Family of 3

Congratulations to our friends Joel and Misty who arrived home this past weekend with their son, Garrett!! Garrett is absolutely adorable and it was so great to see them together at church last Sunday. We have a link to their blog on the right if you'd like to read a bit about their journey...

Ni Hao, Kai-lan

This fall, Nickelodeon is going to air a new show featuring a Chinese American little girl named Kai-lan. The half hour show will be interactive for preschoolers, giving them the opportunity to learn Mandarin words and phrases as well as aspects of Chinese culture. Kai-Lan will also help children to identify emotions and coping mechanisms to deal with their feelings.

The show's executive producer said she "hoped the series would have a special resonance for the estimated 60,000 girls in the United States who have been adopted from Chinese orphanages." And the 10-year-old girl Jade-Lianna Peters , who is the voice of Kai-lan on the series, was herself adopted from China.

We can't wait to tune in!

p.s. - Ni Hao means "hello".

The Great Outdoors

Over the weekend, we got a chance to do a little camping. We used to go quite a bit, but haven't been able to get away in some time. We don't usually like to go in the middle of the summer due to the heat, but when we saw the mild temperatures forecasted we decided to pack up the camping gear and the dogs and hit the road. It turned out to be a beautiful weekend and we all had a great time.

So, we thought we'd give you a glimpse into one of our favorite ways to take it easy, enjoy some good food, and be one with nature. Here are a few pictures from our version of "roughing it".

Double-Digits

We've been logged in 10 months today! Ten down, how many to go?? That's the big question!

Just how many months left and why the heck is it taking so long - those are probably our two most asked questions lately. While there isn't really a cut and dry answer to this, we'll do our best to try and explain it.

First, here is what we do know - the current wait has gone up to 20 months. The most recent group of referrals were for families that were logged in between 11/8/05 and 11/14/05 (our LID is 9/12/06). The wait has gradually increased a little every month for over a year now. The word from most agencies is that the wait will likely hit the two year mark by this December. There are many reasons for this increase (we like to call it "the perfect storm"), but what it comes down to is there aren't enough children who are "paper ready". To be clear, there are still plenty of children needing homes, just not enough that have their paperwork ready for adoption. Another bit of speculation is that with the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China would like the rest of the world to think that there has been a decrease in baby abandonment in their country.

There are many more things that could be influencing the wait, but these are the two with the most validity. "Why does it take so long?" is a difficult question to answer briefly because of the complexity of the issues involved, but our "in a nutshell" response might be that China just isn't doing a very good job of keeping up with the number of families waiting to be matched with a child... plain and simple. So, if you'd like to delve deeper into the China adoption rumor world, check out this link. This is a site that we frequent daily to keep up on all the latest and greatest.

There was a time when we thought we'd be traveling to China late this fall, now we are hoping to see Anna's sweet face by the end of next year. Our continued prayer is that there is a speed up in the process and that all the waiting children and families can be united sooner than they thought.

We are heading out tomorrow afternoon for a weekend of camping. Hope you all have a great weekend - enjoy the beautiful weather!

Love,
Greg and Laura