things like names and where this kid will actually sleep. No decisions, of course, made on any of that yet. We only move so fast...

I am, however, happily following the travels of Children's Bridge Group 229 currently in China. These happy parents were united with their kids on Monday (March 13), and I am learning alot about what to expect by following along on their blogs and reading about their trials, tribulations, terrors and delights (it's as close to a complete alliteration as I can come up with). Of note is the fact that there are at least two boys in that group. We're not sure if boys were specifically requested, but it's a timely reminder that things may not necessarily turn out exactly as expected in this process.

Side-note: While it doesn't necesarily predict things for us, the babies in the last batch of referrals are from two provinces, Henan and Guangdong. The age range was seven months to eighteen months, with the majority in the ten-month range in age. The families will be traveling to China at the beginning of May.

Short Update

I've noticed how long my postings tend to be on this blog, so I'm keeping this one short.

It seems that those CB groups who were logged in on May 16th now have their referrals. Those logged in on May 31st, however, did not make the cut this month. That means that this last batch of referrals included 10 days worth of applications. If that pace holds, then we should just make the cut for the next batch in April.

However, we're definitely hopeful for next month seeing as how they matched 10 days in the short month of February, which would have included a full shut-down of the CCAA offices for at least a week because of Chinese New Year. All we need is for them to match at least 9 days worth of applications!

Don't hold your breaths, but definitely cross your fingers.

A little luck and a musical interlude

Hello all:

With St. Patty's day just around the corner, I've been thinking a fair bit about luck lately, and how much of the frustration in the adoption process can be attributed to the bad kind. Both the province and the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) seem to have slowed down just as our application made it's way to them. Bad luck! But then again, we've had plenty of the good stuff in the proces too: a lovely social worker, Ontario dropping the internationl adoption fee of $900. So, invoking leprachauns, rabbit's feet, horse shoes and all things lucky, here's hoping that the bad stuff is behind us and only good stuff ahead! Keep your fingers crossed for us, cause every little bit helps.

Now, on to referral updates. There has been alot of chatter and rumours the last couple weeks, which I think we can attribute more to wishful thinking than anything else. There is nothing really "new" to report with respect to our referrals. The CCAA (China) website, however, currently indicates that it has matched families with log-in-dates up to May 25th (ours is June 3rd). CB is fairly confident, therefore, that referrals for early June groups will arrive in April/06. This, of course, is always subject to change, but it's looking like the timelines have not slowed considerably this month. If our current luck holds, we are hoping to that our referral will come sometime in the first two weeks of April.

An Adoption Interlude

In the meantime, a musical (or at least adoption) interlude. As things finally seem to be getting closer, we thought it might be worthwhile to pass along a little information about bonding and attachment issues - always the rage in any discussion, publication, chat group or passing glance related to adoption.

Bonding and attachment are two well-worn buzz words in the adoption community, and a fairly central obsession with most adopted parents. The crux of the issue is providing time and opportunity for your child to come to trust you as her parents and primary care-givers. This is a process that happens even with newborns into biological families. Over time, babies learn that these two people who keep irritatingly repeating the words "mommy" and "daddy", will respond to their cries and cater to their needs. In baby thoughts, it means: "when my bum feels uncomfortable, this mommy-person makes the wetness go away; when my tummy rumbles, this daddy person gives me a bottle and it stops feeling empty; when I feel grumpy and the best thing to do is scream as loud as humanely possible, mommy walks around in circles into the wee hours of the night holding me until I fall asleep." Over time, the baby comes to trust that this will happen everytime, no matter what. That is effectively, a grossly oversimplified version of attachment.

Adopted kids still have to go through that process of developing trust even though they tend to be older than newborn. Because they are older, they already have some life experiences under their belt and may not take too kindly to these new people in their lives. Some of these kids, especially if they've spent time in an orphanage, may not have yet had the opportunity to build a trust relationship with any care-giver. So, they could react in a number of different ways to these two funny looking people who keep talking at them in some weird language. Some babies shut-down, evading touch or eye contact, prefering to avoid any connections whatsoever. Others may be outgoing and snuggle with every adult they meet in order to maximize the chances of making sure someone out there makes the wet-bum feeling go away when it happens.

