Great Wall, Pandas, and Mcdonald's

When you adopt, internationally or domestically, you have to expect surprises.  You get reports about the children.  If domestic, they might tell the history.  One thing they will not go into is the after effects of the trauma the child might have suffered.  Say they write that a child has been sexually abused.  You might think that child would just need love and protection and everything will be okay.  That child will need therapy.  They may be angry because they do not know how to deal with their feelings.  Not only that, but if they are older, they might do the same things to younger siblings or children in the neighborhood. Even international adoptions can have issues that are not in the reports.  We were in Guangzhou when our guide was called to an emergency.  A child who was about to age out was getting a chance to be adopted. When the parents got there to adopt the child, she did not want to be adopted.  Did the orphanage t...

Waiting can be really hard.  When you have lots of time to think and just figure out what you are going to do before introducing another child in your household.  One of the biggest shrug offs we have received has been from social media.  You go on Facebook and post because you are happy.  Then when no one seems enthusiastic it gets you down.  I see people get happy all the time at work when people announce they are pregnant or their wife is having a baby.  I'm sure if they posted they'd get tons of congratulations or likes.  Not many in my account.  I'm looking forward to my new daughter.  I guess that is why I share here.  I can tell people and think they are happy for us.  I don't really have to worry about comments, no one does it.  My "likes" come from the number of people who might read a post.  I can tell people are not big on the music I share.  That's okay.  I like it and tried to share it with my daught...

This weekend, I plan on beating this procrastination.  I am going to pull up my shirt sleeves and dive in.  I am going to take pictures for Ebay, gather things for the yard sale and just try to reduce all clutterage.  Ebay has been hit and miss.  I have looks on current posters, but only a couple of bids.  Next up, I will try baseball cards and comics.  The only problem I have with baseball cards is that the ones that sell high have been sent to a company to grade them.  I'm not wasting money to have some company tell people what they should be able to see in the pictures.  I have to try other things.  Posters can be a hard sell. Even though we are in a waiting period, we have to get cracking.  When they do come back with our answer, time seems to speed up.  Then we will look back and wonder why we did not work harder and faster.

When you are in this part of an adoption, waiting can be really hard.  Everyday Angie is stressing.  Not hearing anything makes you wonder.  I am not so worried.  We have been through three Chinese adoptions.  She reads stories of children that don't want to go and it creates even more stress. At this point of an adoption, one must start preparing.  Get your rooms ready.  Make sure you have a bed/crib, accessories that might be needed, like baby bottles.  In our case, we are just looking at everything and wondering if we can sell it.  Ebay has been good.  I have over 50 posters listed.  So, if you see fahey6587, bid on it.  You will be helping us out.  I am starting out low on many of the posters.  Generally, about $5.00, unless the system prompts me to go higher.  Worse thing that could happen is I have to relist. We are also preparing for a huge yard sale.  It will probably happen in February.  Th...

You know the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  I'd like to challenge you, those who read this to donate a dollar to Reece's rainbow.  This dollar would go to a great cause and help a child in need.  We are going to do what we can, but it will take money.  Flying over and doing the adoption costs.  Even as cheap as we can be, we still need to eat while over there.  Not only that, but they expect us to pay tips when services are rendered.  The first adoption, we tried to scrimp on food, but Angie got sick.  Believe me, we're still not going to pay $20 for a hamburger and I think pizza will be of the list also.  If you can not give, I understand.  I just thought it would be fun to see the totals increase.

When you adopt from another country, part of your routine will be to take your child to a clinic.  The clinic in Guangzhou is on Shamian Island.  This is also where Lucy's and the White Swan are located.  Not all agencies use the White Swan, as we have found out from our travel records with the new agency. The purpose of this visit is to give the child a checkup of sorts.  They check the hearing, sight, measurements, weight, etc.  Of our three adoptions, two of them were accompanied by lots of crying.  Our infants did not like the pulling and prodding.  Our seven year old did fine.  If they find something, they will inform you.  On our second adoption, they did find something.  When they told us, we began to worry.  If they do not clear the child, you can not take them home until they are stable. In this case it was a contagious disorder.  Or it can be.  Once they find it, they have to determine if the child is contagi...

