Nothing to report

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

Still no news on the next batch of referrals

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

The last week in review

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!

Early rumors are not promising

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.

kids room update / general rambling

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 sign that we MUST be getting closer

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

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.

Nothing new

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

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.

not much is new

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.

Friday Ramblings

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!"

A short week, no work from the CCAA.

Hooray for short weeks. I’m already counting the minutes until Thursday @ 5PM.

There has still been no official announcement on the latest batch of referrals from the CCAA. From what I have been reading on the blogs, people think the announcement will be coming today. We’re still optimistic that we’ll get our referral in May but realistically, it’s looking more like June. Travel is about 2 months after that.

Wouldn’t this be a nice treat? A friend who does a lot of flying says he is going to try to get us 2 free upgrades to first class for our flight home. After the story Danny told me about their recent flight home and being stuck in the middle of the 5 seats and not having a separate seat for the kid, I almost got down and kissed his feet. Nothing about this trip bothers me as much as the long flight. I’m not afraid to fly, but being a closet claustrophobe and a mild germaphobe, the thought of trying to move ourselves and a kid in those cramped seats along with rubbing elbows with someone other than my dear Jen for a zillion hours is not that appealing.

Busy week

Wow, what a busy week. There hasn’t been much time for me to work on the blog. Sorry.

Carol and Danny and baby Mira are in back in Canada and will be arriving in Moncton @ 3:10 this afternoon. Air Canada flight AC8936. There’s supposed to be a snowstorm rolling into town today so hopefully this won’t affect their departure from Toronto or arrival in Moncton. Right now, it shows on-time but it’s much too early to tell. The Airport arrival calendar is HERE if you want to check during the day.

This weekend is supposed to be snow, then freezing rain, then snow then rain, so it will give me more time to do projects around the house. The paint is dry and the furniture is moved back into the rooms from the work earlier this week, so now it’s time to tackle “Gertrude’s” room. Maybe this will be the weekend to move the computer downstairs.

Jen’s monthly adoption-Mom dinner was last night and had a fair turnout. It’s nice to see the adoptive community get together like that. If I could only think of an activity for the guys, I’d organize something. Guys, any ideas on what we could do as a group?

That’s it from here for now. The Children’s Bridge update will be coming out later this week and I’ll try to do another post on that tonight.

See you at the airport this afternoon!