The chronicles of our adoption from China

The new blog is up and running

2007-10-14T22:25:00.000-03:00

As you may have noticed, content here has come to an end because we've received our referral and pictures of the kid. If you'd like to continue following our journey to Kate, please click HERE and complete the form to access to our new private blog.

Thanks for visiting and we hope to see you on our new blog.

Scott, Jen, Kate

Say hi to He Fu Qing

2007-10-11T21:12:00.000-03:00

TADA!!!!
Say hi to our cute little daughter.
She's from Sichuan Chongqing province.
Born November 15, 2006

Sorry for the lack of information and the late posting. Today was crazy and the phone and doorbell didn't stop ringing. More information once I get the new blog up and running.

*** 10-14-7 we've remove the pics and posted them to our new blog. Check it out of you want to see the pics of Kate ***

There's more families travelling with us

2007-10-10T22:36:00.000-03:00

We heard today that there are at least 3 more families that will be travelling with us. 2 are expedited families (Chinese families) and 1 family from out west from group 250 (I think). Does anyone know who these people are?!?! We'll find out when CB sends us information but it would be nice to know now.

afternoon update

2007-10-10T16:18:00.001-03:00

Nothing worth reporting. Still no paperwork and no phone calls.

Cathy Murphy from Children’s Bridge is in town this weekend for an AdoptTalk seminar. She’ll have 2 unhappy people on her hands if we still don’t have our referral.

Our new blog is on its way.

2007-10-10T10:23:00.000-03:00

I’ve mentioned this before and it’s time to start advertising access to our new blog.

This blog has been fun, but all good things must come to an end. Once our referral arrives, this blog will end as we’ll need to add a layer of privacy to our lives and will be starting a new blog from time of referral to our return.

If you would like access to the new blog, please click HERE and let us know who you are. You’ll be advised in the next few days of the location of the new blog.

If the link above didn’t work, here it is again.

http://www.scottfillmore.ca/china/blog_access/index.php

morning update

2007-10-10T08:52:00.001-03:00

Nothing yet. Jen emailed and called our social worker Genevieve to see if she’s heard anything and she emailed and called back saying that she didn’t have anything but Bill (who handles our paperwork before it gets to Genevieve) had emailed her Friday saying the paperwork should soon be coming to her. Her schedule is free for most of the week and she should be able to get us in as soon as she gets the file.

As I understand it, Children’s Bridge usually turns around the paperwork within 24 hours. They need to translate it and review it then it gets sent back to Bill in Fredericton. Our guestimated timeline is that Children’s Bridge would receive the paperwork Friday, should have it translated by end of day yesterday and send it back to Bill today. Bill should hopefully send it on to Genevieve today for us to review tomorrow.

When we get the picture, we’ll announce it here, but we’re going to share it among friends and family before posting it to the blog. If you’re in the area, feel free to stop by our house that night as we’ll have an open door for anyone who wants to stop by. After the people leave, then we’ll post the pic here.

That’s it for now. I really don’t expect anything today.

noon update - nothing yet

2007-10-09T12:03:00.000-03:00

It’s noon here… no calls on the answering machine @ home and Jennifer has not heard from anybody yet today. We do not expect to hear anything today… tomorrow is more like when we should see our paperwork and the pictures.

WEATHER: Huge Landslide in Sichuan

2007-10-09T09:06:00.000-03:00

I’m assuming that we’re going to Sichuan province. I know that 2 babies for others in our group are from there so this is relevant to us.

WEATHER: Huge Landslide in Sichuan

3,000 evacuated after landslide blocks river

9:17pm, 10/08/2007

More than 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after a huge landslide dammed a river, creating a menacing lake that threatened to burst.

The landslide occurred Friday when an estimated 500,000 cubic meters (18 million cubic feet) of mud and rock tumbled into a river near Guangyuan city, in Sichuan province.

No one was hurt in the landslide, but it created a dam 150 meters (492 feet) long, blocking the river, and creating a lake that began to expand as water flowed in. The lake has submerged about 187 hectares (462 acres) of crop land.

Local authorities began evacuating residents near the site out of fear the dam could collapse at any moment, and have begun work to drain the lake. Officials hope to have the lake drained with two days. The report did not mention the name of the river or what might have triggered the landslide.

It is official... we have been matched

2007-10-08T00:48:00.000-03:00

Check it out... the news we've been waiting for for many many many months. OK... hurry up and get that paperwork to us. We need to get it back on its way to China so that we can get there before Christmas. Hey everyone out there.... find me someone who officially received their paperwork during the week of October 10 and travelled before Christmas. It sure is cutting it close.

YEEHAW!!!!!!!!

So, on whatever day that we receive our referral (You'll hear it here first), we'll be having an open house that night to see the pic. If you want to see the pic before it's posted here, stop by and share in our joy.

To end on a sad note, we really feel bad that they only matched to Nov 30. There's a couple of local families who are close behind and it would've been really cool to meet up in China for a quick visit. Our hearts are out to you all right now.

How we spent our Saturday

2007-10-06T23:25:00.001-03:00

Today was our annual fall pilgrimage to the Fredericton Farmer's Market. While we were in Fredericton....

Rumor Queen - you and I are done!

2007-10-05T16:43:00.001-03:00

We’re 99.99% sure that our paperwork is in Canada. I’ll be optimistic and say that.

Quite a burden has been lifted from me by knowing that I don’t have to stop by and visit the Rumor Queen any more. Over the last 2 years, she’s been more of a thorn in my side than a help. In a lot of cases, the roller coaster we rode many months was powered by her words. She’d get us all excited with talk of someone saying something, then we’d be disappointed to find out that it was just a rumor. Yes, I must admit that she did serve a good purpose when I needed her but goodbye and good riddance, Evil Queen. HEHE

As the Ontario families received their pics yesterday, I’ll assume that the NB Government received our paperwork and sent it off to Children’s bridge. They turn it around quite quickly, so lets’ think that it’s been translated and sent back to the Province. If they’re efficient, it might get shipped to our social worker today, but it will most likely travel Tuesday. Our social worker should then have it Wednesday. We might have a pic in our hands as soon as Wednesday. Now I just need to find my old scanner and get it hooked up to the computer to scan the pic when I get it.

It’s the end of the day here and we’ll just have to make the most of this long weekend. As someone pointed out to me today at work – this is our last Thanksgiving as a family of 2.

Ontario has their files, we have to wait

2007-10-04T22:49:00.000-03:00

Hooray hooray hooray for the Ontario families in our group. They all received their referrals late this afternoon and sent out their pics tonight.

The 3 babies range in age from 9 months to 20 months and are all from Sichuan Province. I'm assuming that "Gertrude" will be from there as well.

So, is our file back in Canada? When will we receive our information? When will we be travelling? I guess we still have many more questions to answer before we can relax.

Nothing

2007-10-04T15:29:00.001-03:00

Still nothing. Children’s Bridge told someone else in our Group that they have not received anything yet. I believe that their courier shipment arrive late in the day so there4 might still be some hope that they’ll receive something today. That really doesn’t help us other than confirming that our group received their referral. Ours must pass thru the Province’s hands first so that will cause us a delay from the Ontario people in getting our information.

Someone from another Canadian agency is reporting that their agency (not named, but we don’t think it was Children’s Bridge) has received their referral today so if anything was to be delivered to our agency, it should be today.

I’m not sure what this all means. This month’s process has been very different than most months… Usually the CCAA site is updated before the files go out. This month, files are out without the CCAA updating their site. A 3 day holiday fell near the end of the matching process which complicates dates. So, nothing for sure at this point.

We continue to wait mostly in the dark.

getting our ducks all lined up

2007-10-03T08:38:00.000-03:00

Still no news. There’s bits of information, but nothing I would bet my life on right now.

Still no official sign of a cutoff date but it looks like it’s probably November 30 if the rumors stand true. If that’s the case, we’re in!

Still no word on whether paperwork is on its way or not. Jen made a couple phone calls yesterday to make sure that all the people who will touch our paperwork will be around in the next few days as we’d hate for someone to be out while our paperwork sits on their desk collecting dust. All seems fine for that. Jen’s doctor may not be around so that could complicate things, but we’re hoping for the best on that. It all depends on when we’d have the paperwork to show her.

After hearing stories of people’s paperwork going to Nova Scotia instead of New Brunswick or people’s paperwork sitting on a desk somewhere in Canada, I’m still a bit reluctant to let out a sign of relief just quite yet. We still do not have any official word on anything but things are starting to get a wee bit more optimistic.

Still nothing

2007-10-02T08:10:00.000-03:00

I thought I would check my sources before I headed out this morning to see if anybody knows anything. Nope! Still no word on what the cutoff date will be and no word on whether the files have been sent or not.

Nothing to report

2007-10-01T11:28:00.000-03:00

The weekend didnt give us any new information.

From what I understand, the CCAA is closed for the complete week, not just the 3 days of holidays. It soudns liek they worked the weekend and took the rest of the week off to make up for their weekend work. Some agencies in Europe are reporting that referrals are on their way to their clients but no North American agencies have reported this yet. If thats the case, the files are also on their way to us here in North America as they send them out to every country at the same time. But who knows as none of this has been confirmed. A cutoff date has still not been announced by the CCAA but the rumor is that the 30th is in. Nobody knows how much further they've processed. Some talk says to December 5, but nobody can confirm it. If thats the case, we're in. But nobody knows for sure.

I am off for a business trip to Montreal until Thursday so I'll be anxiously waiting for my cellphone to ring for some good news from Jen as she'll be checking the sites and waiting for some news about our file. I'm sure she'll update things here if anything is heard.

In the meantime, the waiting continues.
Scott

22 months today

2007-09-30T17:13:00.001-03:00

Hopefully this will be our last posting announcing our months of wait. Lets see that countup to referral turn into a countdown to a family.

Still nothing to report

2007-09-28T14:16:00.001-03:00

Well, it’s Friday afternoon and nothing. Hardly a rumor to speak of. The CCAA is supposed to be working this weekend and then it’s a holiday in China for Monday to Wednesday inclusive so let’s hope that they finish off what they need by Monday. If the paperwork makes the courier before Monday, there’s a chance that we’ll travel before Christmas. If the referrals only get sent out after the holiday then travel might be postponed until January.

That’s it from here. Enjoy your weekend.

Still no news

2007-09-26T16:15:00.001-03:00

There are still no rumors or official news on when they have matched to or if the files have gone out. The waiting continues.

Still no news on the next batch of referrals

2007-09-24T09:56:00.001-03:00

Well, we’re into the part of the month where the rumours on the next batch of referrals are flying around but there’s nothing to report this month. Not one single rumour at this point. Having no rumours is even more frustrating than having some rumor as we have nothing to grasp onto, nothing to disappoint us or bring us hope for this critical month for us. I’m not quite sure on how to interpret this lack of unofficial news. Has the CCAA clamped down on their leaks and stopped the rumours from getting out? This is unlikely – unofficial information seems to always find a way to get out. Is the CCAA running that far behind schedule that we’re not even at the stage when rumours should be coming out? All the numbers say that the 4 days we need matched at not heavy days so there should be no reason for the CCAA to not meet a month end deadline like they usually do.

I still expect that we’ll get our referral in October. The problem now is the timeline on getting that referral. Oct 1,2,3 is a holiday in China for the Autumn Moon Festival and because of this the CCAA shuts down. If they CCAA sends out the referrals this week before the holiday, we should be good to travel in December. If the CCAA doesn’t send out the referrals until after the holiday, the timelines will be too tight and I doubt that we’ll travel in December, which will bump our travel off to January.

It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces at the Autumn Moon Festival on the weekend. The presentations showcased the talent that we have in Moncton. The little kids doing their show were a crowd favourite; the martial arts demonstration was great. (I’ve never seen anyone actually use nun chucks in real life before) and the piano solos were wonderful. The taste of the Mooncakes was better than I remember from last year.

That’s it for now… keep checking back this week as this site will be updated as soon as we hear something.

Scott

Mid-Autumn Festival in Moncton this weekend

2007-09-21T11:58:00.001-03:00

Don’t forget about the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival which will held from 7pm - 10pm at Bernice MacNaughton High School, on Saturday, September 22, 2007.

Here’s a link explaining the celebration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

Canada AM features international adoption

2007-09-21T09:13:00.001-03:00

Here’s a link to a Canada AM story on international adoption. It features an Ottawa family who recently returned from China and Martha Maslin from Children’s Bridge.

http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/bplayer/ETalk.html

upcoming events in Fredericton

2007-09-17T10:06:00.001-03:00

Upcoming events in the Fredericton area

========

Hi all,

You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming special events hosted by the Chinese Cultural Association of New Brunswick (CCANB) in celebration of its 30th Anniversary.
Get your tickets early for the best seats. Feel free to forward this message to your friends and colleagues. For more information, please visit our website at www.ccanb.ca .

