Lost Children of the Coal

This mini-documentary (22 minutes long) takes place in the province Reese is from. Jinzhong, where this is filmed, is southeast of Taiyuan (where Reese is from). Shanxi is a province where most, if not all, of the children abandoned are left with birth defects. The cause of the abandonment may not be that they have special needs, but most of them do have special needs. This is most likely largely due to the pollution found in Shanxi province, one of the most polluted places in the world due to the coal mining and burning there. This is about a lady called Mama Kong, who has taken in a total of 31 abandoned children and adopted them as her own, getting them identity papers and such so they can go to school and get jobs, as well as working with NGOs to get the children the surgeries they need.

Also, a special HI! to all of the readers coming over from No Hands But Ours.

We are working on collecting our child abuse clearances and getting birth certificates and marriage licenses and all for our home study (and the dossier for China). Mom is also working on the autobiographies for she and dad. We're also calculating costs and time frames for everything we have to have done.

We will ultimately have to file an I-800A with the USCIS= $720.
Fingerprints for everyone over 18: $85 each (x4)= $340

And yeah, it just goes uphill from there. International adoption is expensive, but worth it.

Itinerary for China- We Leave in NINE Days!

March 13- We leave for China. I'm going Little Rock to Newark, where I'll meet up with Beth, Melanie, and Andrea, who are flying in from Orlando. Then we're all flying from Newark to Beijing.

March 14- We land in China at 2 pm. Which is 1 am CST. We then go to the hotel, Holiday Inn Express, one of 5 in Beijing. Then we'll clean up, find food, and crash.

March 15- We're going to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Which is a different section than I went to last time (yays!). I went to Juyuyuan last time. We'll probably do a few other things, too, like a tea ceremony or something. Dinner with the sponsor of Dale Carnegie in Beijing. Beth, Melanie, and Andrea all have connections to Dale Carnegie.

March 16- Visiting the Olympic Village, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City, as well as spend a few hours at the China Care Home in Beijing. Both Reese, and Beth's daughter, Zoe, were cared for by China Care in Shanxi.

March 17- Visiting New Day Creations Foster Home just outside Beijing. Then we'll fly from Beijing to Taiyuan, arriving in Taiyuan at about 9:30 pm. (about 8:30 am CST). A car ride through Taiyuan to the Shanxi Grand Hotel and then crash.

March 18- We go to buy supplies for the Taiyuan Social Welfare Institute (orphanage) where Reese was from. Then we'll go drop off the supplies and visit the orphanage. Reese was left by her birthmother at the gates of this orphanage.

March 19- Going on a 2.5 hour trip to Hong Tong in the southwest corner of Shanxi province. It's a village just a bit north on Linfen, the orphanage Zoe was from. We're going to take supplies there and spend most of the day there.

March 20- Today we're going to the ancient walled city of Pingyao, about 2 hours south of Taiyuan. We'll also take supplies to the local orphanage, Jinzhong, and visit as long as they'll let us.

March 21- Today we fly from Taiyuan to Beijing, and the Beijing to Newark. We leave Beijing at 4 pm (3 am CST), then I fly on to Dallas from Newark, and Beth, Melanie, and Andrea will fly back to Orlando. My parent will pick me up at Dallas.

A Year Ago Today...