So, how to deal with the bonding and attachment issues that adopted kids face ? While a gross oversimplification, the bottom line is that adopted kids need to be given the opportunity to trust their new care-givers (which given the looks of us, may be a real challenge for our little one). If we are lucky, our daughter will have already have had the chance to bond with a care-giver (perhaps a nanny or foster parent), sowing the seeds of a trust relationship. However, it is more likely that she has spent much of her young life in an orphanage, and may never have had the chance to develop that 'trust'. While her care-givers were probably very loving and conciensious, the simple fact that they would have likely been caring for a number of children would have made it almost impossible for a true 'trust' to develop. It's not likely that she would have consistantly been comforted when she was scared or fed when she was hungry. So, our little one may stuggle with what to think about these two strangers who swoop into her life and she might, understandably, be a little doubtful that these adult-things are really all that with it when it comes to meeting her needs.

Which brings us to the question of mechanics. What can we do, as her 'forever family' (or so the term is used) to help her sow those seeds of trust? Well, there is scads and scads of advice out there about how to promote bonding and attachment. Some experts advocate "cocooning" (literally what it sounds like - having the family bunker down and limit contact with visitors), others suggest making sure that mommy and daddy are the only ones who change, feed, comfort, bath, put baby to sleep (to the exlcusion of others), while still others argue that regular care and nurturing are the basic fundamentals that will address attachment needs. Any of the 'absolute must-dos' make us pretty uncomfortable, so we haven't really decided what the right course of action is. Generally, we are advocates of getting a better feel from our daughter as to what she seems comfortable with and what her needs might be.

However, we firmly believe that this little girl is not only coming into our lives, but all of yours as well. While bonding and attachment with us will be paramount, we also believe that it will be important for her to develop relationships with her extended family. So, we thought it might be worthwhile to raise the issue with all of you who will be part of the 'kid's' life, so you are aware of some of the things she will be struggling with in her young life, and more importantly, so you can provide us with advice, guidance, deperately needed help as we move forward as a family.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Lunar New Year!

This Sunday is the Lunar New Year and much of China will be closed for the week while people travel home to see relatives and friends in celebration of the season. An interesting description of the festivities and traditions is available (http://www.duckdaotsu.org/gongxifacai.html).

While we won't be partaking in any of the house cleaning rituals, Kohji and I have decided to celebrate my making a pilgrammage to Mont Tremblant! Ok, well, the Tremblant excursion has nothing to actually do with Chinese New Year, but it's as good an excuse as any for the moment.

As for progress on the referrals, I'm afraid there is little to report this week. As suspected, Children's Bridge is not expecting any February referrals, so there is no news on that front. However, the CCAA website does report that they have reviewed all the applications registered with their office in June 2005 (which would include ours). This means, in theory, that our dossier has reached the mythical matching room. The CCAA also reports that they have matched all the dossiers registered on or before May 13th.

For what it's worth, here is the latest update from Children's Bridge:

"CCAA will close for a week for Lunar New Year. This means the next group of referrals likely will not come until early March. Then we expect to receive groups 230, 231 registered on May 16th and, if our luck changes, Group 232, registered in China on May 31st. Time lines from registration at CCAA to referral is now at ten months, with travel about two months later."

April, therefore, remains the anticipated referral month (for the moment). We'll keep ya posted as things change.

No news is news...

We've noticed an interesting thing starting to develop as we plod along through this whole adoption thing - an uncanny ability to make 'no news' into news.