Autumn Moon Benefit Dinner
To celebrate the Chinese Autumn Moon festival and fundraise for the Chinese School, an Autumn Moon Benefit Dinner is planned on September 29th at the Jubilee Restaurant.
The evening will feature a delicious eight-course Chinese Banquet, live entertainment, silent auction and a ceremony salutation to our founding members. Please come and spend a memorable evening with old friends and new acquaintances while offering your generous support to CCANB.
Venue: Jubilee Restaurant (837 Prospect Street West)
Date: September 29, 2007 starting at 6:30 pm
Tickets: Limited seating is still available for $40/person at the Friendship Store (606 Albert Street Fredericton) or contact us via email at tickets@ccanb.ca.
Chinese Cultural Spectacular at the Playhouse
The Chinese Cultural Association is proud to present the "Chinese Cultural Spectacular" on Oct. 27th, 2007 at the Fredericton Playhouse.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to experience a gala show that will transport you to a breathtaking world on stage, infused with the vitality of colourful dancers, lavish costumes, exotic scenery and captivating music. The rich cultural heritage of China is brought to life in a dazzling and extravagant performance presented by the Chinese Cultural Association of New Brunswick in celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Venue: Fredericton Playhouse
Date: October 27, 2007 starting at 7:00 pm
Tickets: $23/Adult, $20.50/Student or Senior, and $17/CCANB member (Max. of 4 per family )
Reserved seating is available at the Fredericton Playhouse Box office, at the Friendship Store (606 Albert Street Fredericton) or contact us via email at tickets@ccanb.ca

Tom Ng /CCANB President

The last week in review

2007-09-14T15:56:00.001-03:00

It appears that I've become lazy and didn't keep my blog up to date this week. Shame on me. And I really don't even have a good excuse.

We went to Lenora and David's Balloon Fiesta adoptive family party Saturday in Sussex. Jen managed to get us an AWESOME packing list and some other survival guides from a family with 5 kids from China! WOW! After being there 5 times and improving the list every time, it's a jewel of a list. She even provided us a price list of what we should expect to pay for things in China. Thanks!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Jen talked to Children's Bridge a couple times to start making sure everything is as it should be. We're still optomistic that we'll get our referral at the beginning of October and have a picture in our hands by this time next month.

The final touches were put on the kids room this week. The dresser is done, the bed is made, and the the pictures are hung on the walls. We just need to fill the dresser with her clothes and stuff now.

Penny and David from Saint John are off to China today to get their little Lisa. Their paperwork encountered a couple hiccups getting back to China so they were delayed in travelling and are actually travelling on their own. The rest of their group has gone and returned. They have a blog but it's not public so we cant follow their journey. If you;re a Yahoogroups user, they do have a Yahoogroup that they'll be updating. Follow THIS LINK to sign up for it. I'm not sure if you'll actually get access or not as they have bigger things on their mind right now.

From checking some other blogs it seems to be a quiet week for most people. For us, I think this quietness is the calm before the storm!

TB infections among international adoptees rising: study

2007-09-06T09:53:00.001-03:00

From the Globe and Mail. An interesting article that all adoptive parents should read..

Jen' s doctor has agreed to take on Gertrude as a patient. Once we get our referral and have our travel dates, we'll book an appt with the doctor immediately after our return from China.

TB infections among international adoptees rising: study

HELEN BRANSWELL
Canadian Press
September 4, 2007 at 6:53 AM EDT

TORONTO — Tuberculosis infection rates among international adoptees to the United States has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, according to new findings which add weight to a call for Canada to screen all incoming adoptees for the disease.

The American study followed up on 869 foreign-born children adopted into U.S. families from 1986 through 2001. Twelve per cent of the children were infected with tuberculosis and the rate of TB infections among the adoptees rose 7 per cent with each passing year through the period studied.

“These kids are getting infected very, very early in life,” said lead author Dr. Anna Mandalakas, who runs the adoption health service at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

“So during this first two years of life if they're in an orphanage, a huge number of these children are getting infected.”

The authors of the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Paediatrics, say the findings support the current call from the American Academy of Paediatrics that all international adoptees undergo a skin test for tuberculosis immediately after adoption.

Two Canadian tuberculosis experts recently urged that TB screening policy for international adoptees be instituted in Canada, suggesting in a commentary in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that provinces and territories should follow up with adoptive parents to ensure these children get timely and thorough testing.

TB rates among the children in the American study ranged from nearly 15 per cent in adoptees from Eastern Europe, 14 per cent from Russia and 13 per cent from Korea to between 12.5 per cent and 11 per cent in India, China and South America, 8.3 per cent in Central America and the Caribbean and 2.8 per cent in Southeast Asia.

Canadians routinely adopt children from these same regions or countries, some of which have among the highest rates of tuberculosis globally. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, an average of 2,000 children a year are adopted into Canadian families from abroad.

The medical examination required of immigrants to Canada isn't geared towards detecting latent tuberculosis infection or TB disease in children under 11 years of age, Dr. Richard Long and co-author Jody Boffa of the tuberculosis program evaluation and research unit at the University of Alberta wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal earlier this summer.

But given the risk faced by international adoptees, this special group ought to be screened, Dr. Long and Ms. Boffa suggested. Their commentary noted that four in 10 foreign-born children under the age of five found to be infected with tuberculosis in Alberta between 2004 and 2006 were international adoptees.

Dr. Long said children infected with latent or even active TB don't pose a risk to others, because children under nine or 10 years of age rarely transmit disease. But the infection is a real threat to their own health, he said in an interview.

Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bug that causes TB, doesn't always lead to active disease. In many people the bacteria remains latent. Infected adults have about a five to 10 per cent chance of developing active tuberculosis some time in their lifetime.

With young children, however, the risk that infection will lead to disease is much higher. Infants under a year have a roughly 50 per cent chance of developing disease and children aged one to two have a 20 per cent chance. And if active TB develops, it can progress beyond the lungs, the typical site of disease.

“Little children not only have a higher risk of getting disease from infection itself, they're at higher risk of getting severe forms of disease — and by severe forms I mean central nervous system or disseminated TB,” said Dr. Long, who also serves as Alberta's medical officer of health for tuberculosis.

A TB expert at Toronto's University Health Network agreed.

“They're a relatively small population, but they're a really high risk population,” said Dr. Michael Gardam, who is head of infection control for that network of three central Toronto hospitals. Dr. Gardam was not involved in either the study or the commentary.

“Because these kids are not coming from healthy, happy homes. They're coming from environments where they're very likely to have been exposed to tuberculosis. And I think it makes perfect sense to be screening them.”

Both Dr. Mandalakas' study and Dr. Long's commentary recommend the screening begin swiftly after an international adoptee arrives in his or her new home.

And both recommended that the initial skin test be followed up three to six months later with another. That's because a test performed immediately after arrival might not detect an infection that occurred shortly before a child left an overseas orphanage.

Children who test positive should be put on a nine month course of antibiotics, Dr. Mandalakas said. She also suggested orphanages involved in international adoptions should test for tuberculosis among employees.

More signs that we'll get our referral next month

2007-09-05T13:34:00.000-03:00

Fresh from the Rumor Queen site, here is more proof that we may actually be nearing the end of this journey. Even under her Horrid Case scenario, we are in. Now these are just her predictions based on feedback but it's a sign.

Without discussing it before, Jennifer and I both sent messages to our HR departments this morning looking for answers to questions... medical coverage while away, when is the kid on our medical plan, what forms do we need to fill out, etc...

Tonight will be more work on the the final touches on the kids room. We need another coat of paint to the dresser top, install the curtain rod ends and install the valance, and work some more on the rocking chair refinish. Then we need to hang some wall decorations and voila! It's done. Nope! You won't see a pic until it's done. I gave you guys a teaser in the early stages a few weeks ago but nothing else until it's done.

November 25

2007-09-03T17:43:00.000-03:00

The CCAA matched to November 25. That means we'll have to wait another month until the beginning of October to see if we're in. There's only 4 days between the cutoff and us, and the 25th is a Friday, so we're almost certain to get our referral next month and travel in December. But, as you all know, nothing in this process is for certain. They could surprise us with another month of matching only 2 days worth of files.

Do we have any volunteers to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it for us?

Friday morning growl!

2007-08-31T10:26:00.001-03:00

OK, this is the type of roller coaster we are on. Will we get our referral in September or will we not get our referral in September?

As we’re teetering on the “referral edge” this month, I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the Rumor Queen site each morning before leaving for work just to see where

The following rumor was posted to the Rumor Queen website this morning

Not good news for the 25th
August 30th, 2007

I’m told that someone with a log in date of Nov 25th has been told she is not included in this batch.

I’m not ready to consider this a done deal, but it is not looking very good right now.

So, based on that information we somewhat resigned ourselves to accepting the fact that we would not get our referral this month.

Well, stop everything!!! Within the last hour, this rumor was posted to the RQ site. It totally contradicts the earlier rumor from this morning. AARRGGHH!!!!!

A second European Agency
August 31st, 2007

A second European Agency is now saying “with almost complete certainty” that some of December will be in this batch.

This is a very reliable agency and they have my complete attention with this one.

They basically say that they are positive that the 24th is in, and can say “with almost complete certainty” that some of December will be in this batch.

This one gets an R3½

I absolutely hate it when people get their hopes up only to have them smashed on the rocks of reality. I hope that this doesn’t happen this time. But, there are two agencies saying it, and one of them has been reliable in the past.

What's a guy to do?!?!?!

Arthur Gets an "A" for Adoption

2007-08-30T15:18:00.001-03:00

This episode of Arthur will air Friday, September 7 @ 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM Atlantic time on your local PBS station.

From http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1310

Arthur Gets an “A” for Adoption
A new, two-part story on the PBS show hits all the right notes.
by Susan Avery

Talk about adoption or watch wrestling? It’s a no-brainer for “Binky Barnes,” the lovably dim-witted character on Arthur, the long-running PBS cartoon, who finds out that his parents will be adopting a baby from China. He chooses wrestling, and his detached reaction caused concern for his parents—and this reviewer.

Much to my surprise, and delight, the concern was short-lived. The executive producer of Arthur, and his team, did everything right this time. The two episodes on adoption, airing this fall, “Big Brother Binky, Parts I and II,” get the facts right and, equally important, the words and emotions.

Once Mom and Dad explain adoption, Binky is as excited as they are. He joins them on the year-long adoption roller-coaster, and has his own moments of insecurity and jealousy. The boy’s beloved game room becomes his new sister’s bedroom; his mom sews a bai jia bei, a “quilt of 100 wishes,” which is a tradition in Northern China (and something he never had). And right before the big day, he needs the dreaded travel immunizations. “This baby better be worth it,” he mutters, expressing a common sentiment among older siblings-in-waiting.

The episodes are a must-watch. Executive producer Pierre Valette put two years of thought and research into these shows, talking to those in the PBS family who’ve adopted or who were adopted. To his credit, Valette also consulted adoption experts, to assure that the story line was both authentic and inoffensive, something that didn’t happen a few years ago. In that misstep, an Arthur episode titled “Dear Adil,” Arthur finds a box of his father’s childhood letters from a foreign pen pal. As he reads them, D.W., his four-year-old sister, walks into the room. “Are those from your real parents?” she blurts.

At the time, PBS dismissed concerns from adoptive parents, saying they saw no problem with such a remark. After several discussions with the editors of Adoptive Families, however, Valette understood, and promised to make it right by treating adoption more thoughtfully in the future.

“The conversations with Adoptive Families definitely had us looking at adoption more carefully,” he said recently, in his office at WGBH in Boston. “We did a lot of research and came up with a story line that felt true to the subject and true to the characters, as well. Binky is kind of tough on the outside but very sensitive.”

After putting up with days, and nights, of baby Mei Lin’s crying, Binky cracks in Part II. The boy announces to his parents that his sister is not happy and wants to return to her real home. Scriptwriters to the rescue: “This is her real home,” say her parents. “When we adopted her, we became her family forever.” With Binky set straight, the family goes out for Chinese food, joined by Arthur and his family. Kate, Arthur’s little sister, engages in baby talk with Mei Lin, which, when translated, is a light-hearted venting session about their older brothers.

So we became Arthur fans forever. Thanks to Valette and his team for keeping it real.

21 months today

2007-08-29T09:18:00.001-03:00

Twenty one months ago our paperwork was logged in the system at the CCAA in China.

Twenty one months ago we expected to wait 8 months to be united with our child.

Twenty one months later, we still wait.

no update on the rumor

2007-08-24T16:48:00.001-03:00

It’s late Friday afternoon and there’s been no update to the Rumor Queens news from yesterday that they might include our date in the next batch of referrals. We’ll keep checking over the weekend.

international power adapters

2007-08-24T09:39:00.001-03:00

It seems that the deal that Dell had yesterday on the international power adapters sold out quickly. Have no fear. If someone is looking for one, The Source (the old Radio Shack stores) seems to have a good deal on a few. You can order online, have it shipped to the closest store and pick it up there without paying a delivery fee. They even take Interact online which works exceptionally well.

TECHNICAL RAMBLING

Power in China is 220 volts 50 hertz. What’s that mean? In North America, 220 volts is the power provided to your clothes dryer or stove… twice as much power as we get from a normal home plug. 50 hertz means that there is 50 “pulses” of electricity every second. Here in North America, our power is 120 volts, 60 hertz.

A couple things need to be considered before trying to connect your North American camera charger into a plug in China.

First, the plug is different.

You need a converter plug to connect between your device and the wall.

Second, different voltage coming from the wall.

This is a bit trickier. Take a look at your device or the “brick” that you plug into the wall. Look for a line that says “input”. If it lists 110, 115 or 120 volts, you will need a step-down transformer to reduce the voltage from 220 volts to the required voltage.

If the device says something like 100-240 volts, you just need an adapter for the plug style. The device is smart enough to adjust itself to the different voltages.

Third, different hertz rating.

If the hertz rating does not match, it may work, but depending on the sensitivity of the device, this could cause problems. The devices in North America are designed for 60 pulses per second. If it only receives 50 pulses, it may take longer to charge, it may make a humming noise, it may not work at all or it could in a worse case, damage very sensitive electronics. Check your label on the device. This is listed here as well.

If not sure, ask someone before you go, or spend the extra and buy a converter that actually converts the power to North American standards.

Here’s some information and good pics of what the electrical outlets look like in China.

http://kropla.com/china_power.htm

WHAT YOU SHOULD BUY

So, based on the technical ramblings above, here are some devices which will work for you.

