Tragedy in China

Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province experienced a massive 7.8 – 8.0 earthquake last night. The initial reports suggest more than 7,000 people have lost their lives. This is also one of the main research and breeding centers for endangered giant pandas. Significant damage is reported in several counties in Sichuan Province, some of which report collapse of as much as 80 percent of the buildings. More minor damage is reported in the large cities of Chengdu and Chongqing, as well as the Gansu and Yunnan Provinces. Please pray for the families who have lost loved ones, those who cannot get in contact with loved ones due to loss of communications, families currently in Sichuan Province to adopt their babies, as well as those who have recently been matched with children in orphanages in the vicinity of the epicenter. I am sure we will hear more as the day progresses.

Half the Sky and Love without Boundaries have set up funds to help children affected by the earthquake, including providing care and housing for orphaned children and for children temporarily separated from their families http://www.halfthesky.org/ and http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

Preparations

We purchased these suitcases for our trips to Kazakhstan (and future travel if they hold up ok). Aren’t they cute! I hope the dots are not too much for traveling to Kazakhstan, but we do not really intend to walk around much with them while we are in country. The suitcases are hard sided, supposedly tough, and really light. The large suitcase only weighs 10 pounds, so that will help with weight restrictions. Our current plan is to check the middle and large ones and then take large backpacks as our carry-ons/computer bags. We may decide to get another medium sized one rather than taking the large. I know we should try to pack light, but we’ll see how we do. Having a bad allergy to laundry detergents makes me wary of assuming I will just wash everything there. I have heard people recommend Charlie’s soap, which dissolves even in cold water, so maybe I will try it. I hate trying new laundry detergents, though, since bad hives make me miserable.

Progress!

We heard from our adoption coordinator today that our dossier has left the Consulate! This is all she wrote:

“Jim just e-mailed me. Your dossier is back in Kazakhstan.”

This is great news, but I want more details! Is it logged in at the MFA? Why didn’t she use the words “Ministry of Foreign Affairs” but instead just said “in Kazakhstan”? When did it arrive at the MFA? What timeline are we looking at now? I wish she had not said “back” in Kazakhstan because the word implies backwards progress. I know that our dossier was there during translation, so I assume that is what she means. I am trying to read a lot into a one-line email.

Update
We got a little more information. Our dossier should be registered at the MFA some time this week. Our coordinator thinks that we still have about a 3 month wait until region assignment. I had hoped it would be quicker since we are open to either gender, but 3 months is not too bad. It does potentially mean travel in winter, though, which I had hoped to avoid. We will see what happens, there are still too many variables to make accurate predictions.

China - May Referrals

Wow, I can't believe it has been another month already. China referrals came out today. The official cut-off has not yet been announced, but it is looking like the cut-off is 1/12/2006. This is a fairly big batch based on the Rumor Queen polls, but it is hard to get too excited about a 3-day batch. I cannot believe China may only cover one month of 2006 LIDs before the Olympics.

I admit I did not read the reactions this month, in part because it is hard to hear the stories of so many upset people. Also, I am absolutely swamped at work. If anyone knows an archaeologist with a Master's degree who wants a job, let me know!

Kaz Update - or lack therof

Our dossier will have been at the NY Consulate for 60 days on Thursday. I am a little worried after reading comments from people with other agencies whose dossiers were rejected for having the request for a healthy child in their home study. I cannot remember what the exact language is in our home study, but I think it requests a child "with potential for overall good health" (i.e., it is ok if they are sick now as long as we can get them better through treatment).

Our agency guidelines state that it takes an average of 60 days to get through the Consulate review, so we are still within this time frame. Earlier in the year, however, it was taking closer to 20 days to get through, so we are a bit discouraged. I heard from our coordinator today that she expects it to take at least another couple of weeks and she will provide us a new update then. She said "the Consulate is trying to get caught up" presumably following the holidays in March. Which hopefully can be read as our coordinator not being worried about the wording in our home study, right?.

Bus 758 to Scranton

We often joke that we are more ready to parent teenagers than a little baby. Well, at least the awesome teenagers at church. The youth involved in the drama program just performed “Bus 758 to Scranton,” a play Chris wrote. It was a retelling of the parable of the sower and the seed set in a bus stop. It was really good. I loved how expressive all of the cast were. They worked really hard and I had to share some pictures!

China Update

The early rumors this month suggested a decent sized batch of referrals – possibly reaching 1/13/06. My own prediction was through 1/10/06 this month and 1/13/06 next month, so getting to the 13th in one month was a pretty positive prediction.

Referrals came out Friday – the cut-off is 1/9/06. This makes this one of the smallest batches in a while, which is saying something. It is not totally unexpected as April referrals have been very small batches for the past several years. The theory is that orphanage workers who prepare babies’ dossiers were on vacation for the New Year celebration. This in one of the few holidays during which many people are able to travel home, especially people who work in the city but have families in the country. So two months later when CCAA goes to assign babies whose dossiers were received the month before, there are fewer baby dossiers available. I am sure the huge snow storm, which left several orphanages without power for weeks, may have affected things as well.

It brings tears to my eyes reading the reactions of everyone who missed the cut-off by one day, especially after thinking most of the month that they were definitely “in”. Don’t give up! You will see your babies faces next month! I am also saddened to read that so many people with 06 and 07 LIDs have decided this month to drop out. I hope those people will find other options for expanding their families.

For us, I think we are now definitely looking at 2010 for China referral. At least we can breathe a little easier about ensuring a year between our adoptions. Really, this may help us ensure at least a year in age between the kids as well.

We have no update on the Kazakh adoption and are still waiting to get through the first round of reviews, which is at the Consulate in NY. Apparently the Consul should be back from vacation this week and hopefully we will hear something in the next couple weeks.