When you go to China or if you go, you have to have a guide.  Not only do they speak the language, but they are a wealth of information.  They know great places to eat, where the best shopping is, where to stay away from, etc.  In the case of an adoption, they are great with the children.  If you have an older child, you need someone who can translate between the family and the child. On our three adoptions, we were fortunate to have the same guide.  The third adoption, she was not assigned to us, but she was there during critical times.  Words can not say enough about how great this person is to us.  She has verbally sparred with people at the airport, she helped us with our 7 year old, etc.  Even when she was not our guide, she and the family she was with helped us on the last trip. I will say, not every guide is as great as Veronica.  Our last trip, we had three different guides.  One for each province.  The one in Chengdu was...

Thanks to the person who donated $10.00.  Every dollar is appreciated.  Please keep giving, if you can.  This weekend was great for our Ebay sales.  We sold a signed comic book and a Shawshank Redemption poster.  I have other sales, but they do not look too promising.  I will just have to take more pictures.  These next couple of months are going to be busy.  We also found out that our Reece's Rainbow button will include Elana's picture.

Driving in a new area can be a scary proposition.  When I first came down to Florida, I experienced that first hand.  My brother-in-law does not like driving down  here.  Orlando can be a scary place to drive.  We have a melting pot of drivers around here.    Drivers are from all around the world.  We have people that are lost all the time.  They forget that we have laws that are similar to their home towns, cities, countries.  As scary as this can be, driving in China is not for the weary. When you go to China, they usually set up transportation or you can take cabs.  After experiencing the roads in China, I would not even want to try and drive on my own.  People do all kinds of crazy maneuvers.   We even saw a wedding party on the highway.  What made this interesting/dangerous was that the wedding group was in one vehicle, while another group was hanging from the back of a vehicle to videotape the trip.  As c...

During this adoption, I thought it would be fun to do a countdown.  I started with the song Countdown by Lindsey Buckingham.  After that, I looked for a bunch of songs with China in them:  China Grove by the Doobie Brothers, Like China by Phil Collins, China Roses by Enya, Arrested in Shanghai by Rancid.  The way I'd do it is I'd wake up, grab my Kindle and look for the particular song.  Then I'd wake Angie for her song of the day.  Sometimes they were new songs that she had not heard before like Welcome to Beijing by a group of Chinese artists, including Jackie Chan.  I didn't even know that he was a singer.  They did this song for the Olympics, but it fit our travels.  Beijing was the first stop. If you are preparing for a journey, this is a fun way to build up to it.  Today, I found a list on Wikipedia of songs with numbers in their titles.  I will be formulating them and seeing if I can do a playlist in Spotify.  If not, ...

I have never had a chance to eat Russian foods.  What's good to eat  If there are any readers out there who might know, please leave a comment.  I like to know before I go places so that we can be on the lookout for good food. No Comments?  Please help.  I don't know much about Russian food and would like to try it when we go to Harbin.

With our travel coming up, we have started to look at places to visit.  The agency said that we need to provide a list to the guide and he will set up what he can.  Looking at Harbin, there are a bunch of places to visit.  It depends on when we go.  If it were now, they have the snow and ice festival.  I did see some churches that I'd like to see.  Since Harbin is close to Russia, there is a Russian influence on the architecture.  There is also a Stalin Park, a holocaust museum, Sun Island and a Siberian Tiger Reserve. For the food, I read that Harbin has many influences.  They include Russia, Korea, Mongolian and North China.  This might be an adventure for our palates.  One place I read that you can get a dinner for about 1.50 US.  They also warn you to carry small denominations of cash, so that you do not get counterfeit in return.  I know that we will definitely being eating local.  Angie will be interested in the sh...

After Angie left her job, we had to stretch the money we were living on.  When summer came, the school systems were offering breakfast and lunches to children.  We would take the children in during the week for breakfast.  The women that ran the program got to know us and our children.  As June dissolved into July, the women told us that they would be leaving soon.  They were only scheduled through summer school, but the program would go for the rest of the summer. The last few days approached, one of the women went up to Angie.  She told her that she hoped we would not get upset, but they had sent our story to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  They wanted a videotape of our family and house.  We both got choked up at this.  We agreed to have them come over to videotape.  The week ended and we never saw the women again.  They did not show and we did not have any way of contacting them.  I even emailed the principal of the scho...