Does not convert voltage down to 110 volts. Your device must be able to handle 220 volts (read the sticker on the device)

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=2738365

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Travel+Adapters&product=2731445

Drops the voltage down to 110 volts. Simply plug in any device from home and it should work.

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=2738028&category=Travel+Adapters&catalog=Online&tab=1#more

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Travel+Adapters&product=2738413

blog issues

2007-08-23T14:10:00.000-03:00

Excuse the mess. Some of you may be looking at a mess of what used to be my blog layout that I’ve been running for months and some of you may be looking at a generic Blogger template. Things have gone weird with my template so I’m switching to a Blogger template for now. The formatting of the paragraphs seems to have gotten messed up and the 2 columns still wont line up side by side. Anybody else had this column problem and if so, what did they do to solve it?

Now things are getting interesting

2007-08-23T13:23:00.001-03:00

Direct from the Rumor Queen site today. Strap yourself in. This is when the roller coaster ride begins to get wild! Todat on her site, it says "I’m still at an R2 stage with this, but I’m hearing 11/29." If thats the case, we're in! Ohhh, how a couple of days sure change things.

The Rumor Queen grades the rumors from a 1 (hard to believe) to a 5 (bet your life on it). This is a 2 which is still too iffy to be a sure thing. November 22 is supposed to be a very heavy day for the number of files received so I’m likely to look at this rumor with a pessimistic attitude, but it’s time for a bit of good news for us after so many months of waiting and waiting and waiting.

international power adapter on sale - today only

2007-08-23T09:27:00.001-03:00

Today only on Dell’s site, they have an international power adapter on for half price. If you plan on taking any electronics with you to China, this is needed to have your device work with the power plugs there. (it must also be an auto-switching power supply)

Some people say they can get them from the hotel, some people take their own. For $14.00, it’s a cheap price to pay to know you have what you need when you get there. It’s also free shipping and delivered to your door by Purolator. What could be better?

The link to it is HERE.

Early rumors are not promising

2007-08-22T11:37:00.001-03:00

We’re at that part of the month again when the rumours are beginning about the next cut-off date.

A quick refresher.
The CCAA has matched children with files dated November 21, 2005 or before.
Our files are dated November 29, 2005
In the last 3 months, the CCAA has matched just under 7 days of files per month.
If they match 8 days or more, we should get our referral package in September and travel in November. If they match less than 8 days, we wait for at least another month.

Checking that evil RumorQueen site, the early rumours are saying that the cut-off will be November 25. This is still early, and these numbers do move, but I don’t think they’ll move as far as the 29th.

So, if this is the case, we’ll be waiting at least another month until the match is done and we get our referral. This will put us up to travelling in December.

Check back. As the beginning of the month gets closer, the rumours will be more plentiful until we get the official word from the CCAA.

How to Use Chopsticks

2007-08-21T10:29:00.001-03:00

I cannot figure out how to use chopsticks. The food flies everywhere and I really can’t master how to hold them and squeeze them. So we cheated and went to the local Paderno store and bought cheater sticks which have a spring loaded mechanism at the end of them. With this, you just need to squeeze them together.

From China Adoptive Parents News

Here are two ways to learn how to use chopsticks, one demonstrated by video, the other written instructions.

How-to Video Demonstration: (with voice commentary by teacher)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrz8HYaOfA

Step-by-Step Instructions: (not related to the video)

1. Place one chopstick in the crook of your thumb and index finger. The chopstick should be at the base of your thumb, and your thumb should be about 1/3rd the way down from the broad end of the chopstick.

2. Rest the chopstick on your ring finger between 1/2 and 2/3rds the way down the chopstick. The first chopstick should now be very stable, with one end securely between your thumb and index finger, and the other end resting on your ring finger.

3. Place the second chopstick in your hand the way you would hold a pen. It should rest slightly on the tip of your thumb, and be held into place with support from your middle finger.

4. Use your index and middle fingers to practice moving the tip of the top chopstick up and down. The bottom chopstick should remain relatively still. As you move the top one down, the tip should meet up with the tip of the bottom one, like a pair of tweezers, or the long beak of a bird.

5. Imagine you are pinching something. If the tips aren't meeting up, adjust one chopstick so they do, because it will be very difficult to pick anything up if the tips of the chopsticks aren't evenly aligned.

Room renovation pics

2007-08-15T09:06:00.000-03:00

OK, here are pics of the work in progress. Jennifer has been video-ing this for the kid and I took some screen shots from the video. Unfortunately, the colors do not come out all that well. The room is looking much better today than it is in these pics and I will get some more pics uploaded once the trim is finished.

Building the closet organizer. We priced buying a "kit" but it was much too expensive so I decided to build one myself. Here I am marking off the spots for the holes for the adjustable shelving. Alot of measure-twice-drill-once as I drilled holes up both the front and back of both sides so that we could adjust the shelving when we needed to.

Here's the original color of the room. The yellow on the right side is closer to the actual yellow of the room. This used to be our computer room and we painted it when we moved in years ago but never really did much else to it until now.

A shot of the closet with the closet organizer in place, doors off being painted, and some of the painting has been started in the corners and around the outlets. I never realized how small the closet was until I started trying to figure out what I'd do to it. The shelves on the right side are adjustable with plans for a hamper at the bottom. There are 3 clothes racks on the left side now, but I made them adjustable so that we could install 2 as she grows then 1 later on. By the time she needs just 1 rack for her clothes I'm sure the shelves on the right side will need to come out as this is a tiny closet.

The painting begins. It's hard to tell, but the paint is less blue and more of a mauve or purplish tint. Have I ever told you how much I hate painting? We decided to put wainscoting on the bottom part of the wall so I got lucky on the painting and only had to paint 3/4 of the way down the wall. Unfortunately, the wainscoting took many more hours of work than the painting would've taken me. I'm surprised at how easy the wainscoting went together. Once all of it was nailed in place, I painted it with 2 coats of white paint. The paint looks very blue in this pic.

Here I am demonstrating my expertise at home renovations... painting with my mouth while using the air nailer to secure the wainscoting to the walls.
More pics to come...

kids room update / general rambling

2007-08-14T10:48:00.001-03:00

THE KIDS ROOM

It just won’t end! I am great at starting a project but I never seem to be able to muster enough strength to finish them. Our house is a potpourri of half finished projects. I can almost see the finish line on this project… it’s so close.

How can one room take so much paint?!?!?! Last night I had to put the final coat of paint on the doors and door frames. I also picked up the door and window casings and got 2 coats of paint on them to get those ready. We plan on replacing the old window with a new one sometime this fall so while the old window will stay there for a bit longer, I figured I’d at least touch it up and add some white-ness to it. It’s the old shellacked wood windows and the brown really stand out form the rest of the room. I also painted the baseboard heater to match the room as it was starting to show it’s age.

So, painting is done.

Baseboard heater can now be installed back against the wall

Last few pieces of chair rail and baseboard needs to be cut and nailed.

Door and window casings need to be cut and nailed. I forgot the rosettes so off to Kent I go again today.

Nail holes need filled and painted. I guess I’m not done painting.

Install new wall plugs and light switch.

Maybe that wasn’t the finish line, just a mirage.

RUMORS

Not much else is new. No early rumours yet. We’re holding out hope for a referral this month, but not promising anything yet.

THE FUTURE OF THIS BLOG

Jennifer and I have decided to end this blog once we receive our referral. This part of the journey has been very public and we want to restrict the next part of the adoption adventure to people closer to us. As far as blogs go, this blog hasn’t had a huge following of dedicated readers. Most of the people checking it have been family, friends or acquaintances but we want to make sure we know who is reading about “Gertrude’s” life. Up to now, it’s been primarily about us and our lives which I was OK sharing with all of you. Once we get our referral, this process changes from being about us to being about the kid’s new life. If you have been following this blog and want to continue doing so, please check back in the near future for a link that will allow you to get access to our new blog.

That’s it for now. Off to Kent during my lunch hour.…

Scott

A technique every dog should know how to do.

2007-08-09T14:28:00.000-03:00

THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW

Instructions for properly hugging a baby.

1. First, spy a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you spied is indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder or the wonderful aroma of a dirty diaper this is indeed a baby. 3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process. Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier.

4. The "paw slide"
Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up. 5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented "hug, smile, and lean" so as to achieve the best photo quality. Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry, climate-controlled environment for the rest of your life.

8 paper days to go

2007-08-03T08:55:00.000-03:00

The official word on the latest cutoff date is in from the CCAA. Just as the Rumor Queen had predicted, the cutoff date is November 21, 2005. That leaves 8 days of paperwork left to be matched before we get our referral.

Like I said in an earlier post this week... if the CCAA follows the trend of the last 3 months, we will not receive our referral next month but would have to wait until October, travel in December as we will miss the cutoff by a day.

Thats it from here... a long weekend is almost here and we're planning on filling it with more kid-unfriendly activities. Gotta get them all in before "Gertrude" gets here.

A sign that we MUST be getting closer

2007-08-01T09:54:00.000-03:00

We received our pre-travel package from Children’s Bridge last night. This is simply 2 documents explaining the process that will happen when we get our referral (how the gov’t handles the paperwork before we see it, what we need to do with medical information and our Doctor here, what we should be doing now for immigration paperwork) and a sample timeline of our trip and what we should expect, how we should act in a foreign country, airline difficulties, etc…

There is still no official word on the amount of days that have been referred this month. The CCAA should be releasing this information soon.

That’s it for now.
Scott

Rumors on the next batch of referrals

2007-07-30T10:19:00.001-03:00

OK, I know I have criticized the Rumor Queen site before for the rollercoaster ride that she puts us on every month. This site allows people to post rumors about what their agency is saying or what was said from a friend who has a friend who has a friend who said, etc..

As we get closer and closer to the referral of “Gertrude” I find myself going to this site more and more to see what the next cutoff date will be. When we had months to go, I really didn’t care what the rumors were. I knew it would be months and that was that. As we get closer, I need to know what's coming next. If the CCAA pulled a rabbit out of their hat, we could get our referral this month. Stop there... based on the last 11 months of data, this is not going to happen, but there's always that chance.

So, early last week, or maybe even the week before, there was a rumor that the CCAA would match into December. That would've meant that we would've gotten our referral this month. A bit of excitement brewed deep inside, but the rumor was too early for it to have any credibility and seemed too good to be true. Last week, a more reputable rumor surfaced (somewhat confirmed again this morning on the RQ site)... it appears that they will match 7 days this month (until November 21, 2005) which will leave us 8 days away from our referral.

What’s this all mean? Looking back thru the posts, on September 1, 2006, our paperwork completed the review by the CCAA. Our next step would be the match. The following is the amount of days matched each month since then.

Sep 2006 - 18 days
Oct 2006 - 16 days
Nov 2006 - 14 days
Jan 2007 - 19 days
Feb 2007 - 16 days
Mar 2007 - 11 days
Apr 2007 - 2 days
May 2007 - 6 days
Jun 2007 - 7 days
Jul 2007 - 7 days (estimate)

That means that if the 7 days is true for this month...

In the last 11 months, CCAA has matched 116 days which averages to about 10.5 days per month.
- if the CCAA keeps this average, we’d get our referral in September, travel in November.

In the last 6 months, CCAA has matched 68 days which averages to 11.3 days per month.
- if the CCAA keeps this average, we’d get our referral in September, travel in November.

In the last 3 months, CCAA has matched 20 days which averages to 6.7 days per month.
- if the CCAA keeps this average, we’d get our referral in October, travel in December.

If the CCAA has another month of 2 days like they did in April
- who knows when we’ll get our referral and when we’ll travel.

20 months of waiting

2007-07-30T08:56:00.000-03:00

Well, another month has come and gone. Twenty months today was our log in date in China. 20 months! Some days, time seems to be standing still and it never feels like we’ll get there, then when Sunday night comes and we look back at how quickly the weekend has gone by, time seems to fly by. Being the middle of summer there’s plenty to keep us busy which makes time go by that much quicker. If it was the dead of winter and we were housebound because of snowstorms, this wait would be much harder.

So raise your glass to our time in waiting. Soon, it will all be behind us.

Scott

Nothing new

2007-07-20T10:13:00.001-03:00

No news from here. Things are quiet and nobody has yet talked about what the next batch of referrals may bring.

Lise and Pierre left this week for Ethiopia for their 2 daughters. They have a blog HERE but have said that they won’t be able to update it from Ethiopia. They have a great picture of the kids playroom and we’re looking for the floor squares like they have. If you know where these can be bought, let us know.

That’s it from here… the weekend is almost here and I’m sure going to enjoy the 2 days away from the office.

Scott

A family to follow / the process explained

2007-07-10T11:04:00.001-03:00

With the latest batch of referrals from the CCAA arriving now, it looks like Children’s Bridge Group 249 will be included. This brings us 1 group closer.(thanks PW for the correction) PW and her family from Saint John are in Group 249 and we wish them all the best. They should be getting their referral any day now. In the early days, we all talked that we might be travelling together as the CCAA was matching more days then, but it was not meant to be.

If you want to follow the progress of another family who just got their referral, click HERE. This is the blog of Deb and Sean who are with Children’s Bridge and are from Ontario (thanks DP for the correction)

==============================

I’ve had to explain the process to a couple people lately so I thought it would be a good time to lit the steps again. Thanks to Deb and Sean for the basic information listed below. I added to it and personalized it for our situation. So for all of you who are unsure of what’s involved, or just as a refresher, here’s the list of steps involved in adopting from China.

