Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Chinese adoption on Oprah!
Just got this email from our agency. If you are at all interested in Chinese adoption or just want learn about what we are going through, tune into "Oprah" this Thursday!
Lisa Ling will appear on Oprah this Thursday talking about the China’s Lost Girls segment. So tune in Thursday or set your VCRs and DVRs to record. What a wonderful way to cap off National Adoption Month! For more information about the show, please visit www.oprah.com.
Great Wall China Adoption
Lisa Ling will appear on Oprah this Thursday talking about the China’s Lost Girls segment. So tune in Thursday or set your VCRs and DVRs to record. What a wonderful way to cap off National Adoption Month! For more information about the show, please visit www.oprah.com.
Great Wall China Adoption
# posted by JDonnals : 6:38 PM
Maternity leave
For those who are still wondering, I will be taking maternity leave from my job. Fortunately I won't have to fight for it, like other adoptive parents have to do. It is shocking to me that we live in a society that is so work driven that some employers refuse to grant the same benefits to adoptive parents that they do to parents going through a pregnancy. In an adoptive situation it is imperative to spend time with the child after the adoption is final. There are often attachment issues involved. I also think people forget that babies have feelings, too. Our child is being raised by someone else right now, and when we travel to China to bring her back to Memphis, she will miss that person, just as an adult would. That is why I am taking time off from work. No, I won't be recovering from a birth, but helping our daughter recover from a major change in her young life.
# posted by JDonnals : 4:32 PM
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Happy Thanksgiving
I am thankful for many things today:
- Thankful that Brett has the day off and we are hanging out together with our pets, getting ready to eat dinner at my friend's house in Arlington.
- Thankful that our dossier is now, reportedly, in the review room at the CCAA (which means we should only have about three more months until our referral).
- Thankful that we have the first coat of paint up in Hallie's room (although we are still debating whether it is the perfect color).
- Thankful that my parents and brother and the rest of my family are happy and healthy in Ohio.
- Thankful that my sister and her husband are happy and healthy in Germany, and that Steve is celebrating the holidays with Megan this year (last year he was in Iraq).
- Thankful that we will celebrate Thanksgiving (belated) with Brett's family this weekend in Vandalia, Illinois.
- Thankful for the friends we have in Memphis, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, and all across the country.
- Thankful that this time next year, we will have our baby daughter with us when we celebrate Thanksgiving!
It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us again. The year really flew by. We made the decision to adopt on May 1. While we celebrated our first wedding anniversary, I remember thinking about the long road we had ahead. The paperchase went pretty smoothly, only taking four months. And as of December 6, our dossier will have been in China for three months already! Oh yes, we have much for which to be thankful. I hope all of my friends and family have a very Happy Thanksgiving and a safe and joyous holiday season
# posted by JDonnals : 11:14 AM
National Adoption Awareness Month
(Editor's note: I tried to post this entry earlier in the week, but the Blogspot site was down.)
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I will be the first to admit I never knew this month existed before this year. I suppose one is only interested in things that affect one's life. Now I want to share the joy of adoption with everyone, and this month gives me the perfect segue. Many people are curious about adoption, and that is great. But sometimes, especially in cases of international adoptions, people ask silly questions. I found this story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch about the strange questions people who adopt from outside the U.S., particularly from Asia, often get asked. I know that I must prepare myself to be asked similar questions once we bring Hallie home. I hope that I have the patience to answer them and to know when it is an innocent question or an ingnorant one.
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I will be the first to admit I never knew this month existed before this year. I suppose one is only interested in things that affect one's life. Now I want to share the joy of adoption with everyone, and this month gives me the perfect segue. Many people are curious about adoption, and that is great. But sometimes, especially in cases of international adoptions, people ask silly questions. I found this story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch about the strange questions people who adopt from outside the U.S., particularly from Asia, often get asked. I know that I must prepare myself to be asked similar questions once we bring Hallie home. I hope that I have the patience to answer them and to know when it is an innocent question or an ingnorant one.
# posted by JDonnals : 11:09 AM
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Showered with love (and gifts, too!)
I just returned from Toledo with lots of great stuff for Hallie (and for me--like a chic metro leather diaper bag). My mom and aunts threw a shower for my cousin, Amy Widner, and me. Amy is due in January (although it will likely be late December!) with baby Matthew. It was fun having two showers in one! And since many of the same people would be invited to both of our showers, it made sense.