We started selling things in November.  We have sold about 10 posters or more, but we were able to get 10 great ratings.  At this point, we are still at 10 items a month or $1,000.  I had been investigating an increase in our limit.  The site says you can apply through a link to get it increased.  Every time we tried the system would say there was a system error.  I started digging a little deeper.  What I found was that you can call and request an increase.  Angie called them.  Unfortunately, she was not allowed to talk to them.  I found that weird because she set up the account.  I'm guessing she did so under my name and did not realize that she had to put her own name as a user of the account.  I had to call.  While I sat waiting for a movie sneak of Mortdecai, great movie by the way, I called Ebay.  They asked me a series of questions and then agreed to increase the limit.  I would have been happy with 20 ...

In the beginning of our first international adoption, we attended a meeting that was an intro to the process.  It was put on by the adoption agency.  At the meeting, there were other families and some adoptive parents.  They went through the process, requirements and fees.  Then the families got up and told their stories.  It was informative.  We also got information about groups in Florida. Later that year, we attended a New Year luncheon.  It gave us a chance to be around adoptive children and listen to the parents stories.  This is where we picked up some of the phobias of the families.  After going through these, you'd think China was dirt poor.  To families that make a lot of money, it may feel that way to them.  It does give you information so that you can prepare.  That's another reason I am glad we went through the foster process.  We are prepared for children with issues, sort of. One thing that was very appar...

With our impending adoption coming at us, I just wanted to let people know that we still have plenty of bracelets.  They are $8.00 plus shipping.  We will ship international.  Any help would be appreciated.  We need the money quick.  It may be two months before we go.  Not only that, but we have had these bracelets for a while.  They are either expecting the money we owe or the product back.  We would rather send the money instead of the product.  Remember, not only does it help us, but it helps someone in Haiti.  Email:  Angie at afahey2000@yahoo.com or Sean at sfahey_imp@yahoo.com.  Just put bracelet in the subject.  Thanks again for reading this.  PS:  Feel free to donate to Reece's Rainbow via our link if you would like to donate something.  Any amount would be appreciated.  The bracelet's are all different.  They do not all have the same colors as the one pictured.  With Valentines comin...

One of the worst things people ask adoptive parents is How much did you pay for your child?  It's almost like they think we went to a store and picked them out.  My response would probably be How much did you pay for yours?  They will say that they did not have to.  But, if you give birth to a child, there is a cost.  Your insurance probably covers the brunt of it.  So, my answer would be Similar to the costs you encurr during pregnancy.  Only ours are in the form of fees to cover expenses.  Someone has to take care of the child. Another one would be, Where is their real parents? Or why did their real parents get rid of them?  Then, we have to let them know that we are the real parents, if you are asking about the birth parents, do the research.  There are many reasons.  Why to people in America throw their babies in the garbage? Usually, they asked these things in front of the children.  My children are old enough to under...

Yesterday, we received our log in date.  Next up is translation.  We also received our travel information.  This company does things differently than the other company we have used.  We get to choose places to stay and tourist locations.  Of course, we will be paying for it.  At least, we can research and see if there are places that might be interesting to visit.  This company recommends different hotels.  It is going to be an adventure.  The information they sent us had a time table of what to expect.  LID was listed as taking from 1 to 3 weeks.  We got ours in two days.  We could be going quicker than we expected.

I will start this post with some discussion, but I will revisit it when I know more information, like the names of the companies.  We are trying really hard not to spend all our savings and/or borrow against retirement funds.  It is really hard to do.  Angie has been researching grants and they don't look to promising.  They want to see that you have spent all your money and only then will they assist you.  My problem with this is if you spend all your money and get a grant, how are you supposed to live when you get back?  If you are that desperate for money, adoption should not be on the top of your lists of things to do.   The other issue is that a lot of these grants want you to pay money for the chance to get one.  Does that strike you as being a little off?  Your going after a grant for money, but they are saying they want some to give some.  More likely is that once you pay, then you wait and finally get rejected, but they got your...

In the past, I have mentioned that we were foster parents.  Fostering can lead to adoption or so we thought.  We stayed in the system for about three or four years before deciding we could not continue doing this.  Kids come and go at all times of the day.  When you accept a child at 3 in the afternoon, they may not show until 1 in the morning.  That creates havoc with your next day, especially when both parents work.   When it comes to the Department of Children and Families, they are overworked.  Most social workers have around 100 kids per person.  They have to keep tabs on their children.  Not only that, but they have more coming in everyday.  Then, there are court appearances, keeping up with the birth parents to make sure they are trying to get their children back, etc.  Believe me, these kids go back and forth.  Depending on their parents, they may play games with the system.  They will stay away for awhile and r...