Step 1 - Home study and prepare all the files needed for the Dossier
We got the paperwork form the province and Children’s Bridge in April 2005. We spent many nights completing paperwork for the province and Children’s Bridge and met with a social worker over several nights so she could write up our story. We completed all of this in October 2005

Step 2 – The dossier is reviewed by the province for Ministry Approval
After we had completed all of the provincial requirements for adoption, we delivered this to the downtown office and our file was approved for adoption in October 2005

Step 3 – The dossier is sent to Children’s Bridge where everything is verified and then translated into mandarin.
Once approved for adoption within NB (which is required to adopt from China) we then sent all of our paperwork to Children’s Bridge. This was completed in late October / beginning of November 2005

Step 4 - DTC - Dossier sent to CCAA - China Centre of Adoption Affairs
In New Brunswick, instead of sending the file directly to China, Children’s Bridge must send the file back to the NB government who then sends it to China. This was done in early November 2005

Step 5 - LID (Log in date - the date the CCAA logs in our dossier)
Our file was logged in the CCAA’s system on November 29, 2005. That’s the important date.

Step 6 - Dossier is reviewed by CCAA
Once logged in the system, the CCAA works thru all the files to verify that all is OK. They look for medical issues, incomplete or contradicting paperwork, and all necessary government approvals. An update on what dates they have reviewed up to is posted once a month from the CCAA. If you do not hear anything and your date has cleared is included in this email. You have cleared another hurdle.

Step 7 - CCAA matches child with family
This is what we are waiting for now. Remember the important date in step 5? Well, this is where it is important. Once the files are reviewed by the CCAA, they make their way to the “matching room” where some not-so-well-understood process happens and our file is matched to that of a child. Nobody is 100% sure of how this process is done but everyone seems to think that the match between them and their child is perfect.

Step 8 - Referral sent out - photo and information about the child being offered
Once the CCAA announces on their website that our date has been matched (the other part of the monthly update) the impatient wait begins. Basic medical information along with a few pictures of the child is sent to Children’s Bridge who translates this to English. As a provincial requirement, they then have to send it to the Province of NB and then we go meet with a social worker where the information on the child is presented to us. We take this information to our doctor to make sure everything looks ok, we sign some forms and then we begin the preparations for the kid.

Step 9 - Travel to China for child
About 7 to 9 weeks after referral, we travel to China. We travel to our child’s province and are united with her/him on day 2 or so (thanks DP). We then spend the remainder of the first week in our child’s province, then we return with the kid to Beijing to complete paperwork, medical exams, more paperwork, and do some sightseeing as well. We then come home to begin our new life.

Step 10 – Follow up reports to CCAA
At regular intervals after we return, we must meet with our social worker again so that she can track our progress. This is a requirement of the CCAA.

Latest update from the CCAA

2007-07-09T13:16:00.001-03:00

We're back to work today after a week off to unwind. Too bad it didnt happen. Camping and hiking in the rain and returning home to do yard work in the rain is not fun! But at least I wasn't at work.

The latest update from the CCAA is out and we're inching closer. They processed 7 days of files this month which puts them to November 14. Our log-in is November 29 so we're 15 paper days away. Doing completely unpredictable math (as we have no idea what next month will bring) it looks like we're 3 months away from referral and then another 2 months to travel so we may be in China for Chirstmas. Hmmm, does anyone know.... have families travelled to China during Christmas? And don't do anything with this timeline... if anyone has paid attention since we started this blog, these timelines are difficult to predict.

19 months today

2007-07-09T13:15:00.001-03:00

Well, the wait continues with the faintest glow of a dim light ahead. This process which was supposed to take 6 months is now at 19 months of waiting since our paperwork was in China.

book - China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood

2007-06-29T09:23:00.000-03:00

Follow this link to listen to an interview on NPR Radio with Jeff Gammage.

Journalist Jeff Gammage and his wife Christine have adopted two daughters from China. Now Gammage, a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer, has written a book about the experience. It's called China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood. Here is a link on Amazon.ca if you want to buy this book.

From what I have read, this is a very real and very well written about a guy dealing with his life and the adoption of his two Chinese daughters. I have ordered the book and can't wait to read it.

update on Hoang Son Pham

2007-06-29T09:17:00.001-03:00

You may remember some time ago, I posted a few articles on the Vietnamese boy with the large growth on his face. It looks like he is now in Canada for treatment.

Subject: Race against time to save Vietnamese boy's life -Article in Today's Globe & Mail. Follow this link or see text below

Race against time to save Vietnamese boy's life

An Ottawa charity is inspiring hundreds to help in its quest to give an orphan life-saving surgery in Canada

HAYLEY MICK

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

June 28, 2007 at 4:35 AM EDT

Sitting on his bed in Hanoi, Hoang Son Pham plunged his small hand into the parcel sent from Canada. The 10-year-old Vietnamese orphan dug deep, past dozens of letters and cards addressed to him, and drew out something hard: a wooden airplane.

Son Pham said nothing - the tumour in his face made speech impossible - but he gave a lopsided smile as he cruised the toy through the air: a sign of things to come.

Late tonight, two months after receiving that goodwill package, Son Pham is expected to step off a jet in Toronto. Waiting for him will be a small group of elated Canadians who, for more than a year, have raced against time and a growing mass of blood vessels to bring him here for surgery.

"We want to welcome him," said Tan Ngo, a staff member with the Children's Bridge Foundation, an Ottawa-based charity that provides funding and support for international orphans. "But we have to be very careful."

Hoang Son Pham, a 10-year-old from Vietnam, will remain in Toronto for the next four months as doctors try to remove a tumour from his face.

Next week, Son Pham will undergo diagnostic tests at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Doctors will determine whether the boy is fit to undergo a life-threatening operation that would remove the massive knot of blood vessels - called hemangioma - and save him from starvation.

But this is not only a story of an unlucky child who may be rescued by Western medicine. It is also about a small group of Canadians who decided to make a difference in a boy's life, and the snowball effect that decision is now having across the country.

It began last March, when Kate Maslen, a 25-year-old manager with Children's Bridge, delivered equipment to an orphanage that houses about 800 children about an hour's drive north of Hanoi.

Dozens of children pushed to get close to the tall, blond Canadian woman, but it was a boy elbowed to the back of the crowd - the one with the giant tumour on the left side of his face - that she could not forget.

"This little guy snared my heartstrings," Ms. Maslen said.

She learned that Son Pham was dropped off by his parents when he was 3. Staff at the Hai Duong orphanage said the parents were likely too poor to care for the boy, or afraid that his deformity would bring bad luck - a local superstition.

Over the years, the tumour grew. Now, it was obliterating Son Pham's nose and shrinking his mouth to the size of a walnut. Orphanage officials feared that without treatment, he would soon be unable to eat or even to breathe.

Ms. Maslen brought photos of Son Pham back to Ottawa. She wanted to help, but her resolve was steeled when she received a handwritten note from Son Pham.

"Dear Aunt Kate," he wrote with someone's help. "Please help me."

Others came on board, deciding to fundraise and seek out medical care for the boy; one of those people was Mr. Ngo.

Mr. Ngo understood rough beginnings. Thirty years ago, Canada scooped him out of a Vietnamese refugee camp and gave him a new life in Ottawa. His two children grew up to be a pediatrician and a teacher, and Mr. Ngo dedicated his life to helping others.

Mr. Ngo returned several times to Hanoi and visited Son Pham. During one trip in March, Mr. Ngo fell ill eating 50-cent soup from roadside vendors because he wanted to donate the rest of his food stipend, provided by his work, to Son Pham's cause.

He also brought the boy a present from Canada: Halls cough drops, which he melted in water, and gave him to drink. Halls are available in Vietnam, too, but "I wanted to send him a message, that people in Canada loved him," Mr. Ngo said in an interview with The Globe and Mail from Hanoi.

In Canada, Children's Bridge was appealing for funds. Son Pham touched a nerve: This spring, more than $125,000 was raised from hundreds of families, much of it from Canada's Vietnamese community and parents of children from international adoptions.

A six-year-old boy from Halifax donated all $8 from his savings: "I hope that's enough for your surgery," he wrote in a note to Son Pham, which Mr. Ngo delivered to the boy, along with dozens of other letters of support and the toy plane.

Still, no one at Children's Bridge knew whether surgery was even possible. They had faced a setback in March, when a team of U.S. surgeons visiting Hanoi said local hospitals weren't equipped to support a complex surgery.

The group then pinned their hopes on two Canadian hospitals for children - one in Toronto and one in Halifax. In early May, the group received hopeful news. Doctors at The Hospital for Sick Children had given them the green light to send Son Pham to Toronto.

Sick Kids spokesperson Lisa Lipkin said yesterday that doctors will perform Son Pham's first tests next week.

"Over the next few weeks, a team from Sick Kids will evaluate his condition and determine what treatment is possible," she said.

A Sick Kids charity called the Herbie Fund, which provides children with operations not available in their home countries, will foot the surgery bill if doctors decide they can do it. A Vietnamese family living in Markham, a north-Toronto suburb, has agreed to host Son Pham and his nanny for the four months he will stay in Toronto.

"It's a little surreal," Ms. Maslen said. "It's wonderful he's here and that we're one step closer, but we're not quite there yet."

MAGMA's Rendezvous Multicultural Celebration

2007-06-28T09:42:00.001-03:00

Moncton’s MAGMA is hosting the Rendezvous Multicultural Celebration starting tonight and running until Saturday. There are plenty of events planned which includes a multicultural concert downtown Saturday night. Download a brochure of this weekends events HERE.

Here’s a press release sent out a few days ago.

Opening Ceremonies

(Moncton, June 25th, 2007) - This Thursday, June 28th, the Multicultural Association of Greater Moncton will be holding the Multicultural Rendez-Vous.07 Opening Ceremonies. The event will be held at 6 p.m. in the Empress Room, at Capitol Theatre.

Rendez-Vous festival opening remarks will be presented by Mayor of Dieppe Achille Maillet, Deputy Mayor of Riverview Ron Davis and Deputy Mayor of the City of Moncton Merrill Henderson. There will be a performance by the Glad Tidings African Children's Choir, followed by a captivating performance by Maggie Zeng playing the Guzheng.

The Zheng, commonly known as Guzheng, (pronounced "Goo-Zheng"), is a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments according to the documents written in the Qin dynasty (before 206 BC). The guzheng has been a popular instrument since ancient times and is considered as one of the main solo instruments of Chinese traditional music. Since the mid-19th century, guzheng solo repertoire has been growing and evolving towards an increasing technical complexity. This is a must-see performance.

MAGMA will also proudly present the booklet: "New Beginnings: Short Stories, Big Achievements. Greater Moncton Newcomers Share their Stories." The booklet showcases 17 stories of successful newcomers that will amaze and inspire you. You don't want to miss it!

For more information, please contact:
Multicultural Rendez-Vous 2007 Coordinator: Angélique Reddy
Angelique.reddy@nb.aibn.com
506-855-7819 ext: 2

not much new / some trivia

2007-06-28T09:20:00.001-03:00

Still no updates on the next batch of referrals. Things are generally quiet amongst people in the adoption community. I really think that at this point, with the last few months of disappointing results, nobody is willing to make a prediction. A lot of waiting people have become so disappointed with the timelines that they have “disappeared” and gone into hiding until things pick up. It’s a challenging time for all families involved in the waiting game.

While we wait, here’s some trivia for you. I took this from a post on the China Dads Yahoo group. I got all 4 wrong so I’m assuming the guy knows what he’s talking about.

1. In which of the following movies was there actually a dialog (a few audible lines) in Chinese? (I once posted this at the APC forum.)

a. L.A. Confidential

b. As good As It Gets

c. Casa Blanca

d. Forget Paris

e. Sleepless in Seattle

2. You are offered a few *genuine* antique Chinese vases of over 100 years old. Which of the follow coloured vase would be the most valuable?
a. Red

b. Green

c. Blue
d. Yellow
e. White/Ivory

3. You're offered a *genuine* antique overcoat hand stitched with a dragon, and you're told that it once belonged to an emperor. How could you tell if it really once belonged to an emperor?
a. The size of the dragon eyes.
b. The motion of the dragon (flying vs. sleeping, for example).
c. The number of legs.
d. The number of claws/talons (toes) on each leg.
e. The overall length of the dragon.

4. (This tests you whether you were day dreaming when the tour guide was talking). Once inside the Forbidden City, the courtyard is wide open. No trees. Why?

Answers:

1. c. Casa Blanca. At the beginning of the movie, at Rick's, where everyone was waiting. Someone said, "Waiting, waiting, waiting..." At one of the tables, there were some Chinese, one giving the other(s?) the directions of the place and time to meet, and emphasized that they had to be punctual. All in perfect Cantonese. The first time I saw the movie, I thought that was way cool.

2. d. Yellow. Remember - Emperor, Huang Di. Huang is Yellow. In the past, there were several classes of pottery makers, most of which just made the stuff for the regular folks. Only certain "Official Potters" could make high quality stuff for the imperial families or high officials. Anything yellow could only be for the imperial families. Of course, the emperors could then bestowed them to the officials or the favoured chicks. Unauthorized retention of yellow pottery was a capital crime. These days, even a broken piece of genuine yellow antique pottery could worth a few bucks. If you visit the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan (which has quite a few of imperial treasures when KMT moved to Taiwan), find the yellows.

3. d. number of claws. Only the emperors or imperial families could have things decorated by dragons with five claws. My understanding is that dragons for high officials had 4 claws. The emperors in operas wore the "Yellow Coat" with 3-toed dragons. This was also the general format for sculptures, outdoor decorations etc. Of course, the official garments for the emperors were in yellow. Thus the revolution-related term "Huang Pao Jia Shen" (Covering one's body with a Yellow Coat) -- a desire, encouragement, wish, description of the success, and so forth, for the leader of the revolution.

