A look around the site
It’s only been about eight months since I did this, but I’m getting questions that tell me we have a lot of new people who haven’t looked around to see what is offered… so I guess it’s time for me to do this again.
At the top of the left hand column you’ll find links to my last ten blog entries.
Also, in the left hand column, if you scroll down just a bit you’ll find links to the last twelve comments made.
When you view a post, if you want to see other posts that are similar then take a look at the categories I’ve put the post into. Click on the one that makes the most sense for what you are looking for, and you’ll get posts I’ve put into that category. Analysis gets the posts where I’ve analyzed things (including the Projection and When posts), Adult Adoptees gets the posts where I’ve talked about adult adoptees, etc. There is also a complete list of categories near the bottom of the right hand column, you can click on any category to take you to the posts in that category.
In the top right hand column under Site Navigation you see a link that will take you to a page of the rules for people who wish to comment. Nothing draconian, just basic manners.
Next you’ll see a link to the Forum. What is a forum? Well, the part you’re looking at now is called the Blog. In the beginning the blog was where all conversation happened. Then as our little community grew we really needed a better place to talk, so along came the forum. Many rooms of the forum are viewable by anyone, but we have a few rooms that are only visible to those who are registered – nothing top secret, but sometimes it’s nice to talk about things in a spot that the search engines aren’t going to index. The forum has also turned into a nice spot for people to continue to come to once they are home with their babies. We’ve somehow managed to bring a lot of levelheaded people together who can have some pretty intelligent conversations – the forum provides a spot for us to continue to have a place to talk even after we are home. There are serious threads and fun threads, there are threads about adoption related parenting issues and then there threads about just plain old parenting issues (potty training, attitude, handling homework, etc.) You’ll find the rules for the forum stickied to the top of the General Discussion area, please look through them before you start posting. Again, nothing draconian, just some guidelines put in place so it can continue to be a pleasant place to hang out and talk.
I should note, again, that for some reason comcast will not deliver mail from chinaadopttalk.com to their subscribers. If you have a comcast.net address, you’ll need to use a different address in order to sign up for the forum and blog. You can try complaining to comcast if you want, I’ve tried but I haven’t gotten anywhere. Perhaps if paying customers complain they will do something.
Continuing down the top right of this page you’ll see two links for book recommendations. One page is for things relating to Adoption, Parenting, and China. The other page is for fictional book series that I enjoy, listed in the order that I personally like them. Most are Urban Fantasy, but not all. I haven’t updated the page for sequels in a while, I should probably do that.
Next you’ll see the CCAA Updates and Referrals page. This page lists when referrals have arrived and through what dates for as long as I’ve been keeping track. There is also a spreadsheet listing when the CCAA page has been updated.
Next you’ll find a calendar, and then there is Contact Info. I don’t respond to email, so if you want a response you’ll need to PM me in the forum. However, I’ve had to stop responding to as many PM’s as I’d like to be able to, as well, as some weeks I get well over 150 PM’s. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining about the volume, I really appreciate rumors coming to me and I don’t mind that I might see the same rumor 40 times. In reality, the more times I see the rumor, the more I can be sure of the wording of the rumor. So please continue to PM or email me any rumor you have, just understand that there is no way I can respond to every PM. And right now I’m a bit behind even in the ones I will be responding to.
After the Contact link comes the very important FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). If you have not read the FAQ, please do.
Next is a link to the GlitterGirl and TwinkleToes blog, which I’ve been sporadically posting to. Then you’ll see the very important Poll Results page showing the results of all of the Polls that I’ve put up that have been closed. Each is marked at the bottom to tell where it came from and/or the date the poll closed.
Last in this section we have a guide to the Rumor Ratings I sometimes use to rate the rumors, and a scorecard I created to keep track of R4 and R5 rumors. I haven’t updated it with the rumors from the most recent cycle, I’ll try to get that done soon, too.
Next you’ll see a link to posts I’ve made that I feel are of interest to people across time. Articles about how the matching room works and when adoptions are final in China and what I thought the backlog was the last time I figured it. A new entry in this section is the “Series Listings” section. Subjects like Chinese New Year and Adult Adoptees and Baby Gear. You can find all of the posts from those series by following the Series Listing link under Important Posts.
The next section is for Links outside of this site. First the link for Bright Outlooks, followed by a couple of CCAA pages of interest. If you haven’t read through their Requirements and Rules pages then the next time you have some spare time you might want to do so. There is also a link to a map of the provinces in China.
The next site is an attachment site that I highly recommend. I think that all parents who are adopting an institutionalized child should spend some time there before traveling. Attachment is best formed during periods of stress, and the first couple of weeks are incredibly stressful for all involved. Don’t blow this wonderful chance you have of forming bonds because you figured you’d read about attachment strategies if you thought there were problems. I’ve never talked to anyone who read up on attachment ahead of time who said it was a waste of time. But I know a lot of people who wish they had read up on it ahead of time because they missed some important red flags that they would have known about if they had only educated themselves about it first.
And last in this section is MandarinTools.com. When you get your referral packet I recommend that you go here to listen to the proper way to say your child’s name. Type in the pinyin word and tell it that it’s pinyin, you’ll see a list of meanings and the Mandarin characters will be shown. Find the one that looks like the character on your paperwork and click it – you’ll hear the word being said. Tone is important. If they sound ticked off when they say it then you must sound ticked off. If they say it in a singsong voice then you must try to match that sing song tone. You’ll also see the translation of your child’s name by doing this. Sometimes the literal translation gives you a good idea of the actual translation, but most times you’ll want to run it by someone who is fluent in Mandarin to get the correct translation. (Be aware that some names are in Cantonese and not Mandarin, though the vast majority are in Mandarin.)
Next is a list of categories I mentioned above. If you just want to see the posts about referral announcements then click on that category. If you want to see a list of posts about The Wait, then click on that category. If you are looking for an analysis I’ve recently done then click on Analysis. If you want to see Book Reviews then click on that.
