Update on my Dossier

Lastnight I got an email from my agency letting me know that my dossier is halfway through notarization-authentication & translation. They said that it will be ready on July 10th and will be sent to the SK Gov't that week. The SK Gov't will then send my dossier directly to China. I'm not sure WHY it has to be sent back to the SK Gov't, but hopefully it will immediately be sent, and not sitting on a desk for weeks. Normally my agency sends China a bunch of dossiers in a group, but becuase I'm in the Waiting Child Program mine goes as soon as it is ready. So I will have a July DTC (Dossier to China) and hopefully a July LID (Log-in-date). A LID is a date my file is logged into the CCAA (China Centre of Adoption Affairs) system. Referrals are based on your LID's, so that means the faster my dossier can be LID, the faster I can be matched with my daughter and receive my referral. The Waiting Child Program is a little different than the regular program inregards to the LID & matching time frames, but the steps are pretty much the same.

Once my dossier is DTC that will mean that I'm officially "PAPER PREGNANT"!!!!!

June "Referral" Time!!!!

It's that time of month again!!! This week has been so exciting and amazing for many families around the world, as they've received their referrals this week. Reading the Canadian site, the babies seem so young and averaged around 7 months old and I even seen TWINS being referred!! Congrats to all who received their referrals!!!!!

So if you want to sit back and check out some of the families who just received their referrals and see the cute babies click on the Salsa In China Link under "Other Adoption Blogs". Mary-Mia has posted 30 families who just their referrals....so enjoy!! Hopefully soon I will be in the same shoes as these families...I will be an emaotional mess when I see my daughters picture for the first time!!!!

I NEED BLOGGER HELP

What the heck happened??? I was adding some new links to my blog and now I have lost my sidebar.........are there any smart BLOGGERS out there???

HELP!!!!!!


OKAY........panic attack is over THANK GOD!!!! After a lot of fiddling around (2 hours) I found the problem.....it was my China clock that all of a sudden was to large.....what the heck!!!
Now, I have the fear that I will lose it again!!! So does anyone know how to do a "back-up" of your blog? Do any of you do this? Thank fully I'm back up and running!!!

Another CCAA update

Alrighty.....here we go!!! Its seems that things may be heading in the fast lane again with CCAA. This is such great news in the "China Adoption Community". I would've never looked, but my "blogger bud" Dawn sent me a little poke noting this.....thanks Dawn!!!

Congrats to all who have moved into the MATCHING rooms!!!

P.S- Connie I thought you were maybe making jokes again...so I had to check for myself (maybe you gave them a little nudge to hurry up already!!!).....thanks!!!

TOO COOL

Today has been a whirl wind day!!! First off I went to the bank to get all my money orders together to have in the mail for my agency. So the 1st installment is off.....tuesday the money should be in Ottawa.

After lunch was the highlight of my day!!! My dear cousin Lori is expecting her first baby in August. She had another ultrasound today because her doctor just wants to make sure the baby is on target (Lori is so tall, so it seems the baby is small). I got to go and see the baby!!! Ohhh my, too cool!!! I have been to an ultrasound before, but never this far along. Lori is only 38 days away from her due date, and you could see so much. We got to see all the fingers & toes, lips, chin, eyes and even that it's still a GIRL!!! As of right now the baby is 5lbs 11oz.....so I think its going to be one of those 10lbs babies.....poor Lori!!!! But I cant wait to be an Auntie again, and of course I'm soooo happy that we are both "having" girls, so they can be the bestest buds like we are!!!

News for the day

WOW...Good News!!! CCAA has updated their website.

My CONGRATS to all families getting referrals. Hope you get to see your sweet little ones face real soon!!!!

I also got some good news today....FOI sent me an email saying they have my dossier now and will begin processing it!!! Ahhh it feels so good knowing I'm finally "officially" in the hands of my agency. So I will add another ticker at the bottom of the screen, so we can watch and see how long it takes for FOI to translate and notorized all my documents and then have them sent to CHINA!!!
I know they are very good, so I dont expect it to be a long wait....

"100 Good Wishes Quilt"

The past few days I have been working on sending my letters & emails out to my friends and family inviting them to help with my "100 Good Wishes Quilt". I'm also searching around trying to figure out what pattern I want to use for my quilt. I have came across this one of the bear, and absolutley love it!!! If anyone has a pattern for it let me know.

“100 Good Wishes Quilt”

Dear Family and Friends: As many of you are aware, I have begun the process to adopt a baby girl from China. While I’m waiting for the arrival of my daughter, I’m working on a project which I need your assistance. I’m creating a "100 Good Wishes Quilt.” To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. I love the idea of welcoming my daughter into my home with a quilt that represents the good wishes for her from our family and friends.

