Back from the Lake

Well I am back from my annual pilgrimage to Lake George. The weather was great, my presentation was well -recevied but it was a very emotional 4 days away from home for a variety of reasons. It's been a tough few weeks including some sleepless nights over guardianship issues which have since been resolved. Actually this has been an issue since I decided to pursue adoption and after much thought I finally allowed myself to make the decision I thought was the best. (big sigh) On the adoption front, all is status quo. I have a new China coordinator at the agency since the former got a promotion which I am fine with. In my case I am just glad I am passed the crucial part of having completed my dossier or I may have been more inclined to want to keep her as long as possible. While I never physically met her she was great to work with and I hope she enjoys her new position. It seems I won't really need to do anything until the time when I get my referral which seems to be 10 months or so away. Hmmmm actually more like 9 since I was logged in almost a month ago. Time really does fly, eh? I decided to do the 100 good wishes quilt and will work on sending out letters to family and friends in the next few weeks. I am going to hold off on joining official quilt swaps until I first have pieces from people in my life. No offense but I'd like to know the people who are contributors rather than a bunch of strangers I don't know. Of course I do have some newfound friends from the China adoption community which I am happy to swap with because I feel like I know them to some extent. Anyone from a military family let me know and I have some special fabric for you. I guess that's it for now.....Til next time Love, Lisa

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Dear Family and Friends, As many of you know, I am adopting a baby girl from China. After five months of chasing paper I have completed my dossier and it was sent to China on March 31st. Currently, the China Center of Adoption Affairs is taking approximately 10 months to match babies with their forever families. I hope to receive my referral and travel in early 2007 and have requested to be matched with an infant girl six months of age or as young as possible. English name until I see her. To keep busy while waiting, I have decided to work on a project with which I need your assistance. I would like to invite you to participate in creating a “Bai Jia Bei”, otherwise known as a “100 Good Wishes Quilt”. In parts of Northern China, when a baby is born, family and friends of the child donate fabric scraps from old clothing or other meaningful fabric to the child's mother. She then makes a quilt for the baby from the fabrics and welcomes her into life with it. It is said that the luck, energy and good wishes from all of the families and friends who contributed to it surrounds the child when she is wrapped in the quilt. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation and is the tradition upon which the "100 Good Wishes Quilt" is modeled. With your help I would like to honor this tradition from my daughter’s homeland. Here’s what you need to do to participate. Please choose any 100% cotton fabric (not flannel) that you like. Choose a fabric that has some kind of meaning to you or merely something you like. HINT: Ladybugs are an adoption sign of luck and feel free to use any colors, prints including Asian prints 1. Pre-wash and iron (preferred but not required) and cut an 8 x 8 inch square. 2. Please write your wish for her on a 3x5 or 4x6 post-card or larger size card stock that is either hand written or typed. It can be anything, from your hopes for her, thoughts on the adoption, telling her how much she will be loved, a poem, verse, favorite saying, advice or anything meaningful to you. Make sure to sign you name, city and state on the bottom. 3. You also need to cut a 3x3 inch piece of the same fabric and attach it to your note so that we can match the wishes and author to the patches of the quilt. If you want to see a sample check out my blog at www.mychinajourney.blogspot.com The good wishes with the swatch of your fabric will be incorporated into a special “Good Wishes” memory book for my daughter to view when she is older. You can view a sample of this at http://www.mychinajourney.blogspot.com/ If you have more than one person in your family who would like to participate then please feel free to send more than one quilt block and wish. Remember I need to get to 100 wishes so the more the better. Children are welcome to be contributors to this project! Any fabric swatches in excess of 100 will be used to make a matching pillow. I know you all have very busy schedules, but I hope you will be able to help me create this special keepsake. This will be so incredibly meaningful to me as well as to her as she gets older, especially since it incorporates a part of her Chinese heritage. Love Always, Lisa

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Only in NYC do young girls wear Easter Bonnets with peeps on them. For your viewing pleasure the following lovely photos were taken at the annual Easter Bonnet contest at Tavern on the Green at Central Park in Manhattan. This is a big event each year and the women and men really get into the spitit. The woman who won (in front of King Kong) walked away with $1,000 and a fixed win. Enjoy!

