Important Posts and Important Links
For those who are new’ish here, if you’ll look down on the right hand column a bit you’ll see a section titled Important Posts.
The first post there gives a look around the site from about a month ago. The only big change since then is the addition of the GlitterGirl and TwinkleToes blog.
I do recommend that you read through those Important Posts, as well as the Rules and the FAQ from the Site Navigation area, at a bare minimum.
If you haven’t visited the Forum, you should know that this is where most of the discussion takes place.
If you want to see numbers, there is the page that keeps track of when referrals have arrived and when the CCAA site has changed, as well as the page that shows the results of all of the polls we have run.
I don’t have any new rumors for the day, so feel free to use the comments to talk about whatever you want today. Within reason, of course.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:18 am
OK- I’ll take the bait for today….
Writing from Canada…LID 5/30/06…so very far away…
Anyway, just wondering what everyone is doing to keep busy and minds occupied while you wait. I know that we could certainly use some other ideas. Instead of talking about it constantly, or debating just how over the top we will decorate her room. Of course she will be a princess, and must have surroundings to match, you know. :)
So, what is everybody else doing? Reading any really great books?
Please share…
Cindy in Ontario
June 21st, 2007 at 10:45 am
I see you just joined the Forum Cindy….welcome.
Was a thread recently on where people gave out lots of book ideas, if you have any trouble finding it send me a PM and i can point you in the right direction.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:58 am
Hi Cindy and welcome aboard.
We’ve done so many small projects to keep us busy. We do a lot of camping, we’ve bought motorcycles to go trail riding, we sold a piece of property and have been preparing another for a cabin (or rather a small house). According to the contractor the foundation is going in this week. This is our biggest project yet to keep us busy, the property is about a 1 1/2 hour drive and we agreed to do all of the clean up work, interior and exterior painting, etc. But by the time they are done we are hoping that we will be near referral (we are LID 3/1/06) and then a whole new type of busy will be going on.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:16 am
Hi Cindy,
Luckily I’m no longer waiting (adopted our 2nd and last daughter back in March), but what helped me cope with the wait is I would make a list of all the things I needed to do around that house and assigned one or two projects each month. For example in September I would clean out the garage, in October I would start cleaning out what would eventually become my daughters room, and November I painted the bathroom, etc. Just knowing I had something to do each month helped me realize we were getting closer and closer.
Another thing, and you’ll hear this a million times but it’s true….go do lots of things that you won’t be able to do as much of once you have your child. Go to movies, plays, nice dinners, get a pedicure or a massage. Ever since we got our first daughter back in 2004 I’ve been to one movie!
Another things
June 21st, 2007 at 11:54 am
Hi Everybody~
Windthrow- I think I tried joining the forum ,but it would not let me log on…will try again when not at work..haha
What part of Canada are you from?
MyBabyGirl and Spohie_mom- thanks for the great tips….we have been slowly doign home projects, but summer is here now, and the margaritas and the pool have now taken priority, but we do have a small list already started for fall.
The problem is that I don’t want to get things like her room done too far in advance, because then that will just be torturous.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:55 am
Cindy:
For our 1st, Jia Ke, we spent the prior months doing what the others have mentioned. We received a 3 1/2 year old and it wasn’t long she was going out with us for exotic dinners, she loves musicals and even made it through a Junior Symphany performance! We still see plenty of movies but now they are all DVD at home and usually animated (like all the Disney). My favorite TV show now is Clifford! I think I’ve seen them all!
Now for our second (LID 4-6-06) we are doing more things with Jia Ke, trying to achieve more milestones before her sister arrives (although we have no idea how old she will be).
For our first go-around we only waited 6 months. This time is crazy. It is definitely hard to plan for an unknown. There isn’t anything anyone can say that will make you feel better about it. It hurts to wait…this long…
Drew
June 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
I love the projects idea. We are about to start on our bathroom, so that will take a little while! We’re also taking some short weekend trips with our son-6 flags, water parks, etc. My dh and I are going to Hot Springs, Ark. by ourselves for a weekend. Our summer seems to be planned out and I’m so glad! It makes the wait slightly tolerable (sp?).
Lauree
LID 12/5/05
June 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Of course, there is always a “project List” ongoing. I have decided to school myself on China. I am going to read a few books on china adoptions. Then find some about the history and culture. My Dh bought me a CD set to learn the language, or at least try! Does anyone have any suggestions? I figured I can get this done while getting a tan on the weekends. I am going to enjoy beach sloitude because I know when babygirl gets here that is all over.
Shannon
LID 4/16/07
June 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Am in Toronto Cindy
RQ has also set up a Canada room in the forum now too…way way way down near the bottom.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I am doing A LOT of cleaning!!! But now that school is out…this is the summer of Kurt… Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is. And of course, I am spending a lot of time making and buying really cute baby clothes… I hope to be on the safe side and am making everything for about 18 months and older… If this wait gets MUCH longer, our daughter ( we anticipate) will have an entire wardrobe made through age 12…
Jellybean
LID 3/7/06
June 21st, 2007 at 2:22 pm
We got our second daughter in March. I should have appreciated all the ‘alone’ time I had with my first daugther because now we just don’t get quite so much ‘alone’ time.
One of the people in our travel group spent their wait learning all about photography. He invested in a very nice camera and was editing the photos on his computer whenever he had a chance. I must say the photos were some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Joan
http://chinamomsonline.com
June 21st, 2007 at 2:31 pm
We are waiting for our second child from China.For Our daughter,she is 4 years and 3 1/2 years with us, we waited 8 months.It’s hard sometimes , my dh and i are huggin and kissing our daughter everytime when we are feeling sad and that helps a lot.Sorry for those who are waiting for their first.
LID 14 Feb. ‘06
June 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
We have been logged in for almost 16 months and have passed up quite a few travel opportunities because we thought we would be/could be in China. This may sound crazy but I am going to spend the next six months planning a trip to China and at the end of the 6 months, if we’re still not close to referral, I AM GOING!!! My parents went last year for 2 weeks for less than $1000 each including tours, meals, hotels and international airfare! I have spent my life (it seems, anyway) studying China and the last while trying to learn Mandarin. I’m ready to go and see it for myself and try to speak the language. What I would really love to do is spend a day or two or three in an orphanage playing with children and holding babies. Any idea how one might arrange that???
June 21st, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I have a sept 06 lid. I know I have a long wait ahead of me. Will China have babies for adoption in three years? This has been on my mind for some time. I would be very sad to wait three years for a referral and there are not any children up for adoption when my time comes. How does the CCAA know there will be children available in three or four years?
June 21st, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I learned how to knit. I am knitting all kinds of baby things.
Anybody else doing another adoption simutaneously?
Angie
LID
5/31
June 21st, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Are you allowed to do simutaneous adoptions? And how would one go about doing this?
June 21st, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Banany66 – Look on the forum, there’s a section on other countries and “concurrent” adoptions. Basically you do another adoption with a different country or a domestic adoption. Depending on your situation you can either amend or transfer some of the documents you used for China and/or you will re-do some of them. This is a good option if you were planning on more then one adoption from China and either will be disqualified by the new rules or have personal reasons for wanting a potentially shorter timeframe.
P.S. The anit-spam word was USCIS – does RQ read our mind about content of message?
June 21st, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Firsttimemom-Thanks for the info. With such a long wait and age factor, it looks like I will be close to 44 by the time we travel, other options are great. Yes, They must be reading our minds!!