Sadie was a Good Girl!!!

Sadie will be three years old next month. We adopted her from the humane society when she was 8 weeks old. She is of uncertain parentage. The label on the cage door at the pound said "black lab puppy", but we discovered any black canine that comes into the pound is automatically labeled "lab". The only thing Sadie got from the Labrador breed is "black". She doesn't like water, she didn't fill out like a lab, and she doesn't like to venture off the trail into the woods unless Jeff and I go with her. She stays in her own yard, but sometimes sits right on the property line and watches the neighbors.

She has a few neurosis that we have learned to be patient with: loud noises, thunder, has to get a toy from her toy box anytime we say "want to go bye-bye" and she has a ferocious bark and is skittish around people she doesn't know. Once she warms up to you (in her own time) she will love you forever!

We were a little anxious Saturday evening. We had invited friends over to the house for dinner. Bett, their little girl who just turned four, was very excited about petting our horses. She is also scared of strange big dogs. We feared a bad experience on both sides because Sadie has grown up in the home of an adult couple with adult children and adult friends. This would be her first encounter with "little people" and we thought it might be an "omen" of things to come.

Before our company came, I had a little talk with Sadie. I told her "Friends are coming, please no barking and heaven forbid, no growling". We were in utter shock when Steve and Lisa got out of the car. Jeff had Sadie on a leash, but she whined and cried and practically drug him up to Steve and started licking his hand, like they had been friends forever. So it looked like "the talk" worked and Sadie is overcoming her fear of strangers.

Sadie was enamored by Bett. She wanted to play with her. We had to make her "sit, lay down and stay" until Bett got over her fear of the "big black doggie". She especially liked it when Bett was looking at a children's book and singing a little song. She cocked her head this way, then that way. Sadie followed her around all night long or laid under her feet when she was in a chair. It might have helped that Bett was continually giving her bites of a hot dog!

Bett is cute and kids say the darnedest things. When the horses "leisurely" (as horses do), walked up to the fence she said, "That horse is shaking!" I looked at Peanut and sure enough he was shaking... shaking away flies. I had a "face brush", perfect for little hands and Bett enjoyed brushing Skipper and Peanut. She liked Peanut better because "He's a little horse". I guess it is all in the eye's of the beholder. Peanut is shorter than Skipper, but probably outweighs him by a hundred pounds!

Later when we were getting ready for dinner, she heard Sami chirping in the bedroom, so we had to go in and take a look.

"I don't see a birdie," she said as she looked around the floor.

I scooped her up so she could see Sami sitting on top of the cage.

Next question, "How does he get out of the cage?"

"He crawls out of that opening in the top".

Her appraisal of the situation, "I think he needs to go back inside."

Had a fun evening and Sadie sat looking out the window for half an hour after they left, hoping her little friend would come back.

The Long Wait (36-62 months)

Here is an update of a Joint Council on International Childrens Services conference that was held this month. The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has not given any of the following information in writing. I couldn't find this information on the JCICS web site and the e-mail from Children's Hope International said the information below is simply a collaboration of information from adoption professionals throughout the U.S. who are currently working with the CCAA. So in other words, take it with a grain of salt:

1. There are currently 25,000 dossiers at the CCAA that have been
processed and are waiting to be matched with referrals.

2. There are only 400-700 kids' files being sent to the CCAA each month. The CCAA has to wait on these files to be sent to them from the Department of Civil Affairs in each province, and the Dept. of Civil Affairs must wait on the files to be sent to them from each respective orphanage. ( SLC: Basic Math 25000/400 = 62 month wait, 25000/700 = 36 month wait)

3. The backlog is thus caused because there are more dossiers waiting for referrals than there are available children's files being sent to the CCAA.

4. Orphanages must file a tremendous amount of paperwork in order to register one child for adoption. The paperwork is being done, but not fast enough to keep the waiting period less than 18 months.

5. There are no longer specific orphanages that can send children's files to Civil Affairs and then to the CCAA. Any orphanage in China is now permitted to send files to the CCAA. (SLC: This one should help some with the bottle neck in China)

6. The Chinese government is working to register more children for adoption (who are deemed abandoned children and thus legally available for adoption).

7. Regarding the new regulations that will go into effect on May 1st, 2007, China made the decision to implement much stricter regulations because they want to decrease the wait for referrals. They talked through many different ways to decrease the waiting time, and they decided to tighten up the regulations to accomplish their goal. They do not desire to cease adoptions altogether.

8. The CCAA has confirmed that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will not affect the adoption process at all.