Now, on to the stuff! We received so many nice things. We got our car seat; a Jeep Liberty walker (so Hallie can be just like Grandpa Zunk); much of the Classic Pooh bedding set; a beautiful, handmade, embroidered quilt; lots of washcloths, towels, and blankets; an ear thermometer; lots of little rattles and toys; her first Christmas ornament, and more! I packed an extra suitcase full of soft things to take on the plane with me. I shipped two boxes full of other great items--that should be here later this week. As for the car seat, that and a few other large and heavy items will be brought down to Memphis when my parents visit next (hopefully late December). We also received some much needed cash, which we will soon use to purchase a crib, mattress and dresser.
As usually happens on trips to Toledo, there was a party to attend. It was great catching up with so many old friends this weekend: Caris, Dave and their baby Madison; Melissa and her two beautiful daughters Madeline and Gabrielle (I still can't believe Maddie is 9--gosh I feel old!); Bob and Julie, who are expecting their first baby in May; and Jim, a dear old friend who is making a wise career change!
But most of all, it was just nice to be home, with my family, in the house where I grew up. It's hard to believe that five of us lived there, with just three bedrooms and one bathroom! But we managed. I can't wait for Hallie to see it next summer!
Now, on to the stuff! We received so many nice things. We got our car seat; a Jeep Liberty walker (so Hallie can be just like Grandpa Zunk); much of the Classic Pooh bedding set; a beautiful, handmade, embroidered quilt; lots of washcloths, towels, and blankets; an ear thermometer; lots of little rattles and toys; her first Christmas ornament, and more! I packed an extra suitcase full of soft things to take on the plane with me. I shipped two boxes full of other great items--that should be here later this week. As for the car seat, that and a few other large and heavy items will be brought down to Memphis when my parents visit next (hopefully late December). We also received some much needed cash, which we will soon use to purchase a crib, mattress and dresser.
As usually happens on trips to Toledo, there was a party to attend. It was great catching up with so many old friends this weekend: Caris, Dave and their baby Madison; Melissa and her two beautiful daughters Madeline and Gabrielle (I still can't believe Maddie is 9--gosh I feel old!); Bob and Julie, who are expecting their first baby in May; and Jim, a dear old friend who is making a wise career change!
But most of all, it was just nice to be home, with my family, in the house where I grew up. It's hard to believe that five of us lived there, with just three bedrooms and one bathroom! But we managed. I can't wait for Hallie to see it next summer!
# posted by JDonnals : 11:24 AM
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Four months and counting
This week, the adoptive parents with DTC dates in May will receive referrals from the CCAA. That puts us on track for a March referral (our Dossier To China date is September 6, 2004--Labor Day). There are a lot of rumors floating around that June and July DTC's may be bundled together, but I've decided not to put much hope into those rumors. The CCAA is reviewing our dossier right now, matching us with Hallie. If things go as scheduled, we should get our referral in March and travel in April or May to get Hallie! With the holidays and more home improvement projects scheduled, the time should fly!
# posted by JDonnals : 9:01 PM
Saturday, November 06, 2004
The Red Thread runs through Memphis
I didn't realize there was much of a Chinese community in the Bluff City, but there is. There is even a Chinese Baptist Church in Cordova! I met a woman named Dee Dee yesterday who is from Guangzhou. She and her husband have lived in Memphis for 12 years. She is also a Shelby County employee (she works for the assessor's office--I work for the D.A.'s Office). We met at a party for our friends, the Martins, who recently adopted their second daughter from China. Dee Dee offered to help Brett and me with any translations we may need. She was very excited for us, and excited that we will be traveling to her hometown. (The U.S. Consulate is in Guangzhou and that is where we will go to make the adoption final before traveling back to the U.S.) It seems that the Red Thread is running through Memphis.
# posted by JDonnals : 10:22 AM
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Get out and vote
I voted this morning. It took about an hour and a half, but I stood in line to do my civic duty and cast my ballot. Our congressman Harold Ford, Jr., who also lives on Mud Island, waited in line behind me. At that moment, I felt like every U.S. citizen does have an equal voice. I also thought about how fortunate our daughter will be to live in a country where she will have the right to vote--not only as a woman--but as a citizen. She will have the opportunity to live in a country where she could someday stand in line with a U.S. congressman (she could be a U.S. congressman!) and let her voice be heard. It made me proud today to be an American and experience the freedoms we have here.
# posted by JDonnals : 11:01 AM
