Happy New Year!!!!

Happy 2007 Family and Friends.

Last year, at this time, we had officially decided to take the plunge into International Adoption and get the paperwork rolling after the New Year. We decided to do so in January, thinking not many applications would be submitted during this time, because people were recovering from holiday spending and preparing to pay taxes. BOY, were we ever wrong! We entered IA during the biggest slowdown in China's IA history.

Here we are, 12 months later, and 8 months, 5 days into being officially paper-ready for Emma, with no sign of heading to China anytime soon. Doug and I are patient people, but the waiting really tested us during the holidays this year. We hope and pray that we will be home with Emma next Christmas, but time will only tell.

2006 has been a fantastic year and we have lots of good memories with family and friends during 2006. We love all of you so much!

~Doug and Jennifer

Staying Busy

The holidays certainly have kept us busy the last few weeks. I have to admit, I'm glad Christmas is over and we are approaching the New Year. New Year, New Beginnings. Right?

Since we are no longer traveling to China before August 2007, we decided to use some of our vacation time...Jennifer has a "use or lose" policy at her job. Here is a couple of trips were are taking in January, that not everyone is aware of:

1. Doug is headed to Las Vegas, January 12th, with a group of his Fraternity Brothers, for a few days.

2. Jennifer is headed to South Africa January 16th-26th. She will spend part of the time in Johannesburg and part of the time in Cape Town. She will be traveling with her grandfather. Her grandfather has always wanted to see the Big 5 and was going to fly solo, but Jennifer thought this wasn't such a great idea, in such a dangerous part of the world, so she volunteered to go too.

On the adoption front, there is nothing new to report. We haven't see referrals for September 2005 families post yet, but are hoping to within the next week. The next few months are going to be interesting to watch with the new "regulations" in place.

Ta Ta for now,
Jennifer

CCAA Says No More Progress Updates

The CCAA is eliminating their web page, "paperwork update" box.

To know how far we are in the waiting game, we will have to wait for info from FTIA, our agency, or watch family websites post their referral information and/or pictures.

What a bummer.

A Funny Picture

I didn't take this picture, but Grandpa and I did climb the Great Wall, in 2 different sections in 2002. Well, that's not exactly true...we didn't want to go where all the other tourists go, so we hired a driver and went to a section least visited. We figured out why it was least visited when we got there...you had to walk across the top of a Dam, with no railings, and approximately 3 feet wide, max.

My first steps out on the Dam created vertigo, so I immediately dropped to my knees and crawled back. One side of the Dam was full of water and the other side was bone dry. I can't explain the visual sensation it gave you, the empty and the full. Yes, I chickened out. Even if we had crawled across, this section of wall was not restored and you had to hike/climb up a very vertical side of the mountain just to get to a very crumbly section of The Great Wall.

The picture above is what our true Great Wall climb experience was like.

Do You Hear The Music???

The best IS yet come in 2007...

After only 2 months, I finally figured out how to embed music on this blog... LOL

"Merry Christmas" by Third Day

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
and we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
and prepare a place for us
so we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll tell you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

CCAA Made New Rules

The new rules are effective May 2007. The CCAA announced there are twice the number of families waiting than they have paper-ready children. The slowdown will continue and average a 2 month wait for one month of referrals. This means we have AT LEAST 16 more months of waiting for them to get our April 2006 LID, which would be May 2008.

Here are the specific rules:

Married couples only. No singles.

Married couples must be married over 2 years if there are no previous marriages. If there are previous marriages then the present marriage must be over 5 years. However, no more than two previous marriages will be allowed.

Each parent must be 30 to 50 years old.

The CCAA wants healthy parents - no infectious disease, no mental disease (including depression or anxiety), no blindness, and no serious disease or disability. Cancer was not specifically mentioned.

Both parents must have a BMI under 40.

At least one parent must have a stable job. Income requirement is $10,000 per family member including the child to be adopted.

Family’s net assets must be over $80,000

Each parent must have a high school education or higher.

No more than five children in the home including the child to be adopted. The youngest child in the home must be over 1 year old. Exceptions will be considered for the waiting child program.

No criminal record.

The CCAA fees are also changing - going from $410 to $620

Letter to Congresswoman, Jean Schmidt

This is the letter that we've asked Family and Friends to send in the hopes that they will extend our paperwork expiration dates during the increased wait times. Adoptive families throughout the US are lobbying their individual states.

Dear Congresswoman Schmidt,

This letter is to voice my concern over the expiration timing of form I-171H (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition) and the fingerprints associated with this form's approval process. Currently, parents applying to adopt are required to resubmit to fingerprinting after 15 months, and resubmit the entire application after 18 months from date of initial approval.

There is significant cost and time burden associated with both of these steps. In recent months it has become clear that processing time for international adoption, from China specifically, is likely to exceed the 18-month expiration window. This means that as many as 12,000families involved in China adoption per year will need to reprocess paperwork if there are no changes to the current expiration dates. Increasing the period of validity of this document to at least 24 months (preferably 36 months) would benefit both the adoptive families and the USCIS offices that are required to process numerous applications per year.

We realize your time is limited so we deeply appreciate any attention you can give to this issue and any results you may be able to prompt on our behalf.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Todd

* Currently waiting 7 months to be referred a child and expect to be waiting at least 10 more months
* Fingerprint expiration 5/14/2007
* I-171H expiration 10/14/2007