Tibet and the call for an Olympic Boycott

I'm sure most of you have seen the news and are aware of the turmoil in Tibet. Doug and I have been concerned since the adoption began, hoping the relationship between the US and China remains friendly. Since our adoption journey began, there has been several headline stories, i.e., The Hunan Adoption Scandal, which is being partly blamed for the slow-down, the lead paint in toys manufactured in China and as of the past few weeks the call for an Olympic boycott.

After some research into the past scandals during the 1990's and coming in contact with families who adopted during various "crisis" during their wait for China, we don't feel the call Olympic boycotts or the trouble in Tibet will affect adoptions. China has stated finding homes for children in need is their top priority and no crisis will stop their desire to find families for the children.

Families that will be taraveling to China during the Olympics will be routed around Beijing versus the normal 2-3 day stopover. The re-routing is too bad, because there are very important landmarks that the families won't get to encounter, i.e. Tiananmen Square. The Beijing stop-over isn't always standard depending on what Province your child is from, so I am very thankful to have seen the square and climbed The Great Wall near Beijing previously.

I would really like to Doug to see Beijing b/c it is a must-see when going to China and I would love to see how much it has changed since 2002. When Grandpa and I visited in 2002, China was already gearing up for the Olympics and there were construction booms everywhere.

We are looking forward to watching the Olympics unfold over the next few months and for the games to begin!

"I Don't Have Your Eyes" by Carrie Kitze

An excerpt from a book about traits parents and children joined through adoption do have in common:

"I don't have your eyes ... but I have your way of looking at things.
I don't have your ears ... but I have your way of hearing those in need
I don't look like you on the outside ... but I look inside and in our hearts we are the same"

Our First Baby

Sport will always be our 1st "baby". We adopted him in 1997 and he has been a PITA ever since. He will be 11 years old this May! Happy Birthday Buddy! We adopted his sister a few years later to calm Sport down, which did not work by the way. Poor Miah, no wonder she has seizures having a brother who is always going after her jugular. But as much as they fight, we find them snugged up together everyday.

Sport forgets he is a cat and likes to knock trash cans over, open cabinet doors, chew carpet, chase balls, eat plastic and puke. No, our cat does not have opposable thumbs, but he paws on the cabinet doors until it bounces open, he slides his paw in to stop it from closing then jumps on in. He is one bad-ass cat, otherwise know as Sport, aka Brad, aka Buddy, aka jerk, aka arsehole

2006 IS in

Yup, referrals up to 1.4.06 are in. Wohoo. We do NOT believe we will get our referral this year, but heck, it's already March and life is zooming along!

Starting Monday we will be w/o a kitchen for 6 weeks. I should make/freeze some meals this weekend, but I'm not really feeling it. Eating dinner for lunch and lunch at dinnertime makes the most sense. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm 100% stoked about not having to load/unload a dishwasher for 6 weeks. I don't understand how 2 people use so many dishes? I do cook 6 days a week, so that's part of it, but 75% of our dishes are glassware. I think when we move back into our new kitchen, I'm going to hide the surplus of glassware we have for entertaining. It is so easy to grab a new glass when you have like 30. LOL.