9. The new regulations going into effect on May 1st are not retroactive. This means that no dossier sent to the CCAA and arriving there before May 1st will be reviewed according to the new guidelines, however, the CCAA has already begun reviewing dossiers with much more caution. It has recently become commonplace (amongst all agencies working with the CCAA) for the CCAA to request additional documentation regarding finances, medical conditions, and various other items in the dossier.

10. How long will the waiting times for referrals of non-special needs children extend to? The CCAA refuses to predict waiting times of any kind. Any timeframe given to any agency is approximate and cannot be guaranteed.

11. How many staff personnel are working at the CCAA? There are approximately 60 staff members currently at the CCAA.

12. Dossiers submitted after May 1st will be under very strict review according to the given guidelines.

13. Regarding the Waiting Child Program, the CCAA will be implementing an online administration program for each agency in the near future instead of sending out new lists. They stated that this would begin in February of 2007, but it has not begun yet. (#s 13-16 below are all regarding the Waiting Child Program)

14. Most agencies are seeing a waiting time (after dossier is logged in AND Letter of Intent is submitted) for the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter to be 3-4 months. If additional information is requested by the CCAA for the dossier, this will present a slight delay in issuing the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter. The delay could be approximately one to two months.

15. After the Letter of Seeking Confirmation of Adopter is signed and sent back to the CCAA, the Travel Approval should be issued within 1- 3 weeks.

16. Can families find a waiting child on a different agency's list (than the agency they submitted their dossier to the CCAA through) and pursue adopting that child? The CCAA has changed their policy and will no longer allow any family to switch agencies for the purpose of adopting a waiting child after a dossier is submitted through one agency.

17. The waiting time is getting longer and longer. Can we pursue an adoption domestically or through another country as we wait for our referral? The CCAA will not allow any simultaneous adoptions, i.e. the pursuit of another international adoption while your dossier is in China or the pursuit of a domestic adoption while your dossier is in China. If the CCAA finds out that a family is doing this while their dossier is in China, the family risks having their dossier rejected and sent back to their placing agency. (SLC: I think this one is down right mean, considering the CCAA only requires 12 months between significant life events, adoption, marriage, divorce, before allowing an adoption in China. I'm not sure this is even from the CCAA or if it is an "agency" thing. It isn't on the CCAA regulation page, but then that page hasn't been updated in years and still says adoptive parents must be childless. I think the prohibition on domestic adoptions would benefit the agencies more than the CCAA so I'm leaning that this is an agency restriction and not a CCAA restriction.)

18. The Blue Sky Project is a new initiative started by the CCAA that will help build more orphanages and remodel existing ones. Information about this can be found on the CCAA's website.

Dancing Mare

I know some of you girls out there that follow this web site are horse lovers. My mother-in-law just sent me an e-mail about this. Check this video out:

This video is of Andreas Helgstrand and his 9 year-old mare, Matinee, at the World Equestrian Games. It is the Musical Freestyle Dressage competition, and they pretty much wiped the floor with everyone. Turn up the sound and watch this mare dance... she is amazing... she KNOWS where the beat is.

http://beboframe.com/FlashFrame.jsp?Size=S&FlashBoxId=3309347442

Mouth of Wilson Trip (April 1-4, 2007)

Can you imagine the name of your town being "Mouth of Wilson". Hope there are no "Mouth of Wilson" natives out there reading this. I thought it was really weird name for a place when Jeff and I decided to go there for a few days. After we got there we found out that the "Wilson River" runs through town. It is a pretty place and lots of fishermen.

We rented a house there. Didn't really know what it would be like, other than it was close to the Blue Ridge Parkway and much further north than we have explored before. We have gotten pretty familiar with the section of the parkway that is close to where we live. It is not uncommon for us to decide abruptly on a Saturday morning to head there. Just have to throw some Match-light in the trunk and a package of hot dogs in the cooler.

This was a "Sadie Lady" vacation! She loves to get away from the farm. Another reason we picked "Mouth of Wilson" was its close proximity to hiking trails in Grayson Highlands State Park and the connection to the Appalachian Trail.

I picked the house to rent from a selection of available rentals. Didn't read the fine print as to the road conditions getting there. We wound up a 1/4 mile driveway that would not be what most of you think of as a driveway. More like a cattle path. We drove up in the Chevelle and as we were going straight up this hill, Jeff and I both looked at each other and said, "Should have brought the Subaru!"