HERE IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO: 1. Choose any 100% cotton fabric or flannel that you like. 2. Cut one (1) 8"x8” square from the fabric. 3. On a 4x6 or 5x7 paper or cardstock put a small piece of the fabric and include your "good wish note." Please remember to sign your wish and include your relation to the child (if family), city and date. The fabric will be used to make a quilt, and the notes will be placed in a “good wish” scrapbook, which I will give to my daughter when she is older.

IDEAS FOR SELECTING FABRIC SQUARES:I would love to keep with a Chinese theme quilt, so ladybugs, pandas, Chinese children, Chinese patterns, or whatever is meaningful to you would be great. Ladybugs are a sign of good luck in the Chinese adoption community. It is said if you see ladybugs that good things will happen soon! If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than one good wish note and pieces of fabric.

IDEAS FOR GOOD WISHES NOTE: This is the fun part. Send a decorated page or plain note (no bigger than 10 inches) with a good wish for my daughter and a scrap of your fabric glued to the paper. Your wish can be simple or elaborate. Some ideas are good health, perseverance, compassion, love, or a poem. These wishes with your small piece of fabric will be placed in a scrapbook. When my daughter is older she will be able to match up the wishes and fabrics to her quilt. The quilt will also give my daughter some history. She will know that while she was in a Chinese orphanage, many people thought of her.

It would be great to get the fabric and good wishes by July 15th so the quilt can be completed before I bring my baby home. The quilt is being designed and assembled for me by my very dear friend Randee.

Thank you so much for helping me make this very special keepsake for my daughter. The miracle of this adoption has been helped and nurtured by so many of you and this will be so incredibly meaningful for me as well as my daughter!! I cant wait to have my daughter home so she can be wrapped in her “100 Good Wishes Quilt”.

If any of my "blogger friends" want to send a square & good wish just let me know and I will send you my address.

Next Step

I just noticed that it has been a few days since I have posted!! Not much has happened since my "oh happy day".....well I guess I did sort-of go out and celebrate my "oh happy day". Last Friday my friend Cori (who is also adopting from China) went to BP's for a drink to celebrate (I'll finish the story there).....thanks for the good time Cori!!!!
Yesterday I received a copy of my Provincial Approval letter in the mail. Now I'm just waiting to hear from FOI that they have received my dossier and Government approval. Once they have my dossier they will have it all translated into Chinese, all documents notarized and then they will send it off to China. I talked with FOI and they suggested that I send my dossier to China to be matched since they havent received any new children's files....so it will be CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) that will match me with my daughter!!!

Screaming & doing backflips!!!

I'm so happy to share with you that after only 8 DAYS I have received Provincial Approval today at 11:14am!!!While driving to work today my right palm was so itchy, I had to keep scratching it!! My thoughts were…….uuummmm I’m coming into some money….yeehaw!!! Then I thought “I don’t buy lottery tickets so keep dreaming”. A few hours later I got the call from Lyla at DCRE saying I have the APPROVAL from the Saskatchewan Government to adopt from China!!! She mentioned that it was a very good homestudy (thanks Dorothy) and that she fully supports me and knows that I have the support from my family & friends. Soooo I’m guessing my itchy palm was a sign that GOOD NEWS was coming today and that I’m not coming into money, I’m going to have to send all my money to my Agency now!!! Oh well, I’m going to give them all of it, but my daughter will be worth it!!!

The Provincial Approval is one of the biggest steps/approval in the adoption process. It’s one of those either you are approved or denied. If I was denied for any reason my dream of adoption would have been over. Now, once a file goes to China their approval (usually) is based upon my Provincial Approval.

Lyla did request that I take a few pictures of the inside of my house, since all my pictures I handed in were of outside. Now I have to clean tonight…just joking!! So I will have to stage a picture, maybe of me cooking (with no flames) or a picture in the soon-to-be baby’s room.

The next step now is that the Provincial Government will send my APPROVAL letter and Dossier to my agency Family Outreach International in Ottawa. Now the big fees start happening. In the next day or two I will have to go to bank to get all the needed $$$ ready to send. Some money orders are needed in US $$$ and some in CDN $$$. Thank goodness that you send your money in installments and not all at once.

So a BIG thank you to all of you who have been following my journey so far and for all your kind words & wishes. I’m now officially in the hands of FOI…Family Outreach International!!!! Oh what a “HAPPY” day!!!!

Kadi!!!!