Children's Bridge sends out weekly updates on activities, and even on those weeks where there is no expectation of new developments or referrals, we (along with dozens of other waiting parents) pounce on them as soon as our little email blips ring. CB tries to instill a sense of hope and patience in their weekly missives (bless their little hearts), but really, more often than not, the news is simply that there is no news. This week is no different:

"Normal procedure for CCAA is to send referrals out before Lunar New Year, which would mean by the end of next week with arrival the following week of the 30th. The lingering question for us is if there will be any for our families. The cut off date for this month’s referrals has not been set yet as CCAA ascertains how many children it can match and to what registration date that will take them. As our next groups were logged in May 16th the cut off date may preclude us. Fingers crossed that we make it in under the wire as I know you all want some more positive news." - Children's Bridge Weekly Update, January 20, 2006

I've not doubt we'll discuss, plot, and try to read between the lines, but the general conclusion remains, we're not likely to hear anything until April at the earliest.

For those of you who might find it of interest, CBC is airing a 4 part series starting this Sunday (January 22) at 8 p.m. called China Rising. Parts 1 and 2 will be this Sunday (between 8 and 10), while parts 3 and 4 will be the following week (January 29). Don't expect there will be much on adoption, but some interesting information about the country's current socio-economic situation and likely some history. At a miminum, it looks like there will be some beautiful images from China (based on the 30 second trailer I saw): http://www.cbc.ca/chinarises/intro/

Kids come with stuff...

While we all wait, I thought we'd fill you in on some of the little things that we are learning as we move towards this whole parenting thing.

One of the first lessons we were shocked and awed to learn was that kids come with stuff! And I don't mean that they are diapered and clothed, so you need to carry a diaper bag with snacks and fresh Wet-ones. No, no, no, I mean that the average North American baby is packing more gear than an Everest expedition.

At first, I confess, we sort of ignored the amount of stuff truely involved. I mean, we knew very few parents of wee toddlers and didn't pay that close attention to the amount of stuff that was jammed into the homes of the toddlers we did know (N.B. I say the homes of toddlers and not parents, as it seems that the house is primarily a storage container for the toddler's stuff). Slowly, however, the truth started to make itself known. We started to see more and more stuff in the arms of the parents we knew as they struggled to their car, arms laden with brightly coloured chairs and toys. We'd visit them in their toddler homes, and realize that the available floor space in the average kid inhabited home seemed to be roughly as impossibly small as the new iPod Nano (hey Apple, how about some store credit for this little plug?).

But, our eyes were finally and truely opened when our friend (and an angel on earth) Jan, decided it was time to indoctrinate us into the world of kid stuff. Chatting with her one day, she said she had been straightening her basement, and had put aside some 'stuff' for us and the 'kid' (as the wee one has affectionately come to be known on our house). Yup, we figured, that's wonderful. We'll take our little Civic and pick up some 'stuff' from Jan...

The 'stuff' didn't fit in our trunk... the 'stuff' didn't fit in our car... the 'stuff' required the entire compartment, trunk and front seat of our car. Kohji sat in the passenger seat with a bin on his lap, and I drove with my seat up so far my nose touched the windsheild. In fact, not only did the 'stuff' fill up our car, it completely overtook Jan's Carolla as well. It was like the 'Blob', devouring everything in its path! Jan couldn't actually put the car into drive because the 'stuff' wouldn't let her. We were a caravan of 'stuff' crawling along Bank street in first gear because neither of us could actually reach the stick that allowed us to move any faster.

Once home, the 'stuff' worked its way into our living room. Now, as some of you know, we have a grand piano in our living room. It's a beautiful, large, black lacquer beauty, visible pretty much as soon as you walk into the room. Well, it was impossible to discern the piano amongst the 'stuff'. The 'stuff' drawfed the piano, sat down at the dining table and created a kitty obstacle course for KT that was the envy of the Habitrail company! The 'stuff' had arrived!