Fundraising is turning out to be quite difficult.  Here I thought we had a noble cause with which we were trying to raise money.  I see these fly by night go fund me stories and think people give to these causes, so a special needs child is a shoo in for assistance.  I was wrong.  People like to voice there acceptance of what we do, but secretly, I think they are saying, Not me, I'd never do that.  Not only that, but I have talked with some people who probably say, Why are they bringing "those" children to our country?  They are taking up our insurance and taking away from all the children who need adoption over here!"  I can say that I have adopted from America and one day, I will share why we don't continue.  Just remember, when you are trying to adopt like we have, don't be surprised if you are unable to raise money.  At least, the online auctions have been bringing in some money.

Angie just let me know that the package has left Hong Kong.  Maybe we will get logged in this week.  Today has been busy.  Going through things to get rid of for yard sale and Ebay.  Hopefully we can get more listings that people will want to buy.  Current posters not doing so much.  I am trying to sale Beverly Hills Cop 3 for $5, one looker and a Batman Forever for $10, 4 looks.  Don't think they will sell.  This is the second listing.  Next up, a signed The Chamber by John Grisham and a signed The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Sunday morning update 1/18, Package is in Beijing!!!!!

I see where many people read this blog from, but it only covers the country.  I challenge you to comment on this blog!  Put the state, village or wherever in the country you are from.  It would be interesting to see where everyone is from.  You know my area.  If not: Orlando, FL,  Home of Disney World Just to let you know, the comment button does work.  Thanks NC.

My daughters recently joined Instagram.  They have had Facebook accounts for a couple of months.  I did not have too much of a problem.  As with Facebook, Angie has an account to monitor what they post.  They have been adding people left and right.  I guess it makes them feel special to have a lot of friends.  I know they like it when people respond to what they post. (sounds familiar) The elder of the two post a picture of herself with a skateboard.  Well, this so called friend, posted something like she is not pretty, etc.  We have told her to ignore it and drop the friend.  If any other posts, we told her to let us know.  This is ridiculous!  As I think back, in my days, bullies did not have access to social media.  If it keeps up, we will go to the school.  We might even do this.  Who knows how many people this person has harassed.  Why can't kids just leave people they don't like alone?

If you are looking into making money to pay for an adoption that is in the future, stocks can be a way of doing it.  If you do go into it, do your research.  I have been burned on "great stocks" that ended up going bankrupt.  You have to look at the companies financials.  Does the company have the money to pay off their debts, if it had to happen instantly?  Companies floating large debts without liquid income are a disaster waiting to happen.  Do not use the advice of TV spokespeople.  Most of them have a vested interest in people investing.  One host said the other day to invest in Disney and guess what that day the market went down.  When he says to sell, that is the point I have held onto the stock as the price rose.  Just be careful, it's rigged for small investors.  I think only the big ones truly make lots of money. We have some stock, but it's not time to sell.  I feel this year will cause their prices to rise.  ...

We have had our little victory.  Now we are back to stressing.  We will be stressing about how the package will be received in China.  Being optimistic, I feel there should be no problems.  They have already allowed us to adopt three times.  Being pessimistic, Angie worries that they will turn us down.  After that, will come the Will She Love Us phase.  Money will always be a stressor.  Fees will have to be paid.  A big portion is out of the way. The problem that we seem to have is when we are trying to gather money, something breaks.  Then money that should go to the adoption goes that direction.  Now you know why we are fundraising.  If you were in this situation how would you raise money?  We have tried Go Fund Me.  I thought there would be warm hearted donations flowing in.  I see people give to guys who want to make Chili or a woman who was made fun of by ten year old bullies on a bus.  It's funny or ...

Today was the day.  We just got an email to let us know that our DTC date is 1/14/2015.  The next step is LID.  LID stands for Logged in Date.  Thus begins the process.  When logging in, translation will happen.  After translation, it will go to review.  Hopefully, it will go quickly.

Still waiting on the news that our dossier is headed to China.  Now comes another wait time.  So, I thought I'd say hello to all my North American readers.  I'd also like to say hello to the readers from other countries.  I never thought many people would be interested in my blog, but to have people from around the world read this.  I am amazed.  I have had people from South America, Europe, Asia.  I guess the poles will not be tuning in.  I don't think penguins have Wi-Fi.  The only other continent is Africa.  Maybe one day.  Feel free to share.  I have a button on the site or you can just spread the work.  I hope you find these postings interesting and stirs you into adoption or travelling.  If you can't do that, think about how you might help the facilities that house orphans.  They always need the help.  The more kids we help in this world, the better it will be. Next up on our agenda, is to get ready....

