7 Months, Italy, and a Floor!

Well, 7 months have past since our paperwork was received in China. Time has flown by fairly quickly. Unfortunately, we don't have any idea how many more months we have to go before we travel.


Normally, I try to post on our logiversary, but we were away on the June 6th. Tide Guy retired from the military on May 23 2008. We had a lovely retirement ceremony and on the 25th we flew to Germany and Italy for 15 days. We landed in Munich, Germany and stayed for one night. We then spend a few days in Garmish, Germany in the German Alps. From here, we took a train to Venice, Italy and stayed 3 nights. We took another train and went to Florence. We stayed there several days and also took a day trip to Pisa. From Florence, we trained it on down to Rome for a few more days. It was a great trip and we had a wonderful time.



While we were gone, not much was done on the construction of our new house. But, now we have subfloor and we should have framing going up tomorrow! While we were in Venice, we went to Murano, where glass items are made, and bought colored glass globes to go above the counter in the kitchen. We also bought a cuckoo clock in Germany!



Hopefully, on the next post, we will have walls!!

6 Months!! Yahoo!

Six months down. That seems like a great milestone. Hopefully, it is. These first six months went by fast. Seems the rumors still say the wait is growing and will continue to grow. Also, I've read that there are more domestic adoptions within China. Meaning, there are more adoptions within China and less international. So, there are more orphaned children staying in China and less leaving China. It also means there are less children available for international adoptions.

We have so much going on right now. Tide Guy retires this month after 20 years in the military. Twenty years! He begins a new job next month. Our house building is moving along nicely. Slowly, but nicely.

Maybe more next month!
Tide Gal and Tide Guy

5 Months!!

Whew. Five months down. How many to go? Well, we still have no idea. Last night Tide Guy predicted we would be traveling in the summer of 2010. Two years. I hope he is wrong. I hope it is much sooner, but I have a feeling it will be later.

In other news, the Chinese have decided not to relax the one child policy at this time. This means, the number of children available for adoption should stay about the same. Of course, anything could change at any time.

Our agency only deals with Chinese adoptions. Many agencies deal with several other countries like Ukraine or Korea. We decided on our agency since they are a well known agency in the states and respected in the Chinese adoption world. Many people who started the adoption process for a Chinese child have the option to changing countries if their agency deals with other countries. Many are changing due to the increasing wait time. However, we do not have that option. Those traveling today have waited about 18 months. But, when they started the process the wait was 6 months. Our concern is our wait is rumored to be 2 years or so. If our wait time triples as those traveling today, our wait would be 6 (SIX!!) years. That is a rough way to look at the wait, but still not an unreasonable thought.

Oh, well. We've just decided it is what it is. We'll wait.

Tide Guy & Tide Gal

Four Months!!

We are now over four months into the wait as of March 6, 2008. The rumors are still that the wait is 3-4 years with 4 years being more probable. Hmmm....that is a LONG time. We hope this isn't the reality.

Some rumors state the wait is due to the Chinese not wanting to be known as the country with the most adoptive children. Some rumors are the wait is extending because China has allowed more citizens to have more children, relaxing the one child policy. Others rumors say there are more in-country adoptions in China. All rumors. Maybe true, maybe not. Maybe the wait is due to the number of people applying? That seems more likely to me.

Oh, well. We're still here. Waiting

Three Months!!!

Three Months!!! Okay, it has only been three months, but we are three months into the wait.

In current Chinese news: China has had some very unusually cold weather over the past few days. Enough ice to stop transportaion. There has been lots of ice in many areas that never get very cold. Think icy conditions in south Florida. Thousands of Chinese have been stranded in train stations trying to go home for the upcoming Chinese New Year. Hundreds of thousands of people stranded without heat. Most homes and buildings don't have heat, either. This also means many orphanages and homes of foster children are without heat, too.

Also, there are also lots of rumors about the wait time. Many rumors are predicting 3 years and some are predicting 4 years. This could get interesting. In addition to many obstacles in the Chinese adoption world, the Olympics in Beijing this year will cause more delays. Basically, all activity will cease during the times surrounding the Olympics.

Hopefully, prayers will be answered and the wait time will decrease.

We've dug our basement for the house and it has rained ever since. Now, we have more of a swimming pool rather than a basement. Hopefully, we will have more exciting news next time!

Until then,
Tide Guy and Tide Gal

Brown Envelope!

Hey! We got the famous brown envelope yesterday! It is from The Foreign Service of the United States of America, U.S Consulate General, Gaungzhou. It states the Department of Homeland Security has approved our petition to adopt an overseas orphan. (or in our case orphans!) We are now to wait for the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) to send our agency a referral of a specific child and a travel permission letter. This letter was dated October 19, 2007.

Wahoo!!

Tide Guy & Tide Gal

Two Months Down

Okay. Two months down. That wasn't too bad. But, it was the holidays so maybe we were just too busy to realize we were waiting. Hopefully 2008 will be a great year and the wait will decrease.
We have lots planned this year that should help us keep busy.

Have a great 2008!

Tide Gal & Tide Guy