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| Journal - The Wait October 2001 - January 2002 |
| 10/13/01 - So I'm in an undefined state of the adoption - between paperchasing and the official wait once my documents are logged in. I'm keeping busy with work and by joining several China adoption bulletin boards where I can converse with others in the same stage. I should know by November 1st whether I'll be officially October or November DTC. The difference between being logged in on 10/31 and 11/1 could be an additional month wait. |
| 10/31/01 - Happy Halloween to everyone. Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote. First the sad news: the China governmental agency who handles adoptions was given a directive by the government to reduce wait times for referrals after dossiers are submitted. And do this without hiring more staff. The new director, Director Lu, has chosen to comply by initiating quotas to limit the number of dossiers any given agency is allowed to submit within a calendar year. The new rules from August which stated preference would be given to couples over singles is being put into action by limiting the number of single applications to 5% of the total received. That is down from the current percentage of 20-33% of all dossiers. This quota system goes into place for all dossiers that reach China after 12/1/01. The good news: my dossier was mailed to China on 10/25 and will likely be logged in by 11/5. To celebrate that next step, I bought my first major purchase for my daughter: a stroller. |
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| The picture to the left shows you the lovely MacLaren Vogue 2001 stroller. Yes, it looks like an umbrella stroller but comes under the new category of lightweight strollers. As a single parent who is almost 6' tall, I had a few pre-requisites for the stroller: handles tall enough that I don't hunch over, light enough that I can carry it and my daughter, and durable enough to handle the urban jungle of Pittsburgh - this stroller met all qualifications. Well, that's all for now... I'll post when I hear new news or get my official DTC date. |
| 11/21/01 - I have my official DTC date!!! I was logged in at the CCAA on 10/31/01 - Halloween. That makes me a cusp DTCer - so I have joined the internet DTC groups for both October and November. Both groups are very supportive and should be a great way to meet people and share what's going on for the next year! |
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| 12/9/01 - Not much new to report. I am planning to begin scheduling my vaccinations (Hepatitis A and B) in January - I decided to wait until after the holidays. Both vaccines are recommended by the CDC for travel. Since 3.5% of all children adopted from China are Hep B positive, I want to make sure that I'm protected 'just in case'. I recently got my hair cut and had my first real wakeup to how life will be different once my daughter is home. I was sitting there in the chair and suddenly thought, "How am I going to get a haircut without getting a babysitter?!" I guess the answer will be -- I'll get a haircut during my lunch hour at work. This is surely just one of many things I'm going to have to figure out!!! |
| 1/4/02 - Happy Holidays and a happy New Year to everyone. Well, I've just passed the two month mark for the wait - only 11 more months to go. Christmas was good to the Knight clan. My father got what he claims are his best presents ever (well, until his granddaughter is around) - a DVD player and a chair massager. I got a food processor and rice steamer (and bought a 20# bag of rice to go with it at Sam's Club). All I can say, is that my daughter better like Pandas because she now has 3! My friends Tracee and David (who are DTC in early Sept. for their daughter) got her one sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute and gave it to me last night (it's a big and baby panda) - too cute. Her grandparents got her the Land's End 'Long Wei Down' panda for Christmas and they had bought her another one earlier last year. I also got the infamous 'Brown Envelope' this week. It is a packet from the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou that tells you your case# for your consulate appt. and gives copies of all the paperwork that you will need to fill out in order to obtain a U.S. visa for your child once you have adopted her. Other news is that I will be meeting to of my Oct DTC listmates, Julie Pendleton and Megan Page, on January 24th. Megan is flying in to meet Julie who lives in Erie, PA and Tracee and I will be having lunch with them. It will be nice to put a face to a name! Well, that's all for now.... |
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