4. The treeless courtyard was a deliberate design to prevent assassins.

not much is new

2007-06-22T10:44:00.001-03:00

Not much new here… we’re anxiously waiting for the rumours to begin next week on the next batch of referrals. We don’t expect a big amount of days to be processed but you can always hope. No official announcement from CCAA on how many days will be processed is expected until early July.

Karen and Darrell have been home for some time now and Brianna seems to be adjusting quite nicely. Check out their blog HERE to read about life post-China.

orphanage slideshow

2007-06-15T15:18:00.001-03:00

Here is an interesting slideshow of pictures from an organization that provides clean drinking water to Chinese orphanages. It is close to 200 pictures and most have a caption explaining it. Take the rime to watch and read these slides. It’s quite amazing.

http://www.a-childs-right.org/projects.html

Here's an interesting pic from the slideshow... does anyone know what these kids are in?!?!?! And is there something around their neck?!? It looks like it's around their neck to keep them afloat. It's an interesting device, but I dont think it would meet Canadian safety standards!

Wednesday update

2007-06-13T10:27:00.001-03:00

MY LIFE HAS BEEN CATEGORIZED INTO 3 BINS

Now that the office has been emptied out for the transition to a kids room, we realize that we (OK, mostly I) have too much stuff. Nothing of great importance, just stuff. Books, magazines, trinkets, tools, clothes, shoes, camping stuff, just all-round general clutter.

Jen has come up with a great way to get us (me) to clean up my act. She went to Wal-Mart and bought 3 big Rubbermaid bins. One is marked KEEP, one is marked YARD SALE and the third is marked THROW OUT. Every item in every room will be touched and will end up in one of the 3 boxes. OK, some stuff like the living room is safe as I have nothing in those rooms. We can then decide where all the KEEP stuff will go. It’s amazing, as a packrat, how much stuff we accumulate.

KIDS ROOM RENOVATIONS

Besides being a packrat I am also a professional procrastinator and the kid’s room’s renovations have taken a backseat until fall. I’ll play the odds and take a chance that we won’t get our referral until late summer / early fall which will allow me to enjoy the summer outside and not in a stuffy bedroom doing renos.

CHANGES TO WEBSITE

Look at the address line above and you’ll see that the URL for this website has changed to a Blogger hosted site. I was hosting this on my own website before but for several reasons (anonymity and privacy being the most important) I have moved it to Blogger. If you still go to www.sco... to get to this site, please change your bookmark now as the other link will soon disappear and this will be our only page.

FRIDAYS ARRIVAL

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the airport Friday to see little Kai arrive in Moncton. Kai is the 3 year old boy who was recently adopted by a Moncton family. Usually, we see a small child arrive in Moncton who is too young to fully realize what’s happening. For this arrival, it was somewhat different as Kai was well aware of his surroundings and you could see him stick close to Mom. We all gave them their space while he got comfortable with all the strangers around him. He met one of his “new” siblings” in China but the other 2 were waiting for him when he got here. It was quite a great site to see. I took some video and am hoping to have it available soon.

That’s it for now. Have a great Wednesday!

Scott

shu-ma chi-dai-zheng

2007-06-11T09:57:00.001-03:00

This is me. As much as I try to minimalize my dependence on technology, I find that more and more of my life revolves around technology. From the ~~ CHINA Adoptive-Parent NEWS ~~ Yahoo group.

BUZZWORD: "shu-ma chi-dai-zheng"

Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:04 pm (PST)

"shu-ma chi-dai-zheng" means "digital amnesia". This term refers to people who rely too much on digital products, such as mobile phones and computers, such that their own memories deteriorate.

Making Solar Popular: China's Sun City

2007-06-07T11:53:00.000-03:00

Combining 2 of my favorites... renewable energy and China.

-------------------

Making Solar Popular: China's Sun City
Written by Billy Shih
Tuesday, 05 June 2007

Rizhao is not the most well known city in China, but it is rising in fame as a promising example of citywide solar energy use. With a name that means "City of Sunshine," they have sure lived up to it - 99% of central district houses are using solar water heaters, as well as more than 30% of suburban and village houses in the surrounding area. This amounts to 500,000 square meters of solar water heaters, doing the work of half a megawatt of electricity. The trend extends to 6,000 houses using solar cooking facilities and 60,000 greenhouses heated using solar heat collectors. In addition, a majority of city lights and traffic signals use photovoltaics.

This is not some futuristic city on the rise; Rizhao is just "a small, ordinary Chinese city with per capita incomes even lower than in most other cities in the region." Credit for solar energy's popularity goes to the government, which has undertaken a tremendous campaign for the use of these technologies. Instead of subsidizing the use of solar heaters (which they could not afford in any case), they invested in research and development to lower the cost of the appliances, putting them at price parity with their electric counterparts. At the cheaper price, the use of solar water heaters becomes a no-brainer, saving the average household $120 a year. In addition, the city now mandates solar heating installations be incorporated into all new buildings.

These initiatives, along with other quality government promotions, has made the solar heater a part of regular life. A government official stated that, in Rizhao, they no longer needed "to persuade people anymore to make the choice." As pollution troubles rise to the forefront of public consciousness across China, especially in wake of preparations for the Beijing Olympics, many are looking to the "City of Sunshine" for inspiration. Already Rizhao has been put on the top 10 list of cities with good air quality in China, and awarded the title of the State

Environmental Protection Agency's "Environmental Protection Model City". With so much bad press about China's environmental plight, it is important to recognize the positive work being done to improve environmental conditions. I hope my local government will start pushing as hard for solar energy use!

Via Rewnewable Energy Access and Metaefficient

About the author:
Billy Shih is a recent graduate of the University of Washington, residing in Seattle, WA. His interests include sustainability, social internet media and blogging. Beyond writing at EcoGeek, his personal blog project can be found at StartGoodBlog.com. He'll in Beijing, China this summer, studying mandarin and enjoying all the clean air.
Read More >>

The latest update from the CCAA

2007-06-07T09:35:00.000-03:00

Another disappointing month. The latest cutoff dates are out from the CCAA and they matched only 6 days this time. The early rumors were that they matched much more than the 6 days but it was just not to be true. This puts us 22 paper days away from referral.

Based on this... we're still looking at another 3 month wait until referral then another 2 months until travel. That puts us to the end of 2007!!!

Ontario coroner calls for ban on baby bath seats to prevent drownings

2007-06-06T11:27:00.001-03:00

From Yahoo News

Ontario's deputy chief coroner called Tuesday for a Canada-wide ban on baby bath seats and bath rings following a report from his office that found the items contributed to a significant number of infant bathtub drownings.

The report, released Monday, found there were 50 cases of accidental bathtub drownings between 1986 and 2004, and five of those cases were directly related to the use of infant bath seats.

Deputy Chief Coroner Dr. Jim Cairns said infant bath seats often give parents a false sense of security that the baby will be OK alone in the bathtub.

"What happens in a typical case is that phone goes, the mom goes to get the phone ... she comes back, and the baby's drowned," Cairns said.

"So it is our recommendation that these be banned."

Infant bath seats and bath rings are used to hold babies in a sitting position in the bathtub. Most of the products have suction cups which hold the seat or ring in place on the bottom of the tub.

A Health Canada consumer product safety website states that babies using bath seats or rings have drowned when the suction cups came loose, causing the seat to tip over.

In other instances, a baby slipped out through the leg opening of the seat or the baby tried to climb out of the seat.

Cairns said Health Canada is considering legislation to either ban or severely restrict the use of infant bathing rings and seats.

"They want to get information from different medical coroners' offices about if they are seeing it (drownings), or is it just a concern that they might be," Cairns said.

"Unfortunately ... we are seeing it."

Cairns said in the event a ban isn't approved, he hopes the report will help heighten public awareness of the issue.

"By pointing out to the public our concerns, that may well make people think twice and realize they can't leave the child, period."

update on Kai

2007-06-04T16:30:00.001-03:00

Here’s an update on Kai – the 3 year old boy being adopted by a Moncton family.

-------------------------------------
Kai and Lise update

Posted by: "Denise" jopoochie@ho

Mon Jun 4, 2007 5:50 am (PST)

Hi all,

I'm a friend and am also babysitting 2 of Lise's children while they are away in China.

They are having a wonderful trip and are in awe of Kai (he's 3 yrs old). His development in much more developed than they had imagined. He speaks fluently in Chinese and Lise is able to understand most of what he says. He is calm, and loves to color with his 7 yr old sister Genevieve. He has a ready smile for his newfound family, and just a joy to have around.

For those of you in that area, they will be arriving at the Moncton airport around 2pm this Friday.

Denise

Invented in China

2007-06-04T15:25:00.001-03:00

Here is a (partial) list of some things that were invented in China. The dates can be disputed, but the credit for an invention can usually be proven by literature, references, drawings, etc.
5000 BC Lacquer
3000 BC Wheelbarrow
2400-300 BC Asian abacus
1000 BC Porcelain (China)
500 BC -500 AD Glider
206 BC Fireworks
200 BC Chess (a variant of what is known as the modern chess was invented circa 600 AD)
200 BC Wood Pulp Paper
200 BC Wallpaper
150 BC Iron plows
100 BC Blast furnace (steel)
132 AD Seismograph
200 AD Stirrups
200 AD Unmanned hot air balloon
300 AD Collapsible Umbrella
300 AD Compass
400 AD Petroleum well
500 AD Block Printmaking / Printing Technology
500 AD Stern mounted Rudder
577 AD Matches
600 AD Iron Casting
600 AD Gunpowder
600 AD Paper money and necessary monetary institutions
1070 AD Dry dock
1200 AD solid-fuel rocket
1300 AD Toilet Paper

Other Scientific and Mathematic items of interest:
- Pi (π) was calculated by 5th century mathematician Zu Chongzhi to the seventh digit.
- 1st to record a SupernovaWere
- the first to invent a planetarium
- The decimal system was used in China as early as the 14th Century BC.
- Studies in biology have been extensive, and historic records are consulted even today, such as pharmacopoeias of medicinal plants. Traditional medicine and surgery were highly advanced at various points in history, and in some fields are still seen as innovative.
- Military innovations include the crossbow and the grid sight, crossbow stirrup, repeating crossbows, the trebuchet, poison gas (smoke from burning dried mustard), tear gas made from powdered lime, relief maps for battle planning, manned kites, fire lance, rockets, gunpowder incendiaries, gunpowder grenades, proto-handguns, various gun-related ammunition types and the cannon.

Facts About the Great Wall of China

2007-06-04T13:50:00.000-03:00

For me, one of the highlights of the trip to China will be getting to experience the Great Wall of China. It is Great Wonder of the world that is not fully understood. Even before we started this journey to adopt from China, I remember always wanting to visit the Great Wall at some time in my life.

I found the following post HERE and thought I would add it to my blog as it is quite informative. Enjoy.

How Long is The Great Wall?
This depends on how simple of an answer you want. Most people quote the length as 6,000 Kilometers, which is the length of construction that took place in the Ming Dynasty. If all the walls built in different dynasties throughout China were totaled, it would exceed 50,000 kilometres.

Is it just a wall?
No, there are many sections of wall that include forts and beacon towers which may have held soldiers, weapons, grain, etc.

How narrow and wide is it?
Some sections of the wall are 20 ft wide and up to 10 soldiers can walk abreast. Other sections are so narrow that even one person walking on it is treacherous.

How tall is it?
Again, this varies, but generally 15-30 ft above the ground.

What's the highest point of the Great Wall?
A section along Badaling is over 800 metres above sea level.

Can it be seen from space?
Contrary to legend, it cannot be seen with the naked eye from space. Satellite images have recently uncovered an addition 600 miles of 'buried' Wall which were not known to exist.

How did military in different sections of the Wall communicate?
Sentry posts located every 15-30 miles used wood, straw and wolf dung to produce thick black columns of smoke. One column meant a force of less than 500, while 4 columns meant a force greater than 10,000 strong.

How old is the Great Wall?
The Great Wall was built over many centuries and many Dynasties. The first section was built under the Chunqiu Period, from 770 BC to 476 BC, the most recent section was built Ming Dynasty from 1368 AD to 1644 AD.

When did it become the Great Wall?
The wall was originally built by different states, not as a unified defense system. It did not become the "Great" Wall until the Qin Dynasty, starting in 214 BC to defend it from the Huns of the north after China's unification.

What's it made of?
Contrary to the popular tourist sections of the Great Wall near Beijing, the Great Wall is not made of brick, mortar or granite in all other sections. The Great Wall is a quilt in essence. Made from material at hand, be it dirt, sand, rocks, twigs, reeds, etc. In the plains, earth was rammed into blocks, in the dessert, sand reeds and juniper were used. For instance, during the Ming Dynasty, 300 million cubic meters of dirt were used. In the Badaling section (near Beijing), the wall is made of green and white granite stones, along with marble.

How many people made the Great Wall?
This is hard to answer. The few examples I found online can help us understand the human work force. During the Qi Dyansty a 450 KM section was built with 1.8 million people. These are just TWO brief times in histor and 2 small section... multiply by time and distance and you get the picture.During the Qin Dynasty, estimates are that 3 million people, 70% of China's population at that time, was involved in building the Qin Wall.

How many people died in the making of the Great Wall?
It is said that millions lost their lives in the building of the Great Wall of China. Something to think about as we walk on the Wall when we spend time in Beijing next year. It is a marvel, but like all marvels, there was a price to be paid. Some estimates state that 1 person died for every linear foot of the Great Wall built.

China hit by brain drain

2007-06-01T12:05:00.000-03:00

China hit by brain drain, report says
By Li Fangchao (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-01 06:57

Since 1978, more than 70 percent of all the Chinese who traveled abroad to study chose not to return home, a report has said.

The Report on the Development of Chinese Talent in 2006, published yesterday by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that between 1978 and 2006, about 1.06 million Chinese went to study overseas.