CCAA Here I Come......

It's Official! My LID is 4/5/06. I emailed my coordinator this morning and in 30 minutes I had my official letter with my LID which was a mere 5 days after I was DTC. The letter explains the rest of the official process as it pertains to the review room, the matching room and post placement. It actually was educational and just one more reason why I like my agency. I know have a better understanding of what will happen in the next 10 months while I am waiting to be matched with my daughter. I feel like it's really official now and whatever changes come down the pipeline won't affect me. Of course there are always rumors and such about changes to the China program especially as it pertains to singles but being logged in really ensures that I am part of the current program. I'd like to think of it as my safety net. On another note, while it's a personal issue that I won't get into depth I had been struggling with some issues related to the future planning of my "family". Last night I had the pleasure of dining with one of my dearest friends (Dawn) and she basically has made me one happy girl. Of course she does this just by being herself but I love her no matter what but today I love her a little bit more. In this instance, it extends to her husband Randy and their two children Alex and Ashley as well. I've bombarded her with so many websites of everyone's blogs, she is now having dreams of Chinese babies......hee hee little does she know it's all in the master plan. (giggles). So the bulk of this post was to share the official news that I am officially logged in. Til next time......

Brother Can You Spare A LID?

Well everyone who was DTC on 3/31 seems to have gotten their LID's last week. My agency closed early last week for good Friday but still haven't heard anything. Now it seems people who were DTC in early April are getting their dates as well. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Translate the Onesie and Win a Prize!

Hello fellow tribe members! One the the nicest things about joining my DTC group is "meeting" some fellow friends of the Jewish faith. Now granted I am not very religious but it's nice knowing I am not the odd woman out. My agency's group treats me like a leper being the single Jewish female of the group. It's like I am going to steal their husbands and convert their children. While not faith based, they appear to be mostly Christian. If I hear one more blessing, hail mary, praise the lord or bible verse I am going to PLOTZ but not before I both KVETCH AND KVELL. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against those of different faiths and my friends are of all backgrounds including my kooky love Jeani, my tattoed born again Christian, but be friendly damnit, that's all I am saying. The point was, it's nice knowing I am not the token Jew. To those who have attempted to post commentary to my blog regarding my "Got Rice" entry and were rejected, it's quite simple. If you are anonymous, you don't count. Got it? Firstly, you can dress YOUR children any way you want; don't tell me how to dress mine. Secondly, I never said I bought the aforementioned ensemble, I just thought it was cute. You want to be allowed an opinion, let me know who you are. Thank You, The Management

Four Days and Counting

It's been a whole four days since DTC and it feels good. I joined the April DTC yahoo group and I must say so far these people are SO much nicer than any other group I belong to. They are friendly, enthusiatic and welcoming, not to mention a few fellow tribe members which is nice. Granted I am not a super-jew but if I hear one more praise-the-lord or hail mary I will SCREAM. I don't look down on anyone's beliefs but kindly keep them to yourself. Thank you for your attention to this matter; the management. So I went to Babies R Us tonight for fun and bought a Baby Einstein CD of Playtime Music. It was on sale and looked like a lot of fun and silliness. I checked out car seats and strollers and eliminated a few from my list. Otherwise all is going well. I look forward to receiving my LID (or log in date) which will come in a few weeks. My agency is having an east coast picnic in Westchester next month which I plan to attend. Do you think it would be rude to tell these people how unwelcoming they are? It's like they think us single (and Jewish) women are going to swoop down and steal their husbands and convert their children. Hmmmmmm I will have to give this some more thought. Not much else to report. Til next time.......