Rejected, again...

Received the dreaded letter today from Homeland Security that the one set of fingerprints were not able to be processed for the second time. I was expecting this (although I hoped to be notified earlier via email), so I was ready for the next step - submitting notarized clearance letters from the state police of both Virginia and Florida. I didn't check the mailbox until about 2pm and the only nearby FedEx branch that has a Saturday pick-up has a 3pm pick-up schedule.

So, I rushed to put together my cover letter, make copies of everything, create my FedEx shipping label and get to the FedEx office before the deadline so that the paperwork will be in the USCIS officer's hands by 10:30AM on Monday. I was in such a hurry that I did not notice my son's friend's bicycle parked directly behind my SUV in the driveway. DOH! Crunch... It looks like I will be adding "bicycle repair" to my growing list of adoption expenses! I am just thankful that there was not an actual CHILD on the bicycle! The snail is still crawling along, measuring the time that our lives have been in the hands of USCIS. Escargot, anyone????

Guo is 15 months old today!

No news on fingerprints /I171H yet. Stay tuned...

Poop happens

As the soon-to-be-mother to a toddler, I had better get used to dealing with poop. Poop happens. Sometime fingerprints can't be processed properly. No point in whining about it (not that it stops me from doing it). One must just deal with the poop - clean it up and move on.

I understand there is a good potty-training book around called "Everyone Poops", which must of come out well after my now 13 year old was toilet trained (I haven't had to deal with baby poop about 10 years). Will have to look into this.

I have found some unusual poop websites while researching travel in China. Some of the information I found has to do with common Asian-style toilets, called "squat pots". I am trying to prepare myself in case I need to use one. Here are some pictures of squattie potties in China (will open a Word document). The hotels where we are staying will have Western-style toilets, but there may be a time when a squat pot is inevitable, and I want to be ready to go, so to speak. :0)

In addition to people-potty websites, I have found some interesting information on panda potty-related topics. Apparently, the panda research facility in Chengdu is looking to sell their endless supply of fiber-rich panda poop - around a ton/day produced (from the bamboo diet) - as raw material for paper products. Click here for article. This idea may sound a little out there, but it is actually a copy-cat project based on a successful elephant poop project in Thailand. That's right, someone is already making paper products from elephant poop - check it out at http://www.poopoopaper.com/. They even have an online "Poo-tique". You can't make this stuff up.

I can see how there could be a real market for this crap (sorry, I couldn't help myself). In zoo gift shops, for example. There is already a small group in China successfully manufacturing some panda poop products - . In addition, scientists in Japan are researching how to turn panda poop into electricity!

Anyone interested in becoming an entre-pooh-neur with me in a joint venture of panda poop???????

A bump in the road

I have just returned from spending a week with my sister and her family, followed by a nice family trip to my in-laws. Sorry for the quiet period - I didn't have a chance to post before I left.

We ran into a problem with our USCIS process that is causing a delay. The FBI was 'unable to process' one set of fingerprints. So, we have to go in for a "do-over" - almost a month after the first try. Needless to say, this is not what we had hoped for, but like so many things in the adoption process, it is not within our control. The little snail meter is still crawling along at the top of this blog. We will hope for the best at our new appointment on 10/16/07. The approval form from USCIS is the last piece of paper we need in order to get our dossier off to China.

Below are a few pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania over Columbus Day weekend. We tried to do some fun fall activities, but it was hot and humid in the upper 80's. We did go to a farm with a large maze cut through the corn stalks. It was really funny - at the farm we ran into a group of 4 families that had traveled to China together 6 years ago to adopt their daughters! The girls were all from the same SWI and the families get together a couple of times a year so that the girls can see each other. There were 8 children in total, 3 biological and 5 adopted, but only 4 of them from the same trip. Their younger daughters are all 7 years old now and were just adorable. I was so busy taking pictures of the group with about 5 of their cameras that I forgot to take a picture of them with my own camera! They were all wearing matching Halloween t-shirts. They were quite petite for their age - about the same size as my 5-year-old brother-in-law. Yes, you read that correctly. The little blonde boy in the pictures is my 13-year-old son's uncle and my husband's half-brother and he just turned 5 in August. I debated about including the picture of the 3 of us on the tractor tires because it a very unflattering angle of my tushie in the foreground, which appears to be roughly the same size as the continent of Africa. :0( I will confess that there was one that was even more unflattering and it will never see the light of day. The pictures of Adam pulling Ben in the wagon (I guess you are never to big to let your Daddy pull you in a wagon) were taken here in Virginia when we went to get some corn stalks and gourds to decorate our sukkah. For those who may not be familiar with this, a sukkah is a hut-like structure you build outside your home to dwell in - or at least eat in - during the Jewish fall festival, Sukkot. The Chinese Mid-Autumn/Moon festival began on the same night as Sukkot - on the full moon, of course. So, we added some Chinese lantern lights this year and we tasted Chinese moon cakes in the sukkah. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures! We look forward to having our new addition to our family in the sukkah with us next year.

Big thanks to anyone who donated to the Buddy Walk - Barbara's Samster's Union team exceeded their goal of raising $1,000 for the NWDownSyndromeAssociation. Way to go!