Beijing 2008 Olympics - Fun!

The summer 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing from the 8th to 24th of August. Check out this picture of "Bird's Nest" National Stadium!
The official mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games are called Fuwa. They carry a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world. They are like playful little children who are friends. Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.
Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow. When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing."

Click here to see these mascots in action!

When will we get our referral?

Tired of the mumbo-jumbo I post about the "CCAA has finished the placement of children ..."? Want a straightforward estimate of when we'll be getting our referral (info on and pic of our baby)? OK, I'll try.

Our estimate of when we'll be getting our referral ranges from September 2008 (if the processing SUPER-speeds up) to February 2010 (if the wait continues to increase as it has). A middle-of-the-road estimate: March 2009. Then there's about a six week wait until we travel to get her.

Why such a range of estimates? Consider this:
1. The wait for referral has increased tremendously since when we first sent our dossier to China. At that time, the wait was about 13 months; now the wait is 21 months. This is because there are thousands of parents who applied to adopt from China and there are fewer children orphaned and more domestic adoptions occurring.
2. There is speculation that many families have withdrawn their application from China. This might speed up the wait.

Every month we get information that helps us hone in on the estimate of when we'll get our referral. Look for another update in about 2 weeks when the CCAA posts how far they got in placing children in September. We're hoping they get much farther this month than they have over the past 6 months!

Annoucing Mr. & Mrs. Gumble!

Congratulations Lauren & Dave!

August 29, 2007 in St. Lucia

Adoption Status Update

The CCAA has "finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with their office before November 25, 2005." Only 4 days worth of dossiers they matched in August... maybe there were tons on dossiers received on those 4 days?

Pictures of St. Lucia coming soon!