Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu?? Are you kidding me?

This morning I found a post with some disappointing news....it said a few European agencies are reporting that the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs will not be sending referrals at this time due to the Swine Flu outbreak. Get on the computer this afternoon and now a North American agency confirmed this disappointing news as well.

The next batch of referrals were due to hit sometime next week. One of these agencies is saying referrals are on hold for 20 to 30 days, at which time a decision will be made of whether to release them or continue to hold them.

What does this mean for us? Not sure. It is being said that the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs offices will remain open and continue to work. If that is the case and the hold is lifted in 30 days there should be a bigger batch next month. Who knows. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New Puppy Pictures

Couldn't take it anymore and I had to send an email for some updated pictures of the new family member. We get to pick her up Saturday.


Making the Adoption Tax Credit Permanent

Making the Adoption Tax Credit Permanent Adoption Action Alert

April 01,2009 / Martha Osborne

The federal adoption tax credit has helped thousands of families say Yes! to adopting a child. It's vital that this financial support stay in place to help families offset the costs and fees associated with adopting a child. Unfortunately, the tax credit is set to expire in December 2010 unless Congress votes to continue it. It's time to take action!

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, H.R. 213 , will keep the adoption tax credit from being repealed, and may make the tax relief measure permanent. It only takes a few minutes to email or call your senators and congressmen it's important for them to hear from families impacted by the tax credit. Currently, there are 76 State Senators and Representatives cosponsoring H.R. 213. However, there are 16 states that currently have no sponsors of this bill, including eight on the East Coast* (one of the largest areas of the US with internationally adopted children). H.R. 213 is currently in committee, where most bills die. It imperative that adoptive families, and all friends of children waiting for families, act now.

It only takes a few minutes to write, call, or email your representatives. Please do so today!

Email Representative: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Email Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Currently, the following states have no cosponsors or commitments of support for H.R. 213:
West Virginia
Delaware
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Maine
Idaho
Oregon
Nevada
Montana
South Dakota
New Mexico
Arkansas
Hawaii
The two states offering the greatest support are Texas & Georgia with 6 cosponsors each, closely followed by Pennsylvania with 5. Honorable mentions: Florida , Indiana , Illinois each with 4 sponsorships each.

Pass this on to friends and family, and ask for their help in writing, calling, and posting on blogs and facebook. To gain momentum, we must have an absolute ground swell of families lifting their voices together for the well-being of children throughout the world.

Friday, April 24, 2009

A little buzz going on....

There isn't much to talk about with the adoption just yet.

It's been said that they have begun matching and the rumored cut off date is 3.14.06. We do know that they are matching the next batch of kiddos with their parents, just don't know what date they will get to.

Our LID is 3.27.06 (log in date - the date our paperwork was registered in China). Last month China finished the placement of children for the families whose dossiers (adoption application documents) were registered on/before March 8, 2006. China has 19 days worth of dossiers to process before they get to our dossier. Currently China is matching 3.8 days worth of dossiers a month, so at this time we should here something by September or October of this year.
Not seeing a speed up with the increase of orphanage fees yet. I really do hope that there is some sort of speed up for the people that are waiting in line behind us.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Pictures of the new puppy

She's getting cute and at 6 weeks old weighs a whopping 2lbs 4oz. We'll get to pick her up in two weeks and I know Peanut will love it. Peanut got together with her friend Chuck D last Friday and her two dachshund cousins Subi and Sadie on Sunday. She had a blast with them and you can really tell that she misses a canine companion.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks we'll have some referral rumors floating around. How many days will they refer the month of May?? You really don't know from one month to the next.... you just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Friday, April 10, 2009

So where are we in the process??

China has 19 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to our dossier. China currently processes about 3.8 days of dossiers each month. So with a log in date of 3.27.06 I am thinking we'll hear something by October 2009. Could be sooner or it could be later, we'll just have to ride out the next several months to see if there are any changes with the number of days China processes. I really hope that we have the little one by Christmas 2009.

We really need to start getting the bedroom ready for the little one but if you don't know us well enough we are procrastinators with a capital "P". It is nothing but a huge junk room at the moment and I am slowly weeding everything out of there. Nothing like waiting the last minute.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Learning about posting Pictures......

Posting some pictures of the dog baby Peanut, Bonnie and Peanut's soon to be new sister.....name yet to be determined.

We adopted Peanut a tiny red and white piebald wire from a STL rescue group in March 2008. She was a breeder's dog and was not in the best of shape when we picked her up. It's amazing what a year will do! Last year March 2008 she weighed 6.9 lbs, sad eyes, very thin and had no hair on her ears and tail. Yesterday I took her to the Dr. for her annual appointment and she now weighs 8.4 lbs, healthy, bright eyes, muscles and lots of hair.
In the beginning I would have told you that adopting her was not a good decision but in the long run I am so happy that we did. She is a super sweet dog.
Our first dachshund love Bonnie aka SuperBonBon loved Peanut to death. They were buddies that loved sitting by the front window in the sunshine barking at anything that happened to move outside. We lost Bonnie unexpectedly on February 19 2009 to heart failure, we all miss her to pieces.














This little cutey will be a new member of our family May 1 2009. We look forward to picking her up and welcoming her into the family. Not sure that we are looking forward to the housebreaking her but Jay can inherit that job.




Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Hey new at this!

I just thought I would try this out. More to come later.