A must read

Here is a great post from an advocacy blog I follow - it's a little long, but please take the time to read it.

Advocating for some children with our agency

We received this info from our agency earlier this week:

The China Waiting Children program has seen significant changes over the last two years. The most significant change was the implementation of CCAA's Online System. This system has allowed agencies to access information on thousands of children waiting for their families.

Now, CCAA has implemented their "Special Focus Children Program" where agencies select children that have been on the Shared List for at least two months and then request that CCAA assign them to their agency as "Individual" referrals. Agencies then have three months in which to find families for the children assigned to them. AAI currently has a list of 10 Special Focus children, both boys and girls ranging from age 11 months to 11 years, that we are advocating for. We would like to ask you, both our past and present clients, to help us in this effort to advocate for these children who are waiting for their forever families.

If you belong to a Yahoo group, forum, or have a blog, we are asking that you consider posting a notice of their availability, listing the children as
follows:

1. Benjamin, born in March of 2009, is diagnosed with albinism.
2. Christopher, born in May of 2007, is diagnosed with albinism.
3. Garrett, born in June of 2008, is diagnosed with congenital heart disease (a family currently has a hold on this file).
4. Hayden, born in November 2009, is diagnosed with cleft lip and palate.
5. Jessie, born in July of 2001, is hepatitis b positive.
6. Lily, born in March of 2003, is diagnosed with anemia and has a significant developmental delay.
7. Liam, born in December of 2007, is hepatitis b positive.
8. Tyler, born in July of 2009, is diagnosed with repaired cleft lip (no cleft palate) and an extra small toe.
9. & 10. Katie & Kyle - TWINS! - born in December of 1998. Katie is healthy and Kyle is hepatitis b positive.

Interested families can contact me directly at 1.800.677.2367 or email me at
lbussa@adoptassoc.com ... to receive detailed medical reports and pictures.

Pumpkin patch and Halloween pics

On this very morning

One year ago today (at 4:30am), our phone rang with the call we had been praying for and an email with a picture that melted our hearts. Our lives were forever changed. This is the first picture that we saw of Anna.

Here is one from yesterday morning and a couple more that Greg snapped this morning (yes, she's now sporting a ponytail).

It's hard to believe that she'll be 2 in December. She has grown and changed so much over the course of this year ... it's been amazing to watch! We feel incredibly blessed to have her.

Sponsor a Child

I have added some links to the left of some great foster homes in China that allow you to sponsor their children and/or donate to help these homes continue to provide care for these kiddos. Please check them out!

Fall is here!

We are finally having some beautiful fall weather! Anna loves seeing pumpkins everywhere. Every time she spots one she says "ooohhh" and gets really excited! It's crazy how quick she catches on to things!

Saying "hi" to the pumpkins

Some big news in our little world ... we're moving! We've been house hunting for a few months now and last weekend we put a contract on a house! We'll just be moving about 5 minutes from where we are now, but it will give us more space! Now, we are just praying that our current house sells quickly! We put it on the market last weekend as well. So far, we've had 2 showings and are having an open house Sunday. Prayers that we are able to get it sold before our 60 day close comes on the new house!!

Hope you all enjoy this beautiful fall weekend!

Anna dancing to The Wiggles

And we're back...

It's not near as easy to find the time to blog as it used to be! :)

Anna is 21 months today. The other day Greg took a picture of me holding Anna and we both commented on how big she looked in my arms. I think she has had a growth spurt in the last month or so ... she will actually make it into some 18 months clothes this fall, I think!

Here are a few pictures taken over the last few weeks. The first is Anna carrying her backpack as she heads to Nana's house for her first day. Yep, she's started at Nana's 2 or 3 days a week and loves playing with the other kids.

China adoption documentary

Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy will premiere on PBS on August 31, 2010. Here is a clip...

What is it like to be torn from your Chinese foster family, put on a plane with strangers and wake up in a new country, family and culture? Stephanie Wang-Breal’s Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy is the story of Fang Sui Yong, an 8-year-old orphan, and the Sadowskys, the Long Island Jewish family that travels to China to adopt her. Sui Yong is one of 70,000 Chinese children now being raised in the United States. Through her eyes, we witness her struggle with a new identity as she transforms from a timid child into someone that no one — neither her new family nor she — could have imagined.

Home 6 months

It's hard to believe that we have been home for half of a year. It has been such fun to watch Anna blossom. Layer by layer she has opened herself up to us, revealing a sweet, smart, funny, thoughtful, observant, silly, beautiful little girl. She is 19 months old now and continues to amaze us at all she has learned in such a short time. We feel so blessed that she is our daughter.

Here are a couple of shots taken this morning while she was playing in her room.

Zoo pics

Here are a few shots from our trip to the zoo last weekend...

Our little firecracker

We had a fun 4th spending time with family and Anna enjoyed the fireworks. She wasn't scared of them at all, but she did like for us to cover her ears and if we didn't, she would...pretty cute.

No, I'm not trouble...

Daddy's Girl

Happy Father's Day, Daddy....I love you, Anna

Our growing girl

Anna turned 18 months old this past Monday! She is really starting to look like a toddler these days!

We went for the dreaded check-up yesterday. Our poor girl is terrified of the doctor...why must it take 20 mins from the time the nurse exits the room until the doctor comes in and then another 20 mins from the time the doctor exits until the nurse comes back to give the shots?! Good news is that we're done with the doctor until December when she turns 2! The other good news is that Anna is a healthy, growing girl...she weighed 21lbs and had grown to 30 1/2" (she was 18lb 6oz and 28 1/4" when we had our first visit 5 months ago). That puts her in about the 15% on the American charts...but I looked it up on the Chinese charts and it's the 75%. The doctor thought she was doing great!

Hope you all have a great weekend. We are gearing up to celebrate Greg's first Father's Day!!

What a difference a few months make

We took a few pictures before we went out to dinner last night and couldn't believe the change in Anna over the last few months. The first picture is from last night and the next one is from Valentine's Day. We have watched this sweet little girl blossom over the last several months...while there are still some things we're working on, she has come such a long way...just look at the sparkle in her eyes now!

Hope you all have a good weekend! Anna is going to be doing a little gardening...
and a little playing...