Of those just 275,000 returned home during the period, the report said.

Of those who stayed overseas, more than 200,000 went on to find jobs or were granted citizenship, it said.

About 300,000 people went abroad with the initial intention of visiting relatives, but later enroled in higher education and stayed, the report said.

Yang Xiaojing, who helped draft the report, said: "This shows that Chinese students overseas, especially those with extraordinary abilities, are a real hit in the global tug war for talent.
"While strictly controling the inflow of foreign labor to protect the interests of its domestic workforce, most developed countries spare no effort to attract the best talent from around the world," he said.

"Against the backdrop of economic globalization, an excessive brain drain will inevitably threaten the human resources security and eventually the national economic and social security of any country," he said.

The lack of first-class scientists and research pioneers is the main thing hindering China's innovation capability, the report said.

"Of the many reasons for the brain drain of Chinese students, huge social and economic gaps in terms of personal income, employment opportunities, working conditions, research facilities and living standards are the main ones," the report said.
The Ministry of Personnel has enacted a plan to lure about 150,000 to 200,000 overseas-based students back to China by 2010 by offering a series of preferential policies on income, welfare, housing and education for their children.

To solve the relentless outflow of talent, the report urged the establishment of a talent security alarm system to monitor the flow of domestic talent.

The report stressed the importance of implementing the promised preferential polices, as the main concern of many talented people was finding a good and solid home and work environment.

China's backward management and lack of supervision of personnel recruitment, which is also sometimes plagued by corruption and nepotism, were also blamed for driving away talent, the report said.

International Children's Day

2007-06-01T11:36:00.000-03:00

Today is International Children's Day around the world.

The International Children's Day (ICD) is celebrated in numerous countries, mostly on June 1 each year.

The ICD had its origin in the World Conference for the Wellbeing of Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 1925. It is not clear as to why June 1 was chosen as the ICD: one theory has it that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco (USA) gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the conference in Geneva. June 1 has since been observed as the ICD by numerous countries, especially by Communist countries. In the Western world the ICD is usually celebrated on other days of the year (if at all), and there is often little public awareness about these celebrations.

From what I can find for information relating to China, the kids get the afternoon off school and spend the rest of the day doing kid things with the families - going to parks, going bowling, someone said that McDonalds and Pizza Hut are really really busy today. (McDonalds - the international symbol for being a kid) Everything happens today and tomorrow is back to normal.

Preparing your dog for the kid

2007-05-30T10:12:00.001-03:00

I’ve posted before on how to prep your dog for the lifestyle change they’ll be experiencing when the kid comes, but I found this article and thought it was worth posting. I don’t think it’s the same as the previous post I did on dogs, but if it is, it’s worth repeating. Our pooch Abby has been thru 5 obedience classes and is quite well behaved but I see a lot of things in this article which we’ll have to do to prep her for the “scream machine”. Abby is quite noise sensitive so her adjustment to a LOUD child and all the loud noises associated with a child will be one of the hardest things for her.

This is from the Rumor Queen site. The original post is HERE but I’ll post it in its entirety here in case it was to ever disappear from the RQ site.

==================================

Dogs

Someone asked a question about preparing your dog for the baby. This will be long. But it's important.

One of the biggest things is to change as much as you can well before the baby arrives, so the dog doesn't associate this change with the baby.

Think about where your baby is going to spend her time, and where she will be walking/crawling. You don't want the dog's dish to be in her “zone", so go ahead and move the food and water dish elsewhere. If it's a small dog then move it into a laundry room or the garage and put a doggie door into that room. If it's a big dog then you may need to start feeding the dog outside or in the bathroom with the door closed - so the "graze when you want to" thing may have to go away. It is important to make this change at least four months before you arrive home with baby.

If the dog currently sleeps in bed with you and that will change because the baby will be in the bed, then you must kick the dog out six or more months ahead of time. Sleeping arrangements are really big to the dog; make sure he does not associate any changes in sleeping spot with the baby.

If your dog doesn't know (and obey) basic commands then you should really work on this as well. They need to know what "gentle" (or "easy") means, they need to know what "down" and "come" mean. And most of all when you say "no" they should immediately stop what they are doing and look to you for instruction. Every single time. (Another note, if you are working on obedience with the dog daily when you leave then you must continue it when you return - you must not omit any "attention for doggie" times that the dog is used to).

It will also be important to try to segregate the dog and baby for a little while. At our old house the first floor was circular and we blocked things off so the (crawling) baby had the living room and dining room and the dog had the kitchen and foyer areas and part of the living room. We did this with baby gates and strategically arranged furniture. This way the dog and baby could meet at the baby gate and interact with each other, but if either wanted to stop the interaction they could just walk away (without being followed).

We put one of these baby gates up ahead of time, so the dog was already used to it being there. We also moved the furniture around months ahead of time.

We also put ALL of our dog's toys away about four or five months before we traveled. He had one or two that he was possessive over, so we removed every one of them. And he has never seen any of them again. And he survived it.

Another thing we did well ahead of time was to start petting him like a toddler would. I pulled at his ears just a little bit to get him used to it (he mouthed me in protest when I first started this, but after a month of this he no longer did that). I started messing with his tail. I fiddled with his whiskers. All of this was stuff we'd never done with him, and he was none too pleased about it at first, but he got used to it.

This next one is a biggie. Pay attention to how the first meeting with your dog will play out. If the dog has been in a kennel, you don't want to already be home with baby and settled in before you bring the dog home. The dog does not know how long you were gone, only that he has been sent away while you and this horrible screaming baby were in his house. He will feel resentful.

If at all possible, have someone else pick your dog up a day ahead of time (or maybe that morning) and bring the dog home so he is there to welcome you home.

When you come home with the baby, have someone else (that the dog knows and is comfortable with) bring the child into the house. Yes, I know we aren't supposed to let other people hold the baby yet, but this one time you simply must. You do not want the dog to be jealous of the baby the first time he sees her. This first meeting is very important - you should focus on giving your dog as much undivided attention as he wants.

Of course, it's also important that the baby not completely freak out when she sees the dog. It helps to have pictures of you interacting with the dog that she has been looking at for the last two weeks. Point to the dog and call him by name in the picture a dozen or more times a day while you're in China. And then do the same thing in the car on the way home.

Two very important things:
1. The dog should have a baby free zone to eat.
2. The dog should have a spot he can go to when he doesn't want to be bothered.

The first is easy. The second will take some work as your child grows. She will need to learn that when the dog is "laying there" she is not to pet him. She is not to go stand a foot from him and look at him. She is not to stand on the other side of the room and call his name. That is his "quiet place" and she needs to learn to respect that.

Pay close attention to how the dog sees things. Never do something to make the dog resent the baby. When the dog is being extra needy at the same time you need to be doing something for the baby then get your spouse there pronto to give attention to the dog. If your spouse isn't home then stick the child in a highchair with some finger foods and then get down on the floor with the dog. If you and the dog are being silly enough you will also provide entertainment for the baby.

Remember positive reinforcement for the dog. Keep dog treats close by (but out of reach of baby and doggie) and reward him for being good.

Think in terms of pecking order. Make it clear to the dog that he's still the lowest in the pack order. It is natural for him to try to assert himself over the baby, so you need to make it clear that this won't work. Let him hang out under the high chair when baby is eating. And after baby is eating then take him to wherever he eats and feed him.

If he makes an obvious push to walk through a door ahead of the baby, then stop him and make him wait. The baby cannot assert herself yet, so you must. And as the top of the pack, he will follow your lead. Assuming you've done a good job of creating pack order in the first place. If the dog has any inkling that he is above you then it's not safe to bring a baby into the house.

As soon as you feel comfortable with it, let her give him treats. (Don’t let her give him her food, but let her give him his treats). If she doesn't eat all of her food and you let him eat table scraps, then YOU should give her plate to him, not her. She should only be giving him treats that are his. (She can start feeding him from her plate in a couple of years - but make sure she's at least 3.5 or so and that she's been in the family for at least a year and a half).

We put a lot of time into preparing our dog for this huge change, and then we spent a lot of time working to make sure everything was okay once we arrived home. And we did a good job. My three year old could walk through a room with food in her hand and he wouldn't take it from her. Yes, he weighed four times more than her at that point, and he might have been following her hoping for a handout, but he did not take it from her.

We still work hard at making sure they get along good. She is in a bossy stage right now and we have to constantly call her down about not bossing him around. She has also stood in time out for telling him he's a "bad dog" when he hasn't done anything wrong. When I catch her doing something that isn't appropriate while he patiently lets her... I fuss at her and then tell him he's a good dog and give him a treat.

One thing he quickly learned, if she was doing something and we didn't see then he groaned to get our attention. It was far from a growl, just a grumble/groan, and as soon as he did that we removed her from his presence. It's as much about you respecting the dog as it is about him respecting the baby.

A couple of months after arriving home he was fiercely protective of her. We were out hiking and had stopped for a bit in a pretty spot to let the baby crawl around on a blanket. He jumped and snarled at someone who was walking in the general direction of the baby. It scared us all (especially the person approaching our daughter). I had him on the leash, and quickly pulled him back into a sit at my side - but he was still snarling at this stranger who had been walking towards HIS baby. We'd always been able to take him on hikes, so this was new and really caught me off guard.

They really are the best of friends now. And that could have only happened by us working very hard to not create any situation that would promote jealousy, and by us making sure that the dog had no doubt about the pecking order.

Another update on the NBAF awareness campaign

2007-05-30T09:51:00.000-03:00

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know about the beef that us International Adoption families had with the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation and their television and radio campaign which said something to the effect that you didn’t need to leave the province to adopt a child. During this whole adoption process, when people ask us why we’re adopting from China, the majority of the people who have asked that question have done so because of those commercials they’ve seen on TV. For me, I am comfortable with a situation like this because I feel that part of my role in this International Adoption journey is to be an advocate for it and to educate people on our decision. I’m sure not everyone is as comfortable being an advocate as I am and have ran into a similar situation which they were not sure of what to say. These ads were misleading to the general public and we wanted the ads changed.

Last week, I received a letter from the Minister of Family Services saying that this would be changed. This morning, I was CC’d in on an email from Louis Léger, the Interim Chair of the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation also confirming that this would be changed. This is a complete 180 degree turn from a few weeks ago when I received an email from him saying that he appreciated my email but things would remain as they were as they felt that the message was the best message that could be expressed.

So it just goes to show that our numbers may not be huge, but a letter writing campaign definitely does work. To all those people who wrote letter and made calls and talked to people, thanks. Let’s hope that the next message from the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation is less misleading.

Scott

18 months today

2007-05-29T10:40:00.000-03:00

Well, here we are... 18 months since our file was logged in China. Who would've thought it would've taken this long?

It's the end of the month again which means that referrals are soon going to be announced. We expect a more normal month of referrals which should take them to the middle of November which should leave us about 2 paper weeks away from getting ours. The talk is that the end of November is another heavy period for files so we're hoping for a July referral but thinking it might happen in August. If it did happen in August, we'd be home with baby "Gertrude" by Halloween. Sooner if the referrals are quicker.

Only time will tell.

The next Survivor TV show will be in China

2007-05-25T12:28:00.001-03:00

CBS has recently announced that the next season's Survivor will be filmed in China.

A video on Youtube.com shows the trailer for it. I believe this ran at the end of the last Survivor series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJg_ey49w8

Moncton Chinese Cultural Day

2007-05-25T11:47:00.001-03:00

The Moncton Chinese community will be putting on a day long conference on Chinese History, Culture, society, etc… Things like this are few and far between in Moncton so we will definitely be attending.

It will be taking place June 9 with registration starting @ 8:15. Cost is $50.00 for GMCCA or CCANB members or $60.00 for non-members. A list of the days events and more information can be downloaded form the PDF file by clicking on the icon below.

The letterwriting campaign was a success

2007-05-24T23:03:00.000-03:00

I got a letter today from Hon. Carmel Robichaud, New Brunswick Minister of Family and Community Services. This is in relation to the adoption ads which were on TV and the radio and were supposed to be airing again soo. Because of the letters we sent to the various people, they have asked the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation to no longer use the television and radio ads and remove the printed material containing the phrase which was so offensive to us families adopting internationally.

Thanks everyone for all the letterwriting. Letterwriting does work.

I need to learn these things

2007-05-21T23:20:00.000-03:00

A picture DOES say a thousand words.

Carry on restrictions in China

2007-05-21T23:04:00.000-03:00

Seems North America isn't the only country with liquid restrictions on their flights.
=======================================

Blacklisted Liquids Embarrass Air Passengers

(Xinhua 2007-05-18 21:09:12 with permission)

For those of you about to fly in/out of China by plane, be careful with the liquids you carry, since they are now on an airport security "blacklist".

The newly started liquid-limit regulation (May 1st) for air passengers has caused a number of embarrassing "incidents" at airports around China.

On Thursday, at Guangzhou airport, 5 senior ladies and gentlemen who were awaiting their flight to Singapore, decided to drink their "overweight" honey after learning about the ban.

They had packed several bottles of honey and water in their carry-on luggage, which is not allowed. Realizing there was no time to transfer the items to their checked luggage, they decided to drink them all, rather than waste them. After 10 minutes of frantic honey sculling, the group hastened to make their flight.

At the same airport, a lady brought with her a bottle of facial cream. Unfortunately the quantity was 120 millilitres, and thus above the approved limit. Since there was again no time to add the item to checked luggage, she chose to apply the cream all over her body!

An officer with airport security says such "incidents" are routine since the regulation come into effect. He suggests passengers put all liquids in their checked-in luggage. Liquids and gels in containers larger than 100 milliliters are forbidden from carry-on luggage.

