Great Wall, Pandas, and Mcdonald's

In an adoption process there is a lot of rushing to gather things to send in and there is a lot of waiting.  Waiting is the hardest part.  I try to stay optimistic, but my wife is very pessimistic.  The other day she spoke to our adoption coordinator.  They were discussing the child we hope to adopt.  We learned some information about her health.  They also discussed drawing up a letter to send to China in defense of our adoption.  Basically we are to write that we understand her health issues and it will not deter us from adopting.  The coordinator was concerned that she is showing signs of Autism.  Our last child showed the same signs.  It is more of an institutionalized Autism.  In time, it goes away.  It does not deter us.  We are still looking forward to the day when we get to hold her and bring her home.  Angie asked when she should write the letter.  The coordinator said soon.  She says that after we ...

In a past blog, I gave a warning about fostering.  This time I'd like to give some advice from our days as foster parents.  When we started this process, we had to take a mandatory class.  They go into some of the things you might encounter, but on a less scary level.  When they talk about things that might happen, it doesn't sound so bad.  They won't tell you about the destructive children that destroy things in your house.  When you try to get compensation from the DCF (Department of Children and Families), they will say that the child is yours and that you have to deal with it.  You do get money for their care, but it is minimal.  It was like $7 to $14 a day.  They also got a check for clothing. One thing that you need to be aware of as a foster parent, is that you need to ask questions of the person trying to place the child.  As you take in more children, your list of questions will grow.  Examples of questions we would ask a...

Of our few sightseeing trips in Chengdu, the People's Park was one of them.  We were dropped off across the street from the park and had to cross a major road to get to it.  In the entrance of the park is a statue of a Chinese soldier with a gun.  The gun has a bayonet.  Behind the statue was a water fountain. We walked around the fountain and headed into the park.  Like all parks we visited in China, people were out exercising and enjoying the day.  They had a tea house in the center.  There were many vendors selling trinkets and food.  We even saw where they were selling ear cleaning services.  As we walked along, we came upon a group of women practicing a fan dance.  We could tell it was practice because they kept stopping to tell people things they were doing or not doing. From there, we kept walking in a big circle.  Angie was having a discussion with our guide.  I was keeping an eye on Kayla.  It was a nice park....