Buttons & Keychains

The photos aren't that great, but a friend lent me her button maker and I can now make buttons and keychains. Just email me a photo or picture or let me know what you're looking for and I can look. I will then make a button or a keychain for $4 if local or $5 including postage and handling. If you have any ideas or if you have a group, I can quote you for a group discount.

Yeah, Surprise Referrals Came

So soon after the last batch, CCAA sent out referrals that were received the first day of rumors that they had begun matching. And my agency got 2 separate LID's worth. Of course they didn't get any in the last batch, but at least we didn't fall further behind. They're only through LID's up to June 9, 2006, but the surprise was nice to those who got referrals.

New I-171H is on the way!

The officer at CIS and I are almost on a first name basis now...And she said my new I-171H is in the mail as we speak. Yeah! Now if I could just get a new TA.

Road Blocks Along the Way

I finally got my updated I-171H that doesn't expire until October, 2012 and that shows my fingerprints don't expire until May, 2012. But then I notice that they still have my old address on it. So I called again today and asked that they reissue it with my new address.

Of course now I'll have to wait for a new TA as my old one is expiring. I don't expect to get that until around March 10th (my original intended travel date and Amanda's 5th birthday).

Now, my agency updated us on holidays and such affecting travel in April. Okay, so there's a Tomb Sweeping holiday on March 31st. They may ask if people can still travel on April 1st, but since their China travel agency is closed, if we left that day, we'd miss the Beijing portion of the trip. I could handle that, but I'm bringing my girls, so they need to see Beijing and the Great Wall. They will also not send anyone on April 14, 21 or 28 because of the Trade Fair in Guangzhou and Labor Day in China. So short of my TA coming by very early March, the only potential travel date is April 7th. That could only happen if I got a consulate appointment on April 18th or 19th because the consulate is closed on April 20th. Last week there was an announcement from the US Consulate in Guangzhou that they would only be taking 24 appointments per day. So I would have to get my TA and be lucky enough to get one of the 48 CA's available. Otherwise, the next travel date is May 5th!

So, one road block after another. I'm still hoping for an April 7th travel date, but also preparing myself for May 5th. Frustrating, but I've done all I can do.

Tomb Sweeping Holiday. Can't get it out of my head.

Adoption Bug T-Shirts Now Available

Another fundraiser:

http://www.adoptionbug.com/journeytoamanda/

Tax Deductible Donations for our Journey to Amanda

Tax deductible donations of $25 or more can be made to help us adopt Amanda. Please put my name in the cover letter only, not on the check. The IRS doesn't allow for a tax deductible donation to have any name other than the tax-exempt organization.

Any donations should be mailed to:
His Kids Too!
219-B Delta Court
Tallahassee, FL 32303

Thank you!!

Update on Travel and Starting Some Fundraisers

Update on travel process:
Okay, so I talked to someone in the adoption unit of Citizenship Immigration Services. She's looked at my I-171H renewal application. She said everything looked fine except my fingerprints expired. I called her and told her I had them taken last Monday. She said it took a couple of days to get into the system, so she'd check and then process my application. Since it was Thursday that I talked to her, I'm hoping/assuming I will get my new I-171H this week showing my application is good until October, 2012, and that my fingerprints are good until May, 2012.

But now, I will have to wait for a new travel approval. The US Consulate won't give me an appointment without a valid I-171H, valid fingerprints, and a valid TA. By valid, I mean ones that are soon expiring. I figure it could take until my original proposed travel date of March 10th to get that new TA. So that will put me into probably an early April travel date, maybe April 7th? I'm at a wait and see point right now.

Fundraisers:
As you can see by the sidebars to the right, I have started some fundraisers. The adoption fees for Shanghai are amongst the highest and close to $1,000 more than I originally planned. I've also been given a range for the total costs of the in-China travel plus Shanghai adoption fees. I'll barely have enough money if everything is at the bottom of the range (between the in-China/adoption fees and airfare). I might be able to come up with a tad more, but I've pretty much bled the well dry. So I decided to start some fundraisers. I also applied for a small grant, but most of the grant places only give their grants to married couples, so I don't qualify. And many only meet quarterly and I'll need the money sooner rather than later.

I added a button to the right if you find it in your heart to make an outright donation. Someone I know posted on my facebook account that if many of the people I know just gave me $10, it wouldn't take very long to come up with the additional funds I need. I did apply to one of the places that would take tax deductible donations in my name, where I then apply for a grant, and they then send the donations people made in my name to my adoption agency. I don't know how long it takes to hear from them but if they approve me, I will post that and their information on the sidebar.

I've also put up a link to my Just Love Coffee store. If you are a coffee lover, they sell coffee and are a Fair Trade certified program helping orphans and their forever families. I get a portion of the purchase price of everything you buy.