Do's and Don'ts on attachment

2007-05-18T15:38:00.001-03:00

Here is another post of DO's and DON'Ts on attachment. This comes fromanother adoption website I was browsing. There seems to be some good points in this article.

Do
1. Trust the parent's instincts. Even a first time parent may notice subtle symptoms that well-meaning family and friends attribute to "normal" behavior.
2. Accept that attachment issues are difficult for anyone outside of the parents to see and understand.
3. Be supportive even if you think everything looks fine to you.
4. Allow the parents to be the center of the baby's world. One grandparent, when greeting their grandchild, immediately turns him back to his mom and dad and says positive statements about his good mommy and daddy.
5. As hard as it may be for you, abide by the requests of the parents. Even if the baby looks like he really wants to be with Person X, for example, he needs to have a strong attachment to his parents first. Something as simple as passing the baby from one person to another or allowing others, to hold a baby who is not "attached" can make the attachment process that much longer and harder.
6. Accept that parenting children who are at-risk for or who suffer from attachment issues goes against traditional parenting methods and beliefs. Parenting methods that work for many children can be detrimental to a child with attachment issues.
7. Remember that there is often a honeymoon period after the child arrives. Many babies do not show signs of grief, distress, or anxiety until months after they come home. If the parents are taking precautions, they are smart and should be commended and supported!

Don't
1. Assume an infant is too young to suffer from emotional issues related to attachment. Babies are not immune.
2. Underestimate a new parent's instincts that something isn't right.
3. Judge the parent's parenting abilities. What looks like spoiling or coddling may be exactly what the child needs to overcome a serious attachment disorder. Parenting methods that work for many children can be detrimental to a child with attachment issues.
4. Make excuses for the child's behaviors or try to make the parent feel better by calling certain behaviors "normal". For example, many children who suffer from attachment issues may be labeled strong-willed by well-meaning family members. While being strong-willed can be seen as a positive personality trait, this type of behavior in an attachment-impaired child may signify problems.
5. Accuse the parent of being overly sensitive or neurotic. They are in a position to see subtle symptoms as no one else can.
6. Take it personally if asked to step back so the parents can help their child heal and form a healthy and secure attachment. You may be asked not to hold the baby for more than a minute. This is not meant to hurt you. It is meant to help prove to the baby who his mommy and daddy are. Up until now the child's experience has been that mommies and daddies are replaceable. Allowing people to hold the baby before he has accepted his forever mommy and daddy can be detrimental to the attachment process.
7. Put your own timeframes on how long attachment should take. One mother was hurt when she was chastised by a relative who couldn't understand...after all, the baby had been home six months. It could take weeks, months, even years. Every child is different.
8. Offer traditional parenting advice. Some well-meaning family members will tell a new parent not to pick the baby up every time he cries because it will spoil him. A child who is at-risk or who suffers from attachment issues must be picked up every single time he cries. He needs consistent reinforcement that his mommy & daddy will always take care of him and always keep him safe.
9. Fall into the appearance trap. Some babies/toddlers with attachment issues can put on a great show to those outside of the mother/father. What you see is not always a true picture of the child. Even babies as young as 6-months-old are capable of "putting on a good face" in public.
10. Lose hope. With the right kind of parenting and therapy, a child with attachment issues can learn to trust and have healthy relationships. But it does take a lot of work and a good understanding of what these children need.

Friday Ramblings

2007-05-18T12:29:00.000-03:00

First off - TGIF. Woohoo, Friday is here. The weather this week has been horrendous which puts everyone in a foul mood. Would you believe I had to clean snow off my windshield on Thursday morning before going to work.

Early rumours are starting about the next batch of referrals due in early June. If these rumours are true, things may return to the timelines that we're used to seeing from month to month.
Rough math... they've processed files up to November 1, 2005. We're November 29, 2005. That's 28 days of files left to process. If they were to return to their 15 days of file processing like we were used to, it would take them this month and next month to get thru our file. We'd get our referral in July and travel in September. Nothing is certain yet. We were disappointed with the last 2 months of files so we're not counting our chickens before they hatch.

Jen is supposed to pick up a gallon of paint for me on her way home so that I can paint the kids room this weekend. The weather is supposed to be rainy all weekend so I might as well get the room painted while the heat and humidity are still low.

That's it from here... enjoy your Canadian "May Run" weekend. For any Bob and Doug McKenzie fans, don't forget to watch "Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary Special" on CBC Sunday night from 7 to 10. "Koo roo koo koo koo roo koo koo. Koo roo koo koo koo roo koo koo!"

Things a Man Should Know About Fatherhood

2007-05-18T09:08:00.000-03:00

I found this while browsing some old bookmarks I had. The original un-edited link is HERE. I may be repeating myself as I think I may have posted this before.

Things a Man Should Know About Fatherhood

· Don't worry, your dad didn't know what he was doing, either.

· No, no--not that Spock!

· Second thought, maybe you should worry.

· Do not name your baby after cities, geographical points of interest, features of the solar system, seasons, plants, animals, or current television stars.

· Baby gas is lessened with a good nipple connection during feeding, which decreases air intake. Assuring that his lower lip is flipped out, not pursed, helps.

· There is nothing wrong with thumb-sucking, which helps ease the pain of teething. Nonetheless, it probably ought to stop by kindergarten.

· Diaper-rash remedy: Expose baby's hydraulics to the air until dry. Soak baby's bottom in tepid water with a half cup baking soda. Then, Balmex. Or Lotrimin. Rediaper.

· You know how they say you'll get used to diapers? You won't. Unless you wear them a lot.

· Forcing children to use toilets will make them dislike toilets. Children begin using toilets when they tire of that not-so-fresh feeling. Of course, this is long, way long, after you tire of it.

· The start of crawling: usually begins between six months and twelve months. Standing: usually between nine and twelve months. Walking: between twelve and fifteen months. The onset of the above, as with all developmental skills, is hugely variable among individual children.

· Avoid walkers, not only because they can be dangerous around stairs but because they don't require a child to balance and thus retard his walking progress.

· Reason boys are better: They cannot get pregnant.

· Reason girls are better: They're less likely to get arrested.

· The threat of an unknown punishment is always more effective than a stated one.

2 more quilt pieces

2007-05-18T08:01:00.001-03:00

More from the backlog of quilt pieces that I have not added to the blog lately.

These 2 pieces are from my maternal aunt Juanita, (and uncle Graham).

The first piece is representative of my uncle. My uncle has a tractor, enjoys the outdoors and she thought this piece of fabric was quite symbolic of him and his hobbies.

The other piece is a fall pattern (hard to make out in the pic). For my aunt, this reminded her of the annual fall pilgrammage that my mother, aunt Juanita and aunt Ferne have in the fall. Thye pack up everything and head back in the woods to a hunting camp for a weekend of sisterly fun. Lots of laughs and alot of sisterly fun.

Thanks so much for these very personal pieces of fabric.

Another quilt piece

2007-05-18T07:56:00.001-03:00

I am finally getting around to adding the quilt pieces that we have received lately.

Here's a beautiful quilt piece from Donna Blakney. Donna was my last babysitter when I was in elementary school. The colors are bright and will make a wonderful square in the quilt.

Thanks guys!

Whats wrong with my blog?!?!

2007-05-15T12:18:00.001-03:00

Well, as you see, our blog looks different now. I’ve been having an issue with the blog for some time now that the 2 columns would not line up. I was playing with it the other day trying to solve it and lost the layout!!!! So, back I go to solve the issues. Bear with me.

Some updates

2007-05-14T10:37:00.001-03:00

Here’s a blog for the Hache family who will be soon leaving for China. Click HERE to follow them as they get ready to go.

Also, if you return to our main China page HERE, you can find the link to this blog and other local families’ blogs are listed down the page. If you know of another blog or related site that we should add, email us HERE.

The Nickerson’s had a very special Mother’s Day as this was their GOTCHA DAY for their family. She’s a cutie and they’ve uploaded some videos to their site. She didn’t want anything to do with Darrel at the beginning but she warmed up to him quickly as you will see in the video. Check it out.

I still have not updated the blog with the latest quilt pieces. It’s coming. We’ve been receiving some over the last few weeks and I’ve been bad at keeping the blog up-to-date. In case you’re new and are wondering what this quilt thing is, click HERE to read about it.

Darrel and Karen are now in China

2007-05-10T23:48:00.000-03:00

Darrel and Karen from Saint John are now in China. Follow their journey here. Darrell and Karen and Jen and I were at alot of the same Children's Bridge sites and we've been watching each others blogs for quite some time now. We wish them all the best!

The starfish

2007-05-10T15:16:00.000-03:00

Taken from a blog called Huckleberries and Rice here is a story we've probably all heard before but I feel is worth repeating.

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

- Author Unknown

Life with kids!

2007-05-10T14:20:00.000-03:00

I found this while surfing the net the other day. Ahhh, the joys of parenthood. Click on it for a larger image.

update on NB Adoption Foundation advertising campaign

2007-05-09T08:37:00.001-03:00

update on NB adoption ad campaign
Posted by: "deb_nobes" deb_nobes@yaho... deb_nobes
Tue May 8, 2007 3:08 pm (PST)

We met with our MLA Greg Byrne on Monday. He is the Minister responsible for population growth and immigration. He is extremely supportive of our position and is doing everything he can, along with various senior bureaucrats in various departments, to convince the NB Adoption Foundation to stop the ads. He has promised to write a stern
letter to the foundation and its board members, requesting the offending line be taking out of the radio and television and print ads. He has also promised to personally call several members of the board. The deputy min of Family and Community services has also ordered the foundation's brochures pulled from all regional offices and Service NB
offices throughout the province. We are making great progress.

response from Louis Leger concerning the ad campaign

2007-05-04T08:56:00.001-03:00

Earlier in the week, I sent a message off to all involved concerning the plan to re-run the domestic adoption ads.

Here is the response in its entirety that I received from Louis Leger, the Interim Chair of the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation.

==============================

Let me start by saying that the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation (NBAF) supports adoption, no matter what form it takes. Adoption is a

personal choice; it doesn't matter if a family chooses an older child, a baby, a child with special needs, a child from New Brunswick or a child from another country - whatever way a child finds their way to a family's heart is a success story to the hard working staff and volunteers at NBAF. There are many ways to adopt and we believe people should know their options.

You clearly feel strongly about NBAF's awareness campaign and, as Interim Chair, I would like to respond to provide some background information and correct some inferences you have drawn in your recent letter.

These ads are not intended to judge those who choose to adopt outside of New Brunswick. They are intended to raise awareness that there are too many children in New Brunswick that are waiting to be adopted, a fact that was not well known to people when we initiated the campaign in 2002. For this reason, it was important to include in our messaging that you did not have to leave the country to adopt.

You might be interested to learn that NBAF did not create this line. It was actually licensed from a campaign developed by the government of British Columbia, which was also very successful in their bid to raise awareness of domestic adoptions. The Foundation looked to

what was working in other jurisdictions in order to be able to apply best practices in New Brunswick. Our strategy was to celebrate kids.

The volunteers of the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation are immensely proud of this campaign and the results it has achieved for New Brunswick children. Before it was established, fewer than 25 New Brunswick children were being adopted each year. By contrast, since the campaign began in 2002, more than 550 New Brunswick children have found permanent homes with loving families. An increase of this nature is unheard of in the adoption world, making this the most successful adoption campaign in North America. These results are something to be proud of and we believe that these results are in part driven by the fact that we were able to raise awareness that there were kids waiting to be adopted.

It is true that my colleagues at Bristol Group, the company of which I am Executive Vice-President, donated their time to create these

ads: they believe in this cause and continue to donate their time to NBAF's fundraising and awareness activities on a regular basis. We were one of many companies whose donation of time and supplies helped to make these ads a reality. None of the companies involved in the making of the ads profited in any way, nor do we profit if these ads continue to run.

We heard your group's concerns and we weighed them carefully in deciding this year's marketing plan. It was the unanimous decision of the Board to continue to use the ads. The Board decided this for one reason - the ads work. They bring children together with families who love them, and that is our goal.

Having said this, in the spirit of good will and cooperation, but most importantly in the interest of the children we work to help, we will ask the Department of Family and Community Services for their perspective on this matter. Subsequent to their input, I will ask the board to reconsider the possibility and the consequence of both keeping or deleting the line “you don't have to leave the country to adopt a child".

I hope this letter provides some clarity to you and the others who have expressed concerns with the campaign.

Thank you for the opportunity to share these details with you.

Sincerely,

Louis Leger

Interim Chair, New Brunswick Adoption Foundation

17 months and counting!

2007-05-01T15:00:00.000-03:00

Sunday marked the 17^th month of waiting! With the processing of only 2 days of files last month, the timeline is sure to get longer before we get our referral.

There is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel though. As we're into a new month now and the next batch of referrals is soon to come, the rumours are flying fast and furious as to how many days it will be this time. A lot of agencies are reporting that they have matched until November 1 – a whopping 6 days! Don't count your chickens before they hatch! Last month, I believe the early rumours said 10 days and it ended up being 2 days. Only time will tell.

Wouldn't November 1 be nice? A longer timeline would be even nicer but 6 days is better than another month of 2 days. They'd be into our month! We're soon going to have to realize that this kid is coming and get our butts in gear to get ready. Way back when, a couple months ago, before the nice weather came, I had full intentions to get the baby room under way. Nope, never happened. So now what's going to happen is that it's going to get nice out and I'll be working away at getting it done. If anybody wants to come over and paint the room, be my guest!

We're off to week 2 of our mandarin lessons tonight. nǐhǎo to everyone.