Today was a good day.  We have hit 10 positive reviews.  If you don't know, Ebay bases your selling on your reviews.  The better you do, the more, hopefully, they will allow you to sell.  Right now, we are held to 10 items per month.  I think we may request a raise in the number.  Due to our rating, they might allow us.  I wish we could say we are doing this to raise money for a charity, but that is strictly against the rules.  They will take down your sale if you try.  Although we are not making great amounts of money, the good reviews will help future sales.  Just hope I don't run out of good posters to sell. Found out today, that you have to wait 45 days before you can request an increase to the amount of things Ebay will allow you to sell.  As soon as that gets in, maybe we can increase to 20 or 30 things.  I hope so because this is the only outlet that I am actually getting sales.  (See poster text if interested).

We just got a call from our agency.  They were thrilled with Angie's organization.  But, we were missing one thing.  We need one more reference.  Our agency said if we could get it done tonight, it will be on its way to China tomorrow.  She is frantically on the phone getting that last reference.  Wish us luck!

Thanks for whoever gave to our Reece's Rainbow account.  If you don't know or were afraid to ask about the link on the left side of the blog, I have gone to their site and copied what they are about: The mission of Reece’s Rainbow is to advocate and find families for orphans with Down syndrome and other special needs by raising funds for adoption grants and promoting awareness through an online community, media communications, and other events. If you want to give, be assured that it is going to a good cause.  We are happy that they assisting us with our adoption.  

When we entered the process for our fourth, we knew we would be looking for a child with special needs.  We tried to stay away from leg ailments.  We did this after our last adoption.  If you consider a leg difference, you have to be prepared with shoe issues.  Qin Qin requires two different sized shoes.  Stores will not break a pair of shows up.  They expect you to buy two pairs.  It can become expensive really quick. Day in and day out, Angie was glued to the waiting children.  Depending on the need, they would go quickly when added to the page.  One day, Angie saw Xia Que.  They probably used a made up western name, I guess they think Chinese names might scare the parents away.  She looked like a baby doll.  At first, we wondered what her issue was.  She did not have visible ailments.  We found out it was here eyes.  They were crossed, sort of.  We had been through that with Kayla.  She had surgery...

Yesterday was a fun day.  January in Florida can be cold.  These cold temps bring the Manatees into the springs.  They do this to keep warm.  We met with our Families with Children from China group.  We meet up and do things once a month.  It lets our daughters play and meet with girls like themselves.  We find its a way for them to be around peers of their own.  We tried Chinese School, but they met once a week and the kids did not really get into it.  When it costs as much as it did, we did not have the money to continue. Being a part of a group like this can be therapeutic.  You get to talk with adoptive parents and exchange ideas and resources.  Don't expect to jell with everyone.  We still have that problem.  It seems like some families do everything together.  That attitude even comes from their children.  When ours go up to them, it's like a high school clique.  We tell the girls not to worry. ...

Our package arrived today.  Angie got it, made copies on the new things and prepared the Dossier.  It probably included our fee.  It is now off the the agency to review and prepare to send to China.  Once there, they will register it and then translate.  After that, I don't know what will happen.  I hope it will be expedited.  We'll have to wait.  Guess we need to put everything into overdrive.  Need to get the house ready, sell things, etc.

Saw another headline today.  It looks like Dunkin Donuts is going to China.  If its anything like Baskin Robbins, it will be expensive.  I guess it will be interesting.  I'd rather go to a Chinese bakery to get sweet breads.  Our last trip we bought two cakes that were really good.  I think its better to try local cuisine versus eating like I do at home.  I will tell you, not everything has the same taste.  They try to make it fit the Chinese tastes.  Sometimes that can be good and sometimes not.