If you are local, my girls and I are selling candy bars - Hershey or M&M/Mars varieties for $1 per candy bar.

By the end of the week, I will have an Adoption Bug store where you can buy any one of six varieties of T-Shirts. My girls and I have several that we purchased from another friend's fundraiser and we all love them.

I am also looking into doing online parties for The Gourmet Cupboard and Scentsy. Look for more information and links to those soon.

And I will be making 2 1/4" buttons and keychains. You can either supply me with your child's photo or a picture or drawing you like, and I will make it into a button or keychain. They will sell for $4-$5. If you have any special requests just let me know.

If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know. I do have most of the funds I need, I'm just looking to come up with another $2-$3K so I know for sure I will have enough for all of us to get to China to adopt Amanda, XiXi (pronounced SiSi).

The Ups and Downs or Rather the Rollercoaster of Adoption

I got my fingerprint letter on Saturday and went down to see if they would fingerprint me early, like now, and they did!! My agency says they still need the new I-171H in order to request a CA, so I called back the adoption unit of CIS and let them know I'd been fingerprinted. They said my file still hadn't been assigned so they'd see if they could assign it. They took my phone number but haven't called back.

My agency said if I don't get my new I-171H this week, I pretty much have to get a new travel approval. Their Beijing office is closed until Thursday due to Chinese New Year. But I asked them to go ahead and request a new TA so I don't loose any time in case it takes a couple weeks or more to get the new I-171H. I'm glad I did that because they said a new TA could take 4 WEEKS! That would mean I'm probably looking at traveling in April. Okay, so April isn't the end of the world. And it would mean even less daycare expense needed from the time I go back to work until the girls are out for the summer. The weather would be nicer. So there are positives to waiting. It's just XiXi is waiting in the orphanage for us to come and get her. Somehow, even though it's a nice orphanage, it just seems like it might be easier to make her wait if she was still in foster care.

Since I called for my fingerprint letter on Monday and they said they'd mail it the next day and I didn't get it until Saturday, I don't really hold out much hope of getting what I need to travel when I'd planned. At least my kids are okay with it. Jessica would just like me to settle on a date since she's told all her friends that we'd travel in March, and now she's told them it'll be after spring break. Anna really wishes we'd get there for XiXi's birthday. If we end up waiting until April, perhaps we'll have to used Blessed Kids to send her a birthday cake.

Losing Hope of a March 10th Departure Date

My homestudy agency gave me a phone number for the adoption unit of Citizenship Imigration Services, so I called them Monday. They were just pulling applications received on December 17th and mine was sent January 17th. The woman was very nice though, gave me my SIM number and started the process when she saw that it was my free extension. She said they'd assign a fingerprint date on Tuesday and then my letter inviting me to have my fingerprints taken would be sent probably Wednesday. I called back Wednesday and the phone was never answered. So I called back Thursday and found out my fingerprint appointment was March 1st. She said some offices will let you take them earlier, but I definitely need my letter first. So far - no letter. If it comes today, I plan to go down to the fingerprint place on Monday and see if they'll take them. I'm afraid though that since my agency has put a travel group together for those they were able to get consulate appointments for, that I won't be able to travel on March 10th. I had hopes that I still could if I got my fingerprints taken this week, but we're closing in on just one month to go.

If I can't travel March 10th, then I need to extend or get a new travel approval. I emailed my agency with an update yesterday. I hope they just go ahead with extending my TA so when I finally do get my letter and get my fingerprints done, I will be able to travel without having to wait for more updated paperwork. I just start to get nervous now because there's the Trade Fair the last half of April during which many agencies say they won't send groups to China. (Although I adopted Jessica on April 17th, so back in 2000 they sent small groups.) And then there's the May 1st holiday in China where they close down for a week. Worries in the back of my head, but I don't think I'll be running into the middle of April.

Happy Year of the Rabbit!!

A placid year after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some much needed rest after all the battles of the past year.

Good taste and refinement will shine on everything. People will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. Diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions.

A time to watch that we don't become too indulgent. Law and order will be lax. People will be busy enjoying themselves, entertaining others, or taking it easy. Everything is quiet and calm. Money can be made without too much labor. Our lifestyles will be leasurely. A temperate year with unhurried pace. It may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances.

Those compatible with the Rabbit (Jessica is a Rabbit): the Sheep, Dog (Amanda), and Pig (Me) in particular, will also find 2011's circumstances inspiring them to greater personal happiness and professional success.

Others will suffer, by degree, depending on how flexible they are to the world mood. Those who have cultivated careful negotiation skills (or can sniff out and swiftly dodge dangerous situations) may attain similar good luck enjoyed by rabbits and those compatible with them.