Okay...so we are on a information drought of some kind. I knew I shouldnt have had my hopes up for a weeks turnaround on updated photos and answers to questions...but I was really hoping I would have the answers in a week. We are going on day 17 now of what I was told would max at 21 so we should get something soon.
Other than that, I have nothing to report. The fall garage sell in my community is the first week of October so Im looking to get rid of high chairs, pack n plays, cribs, baby mattresses, activity centers, door jumpers... should be a nice addition to our adoption fund!
sigh... bye for now.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
16 Hour Flights...
Well, it finally happened...I had my first anxiety dream about flying to China. That's right. I admit it. Im a pilot and I hate to fly commercially. Actually it isn't the flying or the potential to go hurdling to my death in a fiery crash that makes me crazy. Nope. For me it is the idea of being trapped in a confined area for 16+ hours with no internet access, a one hour battery on my laptop, and absolutely no access to any information coming from the cockpit. As you probably guessed pilots on international flights often require the input of a 500 hour Army helicopter pilot who hasnt flown since the middle 90's in order to do their job successfully. Thank Goodness for the other passengers that Rob and I will be on that flight! Yes, you guessed it. Somebody has control issues! Let me warn any of you that may consider yourself someone with control issues...international adoption is NOT GOING TO HELP THE SITUATION. Just FYI - Don't say that I didn't warn you!
I got a little update from the women trying to get me information and she is still waiting for the answers. She is due back into China on September 7 and will be calling again to see if they have anything for me. Cross your fingers.
Okay then...just three more hours until the boys soccer game...guess I should get ready to go.
I got a little update from the women trying to get me information and she is still waiting for the answers. She is due back into China on September 7 and will be calling again to see if they have anything for me. Cross your fingers.
Okay then...just three more hours until the boys soccer game...guess I should get ready to go.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Its been 14 days....
Okay...so two full weeks ago I submitted my request for updated information. From what I was told it takes 14 to 21 days for information...however the person who coordinates this whole thing thought it would go faster because business has been slow. That's fine. As long as next week is the week for information...please, please, please. Updated height/weight...hoping for more pictures, some questions about likes/dislikes and communication.
We had our first sign language class and it was so much fun. Mostly because over half of the class were people I brought in my car! Barbara, Jann ( with two n's), Vickie ( Herbst means Autumn in German..who knew), Savannah, Braxton, R. and the boys. We all learned the alphabet and a few phrases like "Hi my name is D.." "My name sign is..." and most importantly - "I know little sign language, please sign slower". I picked my name sign which keeps changing between something with ice hockey and computers...depending on my mood. I did notice that some of the signs I thought I knew have changed over the years...like computer which I thought was drawing a box and then typing has since changed to an easier sign where you move the letter C along your arm. I wonder if in this faster pace we are keeping now a days if the signs are moving faster as well. I am assuming that some of the two step signs perhaps have been updated with one step signs? Guess we will find out. R. did great and half way through the class could finger spell his name and picked a name sign. R. anounced to the class full of adults that he wants to be a scientist so his name sign is a combination of the sign for science and the letter R. J., chose NOT to participate...shocker....so we picked a name sign for him that combines the sign for play with the letter J. I suggested perhaps using the sign for Prison for his name sign...but I was overruled by his father.
Another interesting point. Molly will most likely need to learn signed english over ASL so she can learn sentence structure. So instead of learning ASL, we are learning what they call pidgin sign language which is a combination of ASL and SSE ( signed exact english). See this link for an explanation of the types of sign language used in the states: http://www.listen-up.org/sign2.htm
Right now the plan is to get Molly here...get her comfortable and based on her personality and how she is doing, get her down to Birmingham to the International Adoption Clinic for a full evaluation. From there we will be going through the evaluations for hearing aids or implants or neither depending on what we find out. During that time, we will be doing a lot of signing.