Coming into the room

The long hallway

Michelle and me trying to calm her down

A year ago today, we were in a raggedy van on our way to the Civil Affairs office in Taiyuan. That had to be one of the longest rides ever. I distinctly remember crossing the river that cuts Taiyuan down the middle, the Huang He (Yellow) River, I believe. The bridge was probably as long as the one that crosses the Arkansas River that we go over every so often. There was a large dragon statue in the middle of the river that was made to look like the dragon was winding up and down in the river. Pretty nifty. I also remember a big gold building, probably 4-6 stories tall and big! It was the Shanxi Provincial History Museum, which I would have loved to go to. I also remember what appeared to be a large alley with a blow-up gate with Chinese characters on it. I didn't ask what they said, but what with the large amounts of balloons and a general carnival type atmosphere, I assume it was something to do with Children's Day which was only a few days away. We actually saw a Children's Day celebration at the hotel across the street from our hotel later in the week. Finally, we got to the Civil Affairs Office. We went up to the 3rd floor, I think it was, maybe the 4th, and walked down a long hallway, with no lights on. The only light was from a large window at the end of the hallway. We then waited outside the Shanxi Province Foreign Adoption Administration Office, as no one was there yet to unlock the door. Finally, the notary, I believe it was, arrived and let us in. And I paced. And stared out the large windows down to the ground to see if I saw anyone coming in with a little girl. And paced some more. Then paced back to windows. They were running late. I read the English parts of the board about adoption and the board about marriage in the room. It was a kind of dingy room, fairly large, not really decorated, save for the big boards on the wall, and the windows were kind of grimy, but given the pollution that is common place in Shanxi, washing them all the time probably would have been a waste of time. I walked in between the windows and the couch for what seemed like forever. After looking at her picture for a year, what was another 30 minutes, really, but still. Finally, I heard a little girl crying and people talking in Chinese from down the hall. Somehow, in my pacing to the window and back, I had missed her coming in. She came in carried by a nanny, if I remember right, from the orphanage. The orphanage she had only spent 2 months in at the beginning of her life as an orphan, and the last week of it. I guess they told her what was going on, because Reese was very upset. Our guide took her from the nanny and tried to calm her down. I tried to play with her. I gave her Lifesavers, which she liked, but she continued sobbing. I tried a camel a person on my Mom or Dad's route had given her. It was very soft. She didn't like it. To this day, she doesn't like it. Bad association, I suppose. We tried letting Mom hold her, that made it worse. Finally, she passed out in Michelle, our guide's lap. We let her sleep there while we did some paperwork. Finally we had to take the adoption certificate picture. To do so, Michelle slipped Reese into Mom's lap on the floor. Sadly, we had to wake Reese up for the picture. So she's crying in our adoption certificate picture. She shut down for a little while, but apparently, she'd done the majority of her mourning there at the Civil Affairs Office. She was fairly quiet the whole way back to the hotel. At the hotel, we tried to get her to take a nap, but she refused. So she "watched" cartoons, and we changed her clothes and put the ones she came to us up. I'd love to take a picture of her in them now, but I'm worried it would upset her...or she wouldn't want to take them off. We then went to Wal-Mart.

I'm gonna try to take some pictures of her later this evening for her Gotcha/Forever Day.

News, news, news

We received our LOA on April 4, 2007...whatever number day that was, I don't remember. It was returned to China on April 13, 2007. And apparently my mom accidentally only signing her first and last name, then going back and signing first, middle, and last beneath it worked because we got our TA today! : ) We're leaving on the 24th, and we should have a Consulate appointment on either the 4th or 5th of June. That's my current exciting news. (At left is Reese on her 2nd birthday, and at right, is Reese in March of this year, almost 2-1/2! The wonders of laser treatment and eye pressure surgeries and drops.)

Now for some brain food:

Port-wine stain is a vascular (containing blood vessels) birthmark made of enlarged capillaries. It effects 3 out of every 1,000 people born and is present at birth. The mark may darken as the child gets older and can be lightened with a laser. This usually has the most benefit when begun early in life, before the birth mark thickens. PWS covering the upper and/or lower lids is often associated with glaucoma. It can also be a symptom of Sturge-Weber Syndrome (SWS) or Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome. So any large birthmark, particularly across the face, should be evaluated. Doctors may order a pressure exam of the eye to rule out glaucoma if the mark goes over the eye and/or and x-ray of the brain to rule out brain involvement (a.k.a. seizures).

Places Visiting My Blog

It is actually May 21st as I revamp this post. I have decided to make this into a list of places, mostly outside the U.S.A., that have visited the blog. Yes, I am easily amused. If you would like to comment and leave your place of residence (U.S.A. or not, I don't mind either), that'd be awesome. Here's the list as I remember, which is kind of a sad list...because I remember the countries but not the all the cities:

Bombay, India
Beijing, People's Republic of China
Australia
Bad Doberman, Germany
Finland
Iceland
Nova Scotia
Las Palmas, Spain
La Canada, Mexico
Guam
Malaysia
Pusan, Republic of Korea
Lelystad, Netherlands
Little Rock, AR, USA
Patterson, MO, USA
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Belmont, MI
Green Lane, PA
La Place, LA
Brookville, FL
Rockledge, FL
Afton, NY
Tallahassee, FL
Rio Rancho, NM
Lacombe, LA
Minot, ND
Bolingbrook, IL
Grand Rapids, MI
Tucson, AZ
Wallingford, CT
Phoenix, AZ
Waukegan, IL
Rosedale, MD
Everett, WA
Westchester, IL
Brisbane, Australia
Valencia, Spain
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Cabot, AR, USA
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Saint-Eustache-sur-le-Lac, QC, Canada
Bunnik, Netherlands

TBC