Parenting and the Chinese Zodiac

First, figure out your Chinese zodiac sign from the figure below.

Then read about your parenting style in the article link below. (As if I had to be told my husband would spoil our child!)
http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2007/02/10/MOMS2007021086793.html

Sweet pajamas!

Happy St. Valentine's Day, everyone!

Check out my new pajamas from Chris.

They've got everything: argyle, footies, soft fleece, and extra tall!

http://www.jumpinjammerz.com/

Adoption Information Resources

A few months ago, my DH and I bought several books and a video and received a magazine gift subscription all of which we’ve been using to educate ourselves during the adoption wait. I’m listing them here for others who may be interested in the topics.

• Adoptive Families Magazine. This magazine has great personal stories as well as educational and resource information. And their website is packed with more! http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/
• China’s Lost Girls (DVD, National Geographic). We currently have this DVD circulating among our family to give them a glimpse of the orphan situation in China and what our experience in China might be like.
• From China with Love (2006, Emily Buchanan). This book is an account of a UK journalist’s adoption experiences. I liked that it covered not only personal experiences, but history, culture, and current events, too.
• A Passage to the Heart (1999, Amy Klatzkin). This book has tons of writings from families with children from China. I think it’s great because of the sheer volume and variety.
• Cross-Cultural Adoption: How to Answer Questions from Family, Friends, and Community (2004, Coughlin & Abramowitz). At first we though the book was just so-so because a lot was geared towards questions from children (and we get our questions from adults), but then I saw how captured my mom was by it as she read nearly the whole book in one day. Plus, it has great general information sections on 10 countries (It’s not just for China!)
• Becoming A Family: Promoting Healthy Attachments with Your Adopted Child (2003, Eshleman). Some readers on Amazon found this book “scary” because it presents some worst-case attachment/bonding scenarios. But I feel if you are interested in gaining knowledge proactively and able to keep things in perspective, this is a good book with good advice. I can’t say we’ll take ALL the advice, but some of it, definitely.
• Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections (2006, MacLeod & Macrae). I’m unwrapping this book as I type…Table of Contents looks good… over 100 contributors on topics such as sleep, attachment, language, food, “baggage”, discipline, grief, transitions, siblings, school, race, and so much more.

Adoption status update!

The CCAA has updated their web site today!

They've "finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with their office before October 13, 2005," and they've "finished the review of application documents registered with their office before March 22, 2006."

We estimate that our dossier was received the end of June 2006; we're getting closer to being reviewed! It's taken CCAA 3 months to review 2 months worth of dossiers...... so maybe in 4 1/2 months we'll know we made it through the review process, but we won't know how much longer after that we would have to wait for our referral. We are still estimating we would receive our referral in November at the very earliest.