I did find out from a very nice lady who just recently adopted a little girl from China that you have to teach them to use a western toilet. They have been taught to use the bathroom squatting over a hole...so that will be our first adventure in China. When they got her daughter who was 4.5 years old, she was not signing at all. By the time she had left China, the little girl was using 10 signs quite comfortably and now after being home a few months, knows and uses well over 100 signs.
Hoping for the best with the LOA...which is the next step....the LOA will come between one week and three weeks hopefully. Then the TA which will come between one week and three weeks. Of course Im hoping for one week on both accounts....hey, you never know!! Just taking one day at a time.
Will hopefully wrap up some projects this weekend and can begin getting ready for the big fall garage sale where I plan on getting rid of everything that we have used for a baby. Anyone want to buy a crib?
More ramblings later Im sure....
We had our first sign language class and it was so much fun. Mostly because over half of the class were people I brought in my car! Barbara, Jann ( with two n's), Vickie ( Herbst means Autumn in German..who knew), Savannah, Braxton, R. and the boys. We all learned the alphabet and a few phrases like "Hi my name is D.." "My name sign is..." and most importantly - "I know little sign language, please sign slower". I picked my name sign which keeps changing between something with ice hockey and computers...depending on my mood. I did notice that some of the signs I thought I knew have changed over the years...like computer which I thought was drawing a box and then typing has since changed to an easier sign where you move the letter C along your arm. I wonder if in this faster pace we are keeping now a days if the signs are moving faster as well. I am assuming that some of the two step signs perhaps have been updated with one step signs? Guess we will find out. R. did great and half way through the class could finger spell his name and picked a name sign. R. anounced to the class full of adults that he wants to be a scientist so his name sign is a combination of the sign for science and the letter R. J., chose NOT to participate...shocker....so we picked a name sign for him that combines the sign for play with the letter J. I suggested perhaps using the sign for Prison for his name sign...but I was overruled by his father.
Another interesting point. Molly will most likely need to learn signed english over ASL so she can learn sentence structure. So instead of learning ASL, we are learning what they call pidgin sign language which is a combination of ASL and SSE ( signed exact english). See this link for an explanation of the types of sign language used in the states: http://www.listen-up.org/sign2.htm
Right now the plan is to get Molly here...get her comfortable and based on her personality and how she is doing, get her down to Birmingham to the International Adoption Clinic for a full evaluation. From there we will be going through the evaluations for hearing aids or implants or neither depending on what we find out. During that time, we will be doing a lot of signing.
I did find out from a very nice lady who just recently adopted a little girl from China that you have to teach them to use a western toilet. They have been taught to use the bathroom squatting over a hole...so that will be our first adventure in China. When they got her daughter who was 4.5 years old, she was not signing at all. By the time she had left China, the little girl was using 10 signs quite comfortably and now after being home a few months, knows and uses well over 100 signs.
Hoping for the best with the LOA...which is the next step....the LOA will come between one week and three weeks hopefully. Then the TA which will come between one week and three weeks. Of course Im hoping for one week on both accounts....hey, you never know!! Just taking one day at a time.
Will hopefully wrap up some projects this weekend and can begin getting ready for the big fall garage sale where I plan on getting rid of everything that we have used for a baby. Anyone want to buy a crib?
More ramblings later Im sure....
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Okay...so not to sound greedy or anything...
Still on a cloud from yesterday's PA, Im thinking I sure would love some updated stats on Molly...height, weight, dare I say...NEW PICTURES! Also, we had submitted some fairly detailed questions about her that I would love to know the answers to..but we are really at the mercy of these overworked caretakers/ foster mothers in China. All I can do is sit here and wait and hope that we get some answers soon.
Busy day today...vet, basball practice, hockey tonight...so there is plenty to do...but I sure would love a distraction from that.
Looking forward to our first sign language class tomorrow night.
Hope I have more to post later today!
Busy day today...vet, basball practice, hockey tonight...so there is plenty to do...but I sure would love a distraction from that.
Looking forward to our first sign language class tomorrow night.