I am coming up with future posts.  I plan to give more Chinese tourist posts with pictures.  I will continue to add to my dream movie.  I already have some more actors that would fit additional adoption parents, as well as social workers.  Do you want to know more about foster care/domestic adoption?  I can give more reasons on why we do not do it anymore.  How about reasons on why I want to adopt so many kids?  Let me know.  I am writing this to be entertaining, but also informative.  If you go through some of these process, it helps to know what others went through.  When we started, we did not have many avenues to look for information.  We had books, but you can only read so many adoption books without rolling your eyes and saying "not this again".  If you want to see something, please let me know.  If not, I will continue with some parks we visited, etc.  Again, thanks for tuning in.  I will also cut some of ...

Angie informed me that our package is on the way.  It should be here tomorrow.  So, we need to scrounge up our agency fee.  It will be one of the bigger payments to send with our package.  Sold some posters, but not as many as I hoped for.  Sometimes, it feels like a losing proposition.  I guess people don't care much for movie posters.  I don't think baseball cards, beanie babies or comics sell any better.  Word to the wise, collecting is for suckers.  I fell for it.  The only people that make money are the producers and early sellers.  At least the posters did not cost me anything.  I wish I had stayed away from beanie babies.  I, at least, thought baseball cards might have some values.  "Collectors" on a Facebook site said that cards during the 80's and 90's were over produced.  Well, I had the luck of growing up during that period.  Some of my better cards are for drug users or performance drug abusers. ...

This is the part of an adoption that I dread.  When you are in the waiting process, there is always a chance that one of the many players is going to change its rates.  Yesterday, we received an email from our agency that China or CCCWA has increased its fee for processing.  We now have to pay $500 more.  I wish the paperwork was in the process already.  Since it is still on its way, we have to scrounge yet again.  It's almost like they are trying to discourage people from adopting.  That's life.  Its happened before and it will happen again.

On the way home today, I heard a story about adoption in Korea.  It was on NPR.  They have created a law in Korea that says that parents giving kids up for an adoption must sign a registry.  Due to the stigma attached with the process, people are starting to abandon the children at a higher rate.  According to the story, people in Korea do not like to adopt children that they do not know their family history.  If they do adopt, the mother to be hides a pillow to look pregnant and then a few days later the adopted child is brought out.  Korea is really strict about adopting outside of the country.  I think it is sad.  It is the children who are punished the most.  The same thing happens in China.  I read a story where China was going to stop giving orphans certain sir names.  Those names identified the children as being an orphan through their life. http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/09/09/346851939/in-korea-adoptees-fight-t...

As I have written, adopting internationally can be expensive.  Unlike giving birth to a child, health care does not cover any of our costs.  We are responsible for fees, airfare, food, and donations.  We have paid for our last adoptions.  This time, we are down to one job.  We have the money in savings and the things we are trying to sell.  But, they are not selling as quickly as we had planned.  If this were a pregnancy situation, we'd have insurance to pay for a portion and we would be responsible for the rest.  The people we'd have to pay would probably work with us.  International adoption does not work that way.  I wish it did. We even tried fundraisers for the past adoptions.  This time, I decided to sell my collectibles.  The child is more important than the items.  Plus, they will hopefully make someone happy.  I just keep them in a closet.  If you are reading this and feel in your heart that what we ar...

Have you ever seen those movies that are based on someones life or exploits?  I would love for this blog to become something more.  What I am trying to do is educate people as well as entertain.  Our exploits have had drama, comedy and some adventure.  Who would I see doing this?  Adam Sandler.  Before you turn off and stop reading, let me explain.  I love his movies, especially The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, and Blended.  Not only do they exhibit comedy, but these movies have something more to them.  I could see Adam Sandler as myself and Drew Barrymore as Angie.  Once over in China, I would love to see an actress like Ziyi Zhang or Michelle Yeoh as our guide.  We were fortunate to have the same person around on all three adoptions.  As for the other families, they could have any actors.  This would be my dream.  Putting this concept into any ones hands in Hollywood is kind of impossible.  I guess if my exp...

When you go to China, you have to change your money from Dollars to Yuan.  Most countries require an exchange.  You can do this in two to three places.  I think it can be done at the airport.  I can't remember.  It can be done at your hotel and finally there is the bank.  When you go in, you see a guard.  You have to stand in line or pull a number.  When you exchange, you need to bring your passport.  Just remember to keep up the with exchange rate, so that you will know how much you are spending in your dollar amount.  I remember seeing the totals of $100 and thinking that was a lot of money.  It ended up being $12.50 in US dollars.  But when we got the pizza, it really was around $17 dollars.  As well as the Hamburger that cost $20.  They were charging in HK.  Hong Kong has its own currency.

