October 24th Referrals

The referrals for up to October 24, 2005 have been released!!! We are now 11 days closer to the January 5, 2006 Log in date. We estimate that by the end of June or July 2007 we will have our referral. It sure seems to take a long time but we are well over the hump. I saw a few pictures of the babies being referred and they all look pretty happy and healthy. Cannot wait to see our picture of Leah.

October 13 Referrals

The October 13 referrals have been released. That translates to about 5 more months of waiting for us. I am really excited because from all of the baby pictures I have seen from a forum I watch, the babies look healthy if not somewhat happy. I have heard rumors that healthy baby girls are actually becoming rarer and that is contributing to the big slow down of adoptions over in China. A lot of families who originally signed up with China are jumping ship to try other country's programs. If we had just started this whole process a few months ago Nina and I would probably move to another program since the wait is stretching out into 18-24 months.

Map Of China

The two links below are to an image I made using some mapping software that I am familiar with. They are both general reference maps of China. You should be able to download them to your computer and save to a CD or flash drive. If you take them to Kinkos they should be able to print them out. Let me know if you notice any irregularities or errors. Hell I even take suggestions.

Jesse

http://www.box.net/public/static/gb69tg5i2r.jpg (High Resolution Map)

http://www.box.net/public/static/bal2nn3fjq.jpg (Low Resolution Map)

To Norfolk

We just finished our fingerprinting for the second time over in Norfolk. Went quick and painless. We were the only ones there so we were in and out the door in 15 minutes. Who says the government cannot be efficient?

New Referrals

Yahoooo!!. We are one step closer to our referral with the announcement of the September 2005 referrals. Keep in mind we were logged in on January 5th, exactly one year ago today, leaving us with about 6 more months to go. It is nice to be over the hump in relation to the wait time however I really feel for the people entering the program right now. They may have to wait 2.5 years until they get their referrals. The wait time may be reduced for the people on the long end of the wait because of the tighter restrictions being placed on adoptive parents.

I am comfortable with most of these restrictions because I think most of them are in the child's best interest. Mainly the Body Mass Index of the adoptive parents. China is currently requiring that parents be under a 40 BMI which is entirely reasonable. Having a 40 BMI can almost be considered morbidly obese. I weigh about 197 pounds and am also about 6'2 and in good shape. My BMI is about 25. If I weighed 325 pounds I would have a BMI of 40. I think that weight represents an unhealthy lifestyle that in all likelihood will be passed on to the adoptive child in the form of bad eating habits. Walk into any Wal-Mart or 7-11 and you will see really overweight children sucking down sugar drinks like honey bees. I know there are some really good parents out there that will not be able to adopt from China but a line needs to be drawn for the best interests of the child.

The other major restriction is based upon the adoptive parents use of anti-depressant drugs. I think the verdict on this should be determined on a case by case basis. Potential parents with serious psychological issues will usually be weeded out during the home study. These new strict guidelines may eliminate good candidates based upon minor psychological problems such as low level stress. Some anti-depressants are even prescribed for physical ailments such as teeth grinding. Maybe CCAA will allow some grey areas in this regard.

The last issues relates to the prohibition of adoption by homosexual parents. I think that this is unfortunate because gay families have proven to be just as stable as straight couples.

China sets the rules and allows us the honor of adopting their children so we should respect their wishes even if we think they are unfair.

2.3 Months Per Month

2.3 months/1 month is the current ratio for how long it takes CCAA to process their applications. We logged in on January 5, 2005. So we will probably need to wait about 7 more months. The time may shorten as CCAA continues their work. One can only hope and keep their fingers cross. The key is not to think about it too much and work on others areas in your life related to the adoption. Preparing the baby room or coming up with a name. Until that day arrives keep busy.

Finger Printing......Again.

The Department of Homeland Security has mailed us our notification for re-fingerprinting for January 11th in Norfolk, Virginia. We have already done this about 13 months ago but because the government thinks our fingerprints may have changed since then we have to do it again. We have to make sure we do not have any cuts on our hands or we have to wait until it heals before we can come in. Oh well.