Blurring the message on domestic adoption

2007-04-30T11:19:00.001-03:00

We have all see the commercial on television which showed lots of children available for adoption in NB. This commercial seemed to be on every night last fall. The adoption community ran a strong campaign last fall to have them change or remove this add because of its strong undertones against international adoption.

The text below came from Deb Nobes. She was somewhat responsible for the efforts last year to correct this ad. It seems that the advertising agency has decided against our thoughts and concerns and will begin airing the ads again in their unchanged format. Please involve all people you know with this and email Bristol group and all involved agencies advising them of their ignorance. Here is the email for their Marketing VP and the PR person. I have already emailed them on this along with my MLA and the Premier himself. I also included all the top management @ The Bristol group so that they would also be aware of our concerns. From their site.
For more information about our services please contact:
Don Stoddard
VP Marketing & Development
(902) 491-2516
dstoddard@bristolgroup.ca
For press enquiries please contact:
Kathy Purcell
Senior PR Counsel and Managing Director
(506) 383-4000
kpurcell@bristolgroup.ca

From Deb…

Last fall, many of you signed a letter I wrote objecting to an ad campaign commissioned by the New Brunswick Foundation. As we all know, the ad is hurtful and damaging to our families and our children. Within a week of receiving the letter, the foundation pulled the ad. However, last week we received a letter from the foundation's executive director Suzanne Kingston informing us that the board of directors, under the direction of its new chair, Louis Leger, decided the campaign was too effective to change. The ads will continue.

We are still trying to stop this ad from running on radio and television and ask again for your support in getting it off the air. The details can be found here: http://mysteriouseast.squarespace.com/

Please help us get our own message out by passing this link around and responding to it on our blog. We are meeting with our MLA next week to ask for help and want to bring your
comments to this meeting. Our children deserve better.

Thanks so much
Deb Nobes and Philip Lee

Why people annoy me

2007-04-25T11:46:00.001-03:00

As we wait, I receive emails from a Yahoo group called DTCNov2005. This is for families whose dossier to China *(DTC) is in November 2005. That’s us. It s a common area for us to chat and vent and anything else we need to do to get thru the wait.

I read it this morning and am quite disappointed with what one person wrote. It may be that she is thinking something different than what they wrote but it's quite frustrating to read some of this.

The latest message topic that people have been replying to involves people with an early November Log In date talking about the wait and how it's affecting their lives. Below is the statement that bothers me. I’ve highlighted the disturbing part.

1e. Re: Early November Referral Guesses.

Posted by: "Lynda Turiel" cedaridge2370@nycap

Date: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:27 am ((PDT))

Traci,

Our family has the same problem! Three of us are to be in my nephews' wedding down in Jacksonville, FL in late July. This has been in the planning for two years now. Who'd have thought that our adoption, LID 11/7/05, would've taken this long and interfered in such a way. We are heartsick at the thought of a) not going because of the cost of lodging and transportation for four people from NY to FL or b) going and then being short on funds for the cost of our China trip. With so little time to "recover" financially, it just doesn't look feasible. I'm just so saddened by the possibly of having to tell them we cannot be there. We are waiting until this next batch to decide. We feel your pain :(

OK, I understand that people are affected by this in different ways, and maybe she didn’t use the right words, but saying that an adoption is interfering with her life makes it sound like a furniture delivery from Leon’s. This is a precious life that we are talking about and the process is life changing for not only us, but more for the child as we’re plucking them from all they know.

I sure hope this woman used the wrong word. If she truly feels that the adoption is interfering with her life, she is doing it for all the wrong reasons.

I am soon to be an expert

2007-04-23T12:06:00.001-03:00

Well, finally! Mandarin lessons are being offered in Moncton. Both Jennifer and I are signing up for them and in only 8 short weeks, I’ll be able to carry on a full conversation in Mandarin.

It’s a little late, but here’s the information if anyone else is interested. I can’t find a website for them, but HERE is the press release on the institute form the provincial government.

The Confucius Institute of New Brunswick (through Atlantic Educational International in affiliation with District 2) is offering Mandarin courses beginning this week for 8 weeks. Beginners Mandarin will be offered Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and Intermediate Mandarin on Monday nights. There are still opening if you are interested. To register call 856-3046.

not much is new

2007-04-23T07:44:00.001-03:00

With the nicer weather finally here, the increased amount of things to do at work and the lack of progress and news on the China program, my entries have become few and far between. There’s only so many ways that you can say “Nothing new.”

As proof of the lack of progress and news, Children’s Bridge has switched from a weekly update to a monthly update. They found it difficult to find anything to say in those updates.

Jen pointed out an interesting tidbit this weekend. This will be the 3^rd summer that we thought it would be our last summer by ourselves. Everything comes in 3’s, right? Maybe this will be the last.

I have some more quilt pieces to display on the site but just have not done so. No other excuse than that. Hopefully, I’ll get them uploaded this week. If people made the effort to get the pieces for us, I should at least take the effort to recognize them for doing so.

That’s it from here. No news is good news, right? I dunno.

The sun is shining and it’s supposed to be +27 today! Leave work on time and enjoy the evening. It will be a nice warm one!

Scott

Children's Bridge Foundation eBay auction

2007-04-16T10:54:00.000-03:00

The Children's Bridge Foundation is currently holding an eBay auction to help with the surgery needed for a 10 year old Vietnamese boy in desperate need of surgery. He is an orphanage and there is not money in their budget to perform the surgery. Please do your part and bid on one fo these beautiful jewellry pieces. If you do not have an eBay account, contact me and I'll bid on your behalf.

We may complain about the long wait in the emergency room, or the lack of attention that we receive when we are in the hospital, or we wonder where all of our tax money goes, but when you read this boys story, you will indeed see how blessed we are to live in a country where we have so much.

The story of this brave little boy can be found HERE

The eBay actions supporting this cause can be found HERE

China news

2007-04-13T11:01:00.000-03:00

A slow blog surfing week and a busy work week means there isn’t much to report on the adoption. While we wait for some chatter to report on, here are some interesting China-based news stories for the week.

China to send 20,000 graduates to work in rural areas - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/12/content_5968755.htm
China will recruit and send some 20,000 college graduates to work in the rural areas this year in a bid to ease employment pressures and enhance the development of rural areas. The graduates will be assigned to work in the education, medicine, agriculture and poverty-alleviation sectors

Dragon dance for peony festival in Henan (photos) - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/11/content_5962026.htm
Chinese dragon dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the 25th Peony Festival in Luoyang, Central China's Henan Province, April 10, 2007. Some 12,000 people with 10,025 handmade dragons attended the performance. The longest handmade dragon is 5056 meters long, representing the 5000 years' history of Luoyang and 56 ethnic groups in China.

Ancient garden celebrates birthday (photos) - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/11/content_5962691.htm
The Tuisi Garden, built in Qing Dynasty from 1885 to 1887, celebrated its 120th "birthday" on Tuesday. Tuisi Garden was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001.

'Collection' of Ancient Homes Sparks Debate in Shanghai (photos) - http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/206970.htm
Five years ago, Wang Wei, a Shanghai businessman who made his fortune through trading, planned to build a "cultural and ecological recreation garden" on an area of 1,200 mu (80 hectares) that he had rented in Luodian Town in Baoshan District of Shanghai. He then began to form a new idea, envisioning a "collection" of ancient hui-style houses. He didn't want to simply imitate the style, but actually use the original timber, even the original structures of ancient houses he found in other provinces to rebuild the ancient houses in Shanghai.

Average life expectancy in Beijing exceeds 80 - http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200704/11/eng20070411_365592.html
The average life expectancy in Beijing reached 80.07. Last year, the life expectancy for a male and female in Beijing was 78.36 years and 81.82 years. These statistics put Beijing people's health on par with that of the mid-range of developed countries.

New referral timeline from the CCAA is disappointing

2007-04-10T09:43:00.000-03:00

Here's the latest from the CCAA. The offical announcement is out from them concerning the latest batch of referrals and the news is not good. They only matched 2 paper days of files last month. The average has been between 10 & 15 days so this is a major blow to our timeline to travel.

What does this all mean? It means that we'll be travelling at least 1 month later than expected, but at this point, it's nearly impossible to accurately predict a timeline. If matching 2 days a month continues, it will be an eternity before we get our referral. All predictions on dates were always based on the trends from the previous months. Our best guess was dependant on the amount of days referred in previous months. We could normally count on the next month being close to the same amount of days as the month before so it was somewhat easy to say to someone that we expect the referral to cover up to a certain day. Now, with this small amount of days, we dont know whats coming next.

Daycare search and review site

2007-04-09T12:24:00.001-03:00

Found this while searching other blogs. Not much in it for daycares in our town but it might help you where you are.

http://www.daycarebear.ca/

Notorious D-A-D

2007-04-05T21:53:00.000-03:00

Here's a video for you to get a chuckle from.

Understanding what the babies go thru / attachment issues

2007-04-05T14:15:00.001-03:00

Here’s some great reading on what the babies go thru. We can only imagine what we think the babies are going thru in their early days of life but articles like this help us to better understand what they truly go thru.

The article and more about attachment issues with adopted children is HERE

One cold early Spring morning a beautiful, healthy baby girl, 3 days old, wakes up to find herself alone on a deserted street, hungry and cold. Her mother does not answer her cries, and in fact no one responds for hours. The baby, increasingly agitated and distressed, screams with primal urgency. Eventually a stranger happens by, picks up the crying baby and delivers her to the police station. Through several more intermediaries, the baby is eventually delivered to the local social welfare institute.

Examined by a doctor and then wrapped in blankets and fed a bottle, she is deposited into a crib and left alone for much of the rest of the day. That night, no one comes to answer her frantic cries. More days go by, more cries unanswered. Feeding and diapering are administered on a rigid schedule, since the caregivers have so many babies to attend to, and there is minimal opportunity to be held, carried, or spoken to. Stimulation is limited to what the baby can see, hear and feel from her crib. Feedings are piping hot bottles of formula, propped for maximum efficiency, delivered through extra large holes in the nipple. Occasionally the baby's mouth loses its place on the nipple and the entire contents of the bottle pours onto her body. When that happens she misses her feeding, and her wet clothes aren't changed for another hour or more.

Eventually the baby stops crying altogether because she has learned that crying rarely draws anyone to her. She is often lonely and scared, especially at night. The sounds of other babies crying and in distress cause her great anxiety, which she learns to tolerate by shutting down and withdrawing deeper inside herself in an attempt to protect herself from the constant stressors in her environment.

One day many months later, the baby is bundled up and brought by bus to a city several hours away. She is handed to a stranger with just the clothes on her back and one bottle of prepared formula. Otherwise, everything of her old life has vanished in an instant. The stranger brings her to a hotel across town, where she is changed into new, peculiar smelling clothes. The stranger shakes a brightly colored rattle in her face. The baby's environment has gone from one of minimal stimulation to one of hyper stimulation; new sounds, new smells, new sights, new sensations, delivered in rapid fire sequence. The stranger tries to feed her a Cheerio, but the baby reflexively gags because she's never had solid food in her mouth. The stranger tries to bathe her in the sink but the sensation is unfamiliar and terrifying. The stressed baby, overwhelmed, sinks deeper and deeper into a state of shock and withdrawal.

And they lived happily ever after.

The chronicles of our adoption from China

The new blog is up and running

Say hi to He Fu Qing

There's more families travelling with us

afternoon update

Our new blog is on its way.

morning update

noon update - nothing yet

WEATHER: Huge Landslide in Sichuan

It is official... we have been matched

How we spent our Saturday

Rumor Queen - you and I are done!

Ontario has their files, we have to wait

Nothing

getting our ducks all lined up

Still nothing

Nothing to report

22 months today

Still nothing to report

Still no news

Still no news on the next batch of referrals

Mid-Autumn Festival in Moncton this weekend

Canada AM features international adoption

upcoming events in Fredericton

The last week in review

TB infections among international adoptees rising: study

From the Globe and Mail. An interesting article that all adoptive parents should read..

Jen' s doctor has agreed to take on Gertrude as a patient. Once we get our referral and have our travel dates, we'll book an appt with the doctor immediately after our return from China.TB infections among international adoptees rising: study

More signs that we'll get our referral next month

November 25

Friday morning growl!

Arthur Gets an "A" for Adoption

21 months today

no update on the rumor

international power adapters

blog issues

Now things are getting interesting

international power adapter on sale - today only

Early rumors are not promising

How to Use Chopsticks

Room renovation pics

kids room update / general rambling

A technique every dog should know how to do.

8 paper days to go

A sign that we MUST be getting closer

Rumors on the next batch of referrals

20 months of waiting

Nothing new

A family to follow / the process explained

Latest update from the CCAA

19 months today

book - China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood

update on Hoang Son Pham

Race against time to save Vietnamese boy's life

An Ottawa charity is inspiring hundreds to help in its quest to give an orphan life-saving surgery in Canada

MAGMA's Rendezvous Multicultural Celebration

not much new / some trivia

not much is new

orphanage slideshow

Wednesday update

shu-ma chi-dai-zheng

Making Solar Popular: China's Sun City

The latest update from the CCAA

Ontario coroner calls for ban on baby bath seats to prevent drownings

update on Kai

Invented in China

Facts About the Great Wall of China

China hit by brain drain

International Children's Day

Preparing your dog for the kid

Dogs

Another update on the NBAF awareness campaign

18 months today

The next Survivor TV show will be in China

Moncton Chinese Cultural Day

The letterwriting campaign was a success

I need to learn these things

Carry on restrictions in China

Do's and Don'ts on attachment

Friday Ramblings

Jen' s doctor has agreed to take on Gertrude as a patient. Once we get our referral and have our travel dates, we'll book an appt with the doctor immediately after our return from China.

TB infections among international adoptees rising: study