So I have a new next door neighbour out at the lake....Kadi!!! She looks and acts exactly like my baby Saige did when she was a pup. Kadi is now 10 weeks old (Chocolate Lab) and is sooooo cute!!
Kadi just had her 1st puppy school class tonight, so I'm excited to see what she learnt since Saige didnt learn a thing!!! The teacher told me she was the perfect age to bring her (6 weeks), but all Saige wanted to do is sleep!!! Last weekend was the first weekend we got to spend with Kadi, well it rained all weekend. It never bothered Kadi one bit, she ran and played with Saige and loved jumping up on Hunter. So needless to say Hunter is a little scared of her, but I know in due time when the both figure eachother out, they will be the best of buds!!

Pssst- So Dawn does this picture help???

Seasame Street: Big Bird In China

So I have been looking everywhere for this
movie and couldnt find it! I finally ordered it
from Chapters on-line. I ordered it last
friday and it was in my mailbox yesterday....
now why cant referrals come that fast??
I think tonight I will watch this with H,
cant wait to see what he thinks since it wont be
Thomas the Train or Finding Nemo!!! See what
Chinese words I can learn from Big Bird!!!

TUNES Finally!!

I have now added music to my blog. I decided to start with one of my favourite adoption songs..."When Love Takes You In" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Make sure you watch the video which is near the bottom of the page, right below my guestbook.......(hint for you who havent signed it!!) The video is wonderful!!!



Stay tuned for other favourite songs!!!

If anyone has some good songs they want to pass along or would like to "dedicate" a song to my daughter let me know and I'll try and add it to the blog!!!

Going back a few months....

Christmas 2005 at our house was awesome. Even though I hadnt really started the paperwork, my baby girl was in our hearts...she is loved so much already. H & my GIRL were spoiled rotten...which kids should be!! Here are all her gifts from Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle T, Auntie S and H. I almost died when I seen all the gifts....

Waiting AGAIN!!!

Another wait is on!!! Yesterday I dropped my supporting documents off for my dossier to L at DCRE for Provincial Approval. She should've received my homestudy yesterday or today.....so here's hoping for a speedy APPROVAL!!! It feels a little funny right now...for months I have been sifting through paper and now there is none, but the next set of paperwork will start soon enough.
I have added another "ticker" at the bottom of my blog, to count the number of days it takes for Provincial Approval....keep an eye on it and say your prayers for a quick one!!!

"1st Approval, 2 more to go"

Today I had to go to Regina to sign my homestudy which is now completed. I got the APPROVAL from my Independent Practitioner who had no concerns at all with me adopting....YEEHAW!!! So my DOSSIER for China is officially ready to be sent to the Sk Government DCRE for their approval, which she should get by tomorrow or thursday....here's hoping now for a speedy APPROVAL from L!!!

It's finally done!!

Well in between yardwork, helping the neighbours set-up their dog run, mom doing an open house, a storm moving in, H being WILD and the dogs swimming we were ready for a family picture. We all got positioned and then noticed "who's taking the picture"...tells how often we get a FULL family picture. Thanks to the neighbour....we got it!!!!

My belated birthday lunch

Today I got to go for my belated birthday lunch with 2 of my very dear friends.....D & C!! It is so hard for us to all get together, so we will always
do birthday lunches at BP's....even if they are belated!! Thanks for a great lunch hour buds!!!

My "Baby" Girl

Lastnight I thought I better take a picture of my house, since I need to send it to China. As soon as I get the camera out, my baby....Saige.... thinks she should have her picture taken too!! Here she is posing in my backyard....what a pretty girl hey???

For you that dont know Saige, she is a real "suck". She is a purbred chocolate lab and I got her when she was 5 weeks old. I cant believe she is going to be 6 at the end of July. She comes to work everyday with me and of course sleeps in my bed with her head on the pillow.......most nights she has a better sleep than me (hogs the bed). The things we do for our dogs!!!

Check out these sites

Over the past year I have been reading through websites and blogs of other amazing journeys to China that have happened or soon to happen. The very first website that I looked at was "Journey to Alyssa Li"....what an inspiration that site was too me! Alyssa's mom Tammy and I shared a few emails and she gave me some good advice and shared some of their experiences with me. Alyssa Li was adopted in 2005. Another blog that is an inspiration to me is "Waiting for Hannah". Hannah's mom Catherine is also going to be a single parent and she has the neatest attitude/humour. I love following her blog daily. We would have a hoot if we ever met!! I also owe Catherine a great big "Thank You" for helping me with some "technical" problems, as her emails have helped me create my blog....hugs Catherine!! And the neat part is that both Tammy & Catherine are Canadian!!!
To view there website/blog you can find them on the right side of the screen, just scroll down to Waiting for Hannah and Journey to Alyssa Li.