The house was perched on the top of a hill on 30 acres. Sadie loved it in the daylight, but was a scardy cat when it was dark and wouldn't step off the deck unless Jeff or I went with her. Too many monsters out there lurking in the woods.

Anyway a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few from the trip:



Wild ponies at Wilburn Ridge.

For days when we drove by this farm on the way to Grayson I saw this horse in the pen. Today we found out why (see the little patch of white at her feet). All her equine friends must of stood by during the event. There were several more horses to the left of the picture.

View from Massie Gap

See that red speck in the parking lot: The Chevelle.

Sadie and Jeff playing on the lawn of the Blue Ridge Music Center. They weren't open, but we had to stop for a "Sadie Lady" break when we saw the large open area off the parkway.

Jeff and Sadie on the Appalachain Trail.

Sadie is usually very dainty. In fact she has more "little" dog characteristics than "big" dog. She doesn't like getting her feet wet, but it was really hot at Stone Mountain State Park and she discovered that playing in the water was fun.

The last night at the house, it stormed!! Lightening and Thunder! Sadie got us up at 0300 and said "Time to go home!" So we put the coffee on and packed our stuff up and were on the road at 0400. Nice to get home early and have the rest of the day to relax!

Sorry Wrong Number, Wind and Insomnia

An hour ago the phone rang and now I'm up. It rang several times before it shook me out of the deep sleep and weird dream I was having. The older woman on the end of the line asked for Collette. I've heard her voice before and I'm sure she has called in the middle of the night more than once. I mumbled, "Sorry you have the wrong number". At this point, though battling insomnia for years, I was confident I would be able to go back to sleep.

But then, this caller asked me a question, rather she said, "Is it okay if I ask you a question?" My level of consciousness has now jumped to the "fairly alert" end of the scale and I'm wondering what this stranger could possibly want to ask me. She doesn't sound like an obscene caller, she sounds like a grandma. I sighed and out of curiosity said, "yes" and then repeated back to her what she asked, "You want to know what time it is?"

Jeff' groans and I feel him shake his head in exasperation. I can't see the clock from my side of the bed, so I sit up and lean over him. "It's 1:30", I tell her. She says in a very apologetic tone, "Oh, is it 1:30 already, no wonder you're asleep." We said good-night and hung up.

Now, I've moved from "fairly alert" to "fully awake". I clicked the caller ID button and she called from Savannah, GA. Yes, Mrs. Savannah has called here before. I wonder if she was just trying to reach Collete to find out what time it was? I flop back down on the pillow knowing that this was way too much conversation for me to go back to sleep, but I'll try. Jeff's snoring but the talking has woke up "The Sadie Lady" and she wants to go out, I think.

We've had thunderstorms for the last several nights, with the same weather forecast for tonight plus high winds. Several years ago we had a horrendous lightening storm. Sadie and I were looking out the dining room window when lightening hit the transformer in our side yard. I made the mistake of screaming and it scarred Sadie for life. She is deathly afraid of thunder, lightening and fireworks. So, it is not surprising to me (given the weatherman's words of wisdom) that she is pacing the bedroom floor.

She stuck her cold nose on my arm and laid her head on the bed next to my ear and whined. I sit up again and look out the bedroom windows. No lightening that I can see and no thunder that I can hear, but the wind is blowing and the windows are creaking against the strain. Click, click, click, go the toenails on the hard wood floors. Back and forth she goes from the windows to my side of the bed. I get up to see if by chance she just wants to go outside. Nope, didn't think so; when I open the door she hides in the corner.

I flop back in the bed and Jeff starts rubbing my back. I asked him a silly question like the one Mrs. Savannah asked me, "Are you awake?". He mumbles, "Just try to go back to sleep", rolls over and is snoring again in minutes. Now all good insomniacs know the words "go back to sleep" are not a potent sedative.

So I resign myself to getting up. I made coffee while Sadie checked out all the windows and doors. She must have decided the lightening and thunder monsters weren't going to descend on our house anytime soon. She even went outside for a few minutes and came bouncing back when I called her, smiling and wagging her tail the way she does. She's happy to know that "mom" is on storm guard duty. Within minutes she's sleeping soundly on the floor of my office. I can hear Jeff's muffled snoring.....even the wind has gone to sleep...but, the coffee is calling me.....

LID 04/05/07

Jeff and I are on vacation this week. We spent the day working in the garden. We're building a trellis for some raspberry bushes and planting trees. We hadn't even checked e-mail till last night. What great news, we had an e-mail waiting from the agency. Our dossier was logged in yesterday! So we are officially in the waiting line!!