I have now placed a link to Elana's donation page.  If you are interested and want a tax deduction, please help.  Believe me, we want to help this child and many more.  I feel that after this adoption, I can probably talk Angie into starting some kind of charity that helps children in orphanages.  I joked about it last time.  I told Angie she should join AA (Adoptions Anonymous).  I look at my daughters and see them thrive.  I know we are doing the right thing.  Hopefully, we can pass that on to our children to help others.  They already say they would like to go to China to adopt when they get older.

Yesterday, I was determined to get things started.  I pulled out boxes and went through them.  Some papers went to recycling, but others needed shredding.  Then I went through a box of books.  I managed to convince myself that I needed to get rid of some of them.  Slowly, I started slowing down.  I hung a group of pictures, moved some candles.  At this point, I hit the wall.  The computer called my name.  I kept checking Ebay, hoping for more of the posters to sell.  I even asked Angie if we had gotten any emails asking about posters or bracelets.  By the way, all posters still available and we have plenty of bracelets.  No replies.  We only had one bid.  The problem with Ebay is people wait until the last day to bid.  Sometimes, the last second.  I had a one poster sell for .99 due to that kind of bidding.  Word of advice, try to start your starting bid close to what you are willing to accept.  By...

I have been off for a couple of days.  I want to start getting rid of things.  When I gather things, something always seems to deter me.  Yesterday, I found a box of comics that I collected in the 90's.  I started looking them up on Ebay to see if there was any value.  By the time I was done with that, the day was ending.  Today, I will try again.  Procrastination is my worst enemy.  That and I refuse to get rid of things.  When you start this process, you try to think of everything you can sell to make money to pay for the fees.  To me, the child is more important than the things I have.  Now, we prepare for yard sale #2.  Things of value will be sold on Ebay and other sites.  Yard sales do not attract people wanting to spend money.  Wish me luck!  It's time to clear the house.

When my wife goes through airport security, she always needs a pat down.  In America, they mainly do the pat down.  This is because she has to wear leg braces, due to her disorder.  In Chengdu, we did not have our guide.  This was a first.  Usually, on all the adoptions, we had a guide nearby.  If you go over expecting someone to know English, you will be surprised at how so few know it. We checked our bags in at the front and started to head towards the security check.  Every airport has one.  We stood in line waiting.  When it came to be our turn, we put everything on the metal detector.  Kayla had to have her wheelchair check.  After things went through, I gathered everything.  I had to get Mia, Kayla and all of our luggage.  We are not the kind of family that travels light.  We keep saying we will one day do it, but I have as yet to see it. Angie walks through.  Even with braces showing they started to lo...

When we were considering adopting an older child, I wish there had been a good documentary to watch on the subject.  We had read books and even talked to a therapist.  We knew about things to expect and maybe warnings about it.  I'm still glad we did it.  I want to do it again.  We had even asked about an 11 year old, but the agency did not think we made enough money.  Goes back to my last book talking about adopting internationally only being for the rich. So, this morning I woke up and turned on the Kindle.  I wanted to watch something on Netflix.  I perused the titles looking for something new.  My eyes found "The Dark Matter of Love" directed by Sarah McCarthy.  I read what it was about and it struck my interest.  It is a documentary about a family who adopts a group of children from a Russian orphanage and learns what it is to be a family.  It is a really good film.  We have been there and done that.  Even if i...

I would like to introduce you to Elana.  She is from Harbin, China.  We hope to go to China in the spring, but that will depend on how fast the paperwork goes through the system.  We believe that she is blind.  We will not know if it is correctable until she gets home.  We are willing to accept her the way she is.

Update**** These posters are still available.  So are the  bracelets. Raising money for an adoption is hard work.  Donations are great and would be appreciated.  I will be trying to add a link for Reece's Rainbow.  They are a non profit that takes in donations that are tax deductible.  We have alternate ideas.  My wife and I worked ten years in movie theaters.  Over this time, we collected many posters from the 90's.  All are original movie posters.  The money that is raised is for our upcoming fees.  The posters I will list today will be $10 plus shipping.  We can ship international, also.  If you get multiple posters, we can ship them in the same container. In addition to this, we are selling bracelets.  The cost is $8.00 plus the shipping.  These bracelets are made in Haiti.  $4.00 goes to the person who made the bracelet and $4.00 will go to us.  You will need to pay for shipping.  We accep...