Hope I have more to post later today!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Whooo Hooo! We got the Pre Approval!
Finally...something to report other than what we hope will happen. Just got a phone call from the adoption agency. We got the PA. That means between one week and four weeks from now we should be looking at the LOA. So what is the PA. The PA stands for Pre Approval and basically means that China knows we want to adopt Molly and approves of the match. In a few weeks we will be getting in the mail a letter called the LOA ( letter of approval) that Rob and I will sign that basically tells China that we do indeed want to adopt Molly and then we send it back. You would think that spending $20K and wating for three years would be all they need to be convinced that we want her...but what the heck, if they want our signature on a piece of paper...so be it. A few weeks from there we receive our travel authorization and a few weeks after that we are eating Chinese food in China...of course they probably just call it food there.
Anyway, one more step towards bringing her home!
Anyway, one more step towards bringing her home!
It is 8:30pm in China...do you know where your Molly is?
So of course you cant help but wonder at any point during the day what she is doing? Hoping she is happy or rested or fed. I have agreed to let myself get to Thursday before I start ringing the adoption agency's phone off the hook wondering where the Pre-Approval is? Hopefully something will come today or tomorrow to save them from my endless barrage of questions.
The boys have their first soccer game of the season tonight so that is a great distraction and of course, I do have a fair amount of work to do to complete some of my current websites. But feel more than confident that I will be able to maintain these sites on my hosting server while Molly is here.
Well, off to get Jack ready for school. Then back to the computer for some work.
Hopefully I will get the chance to post an update later today! Crossing fingers!
The boys have their first soccer game of the season tonight so that is a great distraction and of course, I do have a fair amount of work to do to complete some of my current websites. But feel more than confident that I will be able to maintain these sites on my hosting server while Molly is here.
Well, off to get Jack ready for school. Then back to the computer for some work.
Hopefully I will get the chance to post an update later today! Crossing fingers!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Labor Day...still no new info
So it has been a little over a week since I submitted some questions and the PA should be coming any day now. Sign Language classes start this week and there are a whole bunch of people that are going to take it with me which will be a LOT of fun! As long as I feel like there is something I can do to prepare, it will keep me from going too crazy. My hope is to complete the building of the several websites I have on the calendar and then go to strictly maintaining the sites in order to start prepping the house, the room, going through the mountains and mountains of girls clothes that people have been donating for three years. I could open up my own store with the amount of clothes I have. Actually, I have collected so many clothes and shoes, that Molly has more clothes and shoes than both my boys put together. It is just a matter of going through and figuring out what she can wear...hopefully the updated height and weight will help. There are so many things between the boys and baseball and soccer, my involvement in hockey, the sign language class and a friend of mine, Darla, is going to help me put together a book of sorts with items in that Molly can point to when she wants something. Hopefully that should help us get through the first few weeks in China when language/ communication will be minimal.
We are going to sell all the baby stuff we have been holding on to at the fall garage sale. It is so nice to be getting a three year old. I couldnt have planned it better.
Still feeling optimistic about the time....there is so much to do between then and now....but I know I will feel a lot better when I have that LOA in my hands.
Another family's stats:
LOI 12-14-07, ours is August 21, 2008
LOA 1-25-08, ours is expected in three to four weeks.
TA 2-29-08 , ours is expected in four to 7 weeks
We traveled on 3-11-08, ours is expected in 10 -12 weeks
We are going to sell all the baby stuff we have been holding on to at the fall garage sale. It is so nice to be getting a three year old. I couldnt have planned it better.
Still feeling optimistic about the time....there is so much to do between then and now....but I know I will feel a lot better when I have that LOA in my hands.
Another family's stats:
LOI 12-14-07, ours is August 21, 2008
LOA 1-25-08, ours is expected in three to four weeks.
TA 2-29-08 , ours is expected in four to 7 weeks
We traveled on 3-11-08, ours is expected in 10 -12 weeks
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