After Jan left, sweetly signing 'au revoir' knowing that the she had effectly staged a coup by ousting the 'stuff' that had ruled over her basement for the last year or so (since Alex outgrew it), Kohji and I sat there is shock. The 'stuff' had taken up residence, and not only did we not know where to put it, we didn't know what some of it was. The clothes we could handle, but some of the other things were indecipherable. We couldn't tell the difference between a child toy and a child carrier. We thought a stool was the table for the high chair, and that the high chair table was a rain cover for the stroller. There were 4 different kinds of baby carrying devises with wheels!!! How does one know what to use? How do they work? Why can't I unfold this and how the heck do I fold this one back up? This, more than anything else, sent waves of panic through me. If we couldn't figure out what this brightly coloured, polka dotted thing was for, how would we ever figure out how to calm a tantruming toddler (especially as she'll be riding on top of the closed stroller while she's tantruming, because we'll not have ever figured out how it opens)?!?!??

A panic conversation with Jan (and much reassurance from her about how the 'stuff' can be tamed and that she will assist us) and general banishment of most of the the 'stuff' to the basement (where it reigns supreme to this day) has quelled the panic. However, the stuff still looms.

Lest you think I'm making this up, allow me to share a couple of photos. These were taken when our friend Colette (another angel on earth), convinced me that it was time to start taming some of the 'stuff'. She came from Winnipeg, armed with a U2 ticket and the determination (and necessary mommy tools) to herd and pen at least some of the 'stuff'.















Eight bins of clothes later, the 'kid' is likely clothed until the age of five, and not just clothed, but adorably turned out!

While the lesson of the 'stuff' has been incredibly valuable, the 'stuff' has also passed along the way more valuable lesson that I think will be my fundamental approach to parenthood - love, cherish and panic with, your friends and family and somehow it will all work out.

Delay, delays and more delays

Happy new year to all!

FYI, Lunar (aka Chinese) New Year is coming up at the end of January. This year is the Year of the Dog. Seeing as we are both also born in the Dog year (1970) (well, us and Bill Clinton), we are hopeful that 2006 will bring good fortune in our adoption quest.

Thought we'd take advantage of the holiday downtime to bring you up to date on activities of late (or lack thereof). As suspected in our last post, there indeed wasn't a referral in December. Group 229 has just received their referrals this week (week of January 2). So, that means we are one step closer (even if it feels a like a small step).

Unfortunately, there has been a significant slow down in referrals and it is likely that we will have to wait several more months. We hesitate to speculate on timelines anymore, as we have no way of knowing whether things will speed up, or slow down, over the next few months. All we can do at this point is pass along the information provided to us by Children's Bridge:

"Group 229’s files were registered at the CCAA in the latter part of April 2005. The CCAA is only matching two weeks of files per month now, having dropped from two months worth at one stage, to one month, now to only two weeks. This means that in February, they will only match files registered before May 15th, 2005. Our next groups, 230, 231 and 232 were all registered after May 16th 2005. Accordingly, we anticipate we will not receive any referrals in February. This also means that time from registration to referral is creeping up to ten months and we expect it soon will be a year to referral." - Children's Bridge Weekly Update - January 6, 2006

According to the China Center for Adoption Affairs, the number of healthy babies in China is in decline while the number of families wishing to adopt keeps growing. There certainly has been a steady increase in applications over the last few months or so. China, however, is fairly restrained with the amount of information it provides, so there are no details available on the 'whys and hows' of the current slowdown.

International adoption from China made headlines just before Christmas, when an orphanage in Hunan province was found to be adopting out 'black-market' babies. It is possible that the investigation of this has contributed to the slow down, but there is simply no way to know for sure. If it is indeed the case that there are fewer children available for adoption, we can only hope it's because their birth families are able to keep and care for them. While we are dissapointed, believing that fewer children have to endure the loss of their birth families takes away a little of the sting.

As some of you may know, the Lunar New Year is a time of celebration in China. We're starting to learn a little more about it, so thought we'd pass along some interesting websites in case you're also interested in learning more about the celebrations and your sign under the Asian zodiac:

http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html

http://www.familyculture.com/holidays/lunar_new_year.htm